Teutonic Knights

The Teutonic Order (German: Deutscher Orden; Latin: Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum; Hungarian: Német Lovagrend-German Knighthood; Polish Zakon Krzy?acki - The Order of the Cross ) was a German crusading military order under Roman Catholic religious vows formed at the end of the 12th century in Acre in Palestine. They wore white coats with a black cross. After Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, they moved to Transylvania in 1211, but were expelled in 1225. The knights moved to northern Poland, where they soon created the independent Teutonic Order state. The aggression of the Order posed a threat to the neighbouring states, especially Poland and Lithuania. In 1410 at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg), a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power. The power of the Order steadily declined until 1525 when its Grand Master, Albert of Brandenburg, converted to Lutheranism and assumed the title and rights of hereditary Duke of Prussia. The Grand Masters continued to preside over the Order's considerable holdings in Germany until 1809, when Napoleon ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. However, the order continued to exist, headed by Habsburgs through the First World War, and today operates primarily with charitable aims.

History

The order was formed at the end of the 12th century in Palestine to give medical aid to pilgrims at the holy places. They received Papal orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem for Latin Christianity. They were based at Acre (Akko).

Related Topics:
12th century - Papal - Jerusalem - Christianity - Acre

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When the mission of the order in Palestine was nearing its end, the Teutonic Knights moved their headquarter to Venice and offered their services to Christian rulers confronted with hostile non-Christian neighbors. In 1211, Andrew II of Hungary accepted their services and granted them the district of Burzenland in Transylvania. Andrew had been involved in negotiations for the marriage of his daughter with the son of Hermann, the Landgrave of Thuringia, whose vassals included the family of Hermann of Salza, the new grand master of the Teutonic Order. Led by a brother called Theoderich, the Order defended Hungary against the neighbouring Cumans. In 1224 they petitioned Pope Honorius III to be placed directly under the authority of the Papal See, rather than of the King of Hungary. King Andrew responded by expelling them in 1225.

Related Topics:
Venice - 1211 - Andrew II - Hungary - Burzenland - Transylvania - Thuringia - Hermann of Salza - Cumans - 1224 - Pope Honorius III - 1225

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At that time (1226) Konrad I, duke of Masovia in west-central Poland, appealed to the Knights to defend his borders and subdue the pagan Baltic Prussians. He gave the Order the Che?mno Land (Kulmerland) as a fief (1226) for the time until the conquest was over. In the same year Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II bestowed the Orded a special imperial privilege to conquer Prussia (Golden Bull of Rimini). Soon the Teutonic knights assimilated the smaller Order of Dobrin. The conquest of Prussia was accomplished with great bloodshed over more than 50 years, during which the Prussians were subjugated or forced into exile. The conversion to Christianity was largely nominal and usually didn't entail more than baptism. The Order transferred in 1309 its headquarters to the brick castle of Malbork (Marienburg) on the Nogat River south of Gda?sk (Danzig).

Related Topics:
1226 - Konrad I - Duke - Masovia - Poland - Prussians - Che?mno Land - Fief - Frederick II - Prussia - Golden Bull of Rimini - Order of Dobrin - Malbork - Nogat - Gda?sk

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The Order did not conquer Prussia in order to incorporate it into Poland, but instead ruled it under permits issued by both the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor as a sovereign Teutonic Order state, comparable to the arrangement of the Knights Hospitallers in Rhodes and later in Malta.

Related Topics:
Holy Roman Emperor - Sovereign - Teutonic Order state - Knights Hospitallers - Rhodes - Malta

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The Order induced the immigration of thousands of colonists from Germany and the Netherlands, founded numerous towns and cities, and built a number of castles (Order Castles (Ordensburgen in German)), to defend the territory against attacks from Lithuania and Poland, with whom the Order was often at war during the 14th and 15th centuries. Among the cities of the Order was Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), founded in 1255 in honor of King Otakar II of Bohemia. Many knights from western Europe, including some from England and France, journeyed to Prussia to participate in the wars with Lithuania, which remained non-Christian until the end of the 14th century, much later than the rest of eastern Europe.

Related Topics:
Immigration - Colonists - Germany - The Netherlands - Ordensburg - 14th - 15th - Kaliningrad - 1255 - Otakar II of Bohemia - England - France

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When the Livonian Order was absorbed into the Teutonic Order in 1237, its territorial rule extended over Prussia, Livonia, Semigalia, and Estonia. Their next aim was to convert Orthodox Russia to Roman Catholicism, but after the knights suffered a disastrous defeat in Battle on Lake Peipus (1242) at the hands of Russian prince Alexander Nevsky, the idea had to be dropped.

Related Topics:
Livonian Order - 1237 - Livonia - Semigalia - Estonia - Orthodox - Russia - Roman Catholicism - Battle on Lake Peipus - 1242 - Alexander Nevsky

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In 1337 Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV bestowed the Teutonic Order another imperial privilege - this time to conquer all Lithuania and Russia. The crusading rationale for the Teutonic Order's state finally ended when Lithuania officially converted to Christianity after 1386. The grand duke of Lithuania, Jogaila, was baptised, married the queen of Poland Jadwiga, and became king Ladislaus II of Poland. This initiated an alliance between the two countries and created a potentially formidable opponent for the Teutonic Knights. The Order managed to play the Prince Witold and Jogaila out against each other, but this strategy as Witold began to suspect that the Order was planning to annex parts of his territory.

Related Topics:
1337 - Louis IV - Teutonic Order - Lithuania - Russia - 1386 - Jogaila - Baptised - Jadwiga - Ladislaus II

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King Albert of Sweden conceded Gotlandia to the Teutonic Order as a pledge (similar to a fiefdom), with the understanding that they would eliminate the piratical Victual Brothers from their strategic island base. An invasion force under Grand Master Konrad of Jungingen conquered the island in 1398, destroyed Visby and drove the Victual Brothers out of Gotland and the Baltic Sea.

Related Topics:
Albert of Sweden - Gotlandia - Pledge - Fiefdom - Victual Brothers - Konrad of Jungingen - 1398 - Visby - Baltic Sea

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In 1410 at the Battle of Grunwald (also known as the battle of Tannenberg), a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power. The Grand Master, Ulrich von Jungingen, and most of the Order's higher dignitaries fell on the battlefield. The Polish-Lithuanian army then besieged the capital of the Order, Marienburg (Malbork) castle, but was unable to take it. When peace was made, the Order managed to retain essentially all of its territories.

Related Topics:
1410 - Battle of Grunwald - Tannenberg - Ulrich von Jungingen

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In 1454 gentry and the burghers of western Prussia rose up against the Order in the "War of the Cities" or Thirteen Year War, at the end of which the Order recognized Polish crown rights over Prussia's western half (subsequently Royal Prussia) while retaining eastern Prussia under nominal Polish overlordship (Second Treaty of Thorn, 1466). Eastern Prussia (subsequently Ducal Prussia) was also lost to the Order when in 1525 its grand master, Albert of Brandenburg, after another lost war with Poland, converted to Lutheranism and assumed the title and rights of hereditary Duke of Prussia (as a vassal of the Polish Crown).

Related Topics:
1454 - Gentry - Thirteen Year War - Polish crown - Royal Prussia - Second Treaty of Thorn - 1466 - Ducal Prussia - 1525 - Albert of Brandenburg - Poland - Lutheranism - Hereditary - Duke of Prussia

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A new Grand Magistery was then established in Mergentheim in Württemberg, and the grand masters, often members of the great German families (and, after 1761, by members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine), continued to preside over the Order's considerable holdings in Germany until 1809, when Napoleon ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings.

Related Topics:
Mergentheim - Württemberg - 1761 - Habsburg-Lorraine - 1809 - Napoleon

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The order continued to exist, headed by Habsburgs through the First World War, and today operates primarily as a charitable organization.

Related Topics:
Habsburg - First World War - Charitable

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