Teutonic Order

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem
Germany
(1949–present)
Czech Republic Czech Republic

(1993–present)
Historical
TypeCatholic religious order
(1192–1810 as military order)
Headquarters
Nickname(s)Teutonic Knights, German Order
Patron
AttireWhite mantle with a black cross
Commanders
First Grand MasterHeinrich Walpot von Bassenheim
Current Grand MasterFrank Bayard[1]

The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society c. 1190 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having historically served as a crusading military order for supporting Catholic rule in the Holy Land and the Northern Crusades during the Middle Ages, as well as providing military protection for Catholics in Eastern Europe.

Purely religious since 1810, the Teutonic Order still confers limited honorary

Protestant chivalric order, is descended from the same medieval military order and also continues to award knighthoods and perform charitable work.[3]

Name

The name of the Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem[4] is in German: Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus der Heiligen Maria in Jerusalem and in Latin Ordo domus Sanctae Mariae Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum. Thus the term "Teutonic" echoes the German origins of the order (Theutonicorum) in its Latin name.[5] German-speakers commonly refer to the Deutscher Orden (official short name, literally "German Order"), historically also as Deutscher Ritterorden ("German Order of Knights"), Deutschherrenorden ("Order of the German Lords"), Deutschritterorden ("Order of the German Knights"), Marienritter ("Knights of Mary"), Die Herren im weißen Mantel ("The lords in white capes"), etc..

The Teutonic Knights have been known as Zakon Krzyżacki in Polish ("Order of the Cross") and as Kryžiuočių Ordinas in Lithuanian, Vācu Ordenis in Latvian, Saksa Ordu or, simply, Ordu ("The Order") in Estonian.

A manuscript by Karl Marx once characterised the forces of the Order as Reitershunde – meaning something like a "pack of knights". Russian readers of Marx translated the phrase over-literally as "dog-knights" (Псы-рыцари), which became a widespread, pejorative label for the Order in the Russian language – especially after the 1938 release of Sergei Eisenstein's film Aleksandr Nevskij, which fictionalised the Knights' defeat in the Battle on the Ice of 1242.

History

Extent of the Teutonic Order in 1300
Teutonic & Livonian Orders in 1422

The fraternity which preceded the formation of the Order was formed in the year 1191 in

Cumans. The Knights were expelled by force of arms by King Andrew II of Hungary in 1225, after attempting to build their own state within Transylvania and Pope Honorius III's papal bull claiming the Order's territory in Transylvania.[7]

In 1230, following the

Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke Konrad I of Masovia launched the Prussian Crusade, a joint invasion of Prussia intended to Christianize the Baltic Old Prussians. The Knights had quickly taken steps against their Polish hosts and with the Holy Roman Emperor's support, had changed the status of Chełmno Land (also Ziemia Chełmińska or Kulmerland), to which they had been invited by the Polish Duke, into their own property. Starting from there, the Order created the independent State of the Teutonic Order, adding continuously the conquered Prussians' territory, and subsequently conquered Livonia. Over time, the kings of Poland denounced the Order for expropriating their lands, specifically Chełmno Land and later the Polish lands of Pomerelia (also Pomorze Gdańskie or Pomerania), Kuyavia, and Dobrzyń Land
.

The Order theoretically lost its main purpose in Europe with the

Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Novgorod Republic (after assimilating the Livonian Order). The Teutonic Knights had a strong economic base which enabled them to hire mercenaries from throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies, and they also became a naval power in the Baltic Sea. In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Grunwald. However, the Knights successfully defended their capital in the following Siege of Marienburg (Malbork
) and the Order was saved from collapse.

In 1515,

Napoleon Bonaparte
ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings.

However, the Order continued to exist as a charitable and ceremonial body. It was outlawed by Nazi Germany in 1938,[9] but re-established in 1945.[10] Today it operates primarily with charitable aims in Central Europe.

The Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross. A cross pattée was sometimes used as their coat of arms; this emblem was later used for military decoration and insignia by the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany as the Iron Cross. The motto of the Order was: "Helfen, Wehren, Heilen" ("Help, Defend, Heal").[11]

Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, now Malbork
, Poland
Elbing
in 1388 for Teutonic komtur Thiele von Lorich, military trophy of Polish king Wladislaus in 1410.

Foundation

Hermann von Salza, the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (1209–1239)

In 1143 Pope Celestine II ordered the Knights Hospitaller to take over management of a German hospital in Jerusalem, which, according to the chronicler Jean d'Ypres, accommodated the countless German pilgrims and crusaders who could neither speak the local language nor Latin (patriæ linguam ignorantibus atque Latinam).[12] Although formally an institution of the Hospitallers, the pope commanded that the prior and the brothers of the domus Theutonicorum (house of the Germans) should always be Germans themselves, so a tradition of a German-led religious institution could develop during the 12th century in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[13]

After the loss of Jerusalem in 1187, some merchants from Lübeck and Bremen took up the idea and founded a field hospital for the duration of the Siege of Acre in 1190, which became the nucleus of the order; Pope Celestine III recognized it in 1192 by granting the monks Augustinian Rule. However, based on the model of the Knights Templar, it was transformed into a military order in 1198 and the head of the order became known as the Grand Master (magister hospitalis). It received papal orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem for Christianity and defend the Holy Land against the Muslim Saracens. During the rule of Grand Master Hermann von Salza (1209–1239) the Order changed from being a hospice brotherhood for pilgrims to primarily a military order.

The Order was founded in Acre, and the Knights purchased Montfort Castle, northeast of Acre, in 1220. This castle, which defended the route between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea, was made the seat of the Grand Masters in 1229, although they returned to Acre after losing Montfort to Muslim control in 1271. The Order received donations of land in the Holy Roman Empire (especially in present-day Germany and Italy), Frankokratia, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Outremer as the older Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller
.

Teutonic Order domains in the Levant:

Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary

Tannhäuser in the habit of the Teutonic Knights, from the Codex Manesse

In 1211, Andrew II of Hungary accepted the services of the Teutonic Knights and granted them the district of Burzenland in Transylvania, where they would be exempt from fees and duties and could administer their own justice. Andrew had been involved in negotiations for the marriage of his daughter with the son of Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, whose vassals included the family of Hermann von Salza. Led by a brother called Theoderich or Dietrich, the Order defended the south-eastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary against the neighbouring Cumans. Many forts of wood and mud were built for defence. They settled new German peasants among the existing Transylvanian Saxon inhabitants. The Cumans had no fixed settlements for resistance, and soon the Teutons were expanding into their territory. By 1220, the Teutonics Knights had built five castles, some of them made of stone. Their rapid expansion made the Hungarian nobility and clergy, who were previously uninterested in those regions, jealous and suspicious. Some nobles claimed these lands, but the Order refused to share them, ignoring the demands of the local bishop.

After the

Papal See, rather than that of the King of Hungary. This was a grave mistake, as King Andrew, angered and alarmed at their growing power, responded in 1225 by expelling the Teutonic Knights, although he allowed the ethnically German commoners and peasants settled here by the Order to remain and these became part of the larger group of the Transylvanian Saxons. Lacking the military organization and experience of the Teutonic Knights, the Hungarians failed to replace them with adequate defence against the attacking Cumans. Soon, the steppe warriors would be a threat again.[14]

Prussia

In 1226,

Outremer.[15] With the Golden Bull of Rimini, Emperor Frederick II bestowed on the Order a special imperial privilege for the conquest and possession of Prussia, including Chełmno Land, with nominal papal sovereignty. In 1235 the Teutonic Knights assimilated the smaller Order of Dobrzyń, which had been established earlier by Christian
, the first Bishop of Prussia.

Frederick II allows the order to invade Prussia, by P. Janssen

The

conquest of Prussia was accomplished with much bloodshed over more than fifty years, during which native Prussians who remained unbaptised were subjugated, killed, or exiled. Fighting between the Knights and the Prussians was ferocious; chronicles of the Order state the Prussians would "roast captured brethren alive in their armour, like chestnuts, before the shrine of a local god".[16]

The native nobility who submitted to the crusaders had many of their privileges confirmed by the

Pomesania.[18] The crusading knights often accepted baptism as a form of submission by the natives.[19] Christianity along western lines slowly spread through Prussian culture. Bishops were reluctant to have pagan Prussian religious practices integrated into the new faith,[20] while the ruling knights found it easier to govern the natives when they were semi-pagan and lawless.[21] After fifty years of warfare and brutal conquest, the end result was that most of the Prussian natives were either killed or deported.[22]

Map of the Teutonic state in 1260

The Order ruled Prussia under

monastic state, comparable to the arrangement of the Knights Hospitallers in Rhodes and later in Malta
.

To make up for losses from the

Otakar II of Bohemia
on the site of a destroyed Prussian settlement.

Livonia

Ruins of the Teutonic Order's castle in Paide, Estonia

After suffering a devastating defeat in the

Duchy of Estonia from Denmark
.

Against Lithuania

The Teutonic Knights began to direct their campaigns against pagan Lithuania (see Lithuanian mythology), due to the long existing conflicts in the region (including constant incursions into the Holy Roman Empire's territory by pagan raiding parties) and the lack of a proper area of operation for the Knights, after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre in 1291 and their later expulsion from Hungary.[24] At first the knights moved their headquarters to Venice, from which they planned the recovery of Outremer;[25] this plan was, however, soon abandoned, and the Order later moved its headquarters to Marienburg, so it could better focus its efforts on the region of Prussia. Because "Lithuania Propria" remained non-Christian until the end of the 14th century, much later than the rest of eastern Europe, the conflicts were dragged out over a longer time, and many Knights from western European countries, such as England and France, journeyed to Prussia to participate in the seasonal campaigns (reyse) against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1348, the Order won a great victory over the Lithuanians in the Battle of Strėva, severely weakening them. In 1370 it won a decisive victory over Lithuania in the Battle of Rudau.

Warfare between the Order and the Lithuanians was particularly brutal. It was common practice for Lithuanians to torture captured enemies and civilians. It is recorded by a Teutonic chronicler that they had the habit of tying captured knights to their horses and having both of them burned alive, while sometimes a stake would be driven into their bodies or the knight would be flayed. Lithuanian pagan customs included ritualistic human sacrifice, the hanging of widows, and the burying of a warrior's horses and servants with him after his death.[26] The knights would also, on occasion, take captives from defeated Lithuanians, whose condition (as that of other war captives in the Middle Ages) was extensively researched by Jacques Heers.[27] The conflict had much influence in the political situation of the region and was the source of many rivalries between Lithuanians or Poles and Germans; the degree to which it impacted the mentalities of the time can be seen in the lyrical works of men such as the contemporary Austrian poet Peter Suchenwirt.

Overall, the conflict lasted over 200 years (although with varying degrees of active hostility during that time), its front line extending along both banks of the

Neman River, with as many as twenty forts and castles between Seredžius and Jurbarkas
alone.

Against Poland

monastic state of the Teutonic Knights

A dispute over the succession to the Duchy of

Władysław I the Elbow-high of Poland also claimed the duchy, based on inheritance from Przemysław II, but he was opposed by some Pomeranians nobles. They requested help from Brandenburg, which subsequently occupied all of Pomerelia except for the citadel of Gdańsk in 1308. Because Władysław was unable to come to the defense of Gdańsk, the Teutonic Knights, then led by Grand Master Siegfried von Feuchtwangen
, were called to expel the Brandenburgers.

The Order, under a Prussian Landmeister Heinrich von Plötzke, evicted the Brandenburgers from Gdańsk in September 1308 but then refused to yield the town to the Poles, and according to some sources massacred the town's inhabitants; although the exact extent of the violence is unknown, and widely recognized by historians to be an unsolvable mystery. The estimates range from 60 rebellious leaders, reported by dignitaries of the region and Knight chroniclers, to 10,000 civilians, a number cited in a papal bull (of dubious provenance) that was used in a legal process installed to punish the Order for the event; the legal dispute went on for a time, but the Order was eventually absolved of the charges. In the Treaty of Soldin, the Teutonic Order purchased Brandenburg's supposed claim to the castles of Gdańsk, Świecie, and Tczew and their hinterlands from the margraves for 10,000 marks on 13 September 1309.[28]

Control of Pomerelia allowed the Order to connect their monastic state with the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. Crusading reinforcements and supplies could travel from the Imperial territory of

Hither Pomerania through Pomerelia to Prussia, while Poland's access to the Baltic Sea was blocked. While Poland had mostly been an ally of the knights against the pagan Prussians and Lithuanians, the capture of Pomerelia turned the kingdom into a determined enemy of the Order.[29]

The capture of Gdańsk marked a new phase in the history of the Teutonic Knights. The persecution and abolition of the powerful Knights Templar, which began in 1307, worried the Teutonic Knights, but control of Pomerelia allowed them to move their headquarters in 1309 from Venice to

Nogat River, outside the reach of secular powers. The position of Prussian Landmeister was merged with that of the Grand Master. The Pope began investigating misconduct by the knights, but no charges were found to have substance. Along with the campaigns against the Lithuanians, the knights faced a vengeful Poland and legal threats from the Papacy.[30]

The Treaty of Kalisz of 1343 ended the open war between the Teutonic Knights and Poland. The Knights relinquished Kuyavia and Dobrzyń Land to Poland, but retained Chełmno Land and Pomerelia with Gdańsk (Germanized as Danzig).

Battle of Legnica

In 1236, the Knights of Saint Thomas, an English order, adopted the rules of the Teutonic Order. A contingent of Teutonic Knights of indeterminate number is traditionally believed to have participated at the Battle of Legnica in 1241 during the first Mongol invasion of Poland. The combined Polish-German army was crushed by the Mongol army and their superior tactics, with few survivors.[31][32][33]

Height of power

Map of the Teutonic state in 1410

In 1337, Emperor Louis IV allegedly granted the Order the imperial privilege to conquer all Lithuania and Russia. During the reign of Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode (1351–1382), the Order reached the peak of its international prestige and hosted numerous European crusaders and nobility.

King

fiefdom), with the understanding that they would eliminate the pirating Victual Brothers from this strategic island base in the Baltic Sea. An invasion force under Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen
conquered the island in 1398 and drove the Victual Brothers out of Gotland and the Baltic Sea.

In 1386, Grand Duke

Vytautas
against each other, but this strategy failed when Vytautas began to suspect that the Order was planning to annex parts of his territory.

The baptism of Jogaila began the official conversion of Lithuania to Christianity. Although the crusading rationale for the Order's state ended when Prussia and Lithuania had become officially Christian, the Order's feuds and wars with Lithuania and Poland continued. The Lizard Union was created in 1397 by Prussian nobles in Chełmno Land to oppose the Order's policy.

In 1407, the Teutonic Order reached its greatest territorial extent and included the lands of Prussia, Pomerelia, Samogitia, Courland, Livonia, Estonia, Gotland, Dagö, Ösel, and the Neumark, pawned by Brandenburg in 1402.

Decline

Battle of Grunwald

In 1410, at the Battle of Grunwald a combined Polish–Lithuanian army, led by Władysław II Jagiełło and Vytautas, decisively defeated the Order in the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and most of the Order's higher dignitaries fell on the battlefield (50 out of 60). The Polish–Lithuanian army then began the Siege of Marienburg (Malbork), the capital of the Order, but was unable to take Marienburg owing to the resistance of Heinrich von Plauen. When the First Peace of Thorn was signed in 1411, the Order managed to retain essentially all of its territories, although the Knights' reputation as invincible warriors was irreparably damaged.

While Poland and Lithuania were growing in power, that of the Teutonic Knights dwindled through infighting. They were forced to impose high taxes to pay a substantial indemnity but did not give the cities sufficient requested representation in the administration of their state. The authoritarian and reforming Grand Master Heinrich von Plauen was forced from power and replaced by

Polish-Teutonic War (1431–1435)
.

Map of the Teutonic state in 1466

In 1440, the Prussian Confederation was founded by gentry and burghers of the State of the Teutonic Order. In 1454, it rose up against the Order and asked Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon to incorporate the region into the Kingdom of Poland, to which the King agreed and signed an act of incorporation in Kraków.[35] Mayors, burghers and representatives from the region pledged allegiance to the Polish King during the incorporation in March 1454 in Kraków.[36] This marked the beginning of the Thirteen Years' War between the Teutonic Order and Poland. The main cities of the incorporated territory were authorized by Casimir IV to mint Polish coins.[37] Much of Prussia was devastated in the war, during the course of which the Order returned Neumark to Brandenburg in 1455 to raise funds for war. Because Marienburg Castle was handed over to mercenaries in lieu of their pay, and eventually passed to Poland, the Order moved its base to Königsberg in Sambia. In the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), the defeated Order renounced any claims to the territories of Gdańsk/Eastern Pomerania and Chełmno Land, which were reintegrated with Poland,[38] and the region of Elbląg and Malbork, and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, which were also recognized as part of Poland,[39] while retaining the eastern territories in historic Prussia, but as a fief and protectorate of Poland, also considered an integral part of "one and indivisible" Kingdom of Poland.[40] From now on, every Grand Master of the Teutonic Order was obliged to swear an oath of allegiance to the reigning Polish king within six months of taking office.[40] The Grand Master became a prince and counselor of the Polish king and the Kingdom of Poland.[41]

After the

Albert of Brandenburg converted to Lutheranism in 1525. He secularized the Order's remaining Prussian territories and assumed from his uncle Sigismund I the Old, King of Poland, the hereditary rights to the Duchy of Prussia as a personal vassal of the Polish Crown, the Prussian Homage
. Ducal Prussia retained its currency, laws and faith. The aristocracy was not present in the Sejm.

Although it had lost control of all of its Prussian lands, the Teutonic Order retained its territories within the

Duchy of Courland
, also a vassal of Poland.

After the loss of Prussia in 1525, the Teutonic Knights concentrated on their possessions in the Holy Roman Empire. Since they held no contiguous territory, they developed a three-tiered administrative system: holdings were combined into

commander (Komtur). Several commanderies were combined to form a bailiwick
headed by a Landkomtur. All of the Teutonic Knights' possessions were subordinate to the Grand Master, whose seat was in Bad Mergentheim.

Castle of the Teutonic Order in Bad Mergentheim

There were twelve German bailiwicks:

Outside of German areas were the bailiwicks of

  • Sicily;
  • Apulia;
  • Lombardy;
  • Bohemia;
  • "Romania" (in Greece); and
  • Armenia-Cyprus.

The Order gradually lost control of these holdings until, by 1809, only the seat of the Grand Master at Mergentheim remained.

Following the abdication of Albert of Brandenburg, Walter von Cronberg became Deutschmeister in 1527, and later Administrator of Prussia and Grand Master in 1530. Emperor Charles V combined the two positions in 1531, creating the title Hoch- und Deutschmeister, which also had the rank of Prince of the Empire.[43] A new Grand Magistery was established in Mergentheim in Württemberg, which was attacked during the German Peasants' War. The Order also helped Charles V against the Schmalkaldic League. After the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, membership in the Order was open to Protestants, although the majority of brothers remained Catholic.[44] The Teutonic Knights became tri-denominational, with Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed bailiwicks.

The Grand Masters, often members of the great German families (and, after 1761, members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine), continued to preside over the Order's considerable holdings in Germany. Teutonic Knights from Germany, Austria, and Bohemia were used as battlefield commanders leading mercenaries for the Habsburg monarchy during the Ottoman wars in Europe.

The military history of the Teutonic Knights was to be ended in 1805 by the Article XII of the

Napoleon Bonaparte
ordered the Knights' remaining territory to be disbursed to his German allies, which was completed in 1810.

Medieval organization

Administrative structure about 1350

Generalkapitel
RatsgebietigerHochmeister
Kanzlei des Hochmeisters
Großkomtur (Magnus Commendator)Ordensmarschall (Summus Marescalcus) Großspittler (Summus Hospitalarius)Ordenstressler (Summus Thesaurarius)Ordenstrappier (Summus Trappearius)
Großschäffer (Marienburg)Großschäffer (Königsberg)
Komtur (Preußen)Komtur (Preußen)
Deutschmeister (Magister Germaniae) Landmeister in Livland (Magister Livoniae)
Komtur (Livland)Komtur (Livland)
LandkomturLandkomtur
Komtur (in the Holy Empire)Komtur (in the Holy Empire)
HauskomturPflegerVogt
KarwansherrTrappiererKellermeisterKüchenmeisterWachhauptmannGesindemeisterFischmeister

[45][46]

Universal leadership

Generalkapitel

The Generalkapitel (general chapter) was the collection of all the priests, knights and half-brothers (German: Halbbrüder). Because of the logistical problems in assembling the members, who were spread over large distances, only deputations of the

commandries
gathered to form the General chapter. The General chapter was designed to meet annually, but the conventions were usually limited to the election of a new Grandmaster. The decisions of the Generalkapitel had a binding effect on the Großgebietigers of the order.

Hochmeister

The Hochmeister (

imperial state and was sovereign prince of Prussia until 1466. Despite this high formal position, in practice, he was only a kind of first among equals
.

Großgebietige

The Großgebietige were high officers with competence on the whole order, appointed by the Hochmeister. There were five offices.

  • The Großkomtur (Magnus Commendator), the deputy of the Grandmaster
  • The Treßler, the treasurer
  • The Spitler (Summus Hospitalarius), responsible for all hospital affairs
  • The Trapier, responsible for dressing and armament
  • The Marschall (Summus Marescalcus), the chief of military affairs

National leadership

Landmeister

The order was divided into three national chapters,

Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
. The highest officer of each chapter was the Landmeister (country master). They were elected by the regional chapters. In the beginning, they were only substitutes of the Grandmaster but were able to create a power of their own so that, within their territory, the Grandmaster could not decide against their will. At the end of their rule over Prussia, the Grandmaster was only Landmeister of Prussia. There were three Landmeisters:

Regional leadership

Because the properties of the order within the rule of the Deutschmeister did not form a contiguous territory, but were spread over the whole empire and parts of Europe, there was an additional regional structure, the bailiwick. Kammerballeien ("Chamber Bailiwicks") were governed by the Grandmaster himself. Some of these bailiwicks had the rank of imperial states

Local leadership

Komtur

The smallest administrative unit of the order was the

Komtur
, who had all administrative rights and controlled the Vogteien (district of a reeve) and Zehnthöfe (tithe collectors) within his rule. In the commandry, all kinds of brothers lived together in a monastic way. Noblemen served as Knight-brothers or Priest-brothers. Other people could serve as Sariantbrothers, who were armed soldiers, and as Half-brothers, who were working in the economy and healthcare.

Special offices

  • The Kanzler (chancellor) of the Grandmaster and the Deutschmeister. The chancellor took care of the keys and seals and was also the recording clerk of the chapter.
  • The Münzmeister (master of the mint) of Thorn. In 1226, the order received the right to produce its own coins – the Moneta Dominorum Prussiae – Schillingen. Customary laws for coinage did not come about until the Kulm laws of 1233 were written. And the first coins were not minted until late 1234 or early 1235.
  • The Pfundmeister (customs master) of Danzig. The Pfund was a local customs duty.
  • The Generalprokurator the representative of the order at the Holy See.
  • The Großschäffer, a trading representative with special authority.

Modern organization

Evolution and reconfiguration as a Catholic religious order

The

Habsburg
dynasty.

The collapse of the Habsburg monarchy and the Empire it governed in Austria, the Italian Tyrol, Bohemia and the Balkans brought a shattering crisis to the Order. While in the new Austrian Republic, the Order seemed to have some hope of survival, in the other former parts of the Habsburg territories, the tendency was to regard the Order as an honorary chivalric Order of the House of Habsburg. The consequence of this risked being the confiscation of the Order's property as belongings of the House of Habsburg. So as to make the distinction clearer, in 1923 the then High Master, Field Marshal Eugen of Austria-Teschen, Archduke of Austria, a member of the House of Habsburg and an active army commander before and during the First World War, had one of the Order's priests, Norbert Klein, at the time Bishop of Brno (Brünn) elected his Coadjutor and then abdicated, leaving the Bishop as High Master of the Order.

As a result of this move, by 1928 the now-independent former Habsburg territories all recognized the Order as a Catholic religious order. The Order itself introduced a new Rule, approved by Pope Pius XI in 1929, according to which the government of the Order would in the future be in the hands of a priest of the Order, as would its constituent provinces, while the women religious of the Order would have women superiors. In 1936 the situation of the women religious was further clarified and the Congregation of the Sisters of the Order was given as their supreme moderator the High Master of the Order, the Sisters also having representation at the Order's general chapter.

This completed the transformation of what remained in the Catholic Church of the Teutonic knights into a Catholic religious order now renamed simply the Deutscher Orden ("German Order").[47] However, further difficulties were in store.

The promising beginnings of this reorganization and spiritual transformation suffered a severe blow through the expansion of German might under the National Socialist regime. After Austria's annexation by Germany in 1938, and similarly the Czech lands in 1939 the Teutonic Order was suppressed throughout the Großdeutsches Reich until Germany's defeat. This did not prevent the National Socialists from using imagery of the medieval Teutonic knights for propagandistic purposes.[48]

The Fascist rule in Italy, which since the end of the First World War had absorbed the Southern Tyrol, was not a propitious setting, but following the end of hostilities, a now democratic Italy provided normalized conditions, In 1947 Austria legally abolished the measures taken against the Order and restored confiscated property. Despite being hampered by the Communist regimes in Yugoslavia and in Czechoslovakia, the Order was now broadly in a position to take up activities in accordance with elements of its tradition, including care for the sick, for the elderly, for children, including work in education, in parishes and in its own internal houses of study. In 1957 a residence was established in Rome for the Order's Procurator General to the Holy See, to serve also as a pilgrim hostel. Conditions in Czechoslovakia gradually improved and in the meanwhile, the forced exile of some members of the Order led to the Order's re-establishing itself with some modest, but historically significant, foundations in Germany. The Sisters, in particular, gained several footholds, including specialist schools and care of the poor and in 1953 the former house of Augustinian Canons, St. Nikola, in Passau became the Sisters' Motherhouse. Although the reconstruction represented by the reformed Rule of 1929 had set aside categories such as the knights, over time the spontaneous involvement of laypeople in the Order's apostolates has led to their revival in a modernized form, a development formalized by Pope Paul VI in 1965.

With the official title of "Brethren of the German House of St Mary in Jerusalem", the Order today is unambiguously a

Catholic priests and 200 nuns of the Order are divided into five provinces, namely, Austria, Southern Tyrol-Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia. While the priests predominantly provide spiritual guidance, the nuns primarily care for the ill and the aged. Many of the priests care for German-speaking communities outside of Germany and Austria, especially in Italy and Slovenia; in this sense, the Teutonic Order has returned to its 12th-century roots: the spiritual and physical care of Germans in foreign lands.[49]

There is an Institute of "Familiares", most of whom are laypeople, and who are attached by spiritual bonds to the Order but do not take vows. The "Familiares" are grouped especially into the bailiwicks of Germany, Austria, Southern Tyrol, Ad Tiberim (Rome), and the bailiwick of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as also in the independent commandry of Alden Biesen in Belgium, though others are dispersed throughout the world. Overall, there are in recent years some 700.

By the end of the 20th century, then, this religious Order had developed into a charitable organization and established numerous clinics, as well as sponsoring excavation and tourism projects in Israel. In 2000, the German chapter of the Teutonic Order declared bankruptcy, and its upper management was dismissed; an investigation by a special committee of the Bavarian parliament in 2002 and 2003 to determine the cause was inconclusive.

The current

St Stephen's Cathedral ("Stephansdom") in the Austrian capital is the Treasury of the Teutonic Order, which is open to the public, and the Order's central archive. Since 1996, there has also been a museum dedicated to the Teutonic Knights at their former castle in Bad Mergentheim
in Germany, which was the seat of the High Master from 1525 to 1809.

Honorary Knights

Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem
Ribbon bar


Honorary Knights of the Teutonic Order have included:

Protestant Bailiwick of Utrecht

A portion of the Order retains more of the character of the knights during the height of its power and prestige. Der Balije van Utrecht ("

Order of Malta: each is an authentic part of its original order, though differing from and smaller than the Catholic branch.[50]

Insignia

The Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross, granted by Innocent III in 1205. A cross pattée was sometimes used.[year needed] The coat of arms representing the grandmaster (Hochmeisterwappen)[51] is shown with a golden cross fleury or cross potent superimposed on the black cross, with the imperial eagle as a central inescutcheon. The golden cross fleury overlaid on the black cross became widely used in the 15th century. A legendary account attributes its introduction to Louis IX of France, who is said to have granted the master of the order this cross as a variation of the Jerusalem cross, with the fleur-de-lis symbol attached to each arm, in 1250. While this legendary account cannot be traced back further than the early modern period (Christoph Hartknoch, 1684), there is some evidence that the design does indeed date to the mid 13th century.[52]

The black cross pattée was later used for military decoration and insignia by the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany as the Iron Cross.

The motto of the Order is "Helfen, Wehren, Heilen" ("to help, to defend, to heal").[year needed][11]

  • 14th-century brass stamp with the shield insignia.
    14th-century brass stamp with the shield insignia.
  • In the 16th century, officers of the order would quarter their family arms with the order's arms.[53]
    In the 16th century, officers of the order would quarter their family arms with the order's arms.[53]
  • Example of the Deutschmeisterwappen on the gate of the Bad Mergentheim residence
    Example of the Deutschmeisterwappen on the gate of the Bad Mergentheim residence
  • Coat of arms of Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Grand Master from 1761 to 1780.
    Coat of arms of Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Grand Master from 1761 to 1780.
  • Modern (20th century) medal
    Modern (20th century) medal
  • Procession in honour of Saint Liborius of Le Mans with Knights of the Holy Sepulchre together with Teutonic Knights in Paderborn, Germany.
    Knights of the Holy Sepulchre together with Teutonic Knights in Paderborn, Germany
    .

Influence on German and Polish nationalism

A German National People's Party poster from 1920 showing a Teutonic knight being attacked by Poles and socialists. The caption reads "Rescue the East".

Emperor

Wilhelm II of Germany posed for a photo in 1902 in the garb of a monk from the Teutonic Order, climbing the stairs in the reconstructed Marienburg Castle as a symbol of Imperial German policy.[54][unreliable source?
]

The German historian Heinrich von Treitschke used imagery of the Teutonic Knights, a Germanic myth, to promote pro-German and anti-Polish rhetoric. Many middle-class German nationalists adopted this imagery and its symbols. During the Weimar Republic, associations and organisations of this nature contributed to laying the groundwork for the formation of Nazi Germany.[54][unreliable source?]

Before and during

better source needed] Yet, despite these references to the Teutonic Order's history in Nazi propaganda, the Order itself was abolished in 1938 and its members were persecuted by the German authorities. This occurred mostly due to Hitler's and Himmler's belief that, throughout history, Catholic military-religious orders had been tools of the Holy See and as such constituted a threat to the Nazi regime.[56]
Hitler based his German Order on the Teutonic Order[citation needed], especially the Hochmeister's ceremonial regalia itself even though they abolished the said order.[citation needed]

The converse was true for Polish

Sienkiewicz "The Knights of the Cross"), which used the Teutonic Knights as symbolic shorthand for Germans in general, conflating the two into an easily recognisable image of the hostile. Similar associations were used by Soviet propagandists, such as the Teutonic knight villains in the 1938 Sergei Eisenstein film Aleksandr Nevskii
.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Deutscher Orden: Brüder und Schwestern vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem". www.deutscher-orden.at.
  2. ^ Redazione. "La Santa Sede e gli Ordini Cavallereschi: doverosi chiarimenti (Seconda parte)".
  3. . Teutonic knights are still to be found only in another interesting survival, Ridderlijke Duitse Orde Balije van Utrecht (The Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order). Like the Hospitaller Bailiwick of Brandenburg, this commandery turned itself into a noble Protestant confraternity at the time of the Reformation.
  4. .
  5. ^ Innes-Parker 2013, p. 102.
  6. ^ "Teutonic Order | religious order". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  7. ^ Sterns 1985, p. 361.
  8. ^ "History of the German Order". Teutonic Order, Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011. The 15th and early 16th century brought hard times for the Order. Apart from the drastic power loss in the East as of 1466, the Hussite attacks imperiled the continued existence of the bailiwick of Bohemia. In Southern Europe, the Order had to give up important outposts – such as Apulia and Sicily. After the coup d'état of Albrecht von Brandenburg, the only remaining territory of the Order were the bailiwicks located within the empire.
  9. ^ Sainty, Guy Stair. "The Teutonic Order of Holy Mary in Jerusalem". Almanach de la Cour. www.chivalricorders.org. Retrieved 30 January 2011. This tradition was further perverted by the Nazis who, after the occupation of Austria suppressed it by an act of 6 September 1938 because they suspected it of being a bastion of pro-Habsburg legitimism.
  10. ^ "Restart of the Brother Province in 1945". Teutonic Order, Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem. deutscher-orden.de. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  11. ^ .
  12. ^ Monumenta Germaniae Historica, SS Bd. 25, S. 796.
  13. ^ Kurt Forstreuter. "Der Deutsche Orden am Mittelmeer". Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des Deutschen Ordens, Bd II. Bonn 1967, S. 12f.
  14. ^ Urban, p.[page needed]
  15. ^ Seward, p. 100
  16. ^ Seward, p. 104
  17. ^ Christiansen, pp. 208–209
  18. ^ Christiansen, pp. 210–211
  19. ^ Barraclough, p. 268
  20. ^ Urban, p. 106
  21. ^ Christiansen, p. 211
  22. ^ The German Hansa P. Dollinger, p. 34, 1999 Routledge[ISBN missing]
  23. ^ .
  24. .
  25. ^ Christiansen, p. 150
  26. .
  27. .
  28. OCLC 29184676.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  29. ^ Urban, p. 116
  30. ^ Christiansen, p. 151
  31. ^ The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410, Peter Jackson, Routledge, New York, 2018, pp. 66–78
  32. ^ The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History, Thomas Craughwell, Quayside Publishing Group, Massachusetts, 2010, pp. 193–195
  33. ^ Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongolian Empire, Christopher Atwood, Indiana Univ. Press, Bloomington, 2004, p. 79
  34. ^ Westermann, p. 93
  35. ^ Górski 1949, p. 54.
  36. ^ Górski 1949, pp. 71–72.
  37. ^ Górski 1949, p. 63.
  38. ^ Górski 1949, pp. 88–90, 206–207.
  39. ^ Górski 1949, pp. 91–92, 209–210.
  40. ^ a b Górski 1949, pp. 96–97, 214–215.
  41. ^ Górski 1949, pp. 96, 103, 214, 221.
  42. ^ Christiansen, p. 248
  43. ^ Seward, p. 137
  44. ^ Urban, p. 276
  45. ^ Dieter Zimmerling: Der Deutsche Orden, S. 166 ff.
  46. ^ "Der Deutschordensstaat".
  47. ^ Cartwright, Mark. "Teutonic Knight". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  48. ^ Sainty, Guy Stair. "The Teutonic Order of Holy Mary in Jerusalem". Almanach de la Cour. www.chivalricorders.org. Retrieved 30 January 2011. [T]he Nazis...after the occupation of Austria suppressed [the Order] by an act of 6 September 1938 because they suspected it of being a bastion of pro-Habsburg legitimism. On Germany's occupying Czechoslovakia the following year, the Order was also suppressed in Moravia although the hospitals and houses in Yugoslavia and south Tyrol were able to continue a tenuous existence. The National Socialists, motivated by Himmler's fantasies of reviving a German military elite then attempted to establish their own "Teutonic Order" as the highest award of the Third Reich. The ten recipients of this included Reinhard Heydrich and several of the most notorious National Socialists. Needless to say, although its badge was modelled on that of the genuine Order, it had absolutely nothing in common with it.
  49. ^ Urban, p. 277
  50. ^ "Official website of the Bailiwick of Utrecht, accessed March 15, 2010".
  51. ^ The offices of Hochmeister (grandmaster, head of the order) and Deutschmeister (Magister Germaniae) were united in 1525. The title of Magister Germaniae had been introduced in 1219 as the head of the bailiwicks in the Holy Roman Empire, from 1381 also those in Italy, raised to the rank of a prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1494, but merged with the office of grandmaster under Walter von Cronberg in 1525, from which time the head of the order had the title of Hoch- und Deutschmeister. Bernhard Peter (2011)
  52. ^ Helmut Nickel, "Über das Hochmeisterwappen des Deutschen Ordens im Heiligen Lande", Der Herold 4/1990, 97–108 (mgh-bibliothek.de). Marie-Luise Heckmann, "Überlegungen zu einem heraldischen Repertorium an Hand der Hochmeisterwappen des Deutschen Ordens" in: Matthias Thumser, Janusz Tandecki, Dieter Heckmann (eds.) Edition deutschsprachiger Quellen aus dem Ostseeraum (14.-16. Jahrhundert), Publikationen des Deutsch-Polnischen Gesprächskreises für Quellenedition. Publikacje Niemiecko-Polskiej Grupy Dyskusyjnej do Spraw Edycij Zrodel 1, 2001, 315–346 (online edition). "Die zeitgenössische Überlieferung verdeutlicht für dieses Wappen hingegen einen anderen Werdegang. Der Modelstein eines Schildmachers, der unter Hermann von Salza zwischen 1229 und 1266 auf der Starkenburg (Montfort) im Heiligen Land tätig war, und ein rekonstruiertes Deckengemälde in der Burgkapelle derselben Festung erlaubten der Forschung den Schluss, dass sich die Hochmeister schon im 13. Jahrhundert eines eigenen Wappens bedient hätten. Es zeigte ein auf das schwarze Ordenskreuz aufgelegtes goldenes Lilienkreuz mit dem bekannten Adlerschildchen. Die Wappensiegel des Elbinger Komturs von 1310 bzw. 1319, ein heute in Innsbruck aufbewahrter Vortrageschild des Hochmeisters Karl von Trier von etwa 1320 und das schlecht erhaltene Sekretsiegel desselben Hochmeisters von 1323 sind ebenfalls jeweils mit aufgelegtem goldenem Lilienkreuz ausgestattet."
  53. commander of the bailiwick of Swabia-Alsace-Burgundy, shows his Landenberg
    family arms quartered with the order's black cross.
  54. ^ a b (in Polish) Mówią wieki. "Biała leganda czarnego krzyża Archived 2008-02-27 at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 6 June 2006.
  55. ^ Christiansen, p. 5
  56. ^ Desmond Seward, Mnisi Wojny, Poznań 2005, p. 265.

References

External links