Teutonic Order
Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem | |
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(1993–present) Historical
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Type | Catholic religious order (1192–1810 as military order) |
Headquarters |
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Nickname(s) | Teutonic Knights, German Order |
Patron |
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Attire | White mantle with a black cross |
Commanders | |
First Grand Master | Heinrich Walpot von Bassenheim |
Current Grand Master | Frank 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
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
The fraternity which preceded the formation of the Order was formed in the year 1191 in
In 1230, following the
The Order theoretically lost its main purpose in Europe with the
In 1515,
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]
Foundation
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.
Teutonic Order domains in the Levant:
- In the Kingdom of Jerusalem:
- Montfort Castle (Starkenberg), 1220–1271; inland from Nahariya in Northern Israel
- Mi'ilya (Castellum Regis), 1220–1271; near Montfort
- Khirbat Jiddin (Judin), 1220–1271; near Montfort
- Cafarlet, 1255–1291; south of Haifa
- the Lordship of Joscelin in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon, both owned by the Teutonic Knights 1220–1229 but under Muslim rule during that period. The Knights retained Maron, a vassal of Toron, after 1229, and in 1261 acquired another Toron-Ahmud, another vassal lordship. They also leased (1256) and bought (1261) the stronghold of Achziv (Casale Umberti, Arabic Az-Zīb) on the coast north of Nahariya.
- the Lordship of the Schuf, an offshoot of the Lordship of Sidon, 1256–1268; inland from modern Saida in Lebanon
- In the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia:
Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary
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
Prussia
In 1226,
The
The native nobility who submitted to the crusaders had many of their privileges confirmed by the
The Order ruled Prussia under
To make up for losses from the
Livonia
After suffering a devastating defeat in the
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
alone.Against Poland
A dispute over the succession to the Duchy of
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
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
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
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
In 1386, Grand Duke
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
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
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
Although it had lost control of all of its Prussian lands, the Teutonic Order retained its territories within the
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
There were twelve German bailiwicks:
- Thuringia;
- Alden Biesen (in present-day Belgium);
- Hesse;
- Saxony;
- Westphalia;
- Franconia;
- Koblenz;
- Alsace-Burgundy;
- An der Etsch und im Gebirge (in Tyrol);
- Utrecht;
- Lorraine; and
- Austria.
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
Medieval organization
Administrative structure about 1350
Generalkapitel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ratsgebietiger | Hochmeister | 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) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Landkomtur | Landkomtur | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Komtur (in the Holy Empire) | Komtur (in the Holy Empire) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hauskomtur | Pfleger | Vogt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Karwansherr | Trappierer | Kellermeister | Küchenmeister | Wachhauptmann | Gesindemeister | Fischmeister | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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
Hochmeister
The Hochmeister (
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,
- The Landmeister in Livland, the successor of the Herrenmeister (lords master) of the former Livonian Brothers of the Sword.
- The Landmeister of Prussia, after 1309 united with the office of the Grandmaster, who was situated in Prussia from then.
- The Deutschmeister, the Landsmeister of the Holy Roman Empire. When Prussia and Livland were lost, the Deutschmeister also became Grandmaster.
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
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Thuringia (Zwätzen)
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Hesse (Marburg)
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Saxonia (Elmsburg from 1221 until 1260 moved to Lucklum)
- Brandenburg
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Westphalia (Deutschordenskommende Mülheim)
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Franconia (Ellingen)
- "Chamber Bailiwick" of Koblenz
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Burgundy (Rouffach)
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick at the Etsch and in the Mountains (South Tyrol) (Bozen)
- Utrecht
- Lorraine (Trier)
- "Chamber Bailiwick" of Austria
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Alden Biesen
- Sicily
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Apulia (San Leonardo)
- Lombardy (also called Lamparten)
- "Chamber Bailiwick" of Bohemia
- Teutonic Order Bailiwick of Romania (Achaia, Greece)
- Armenia-Cyprus
Local leadership
Komtur
The smallest administrative unit of the order was the
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
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
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
Honorary Knights
Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem | |
---|---|
Ribbon bar |
Honorary Knights of the Teutonic Order have included:
- Konrad Adenauer
- Udo Arnold
- Franz Josef II
- Rudolf Graber
- Otto von Habsburg
- Karl Habsburg-Lothringen
- Joachim Meisner
- Eduard Gaston Pöttickh von Pettenegg
- Eduard Schick
- Christoph Schönborn
- Carl Herzog von Württemberg
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 ("
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.
-
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
-
Coat of arms of Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Grand Master from 1761 to 1780.
-
Modern (20th century) medal
Influence on German and Polish nationalism
Emperor
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
The converse was true for Polish
See also
Notes
- ^ "Deutscher Orden: Brüder und Schwestern vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem". www.deutscher-orden.at.
- ^ Redazione. "La Santa Sede e gli Ordini Cavallereschi: doverosi chiarimenti (Seconda parte)".
- ISBN 978-0192853646.
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.
- ISBN 0-86140-371-1.
- ^ Innes-Parker 2013, p. 102.
- ^ "Teutonic Order | religious order". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ Sterns 1985, p. 361.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-631-34999-1.
- ^ Monumenta Germaniae Historica, SS Bd. 25, S. 796.
- ^ Kurt Forstreuter. "Der Deutsche Orden am Mittelmeer". Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des Deutschen Ordens, Bd II. Bonn 1967, S. 12f.
- ^ Urban, p.[page needed]
- ^ Seward, p. 100
- ^ Seward, p. 104
- ^ Christiansen, pp. 208–209
- ^ Christiansen, pp. 210–211
- ^ Barraclough, p. 268
- ^ Urban, p. 106
- ^ Christiansen, p. 211
- ^ The German Hansa P. Dollinger, p. 34, 1999 Routledge[ISBN missing]
- ^ ISBN 978-0521833721.
- ISBN 0140195017.
- ^ Christiansen, p. 150
- ISBN 0140195017.
- ISBN 2213010943.
- )
- ^ Urban, p. 116
- ^ Christiansen, p. 151
- ^ The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410, Peter Jackson, Routledge, New York, 2018, pp. 66–78
- ^ The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History, Thomas Craughwell, Quayside Publishing Group, Massachusetts, 2010, pp. 193–195
- ^ Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongolian Empire, Christopher Atwood, Indiana Univ. Press, Bloomington, 2004, p. 79
- ^ Westermann, p. 93
- ^ Górski 1949, p. 54.
- ^ Górski 1949, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Górski 1949, p. 63.
- ^ Górski 1949, pp. 88–90, 206–207.
- ^ Górski 1949, pp. 91–92, 209–210.
- ^ a b Górski 1949, pp. 96–97, 214–215.
- ^ Górski 1949, pp. 96, 103, 214, 221.
- ^ Christiansen, p. 248
- ^ Seward, p. 137
- ^ Urban, p. 276
- ^ Dieter Zimmerling: Der Deutsche Orden, S. 166 ff.
- ^ "Der Deutschordensstaat".
- ^ Cartwright, Mark. "Teutonic Knight". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Urban, p. 277
- ^ "Official website of the Bailiwick of Utrecht, accessed March 15, 2010".
- ^ 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)
- ^ 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."
- commander of the bailiwick of Swabia-Alsace-Burgundy, shows his Landenbergfamily arms quartered with the order's black cross.
- ^ a b (in Polish) Mówią wieki. "Biała leganda czarnego krzyża Archived 2008-02-27 at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 6 June 2006.
- ^ Christiansen, p. 5
- ^ Desmond Seward, Mnisi Wojny, Poznań 2005, p. 265.
References
- Christiansen, Erik (1997). The Northern Crusades. London: Penguin Books. pp. 287. ISBN 0-14-026653-4.
- Górski, Karol (1949). Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych (in Polish and Latin). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni.
- Innes-Parker, Catherine (2013). Anchoritism in the Middle Ages: Texts and Traditions. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 256. ISBN 978-0-7083-2601-5.
- Selart, Anti (2015). Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century. Leiden: Brill. p. 400. ISBN 978-9-00-428474-6.
- Seward, Desmond (1995). The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders. London: Penguin Books. p. 416. ISBN 0-14-019501-7.
- Sterns, Indrikis (1985). "The Teutonic Knights in the Crusader States". In Zacour, Norman P.; Hazard, Harry W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: The Impact of the Crusades on the Near East. Vol. V. The University of Wisconsin Press.
- Urban, William (2003). The Teutonic Knights: A Military History. London: Greenhill Books. p. 290. ISBN 1-85367-535-0.
External links
- The order's homepage in Germany (in German)
- The order's homepage in Austria (in English)
- Territorial extent of the Teutonic Knights in Europe (map)
- An Historical Overview of the Crusade to Livonia, by William Urban
- "The Early Years of the Teutonic Order", by William Urban
- Museum in the residential castle of the Teutonic Order in Bad Mergentheim (in German)
- Zwaetzen and the German Order in Central Germany (in German)
- "Massive Ceremonial Hall Discovered Under Crusader Castle in Northern Israel" – Haaretz, Nov. 22, 2018
- Barker, Ernest (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 676–679. This contains a detailed chronological history of the Order, and is itself based on Heinrich von Treitschke Das deutsche Ordensland Preussens, in Historische und politische Aufsätze, vol. II. (Leipzig, 1871), and on Johann Loserth Geschichte des späteren Mittelalters (Munich and Berlin, 1903).