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Teutonic Knights: Things You Should Know

Almost as famous as the Knight Templars and Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights and their popular imagery of extravagant horned helmets on steel-clad horsemen have stoked the fascination of many a history aficionado. And though the latter was possibly only used for ceremonial purposes, there is without a shred of doubt a unique historical scope when it comes to the legacy of this medieval military order.

Much of it perhaps has to do with the fact that the Teutonic Order made its military mark in the mysterious lands of north-eastern Europe, as opposed to the renowned Holy Land. It should also be noted that at the same time these ‘knights’ were more successful in establishing a full-fledged, economically viable monastic state (Ordensstaat) than their peer Crusader orders like the Templars and Hospitallers. So without further ado, let us take a gander at ten interesting things you should know about the Teutonic Knights.

From Hospital to Near Extinction  

While the Third Crusade was supposed to be the glorious military feat to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin, the campaign though partly successful ended in a disaster for the Imperial forces of the Holy Roman Empire. This was because of the untimely death of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa before his massive army (comprising 3,000 knights and other troops) could approach the contested areas.

So only a remnant of his followers took part in the Crusade and subsequently established a field hospital after the siege of Acre. This hospital was later granted recognition from the Papacy, which established the organization as a military order, christened as Fratres Domus Hospitalis Sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum (Brethren of the German Hospital of St Mary), which later became the Teutonic Knights.

Like other crusading orders, the Teutonic Knights (though not as powerful as the Templars and the Hospitallers in the Levant), held small parcels of land and strongholds all throughout the Holy Land, with their primary headquarters pertaining to the suburb of Montfort in the region of northern Palestine. However, in 1244 AD, many of the military orders suffered a fateful defeat at the hands of the Ayyubids, with the Teutonic Knights losing 397 of their 400 actual knights in the encounter.

In spite of this massive reversal, the Teutonic Knights continued to exert influence in the nearby Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia – possibly to counter the Templars from the neighboring Principality of Antioch, thus suggesting how political rivalry was present even between Crusader religious orders. However the fall of Acre in 1291 AD finally symbolized the end of their crusading endeavors in the Holy Land, and the Teutonic Order then focused its attention towards the pagan regions of Europe itself.

The Hungarian Affair 

Interestingly enough, after just a few years of its founding, the Teutonic Order also had the opportunity to establish itself in the district of Burzenland (Terra Borza) in Transylvania, at the behest of the Hungarian king Andrew II. Burzenland was a wild mountainous region inhabited by diverse people including Vlachs, Slavs, Pechenegs, and even the raiding Kipchaks.

Suffice it to say, the Hungarian overlords were interested in maintaining a semblance of authority over the multifarious subjects of this frontier district, and thus the Teutonic Knights were invited to control the mountain passes (as bulwarks against the nomadic Kipchak raids).

However while the Teutonic Order was given relative autonomy in the functioning of its troops in the region, the Hungarian king prohibited the knights from erecting stone-based fortifications – probably because he didn’t want the order to be a militarily independent faction with strong political influence in the area. But the Teutonic Knights broke their agreement and started constructing stone-based castles, and at the same successfully repelled various Kipchak raids.

Thus the situation became complex for the Hungarian monarch, who actually proceeded on to gift even more ‘non-Hungarian’ lands to the order as a reward for their effectiveness, in spite of their perceived ‘insolence’. But the unique political scope was extinguished in 1225 AD after many Hungarian barons and Vlach subjects (who were Orthodox Christians) were rebellious due to the rising power of the Catholic Teutonic Knights. As a result, the knights were unceremoniously expelled from Hungary, which finally propelled them to establish an independent power base of their own.

The Baltic Endeavor of the Teutonic Knights

Ironically the loss of opportunity in Hungary actually led to the Teutonic resolve to institute their own stronghold – an opportunity given to them by Konrad I of Masovia (who hailed from Poland’s Piast dynasty). The Duke was fighting his own expansionist wars in the adjacent pagan territory of the Prussians (not to be confused with their latter-day counterparts), though his military efforts were coming to naught with enemy raids that even threatened his own residence at the Plock castle.

Frustrated by the Prussian presence, the Duke finally invited the embittered Teutonic Knights in 1226 AD to fight his foes. However, the military order only agreed to Konrad’s request on the condition that the Duke offered them a small territory based around the frontier town of Kulm.

Thus the Teutonic Knights finally established their own independent stronghold in the very heart of Europe, and the Baltic chapter unraveled through numerous political acts, military actions, horrendous crimes, and shifting alliances. In the direct aftermath, the Teutonic Order was successful in extinguishing the Prussian state after almost 50 years of brutal warfare, and consequently, the order actually ruled Prussia under charters issued by the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor as a sovereign monastic state.

As for the bigger picture, the Baltic frontier opened up a power struggle between various European and Eurasian factions, including Lithuanians, Russians, Livonians (comprising Estonia and Latvia), Swedes, Catholic Poland, and even the Golden Horde Mongols and Tartars.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking