Strange as it may seem, the Teutonic Order was not popular in post-Order Prussia. There are several reasons for this. First of all, they were Catholics, and Prussia converted to orthodox militant Lutheranism. In the 17th and 18th centuries, technical oblivion began to completely disappear in Prussia. Almost none of the historians of that time wrote a single study on its history. If there were mentions, they were only negative.
Architectural monuments left by the order period did not evoke reverence; in these centuries, Gothic was considered barbaric architecture. In order to somehow cover up this Gothic style, almost all churches and the remains of castles were plastered (in areas with a predominant Lutheran-Evangelical population). This also applies to Königsberg Castle. It was considered the norm to destroy and demolish order castles to use building material for economic purposes, as an example: (Balga, Brandenburg, Lochstedt, Kreuzburg and many others). A lot of people were rebuilt. (Georgenburg, Koenigsberg, Insterburg and a lot of smaller castles).
The only thing that saved these monuments was their number. During the Order, so much was built that it was simply impossible to demolish everything. If the castles were nevertheless dismantled and demolished, the churches were mostly preserved; they continued to fulfill their functions as Lutheran-Evangelical churches. For the first time, people started talking about the monuments of the Order period in Prussia in the 19th century, at the instigation of the famous architect Schinkel, who in 1834 made an entry in his diary about the ruins of the Balga castle, in which he recommended that the employees of the Balga estate take care of the safety of these ruins. He was supported by Chamber President von Auerswald, who advocated the preservation of the castle ruins.
Somehow, on the Internet, I came across a Wikipedia page dedicated to the history of the Teutonic Order, where our “historians” publish their understanding of this very history, and I found an opus there, I quote: “Prussia, despite on what was a Protestant state, claimed that is the spiritual heir of the order, especially in terms of military traditions.” ( highlighted by me AB).
I would just like to know how exactly these traditions were actually expressed. Do not unfoundedly declare some traditions, but specifically identify them. Yes What traditions could the Teutonic Order have other than the fight against the pagans?
What did the German army claim in the 19th and 20th centuries? so this is in the tradition of the Prussian army of Frederick II Great, (By the way, this tradition continues to this day.) but not the Teutonic Order.
Now about the Nazis
Very often in our periodicals and pseudo-historical publications we come across reports about Nazi Germany and the SS organization as the heirs of the Teutonic Order. This ideological cliche about continuity, I believe, has no basis.
Doctrine
A lot is said about the doctrine of the Teutonic Order. On the Internet, in the same Wikipedia, I read: “The Nazis considered themselves to be continuers of the order’s work, especially in the field of geopolitics. Doctrine of the Order“The onslaught on the East” was completely internalized by the leadership.” ( must be Nazi Germany ).
A very interesting statement, considering that the political slogan itself "Drang nach Osten" was first used in nationalist discussions only in the mid-19th century. An open letter from the Polish publicist Julian Klaczko to Georg Gervinus, dated 1849, is often cited as the first written document (source). Klaczko still did not use the wording “Drang”, but “Zug nach Osten” with the same meaning.
What doctrine are we talking about? If the main task of the Teutonic Order and other knightly orders (Templars and Ioannites) was the defense of the Holy Land, which took away the main forces of the order, according to some sources, two-thirds of the knights were in the Middle East. The garrisons of the Teutonic Order were scattered from Cilician Armenia in the north to the border with Egypt in the south, which is more than 700 kilometers in a straight line
The presence of the order in Spain, where it was invited by King Ferdinand, was also important. III Castilian , where the Teutonic Order, together with other knightly orders (Templars and Johannites), took part in the protracted reconquest against Muslims from 1222. It can be assumed that at least a third of all the armed forces of the order were located in Spain.
It seems that the Order was not eager to go east. As is known, the order came to Prussia not of its own free will with the goal of “Onslaught to the East,” but at the invitation of the Polish prince, who did not have the strength to resist the raids of Prussian pagans. And negotiations on the participation of the Teutonic Order lasted 5 years.
The conquest of Prussia proceeded, as I said in the previous article, according to the residual principle. If there were more than 100 knights in the Holy Land, and several dozen in Spain, then the order was able to field only 8-9 knights against Prussia in 1231.
A large delegation of Swordsmen was sent to Hermann von Salza in Italy in 1231. After familiarizing himself with the situation, the Grand Master realized how difficult it would be to escape the dependent conditions in which the Order of the Swordbearers found itself. As a result, the delegation, without waiting for an answer, left for Livonia.
But the Swordsmen did not give up hope of uniting with the Teutonic Order. To this end, Master Folkvin, through Pope Gregory IX in 1234, Hermann von Salza again invited Hermann to unite. Von Salza was against this unification, but he needed a reason to refuse. To do this, in 1235 he sent a delegation to Livonia led by Commander von Noenburg. After becoming familiar with the order of the Order of the Sword and returning to Germany, a chapter was assembled in Marburg, headed by Landmaster Ludwig von Oettingen. The swordsmen who arrived at this chapter were carefully questioned about their charter, way of life, possessions and claims. Then the delegation that visited Livonia was interviewed. The head of the delegation, von Noenburg, presented a report in which he described in a very negative light the behavior of the brothers of the sword, who in their activities violate the order’s charters and pay more attention to the personal at the expense of the public good. “And these he added, pointing his finger at the sword-bearers present, and four more known to me, the worst of all there.” A formal reason for refusing the merger was found.
In the second half of the summer of 1236, the Order of the Swordsmen organized a campaign against the strengthening Lithuania, and Pskov, whose lands were also subject to Lithuanian raids, joined this action. (Which there are numerous records of in Russian chronicles of the 20-30s of the 13th century). This enterprise ended for the allies with a heavy defeat at Saul (Zaul), in which the swordsmen lost their master and most (48) of the knights killed. Of the 200 Pskov warriors, only two dozen returned home.
This defeat brought the Sword Bearers to the brink of collapse. The "Brothers of the Knights of Christ" again turned to the Teutonic Order with a request for help and unification. Hermann von Salza sharply refused them, pointing out the unrest in the order and the lack of strict discipline. But this explanation was only a formality; in fact, the Teutonic Order did not want to take upon itself the problems created by the Swordsmen in its domestic and foreign policy.
This refusal forced the swordsmen to turn directly to the Pope. The bishops of Riga, Dorpat and Ezel (Saaremaa-Vik), under the impression of the terrible defeat under Saul, supported this request. Only under the strongest pressure from the pope (practically it was an order) , May 13, 1237 in Viterbo, a bull was signed on the merger of the orders. The unification took place, and the order was forced to move further to the northeast.
Even at the end of the 14th century, in Prussian conventions there were gloomy conversations about the “Livonian heritage”. Since, apart from an extra headache, teaming up with the swordsmen brought them nothing.
Ideology
Now about ideology. The Teutonic Order was Christian and was created to actively fight paganism. Which was fundamentally at odds with the ideology of the founder of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, which initially assumed an ancient German pagan cult. Speaking to the leaders of the district SS organizations in the Pilot's House, in connection with the mourning declared in the country over the murder of Obergruppenführer in Prague SS Heydrich, Himmler said: “...Christianity - this plague, this pestilence of world civilization - must be destroyed. If our generation fails to do this, then no one will be able to do it.”
On the graves of the fallen SS It was not a cross that was placed, but a runic sign of death.
Ideological system SS is a monstrous mixture of the own prejudices of the founders of the National Socialist movement and the obscure ideas of such authors as the geopolitician Karl Haushofer with his justification for the “historical pattern of German territorial expansion”, Friedrich Max Müller with his theory of “Aryan philology”, the Frenchman Arthur de Gobineau with fabrications “on the inequality of human races” and the British Houston Stuart Chamberlain - with the idea of “man and superman”, Hans Gerbiger with the “doctrine of eternal ice” and many others. But still, the most important components of Nazi and SS ideology were the interpretation of the views of Nietzsche and his reasoning about “strong and weak nations” and the racist escapades of Richard Walter Darre, who became the head of the Main Directorate SS on issues of race and settlement.
What parallels can there be with Christianity and the Teutonic Order?
Nothing in the SS reminded of the Teutonic Order, neither the uniform, nor the symbols, nor the coats of arms were mottos. Moreover, everything was completely opposite.
Order knights wore white robes, SS black.
Symbols coats of arms
The Teutonic Order had a coat of arms in the form of a Christian cross.
SS pagan runes (which represent the signs of the ancient Germanic alphabet), and a death's head (skull).
We are always ready for battle, if we are called to battle by runes and the death's head... Battle anthem “All of us SS " What does this have in common?
Mottos
Motto of the Teutonic Order: "Helfen - Wehren - Heilen" (Help-Protect-Heal).
The motto of the SS Meine Ehre hei ß t Treue! - (My honor is called loyalty, also possible translation into Russian Loyalty is my honor). This motto was on the belt buckles of SS soldiers and officers. Motto SS Meine Ehre heißt Treue! always written on buckles with
The Teutonic Order was established in 1198 by Pope Innocent III. Its first Grand Master, later Chamberlain, was Heinrich Walpot. The Order has two names: the German Order and the Order of the House of St. Mary of the Teutonic. A brotherhood arose on the basis of a hospice in Jerusalem for German pilgrims. Initially, the Teutons were representatives of German nationality into the Order of the Ionites. But Pope Innocent III, wanting to strengthen relations with the German Emperor Henry VI, who was preparing a new crusade, established the Teutonic Order in 1198.
But in the encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron, a different history of this spiritual knightly order is given. “The Teutonic Order was founded in 1128 in Jerusalem by a small circle of wealthy Germans, with the goal of providing material assistance to sick and poor pilgrims of German origin. The small circle quickly grew into a whole society, whose members began to be called the Brothers of St. Mary of the Teutonic. Around 1189, the son of Frederick Barbarossa gave the new Order a military character, gave it the Templar charter and a uniform: a white cloak with a black cross, and called the Teutonic Order the house of the Holy Virgin of Jerusalem. In 1191, Pope Clement III approved the charter of the Order..."
The basis for the internal organization and the basis for the charter of the Teutons was indeed the Order of the Templars, as well as the Order of the Hospitallers. Only by 1221 did the Teutonic Order receive almost the same privileges that the Templars and Johannites had.
A distinctive feature of the Teutons can be said that it mainly consisted of German knights, while in other monastic orders there was multilingualism. The symbol of the Order was a white cloak and a simple black cross.
But the Teutonic knights very quickly abandoned their duties in Palestine. In the very first months of their existence, they pick up the papal cry: “Drand nach Often.” But only by the middle of the 13th century did the Teutons finally move to Eastern Europe.
The Teutons were not distinguished by good discipline and military training, like the Templars or the Johannites. In the Holy Land, the Teutonic Order did not prove itself to be the best in the art of combat. However, we can talk about some kind of reputation if in the same 1198 the main forces of the Teutons were relocated to Germany and took an active part in the introduction of Catholicism in Eastern Europe.
In 1184, the Augustinian monk Maynard arrived in the Baltics, having just received the title of Livonian bishop. His task included reading Livonian sermons and converting pagans to the Catholic faith, as well as reconnaissance of Russian positions on the Baltic Sea coast. Pope Celestine III declares a crusade against the Livs, Latgalians and other natives.
In the winter of 1188, the first “knights of the church” arrived in Europe and began the conquest of Livonia. In the same year, Innocent III became pope, who followed the policies of his predecessor, and under whom papal power reached its greatest power.
The Teutonic Order sought to find lands where it would be able to organize something like a state structure, headed by itself. The eyes of the knight brothers were drawn to the lands of the Duke of Mazovia, who in 1226 called on the Teutons for protection against the Prussians. The Teutonic Order, led by Hermann von Salza, signed an agreement with Konrad to receive the Hellenic land. Hermann von Salza obtained from Frederick II and Pope Honorius III a charter for the possession of the Kuim and Prussian Lands.
But the Teutons had to conquer the lands they received on paper with the sword. On the one hand, the arrival of the Teutons was opposed by the natives, on the other hand, by the Catholic priests who came before the Crusaders and considered this territory theirs. So in 1215 Christian was appointed bishop and ruler of Prussia. But since it was impossible to peacefully convert the Prussians to the Catholic faith, Christian begins to organize a crusade against them. The trip was not a success. The Teutonic Order was called to help Christian and was given charters for temporary possession of the land. The bishop was forced to yield.
In 1231, after numerous clashes, the Teutonic Order concluded an agreement with Christian, according to which it recognized itself as his vassal, pledged to pay tithes and give a significant part of Prussia if it was possible to conquer it. In 1231, the development of Prussia began. Most of the local population was killed. Taking advantage of the fact that Bishop Christian was captured, the Teutonic Order received in 1234 from Pope Gregory IX the land of Kulm and Prussia into eternal possession, with the condition of paying tribute in favor of the pope. By 1280, the Teutonic Order conquered almost all the lands of the Prussians and part of Poland. The Teutons made constant raids on Lithuanian and northwestern lands. Thanks to more or less brutal discipline and fairly good military training, the German knights were stronger than the scattered native tribes. But fierce resistance awaited them in the Baltic states.
The detachments of “dog knights” were defeated by the combined forces of the Lithuanian state in 1236. And in 1237, the unification of the Teutonic and Livonian orders took place (the Livonian Order retained all its privileges and actually remained independent, only the Master of the Order was now named by the Teutonic Chamberlain, and not by the Pope). At the same time, preparations were announced for a new crusade in the Baltic states. The Teutons, having secured the support of the new Roman curia, attract the Swedish feudal lords to their side.
The Teutonic Order had to collide with Russia in its aggressive aspirations; in 1242, Alexander Nevsky defeated his troops on the ice of Lake Peipsi. Due to the uprising, the position of the Teutonic Order was precarious.
But in 1249, the dispute between the order and the archiepiscopal authorities was completely resolved in favor of the Order by Pope Innocent IV. The archbishop's see was moved to Riga; Kulm and Prussian bishops became independent and were appointed from members of the Teutonic Order. The Pope zealously supported the Order, persuading the knights to join the brotherhood of the Brave Maccabees. The conquest was successful. In 1254, the Bohemian king Ottokar launched a crusade against the Prussians, which ended with the expansion of the order's possession and the founding of Königsberg. The population reconciled and began to accept Christianity, but the horrors of the conquest and control caused a general uprising in 1260-1261 under the leadership of the Lithuanian prince Mindaugas. The situation again became critical.
In vain did Popes Clement IV and Urban IV cry out for help to the Order: anarchy reigned in Germany. True, Ottokar, at the insistence of the pope, set out on a crusade to defeat the “monster of the old idolatry” that had risen in Prussia.
But his campaign was unsuccessful. The election of Rudolf of Hasbourg saved the Teutonic Order from its final fall. With the assistance of Rudolf, a whole stream of Germans moved from Germany, and the uprising was suppressed: in Pomesania all the inhabitants were killed, in Zamland the population was partly exterminated, partly hid in the forests; Sudavia faces the desert; Courland and Zemgale were conquered and devastated. Thus, the Teutonic Order, with the help of Germany and the Livonian Order, managed to take possession of a vast area from the lower Vistula to the border of Lithuania in the east and to Mazovia in the south. Many castles and cities were founded - Elbing, Marienwerder, Marienburg, Goldingen, Windva, Mitava, etc.
Many German colonists were summoned, who settled partly on the lands, partly in cities; cities received the right of self-government. A large number of German nobles also arrived. The local population was reduced to serfdom, their treatment was very cruel and they were outlawed. The war lasted, strictly speaking, about 55 years - from 1230 to 1285. By the beginning of the 14th century, Prussia was a real German province, even the left bank of the Vistula was in the hands of the Teutonic Order.
The 14th century was the time of greatest prosperity for the order, conquests were consolidated, trade and industry grew, and cities grew richer. In 1309, Chamberlain Siechfried Feuchtwangen moved his residence from Venice to Marienburg. From this time on, the Teutonic Order abandoned its religious vocation and became a state institution. Having become the state of Fahto, the Teutonic Order did not abandon its monastic overtones. The knights still took vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, but this was an empty formality: they wallowed in luxury, feasted and debauched. The Teutonic Order did not abandon its policy of conquest at the expense of Lithuania and Poland, but the order’s neighbors, in turn, united their forces. A long-term devastating war began between the Teutonic Order and Lithuania, and then Poland. In the 14th century, the structure of the Teutonic Order ended. It was headed by a chamberlain, elected by the senior knights. With him, as an advisory and at the same time institution controlling his actions, there was an order chapter. The latter judged the chamberlain and could even deprive him of his rank. The chamberlain was the supreme ruler, he also approved the master of the Livonian Order. His assistants were a kind of ministers. All lands of the Teutonic Order were divided into regions, which were owned by commanders. All positions were filled exclusively by knights of the Order.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Teutonic Order ceased to exist as an independent state, having existed for about five centuries. After the secularization of the Teutonic Order (its chamberlain Albrecht, taking advantage of the spread of the Reformation in Prussia, secularized the Order in 1525 and received it from the Polish king as a feudal possession as a heresogy). Many knights who remained faithful to Catholicism went to Germany, drew up a new charter of the Order and settled in the city of Meringame, which remained their main apartment until the final destruction of the Order. The Teutonic Order could no longer acquire political significance. In this form, the Teutonic Order existed until the beginning of the 19th century, when it was finally destroyed by decree of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
During the 3rd Crusade, when Acre was besieged by the knights, merchants from Lübeck and Bremen founded a field hospital. Duke Frederick of Swabia transformed the hospital into a spiritual order, headed by Chaplain Conrad. The order was subordinate to the local bishop and was a branch of the Johannite Order. On February 6, 1191, Pope Clement III approved the founding of the Order. On December 21, 1196, the Order came under the patronage of Pope Celestine III under the name "Hospital of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem."
On March 5, 1196, in the temple of Acre, a ceremony was held to reorganize the Order into a spiritual-knightly Order. The ceremony was attended by the Masters of the Hospitallers and Templars, as well as secular and clergy of Jerusalem. Pope Innocent III confirmed this event with a bull dated February 19, 1199, and defined the tasks of the Order: protecting the German knights, treating the sick, fighting the enemies of the Catholic Church. The Order was subject to the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. The official name of the order is "Order of the Brothers of the Hospital of St. Mary of the German House in Jerusalem" (Ordo domus Sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum in Jerusalem).
In the 13th century The Teutonic Order fought against Muslims in Palestine. With the support of the Pope and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the Order acquired a number of lands in Asia Minor, Southern Europe and especially much in Germany. In 1211 the Order was invited to Hungary to defend Transylvania from the Cumans. In 1224 - 1225, due to the desire to create their own separate state on the territory of Hungary, the Order was expelled by the Hungarian king Endre II. According to the agreements of 1226-1230 with the Mazovian prince Konrad, the Order received ownership of the Kulm (Chelmen) and Dobrzyn (Dobryn) lands and the right to expand its influence on neighboring lands. The right to govern the captured Lithuanian and Prussian lands was confirmed in 1234 by Pope Gregory IX and in 1226, 1245, 1337 by Emperors Frederick II and Ludwig IV. In 1230, the first parts of the Order, 100 knights under the command of Master Hermann von Balk, built Neshava Castle on Kulm land and began to attack the Prussians. From the 4th decade of the 13th century. The Order was the main organizer and executor of the Crusades in the Eastern Baltic, declared by the Pope. In 1237, after the Battle of Saul, the Order of the Sword-Bearers was added to the order, reorganized into the Livonian Order. Until 1283, the Order, with the help of German, Polish and other feudal lords, captured the lands of the Prussians, Yotvings, and Western Lithuanians and occupied territories as far as the Neman. The Prussian uprisings of 1242 - 1249, 1260 - 1274 were suppressed. In the occupied territories in the 13th century. A German theocratic feudal state was formed. The capital of the Order was Acre, until it was moved to Venice in 1291. The capital and residence of the grandmaster in 1309 - 1466 was the city of Marienburg. 2/3 of the lands were divided into komturias, 1/3 were under the authority of the bishops of Kulm, Pamed, Semb and Varm. Between 1231 and 1242, 40 stone castles were built. Near the castles (Elbing, Königsberg, Kulm, Thorn) German cities were formed - members of the Hansa.
From 1283, under the pretext of spreading Christianity, the Order began to attack Lithuania. He sought to capture Samogitia and lands from the Neman in order to unite Prussia and Livonia. The strongholds of the Order's aggression were the castles of Ragnit, Christmemel, Bayerburg, Marienburg and Jurgenburg located near the Neman. Velena, Kaunas and Grodno were the centers of Lithuanian defense. Until the beginning of the 14th century. both sides staged small attacks on each other. The largest battles were the Battle of Medininka (1320) and the defense of Pilenai (1336). The devastated Lithuanian lands became the so-called. wild. The Order also attacked Poland. In 1308 - 1309, Eastern Pomerania with Danzig was captured, 1329 - Dobrzyn lands, 1332 - Kuyavia. In 1328, the Livonian Order transferred Memel and its surroundings to the Teutonic Order. In 1343, according to the Treaty of Kalisz, the order returned the occupied lands to Poland (except for Pomerania) and concentrated all its forces on the fight against Lithuania. In 1346, the Order acquired Northern Estonia from Denmark and transferred it to the Livonian Order.
The Order reached its greatest strength in the mid-14th century. during the reign of Winrich von Kniprode (1351 - 1382). The Order made about 70 major campaigns to Lithuania from Prussia and about 30 from Livonia. In 1362 his army destroyed Kaunas Castle, and in 1365 for the first time attacked the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius. In 1348 the great battle of Streva took place. In 1360 - 1380 major campaigns against Lithuania were carried out every year. The Lithuanian army made about 40 retaliatory campaigns between 1345 and 1377, one of which ended in the Battle of Rudava (1370). After the death of Algirdas (1377), the Order instigated a war between his heir Jogaila and Kestutis with his son Vytautas (Vytautas) for the princely throne. Supporting either Vytautas or Jogaila, the Order attacked Lithuania especially strongly in 1383 - 1394, and invaded Vilnius in 1390. For peace with the Order in 1382 Jogaila and in 1384 Vytautas renounced Western Lithuania and Zanemania. The Order strengthened even more, occupying the island of Gotland in 1398 (until 1411) and New Mark in 1402 - 1455. Against the Order’s aggression, Lithuania and Poland concluded the Treaty of Krevo in 1385, which changed the balance of power in the region not in favor of the Order. After the baptism of Lithuania (Aukštaitija) in 1387, the Order lost the formal basis for attacking Lithuania. According to the Treaty of Salina in 1398, Vytautas gave the Order the lands as far as Nevėžis. In 1401, the rebel Samogitians expelled the German knights from their lands, and the Order again began to attack Lithuania. In 1403, Pope Baniface IX forbade the Order to fight with Lithuania. From 1404, according to the Treaty of Rationzh, the Order, together with Poland and Lithuania, ruled Samogitia. In 1409 the Samogitians rebelled. The uprising served as the reason for a new decisive war (1409 - 1410) with Lithuania and Poland. The Order lost the so-called The Great War at the Battle of Grunwald; The Peace of Torun and the Peace of Meln obliged the Order to return Samogitia and part of the lands of the Jotvings (Zanemanje) to Lithuania.
Unsuccessful wars (with Lithuania and Poland in 1414, 1422, with Poland and the Czech Republic in 1431 - 1433) provoked a political and economic crisis; contradictions intensified between members of the Order on the one hand, secular feudal lords and townspeople who were dissatisfied with increased taxes and wanted to participate in government , with another. In 1440, the Prussian League was formed - an organization of secular knights and townspeople that fought against the power of the Order. In February 1454, the union organized an uprising and announced that all Prussian lands would henceforth be under the protection of the Polish king Casimir. Because of this, the Thirteen Years' War of the Order with Poland began. As a result, the Order lost Eastern Pomerania with Danzig, Kulm Land, Mirienburg, Elbing, Warmia - they went to Poland. In 1466 the capital was moved to Königsberg. In this war, Lithuania declared neutrality and missed the chance to liberate the remaining Lithuanian and Prussian lands. In 1470, Grandmaster Heinrich von Richtenberg recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king. The Order's desire to free itself from Polish suzerainty was defeated (because of this, the war of 1521 - 1522 occurred).
In the 20-30s of the 16th century. During the beginning of the Reformation in Germany, Grandmaster Albrecht Hohenzollern and many brothers converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism. He secularized the Teutonic Order, declaring its territory his hereditary principality, which was called Prussia. On April 10, 1525, Albrecht recognized the Polish king Sigismund the Old as his vassal. The Teutonic Order ceased to exist as an independent state. During the Livonian War, the Livonian Order also ceased to exist.
Valeria Werd
Story
27.07.2010
From the translator. For us in Russia, the Teutonic Order is clearly associated with German knights, crusaders, Germany, German expansion to the east, the battle of Prince Alexander Nevsky on Lake Peipsi with the dog knights, and the aggressive aspirations of the Prussians against Russia. The Teutonic Order is a kind of synonym for Germany for us. However, this is not entirely true. The Order and Germany are far from the same thing. The historical essay offered to the reader by Guy Steyr Santi, translated from English with additions made by the translator, traces the history of the Teutonic Order from its inception to the present day. Yes Yes! The order still exists today.
The translator in some places provides explanations about moments little known to the Russian reader, and has provided the text with illustrations, additions and corrections from other historical sources.
Some explanations and information are given before the text of the essay begins. In addition, the translator encountered certain difficulties in translating proper names, names of a number of localities and settlements, and castles. The fact is that these names are very different in English, German, Russian, Polish. Therefore, whenever possible, names and titles are given in translation and in the original language (English) or German, Polish.
First of all, about the name of this organization.
The official name in Latin (since this organization was created as a Catholic religious, and Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church) Fratrum Theutonicorum ecclesiae S. Mariae Hiersolymitanae.
The second official name in Latin is Ordo domus Sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum in Jerusalem
In Russian - Teutonic Order
In German the full name is Bruder und Schwestern vom Deutschen Haus Sankt Mariens in Jerusalem
-the first version of the abbreviated name in German is Der Teutschen Orden
- a common version in German - Der Deutsche Orden.
In English - The Teutonuc Order of Holy Mary in Jerusalem.
In French - de L "Ordre Teutonique our de Sainte Marie de Jerusalem.
In Czech and Polish - Ordo Teutonicus.
The highest leaders in the Order in various circumstances and at various times bore the following names (titles):
Meister. It is translated into Russian as “master”, “leader”, “head”. In Russian historical literature the term "master" is usually used.
Gross Meister. It is translated into Russian as “great master”, “great master”, “supreme leader”, “supreme leader”. In Russian historical literature, the German word itself is usually used in Russian transcription “Grandmaster” or “Grand Master”.
Administratoren des Hochmeisteramptes in Preussen, Meister teutschen Ordens in teutschen und walschen Landen. This long title can be translated as "Administrator of the Chief Magistrate in Prussia, Master of the Teutonic Order in the Teutonic and controlled Lands (Regions)."
Hoch- und Deutschmeister. Can be translated as "High Master and Master of Germany"
Hochmeister. Can be translated into Russian as “Grand Master”, but is more often used in transcription as “Hochmeister”
Other senior leaders in the Order:
Commandeur. In Russian the term “commander” is used, although the essence of this word means “commander”, “commander”.
Capitularies. It is not translated into Russian, it is transcribed as “capitulier”. The essence of the title is the head of the chapter (meeting, conference, commission).
Rathsgebietiger. Can be translated as "member of the Council."
Deutschherrenmeister. It is not translated into Russian. Means roughly "Chief Master of Germany".
Balleimeister. It can be translated into Russian as “master of the estate (possession).”
Other titles in German:
Fuerst. Translated into Russian as "prince", but the word "duke" is often used to denote foreign titles of similar rank.
Kurfuerst. It is translated into Russian as “Grand Duke”, but also in Russian historical literature the words “Archduke”, “Elector” are used.
Koenig. King.
Herzog. Duke
Erzherzog. Archduke
Motto of the Teutonic Order: "Helfen - Wehren - Heilen" (Help-Protect-Heal)
The forerunner of the Order was a hospital founded by German pilgrims and crusader knights between 1120 and 1128, but destroyed after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 during the Second Crusade.
With the arrival two years later of the knights of the Third Crusade (1190-1193), many of whom were Germans, a new hospital was formed near the Syrian fortress of Saint Jean d'Acre for the soldiers who were wounded during the siege. the fortress in Russian historical literature is called Acre, Acre, in English Acre. It was taken by the knights in 1191. The hospital was built on the land of St. Nicholas from planks and sails of ships that transported participants in the campaign to the Holy Land. (The creators of the hospital were chaplain Conrad and Canon Voorchard. Translator's Note) Although this hospital had no connection with the earlier hospital, its example may have inspired them to restore Christian rule in Jerusalem. They adopted the name of the city as part of their name, along with Our Lady Mary, whom they considered The Knights later proclaimed Saint Elizabeth of Hungary as their patron after her canonization in 1235, and, as was the custom of many knights, also proclaimed Saint John as their patron, as the patron of nobility and chivalry.
The new institution with the status of a spiritual order was approved by one of the German knightly leaders, Prince Frederick of Swabia (Furst Frederick von Swabia) on November 19, 1190, and after the capture of the Acre fortress, the founders of the hospital found a permanent place for it in the city.
According to another version, during the 3rd Crusade, when Acre was besieged by the knights, merchants from Lübeck and Bremen founded a field hospital. Duke Frederick of Swabia transformed the hospital into a spiritual Order, headed by Chaplain Conrad. The order was subordinate to the local bishop and was a branch of the Johannite Order.
Pope Clement III established the Order as "fratrum Theutonicorum ecclesiae S. Mariae Hiersolymitanae" by a papal bull of February 6, 1191.
On March 5, 1196, in the temple of Acre, a ceremony was held to reorganize the Order into a spiritual-knightly Order.
The ceremony was attended by the Masters of the Hospitallers and Templars, as well as secular and clergy of Jerusalem. Pope Innocent III confirmed this event with a bull dated February 19, 1199, and defined the tasks of the Order: protecting the German knights, treating the sick, fighting the enemies of the Catholic Church. The Order was subject to the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor.
Over the course of a few years, the Order developed into a Religious Armed Forces comparable to the Order of the Hospitallers and the Order of the Templars (the latter is also known as the Order of the Holy Temple or Templars), although initially it was subordinate to the Master of the Hospital (Der Meister des Lazarettes). This submission was confirmed by a bull of Pope Gregory IX dated January 12, 1240, entitled "fratres hospitalis S. Mariae Theutonicorum in Accon." The Germanic character of this new hospital Order and its protection by the German Emperor and the German Dukes gave it the opportunity to gradually assert its actual independence from the Order of the Johannites (translator's note - also known as the Hospitallers). The first imperial decree came from the German king Otto IV, who took the Order under his protection on May 10, 1213, and this was followed almost immediately by further confirmation by King Frederick II of Jerusalem on September 5, 1214. These imperial confirmations strengthened the independence of the Teutonic Knights from the Hospitallers. In the mid-fourteenth century this independence was confirmed by the Papal See.
Approximately forty knights were accepted into the new Order at its founding by King Frederick of Swabia of Jerusalem (Frederick von Swabia), who chose their first Master on behalf of the Pope and Emperor. (From the translator. The picture shows the coat of arms of the Master of the Order). Knights of the new brotherhood were required to be of German blood (although this rule was not always observed), which was unusual for the Crusader Orders based in the Holy Land. They were chosen from among the noble class, although this latter obligation was not formally included in the rule initially. Their uniform was a blue mantle (cloak), with a black Latin cross, worn over a white tunic, recognized by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and confirmed by the Pope in 1211. (From the translator. - In the picture there is a Latin cross worn by the knights of the Teutonic Order on their cloaks)
The waves of German knights and pilgrims who participated in the Third Crusade brought significant wealth to the new German Hospital as newcomers. This enabled the knights to acquire the Joscelin estate and soon build the fortress of Montfort (lost in 1271), a rival to the great fortress of Krak des Chevaliers. Not so numerous in the Holy Land compared to the Templars, the Teutonic Knights nevertheless possessed enormous power.
The first Master of the Order, Heinrich von Walpot (died 1200), was from the Rhineland. He drew up the first statutes of the Order in 1199, which were approved by Pope Innocent III in the bull "Sacrosancta romana" of February 19, 1199. They divided the members into two classes: knights and priests, who were required to take three monastic vows - poverty, celibacy and obedience - as well as promise to help the sick and fight unbelievers. Unlike knights, who from the beginning of the thirteenth century had to prove "ancient nobility", priests were exempt from this obligation. Their function was to celebrate Holy Mass and other religious services, to give communion to knights and the sick in hospitals and to follow them as doctors to war. Priests of the Order could not become masters, commanders or vice-commanders in Lithuania or Prussia (i.e. where the fighting took place. Translator's note), but could become commanders in Germany. Later a third class was added to these two ranks - service personnel (Sergeants, or Graumantler), who wore similar clothing, but in a grayer shade than pure blue and had only three parts of the cross on their clothing to indicate that they were not full members brotherhood.
The knights lived together in bedrooms on simple beds, ate together in the dining room, and had no more than enough money. Their clothing and armor were similarly simple but practical, and they worked daily to train for battle, maintain their equipment, and work with their horses. The Master - the title of Grand Master appeared later - was elected, as in the Order of the Johannites, and as in other Orders his rights were limited to the knights. The master's representative, the (chief) commander, to whom the priests were subordinate, governed the Order in his absence. The marshal (chief), also subordinate to the master, was the superior officer in command of the knights and regular troops, and was responsible for ensuring that they were properly equipped. The hospitalier (chief) was responsible for the sick and wounded, the drapier was responsible for construction and clothing, the treasurer managed property and finances. Each of these latter leaders was elected for a short term, changing annually. As the Order spread throughout Europe, it became necessary to appoint provincial masters for Germany, Prussia and later Livonia with corresponding chief leaders.
Walpot was succeeded by Otto von Kerpen from Bremen and the third was Herman Bart from Holstein, which suggests that the knights of the Order came from all over Germany. The most prominent early master was the fourth, Herman von Salza (1209-1239) from near Meissen, who greatly strengthened the prestige of the Order with his diplomatic measures. His mediation in conflicts between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor ensured the Order the patronage of both, increasing the number of knights, giving it wealth and property. During his administration the Order received no less than thirty-two Papal confirmations or grants of privileges and no less than thirteen Imperial confirmations. Master Salz's influence extended from Slovenia (then Styria), through Saxony (Thuringia), Hesse, Franconia, Bavaria and Tyrol, with castles in Prague and Vienna. There were also possessions on the borders of the Byzantine Empire, in Greece and in present-day Romania. By the time of his death, the Order's influence extended from the Netherlands in the north to the west of the Holy Roman Empire, southwest to France, Switzerland, further south to Spain and Sicily, and east to Prussia. Salz received a golden cross from the King of Jerusalem as a sign of his supremacy, following the outstanding conduct of the knights at the siege of Damietta in 1219.
By imperial decree of January 23, 1214, the grandmaster and his representatives were given the rights of the Imperial Court; as owners of direct fiefs, they enjoyed a seat on the Imperial Council with princely rank from 1226/27. The princely rank was subsequently awarded to the Master of Germany and, after the loss of Prussia, to the Master of Livonia.
The presence of the Order in medieval Europe enabled it to play a significant role in local political events. Despite the restriction of affiliation with the German aristocracy, German rule extended into Italy, and especially into Sicily under the German kings Henry VI and Frederick II Barbarossa, who established convents of the Order in places distant from Germany. Sicily was ruled by the Saracens until its conquest by the Norman Hauteville dynasty, but with the collapse of that dynasty it came under the rule of the German dukes.
The first Teutonic hospital of St. Thomas in Sicily was confirmed by the German Emperor Henry VI in 1197, and in the same year the Emperor and Empress granted the knights' request for possession of the Church of Santa Trinita in Palermo.
The Teutonic Knights initially established themselves in Eastern Europe in 1211 after King Andrew of Hungary invited the knights to station themselves on the Transylvanian border. The warlike Huns (Pechenegs), who also plagued the Byzantine Empire in the south, were a constant threat, and the Hungarians hoped that the knights would provide support against them. King Andrew granted them significant autonomy in the lands for Christian missionary work, but considered their excessive demands for greater independence unacceptable, and in 1225 he demanded that the knights leave his lands.
In 1217, Pope Honorius III declared a crusade against the Prussian pagans. The lands of the Polish prince Conrad of Masovia were overrun by these barbarians and in 1225, desperate for help, he asked the Teutonic Knights to come to his aid. He promised the master the possession of the cities of Culm and Dobrzin, which the master of Salza accepted on the condition that the knights could retain any Prussian territories captured by the Order.
Granted by the Holy Roman Emperor to the masters of the order, the Royal Rank in 1226/27 in the Golden Bull gave the knights sovereignty over any lands they captured and fixed as direct fiefs of the empire.
In 1230, the Order built Neshava Castle on Kulm land, where 100 knights were stationed, who began to attack the Prussian tribes. Between 1231 and 1242, 40 stone castles were built. Near the castles (Elbing, Königsberg, Kulm, Thorn) German cities - members of the Hansa - were formed. Until 1283, the Order, with the help of German, Polish and other feudal lords, captured the lands of the Prussians, Yotvings, and Western Lithuanians and occupied territories as far as the Neman. The war to drive out the pagan tribes from Prussia alone continued for fifty years. The war was started by a detachment of crusaders, led by Landmaster Hermann von Balck. In 1230 the detachment settled in the Masurian castle of Nieszawa and its surroundings. In 1231, the knights crossed to the right bank of the Vistula and broke the resistance of the Prussian Pemeden tribe, built the castles of Thorn (Torun) (1231) and Kulm (Chelmen, Kholm, Chelmno) (1232) and until 1234 fortified themselves on the Kulm land. From there, the Order began to attack neighboring Prussian lands. In the summer, the crusaders tried to devastate the captured area, defeat the Prussians in the open field, occupy and destroy their castles, and also build their own in strategically important places. When winter approached, the knights returned home and left their garrisons in the built castles. The Prussian tribes defended themselves individually, sometimes united (during the uprisings of 1242 - 1249 and 1260 - 1274), but they never managed to free themselves from the rule of the Order. In 1233 - 1237 the crusaders conquered the lands of the Pamedens, in 1237 - the Pagudens. In 1238 they occupied the Prussian stronghold of Honeda and built Balgu Castle in its place. Near it, in 1240, the united army of the Warm, Notang and Bart Prussians was defeated. In 1241, the Prussians of these lands recognized the power of the Teutonic Order.
The new campaign of the knights was caused by the Prussian uprising of 1242 - 1249. The uprising occurred due to violations by the Order of the treaty, according to which representatives of the Prussians had the right to take part in managing the affairs of the lands. The rebels entered into an alliance with the East Pomeranian prince Świętopelk. The allies liberated part of Bartia, Notangia, Pagudia, devastated the Kulm land, but were unable to take the castles of Thorn, Kulm, and Reden. Having been defeated several times, Świętopelk concluded a truce with the Order. On June 15, 1243, the rebels defeated the crusaders at the Osa (a tributary of the Vistula). About 400 soldiers died, including the marshal. At the Council of 1245 in Lyon, representatives of the rebels demanded that the Catholic Church stop supporting the Order. However, the church did not listen to them, and already in 1247 a huge army of knights of various Orders arrived in Prussia. At the request of the Pope, Świętopelk concluded peace with the Order on November 24, 1248.
On February 7, 1249, the Order (represented by assistant grandmaster Heinrich von Wiede) and the Prussian rebels entered into an agreement at Christburg Castle. The mediator was the Archdeacon of Lezh, Jacob, with the approval of the Pope. The agreement stated that the Pope would grant freedom and the right to become priests to the Prussians who had converted to Christianity. Baptized Prussian feudal lords could become knights. Baptized Prussians were given the right to inherit, acquire, change and bequeath their movable and immovable property. Real estate could only be sold to peers - Prussians, Germans, Pomeranians, but it was necessary to leave a deposit for the Order so that the seller would not run away to the pagans or other enemies of the Order. If a Prussian had no heirs, his land became the property of the Order or the feudal lord on whose land he lived. The Prussians received the right to sue and be defendants. Only a church marriage was considered a legal marriage, and only one born from this marriage could become an heir. The Pamedens promised in 1249 to build 13 Catholic churches, the Varmas - 6, the Notangs - 3. They also pledged to provide each church with 8 ubes of land, pay tithes, and baptize their compatriots within a month. Parents who did not baptize their child should have their property confiscated, and unbaptized adults should be expelled from places where Christians live. The Prussians promised not to conclude treaties against the Order and to participate in all its campaigns. The rights and freedoms of the Prussians were to last until the Prussians violated their obligations.
After the suppression of the uprising, the crusaders continued to attack the Prussians. The Prussian uprising of 1260 - 1274 was also suppressed. Although on November 30 at Kryukai the Prussians defeated the crusaders (54 knights died), until 1252 - 1253 the resistance of the Warm, Notang and Bart Prussians was broken. In 1252 - 1253 the crusaders began to attack the Sembians.
The largest campaign against them under the command of Přemysl II Otakar took place in 1255. During the campaign, on the site of the Semb town of Tvankste (Tvangeste), the knights built the Königsberg fortress, around which the city soon grew.
Until 1257, all the lands of the Sembians were captured, and ten years later - the whole of Prussia. Soon the Great Prussian Uprising broke out, and wars with Western Lithuanians continued. The strengthening of the Order's power in northeastern Europe continued for one hundred and sixty years before the start of the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. This crusade was very costly for the peoples and took the lives of thousands of knights and soldiers.
The merger of the Teutonic Order with the Knights of the Sword (or Knights of Christ as they were sometimes called) in 1237 was of great significance. The Knights of the Sword were smaller in number, but they were more of a military brotherhood, founded in Livonia in 1202. The founder of the Order of the Swordsmen is Bishop Albert von Appeldern of Riga. The official name of the Order is "Brothers of Christ's Knighthood" (Fratres militiae Christi). The Order was guided by the laws of the Templar Order. Members of the Order were divided into knights, priests and servants. Knights most often came from families of small feudal lords (most of them were from Saxony). Their uniform is a white cloak with a red cross and sword. Servants (squires, artisans, servants, messengers) were from free people and townspeople. The head of the order was the master; the most important affairs of the order were decided by the chapter. The first master of the order was Winno von Rohrbach (1202 - 1208), the second and last was Folkwin von Winterstatten (1208 - 1236). The Swordsmen built castles in the occupied territories. The castle was the center of an administrative division - castelatury. According to the agreement of 1207, 2/3 of the captured lands remained under the rule of the Order, the rest was transferred to the bishops of Riga, Ezel, Dorpat and Courland.
They were initially subordinate to the Archbishop of Riga, but, with the unification of Livonia and Estonia, which they ruled as sovereign states, they became quite independent. The disastrous defeat they suffered at the Battle of Sauler on 22 September 1236, when they lost about a third of their knights, including their master, left them in an uncertain position.
The remnants of the Swordsmen were annexed to the Teutonic Order in 1237, and its branch in Livonia was called the Livonian Order. The official name is the Order of St. Mary of the German House in Livonia (Ordo domus sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum in Livonia). Sometimes the knights of the Livonian Order are called Livonian crusaders. At first, the Livonian Order was closely connected with the center in Prussia. Union with the Teutonic Order ensured their survival, and henceforth they had the status of a semi-autonomous region. The new Master of Livonia now became the Provincial Master of the Teutonic Order, and the united knights adopted the Teutonic insignia.
The earliest Livonian knights came mainly from the south of Germany. But, after joining with the Teutonic Order, the Livonian knights increasingly came from areas in which the Teutonic knights had a significant presence, mainly from Westphalia. There were virtually no knights from local families, and most of the knights served in the East, spending several years there before returning to the Order's castles in Germany, Prussia, or before the loss of Acre in Palestine. It was only from the mid-fourteenth century that it became generally accepted to appoint a Master of Livonia when the rule of the Teutonic Order was more settled and service there became less onerous. However, by the middle of the 15th century, a struggle began within the Livonian Order between supporters of the Teutonic Order (the so-called Rhine Party) and supporters of independence (the Westphalian Party). When the Westphalian Party won, the Livonian Order practically became independent of the Teutonic Order.
Master Salza died after these campaigns and was buried at Barletta, in Apulia; and his short-lived successor Conrad Landgraf von Thuringen commanded the knights in Prussia and died three months later after receiving terrible wounds at the battle of Whalstadt (April 9, 1241) after only one year as master.
The reign of the fifth Master was short-lived, but his successor Heinrich von Hohenlohe (1244-1253) ruled the Order very successfully, receiving confirmation from the Holy Roman Emperor in 1245 of the possession of Livonia, Courland and Samogitia. Under Master Hohenlohe, the knights received a number of privileges regulating the rule and exclusive use of possessions in Prussia.
He also built the Order's castle Marienburg (Malbork, Mergentheim, Marienthal) the order's capital in West Prussia, which he and his colleague conquered for the Order in 1219. In accordance with the grant of August 20, 1250, Saint Louis IX of France granted four gold "fleurs lys" to be placed at each extreme point of the Master's Cross.
Under the eighth Master Popon von Osterna (1253-1262), the Order significantly strengthened its rule in Prussia, establishing rule over Sambia. The process of resettlement of peasants from Germany to Prussia accelerated after the Order created a more orderly administrative division of its lands and appointed feudal stewards from among the knights for each administrative unit.
Under the next master Annon von Sangershausen (1262-1274), the privileges of the Order were confirmed by Emperor Rudolf Habsburg, and in addition, the knights were allowed by the Pope to retain their possessions and property after the end of their service. This was an important privilege because it ensured that the lands were replenished by sedentary knights, who had previously been unable to alienate property due to their vows. They were also allowed to engage directly in trade, previously prohibited by their vow of poverty. Another privilege of 1263 secured them a valuable monopoly of the grain trade in Prussia.
The Order did not adhere to the Peace of Christburg with the Prussians. This provoked an uprising that began on September 20, 1260. It quickly spread to all Prussian lands except Pamedia. The uprising was led by local leaders: in Bartia - Divonis Lokis, in Pagudia - Auktuma, in Sembia - Glandas, in Warmia - Glapas, the most prominent was the leader of Notangia Hercus Mantas. In 1260 - 1264 the initiative was in the hands of the rebels: they set fire to German estates, churches, and castles of the Order. On January 22, 1261, the troops of Hercus Mantas defeated the army of the Order near Königsberg. The rebels occupied a number of small castles, but were unable to capture the strategically important Thorn, Königsberg, Kulm, Balga, and Elbing. In the summer of 1262, the Lithuanian troops of Treneta and Šwarnas attacked Mazovia, an ally of the Order, and the land of Kulma and Pamedia that remained under the rule of the Order. In the spring of 1262, near Lyubava, Herkus Mantas defeated the crusaders. Since 1263, the rebels no longer received help from Lithuania, since internecine wars began there. But from 1265 the Order began to receive help from Germany - many knights rode to protect the crusaders. Before 1270, the Order suppressed the uprising in Sembia, where some of the Prussian feudal lords went over to the side of the crusaders. In 1271, the Barts and Pageduns defeated the army of the Order at the Zirguny River (12 knights and 500 warriors were killed). In 1272 - 1273 the Yotvings under the command of Skomantas plundered the Kulm land. Exhausted by the long uprising, the Prussians could no longer resist the soldiers of the Order, which were replenished every day. The uprising lasted the longest, until 1274, in Pagudiya.
By the end of the thirteenth century, with the capture of a compactly located large territory of Prussia, the Teutonic Order actually became a state, although its vast possessions were also found throughout Europe.
After the death of the tenth Master Hartman von Heldrungen in 1283, the Order was firmly entrenched in Prussia, having a huge number of subjects from among the converted Christians. Moving eastward, the knights built many castles and fortresses, which required good garrisons and maintenance. This became an increasingly burdensome burden on the civilian population (mostly peasants) who needed men to work their fields and farms. Numerous duties (construction and maintenance of castles) distracted young people from working on the land. Their participation as foot soldiers in numerous campaigns of knights led to catastrophic losses among the common population. This led to frequent uprisings against the rule of the knights. For the uprisings, the knights turned the Lithuanians into slaves or subjected them to terrible executions. The enslavement of pagan prisoners by knights was considered completely acceptable, because... non-Christians were not seen as people with rights. These slaves were then used to supplement the local labor force, and often, instead of paying for work, soldiering, or providing land, German peasants were settled with prisoners. By enslaving Lithuanian prisoners, they received many of the necessary physical laborers, but with their adoption of Christianity, this opportunity to replenish free labor was lost, and the Order could no longer pay the soldiers for their service and the peasants for their supplies of food.
While the Teutonic Knights fulfilled their main role in the Christianization of northeastern Europe, they began to pay little attention to its southeastern borders. In the second quarter of the thirteenth century, Europe faced the horror of the threat of Mongol invasion. Their spread westward from their barren homeland between China and Russia was terrible for those caught in their path. They had no respect for the civilians, who suffered terribly from them. They destroyed cities, stole livestock, killed men, and raped or killed women. In 1240 they besieged and destroyed the magnificent city of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and from there they moved towards Poland and Hungary. The Teutonic Knights could not pay due attention to this struggle even when in 1260, in alliance with the Russian Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, the Order decided to defeat the Mongol hordes. Unfortunately, throughout Eastern Europe their rule meant that the knights were often forced to deal with revolts in their lands, especially in Prussia. Each time a crusade was declared against the Mongols, the knights had to return to defend their own territories from internal rebellion or Lithuanian persecution.
Together with other crusaders and Christian kingdoms during the next crusade in the Holy Land, the knights of the Order suffered huge losses at the battle of Sephet in 1265, defending the monastery of Montfort. Even after making peace with the Templars and Hospitallers - with whom they had often quarreled during the previous half century - the Order's position did not improve.
In 1291, after the loss of the fortress of Acre, which until then could be considered the capital of the Order, the knights retreated first to the island of Cyprus and then to Venice, where they recruited a small group of Italian knights in their commandery of Santa Trinita, which temporarily until 1309 year became the main capital of the Order. Then the residence of the Grand Master moves to Marienburg Castle (Malbork, Mergentheim, Marienthal, Marienburg) in West Prussia, built back in 1219. 2/3 of the lands were divided into komturias, 1/3 were under the authority of the bishops of Kulm, Pamed, Semb and Varm. Their master, Conrad von Feuchtwangen, who had previously been a provincial master in Prussia and Livonia, was fortunately in Acre when he was elected and was able to demonstrate his general abilities to his fellow knights by fighting the barbarians of Prussia. These efforts proved insufficient. He combined them with his wanderings and spent his last years trying to extinguish the discord between the provincial owners, which determined the partitions of later years.
After his death in 1297, the Order was led by Godfrey von Hohenlohe, whose reign was marred by quarrels among his subordinates, while the struggle against the pagans extended into Lithuania.
From 1283, to spread Christianity, the Order began to attack Lithuania. He sought to capture Samogitia and lands from the Neman in order to unite Prussia and Livonia. The strongholds of the Order were the castles of Ragnit, Christmemel, Bayerburg, Marienburg and Jurgenburg located near the Neman. Until the beginning of the 14th century. both sides staged small attacks on each other. The largest battles were the Battle of Medininka (1320) and the defense of the city of Pilenai (1336).
The Battle of Medinik took place on July 27, 1320. The Order's army consisted of 40 knights, the Memel garrison and the conquered Prussians. The army was commanded by Marshal Heinrich Plock. The army attacked the Medinin lands and some of the crusaders went to plunder the surrounding area. At this time, the Samogitians unexpectedly struck the main forces of the enemy. The marshal, 29 knights, and many Prussians died. The Order did not attack the Medinin lands until the truce with Gediminas was concluded in 1324 - 1328.
Defense of the city of Pilenai. In February 1336, the Lithuanians defended themselves against the crusaders and their allies at Pilenai Castle. Pilenai is often identified with the Puna settlement, but most likely it was in the lower reaches of the Neman. On February 24, the crusaders and their allies surrounded Pilenai. The army was commanded by Grandmaster Dietrich von Altenburg. According to the chronicle of the crusaders, there were 4,000 people in the castle, led by Prince Margiris. A fire started. After a few days, the defenders of the castle were no longer able to defend themselves. They made a fire, threw all their property there, then killed the children, the sick and wounded, threw them into the fire and died themselves. Margiris stabbed himself in the basement, after stabbing his wife. The castle burned down. The crusaders and their allies returned to Prussia.
The Order also attacked Poland. In 1308 - 1309, Eastern Pomerania with Danzig was captured, 1329 - Dobrzyn lands, 1332 - Kuyavia. In 1328, the Livonian Order handed over Memel and its surroundings to the Teutons. The crusade to Christianize Eastern Europe was complicated by some of the local rulers, especially the kings of Poland, who feared the power of the Order, and in 1325 Poland entered into an alliance directly with the pagan Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas.
In 1343, according to the Treaty of Kalisz, the Order returned the occupied lands to Poland (except for Pomerania) and concentrated all its forces on the fight against Lithuania. In 1346, the Order acquired Northern Estonia from Denmark and transferred it to the Livonian Order. Fortunately, in 1343 Poland and the Order were in equal strength and while the Lithuanians resumed the fight against the Order with all the forces at their disposal, the knights were ready.
On February 2, 1348, a battle took place near the Streva River between the crusaders and Lithuanians. The army of the Order (the number of warriors, according to various sources, ranges from 800 to 40,000 people) under the command of Grand Marshal Siegfried von Dachenfeld invaded Aukštaitija on January 24 and plundered it. When the crusaders were returning, they were attacked by the Lithuanians. With a quick counterattack, the Order's army forced the Lithuanians to retreat along the ice-bound Streva River. Many Lithuanians died. After the unsuccessful campaign in Lithuania in 1345, this victory raised the morale of the crusaders.
The Order reached its greatest strength in the mid-14th century. during the reign of Winrich von Kniprode (1351 - 1382). The Order made about 70 major campaigns to Lithuania from Prussia and about 30 from Livonia. In 1362 his army destroyed Kaunas Castle, and in 1365 for the first time attacked the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius.
In 1360 - 1380 major campaigns against Lithuania were carried out every year. The Lithuanian army made about 40 retaliatory campaigns between 1345 and 1377. One of them ended with the Battle of Rudau (Rudau) in Sambia on February 17, 1370, when the commanded Lithuanian army under the command of Algirdas and Kestutis occupied the castle of Rudau (Soviet Melnikov, 18 km north of Kaliningrad). The next day, the army of the Teutonic Order under the command of Grandmaster Winrich von Kniprode approached the castle. According to the chronicles of the Crusaders, the Lithuanians were completely defeated (the number of dead ranges from 1000 to 3500 people). The Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd with seventy thousand Lithuanians, Samogites, Russians and Tatars were completely defeated in this battle. The number of dead crusaders is indicated from 176 to 300, 26 knights died along with Grand Marshal Heinrich von Schindekopf and two commanders. True, some historians believe that the Lithuanians won, since the chronicle is silent about the course of the battle and prominent crusaders died in the battle. According to other sources, Algerd lost more than eleven thousand killed along with his standard, while the Order lost twenty-six commanders, two hundred knights and several thousand soldiers.
After the death of the Lithuanian prince Algirdas (1377), the Order incited a war between his heir Jogaila and Kestutis with his son Vytautas (Vytautas) for the princely throne. Supporting either Vytautas or Jogaila, the Order attacked Lithuania especially strongly in 1383 - 1394, and invaded Vilnius in 1390. For peace with the Order in 1382 Jogaila and in 1384 Vytautas renounced Western Lithuania and Zanemania. The Order strengthened even more, occupying the island of Gotland in 1398 (until 1411) and New Mark in 1402 - 1455. They gradually destroyed the areas ruled by the Grand Duke of Lithuania, taking them under their own control.
In 1385, Lithuania and Poland concluded the Treaty of Krevo against the Order, which changed the balance of forces in the region not in favor of the Order. In 1386, Algierd's heir, Jagiellon, married Hedwig, heiress of Poland, took the name Wladislav and Christianized the Lithuanians, thus uniting the two royal powers. After the baptism of Lithuania (Aukštaitija) in 1387, the Order lost the formal basis for attacking Lithuania.
On October 12, 1398, Grand Duke Vytautas and Grandmaster Konrad von Jungingen concluded the Treaty of Salina on the island of Salina (at the mouth of Nevėžis). Vytautas wanted to calmly seize Russian lands, which he had already succeeded in, capturing part of the Black Sea coast. In addition, he did not recognize the suzerainty of Poland and was afraid of the pretender to the throne, Švitrigaila, who sought help from the Order. In exchange for the fact that the Order would not support them, Vytautas gave him Samogitia to Nevėžis and half of Suduva. The treaty ceased to operate in 1409 - 1410.
In 1401, the rebel Samogitians expelled the German knights from their lands, and the Order again began to attack Lithuania. In 1403, Pope Baniface IX forbade the Order to fight with Lithuania.
On May 23, 1404, the Polish King Jagiello and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas entered into an agreement with Grandmaster Konrad von Jungingen on the Vistula Island near the Rationzek Castle. He ended the war of 1401 - 1403 between the Order and Lithuania. Poland received the right to return the Dobrzyn land, the border with Lithuania remained the same as it was after the Treaty of Salina. The Order renounced its claims to Lithuanian lands and Novgorod. During the lull in the wars with the order, Lithuania captured more and more Russian lands (in July 1404, Vytautas took Smolensk).
Poland was now at the apogee of its power. Christianity was firmly established in Eastern Europe, which threatened the very existence of the Teutonic Knights, because With the Christianization of this part of Europe, the meaning of the missionary activities of the order was lost. (From the translator. - Events on the borders of the possessions of the Order and Poland at the end of the fourteenth - beginning of the fifteenth century are well described in G. Sienkiewicz’s novel “The Crusaders”).
After the unification of Lithuania and Poland, the Teutonic Knights soon lost the support of the church and neighboring duchies. Conflicts with the Archbishop of Riga worsened relations with the church in the first half of the century. These divisions intensified as the Order's mission to baptize pagans was exhausted.
The transformation of Lithuania's rule secured the latter's support from the Pope, who ordered the knights to reach a settlement. Disputes between the knights and the new Polish-Lithuanian alliance increased, however, the knights even found themselves involved in the war between two other Christian states, Denmark and Sweden.
A temporary peace signed in favor of the Order in 1404 led to the sale of the towns of Dobrzin and Ziotor by the Polish king, but although the Order's wealth was never greater, this was its last success. From 1404, according to the Treaty of Rationzh, the Order, together with Poland and Lithuania, ruled Samogitia.
The Order now alone ruled a vast region with two million one hundred and forty thousand inhabitants of Prussia, but even the German ducal houses were offended by it, and it was afraid of its neighbors, since the Polish state became more centralized and sought convenient access to the Baltic Sea. The Order turned to Germany and the Emperor of Austria for support, and conflict was inevitable.
In 1409 the Samogitians rebelled. The uprising served as the reason for a new decisive war (1409 - 1410) with Lithuania and Poland. Lithuania and Poland were strengthened and prepared to resume the fight. Despite the interventions undertaken by the kings of Bohemia and Hungary, Jagellon (Wladislav) was able to amass a vast force of approximately 160,000 men. These included Russians, Samogites, Hungarians, Silesian and Czech mercenaries along with the forces of the Duke of Mecklenburg and the Duke of Pomerania (also the Duke of Stettin, who shared a border with the Order). The Knights, with only 83,000 men, were outnumbered two to one. Despite this, the Battle of Tanenberg (Battle of Grunwald) took place on July 15, 1410. At the beginning of the battle, the knights were successful, destroying the right wing of the Lithuanian forces, but they were gradually pushed back. When their brave grandmaster Ulrich von Jungingen was struck down in the center of the battle, dying from wounds in his chest and back, the battle was lost. In addition to their leader, they lost two hundred knights and about forty thousand soldiers, including the commander-in-chief Conrad von Liechtenstein, Marshal Friedrich von Wallenrod, and many commanders and officers, while Poland lost sixty thousand killed. The Order lost the so-called The Great War in the Battle of Grunwald. The Peace of Torun and the Peace of Meln obliged the Order to return Samogitia and part of the lands of the Jotvings (Zanemanje) to Lithuania.
The Order might have been completely crushed if not for Schwerz's commander Heinrich (Reuss) von Plauen, who had been sent to defend Pomerania and now quickly returned to bolster the defenses in Marienburg. He was quickly elected vice-grandmaster and the fortress was preserved.
Plauen was now elected grandmaster and in Torun, concluded an agreement with the king of Poland on February 1, 1411, ratified by a Papal Bull a year later. The agreement returned the parties all their territories, with the condition that Samogitia would be ruled by the King of Poland and his cousin Vytautas (Witold), Grand Duke of Lithuania (now a Polish vassal) during their lives, after which they would be returned to the knights. It also required both sides to try to convert their remaining pagans to Christianity.
Unfortunately, the Polish king immediately refused to fulfill his promise to release the order's prisoners - whose number exceeded the number of those captured by the knights - and demanded a huge ransom of 50,000 florins. This foreshadowed further deterioration in the relationship; Poland sought to eliminate the knightly threat to its borders.
On September 27, 1422, near Lake Mölln in the camp of Lithuanian and Polish troops, a peace treaty was concluded between Lithuania and Poland on the one hand and the Teutonic Order on the other after the unsuccessful war of 1422 for the Order. During the Hussite movement in the Czech Republic, Emperor Zygmant was unable to help the Order, and the allies forced him to agree to a peace treaty. The Order finally renounced Zanemania, Samogitia, Neshava lands and Pomerania. The lands on the right bank of the Neman, the Memel region, the Polish seaside, the Kulm and Mikhalav lands remained in the possession of the Order. Zygmant confirmed the agreement on March 30, 1423, in exchange for which Poland and Lithuania pledged not to support the Hussites. This agreement ended the Order's wars with Lithuania. But the agreement, which came into force on June 7, 1424, did not satisfy either party: Lithuania was losing western Lithuanian lands, the Teutonic and Livonian orders divided the territory between Palanga and Sventoji. These borders remained in place until the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
Numerous negotiations and agreements failed to reach a compromise, while much smaller conflicts gradually reduced the Order's territories. The Order was somewhat relieved by discord among members of the Polish royal family over who should rule in Lithuania, but this issue was resolved between them after four years in 1434.
Wladislav III, who succeeded in the same year, acquired the Hungarian throne in 1440, becoming the dominant power in the region.
Casimir IV, who became king in 1444, made one of his sons his heir and acquired the throne of Bohemia (Czech Republic) for another. The great problem facing Polish royalty, and which ultimately led to the limitation of the power of the eighteenth-century monarchy, was how to balance the great magnates with their vast privileges; what they need to promise to ensure their loyalty. This inherent weakness was skillfully exploited by the knights and delayed their eventual defeat.
Unsuccessful wars (with Lithuania and Poland in 1414, 1422, with Poland and the Czech Republic in 1431 - 1433) provoked a political and economic crisis; contradictions intensified between members of the Order on the one hand, secular feudal lords and townspeople who were dissatisfied with increasing taxes and wanted to participate in government , with another. In 1440, the Prussian League was formed - an organization of secular knights and townspeople that fought against the power of the Order. In February 1454, the union organized an uprising and announced that all Prussian lands would henceforth be under the protection of the Polish king Casimir. Meanwhile, the Prussians themselves rebelled against the power of the Order, and in 1454 war broke out once again. It was a conflict that the knights could not extinguish without outside support.
The Thirteen Years' War of the Order with Poland began. With the weakening of the Teutonic Order after the Battle of Gruewald, the desire of the cities and petty knighthood of Pomerania and Prussia to overthrow the power of the Order intensified. Within a few weeks, the forces of the Prussian Union captured the most important cities and castles of Prussia and Pomerania. However, the war that began became protracted. The Order skillfully used the financial difficulties of the Polish king and received support from Denmark, which feared the establishment of Poland in the Baltic Sea. Despite stubborn resistance, the Order was defeated. The war ended with the Peace of Torun. Peace between Casimir IV and Grandmaster Ludwig von Erlichshausen was concluded on October 19, 1466 in Thorn.
As a result, the Order lost Eastern Pomerania with Danzig, Kulm Land, Mirienburg, Elbing, Warmia - they went to Poland. In 1466 the capital was moved to Königsberg. In this war, Lithuania declared neutrality and missed the chance to liberate the remaining Lithuanian and Prussian lands. Finally, in accordance with the agreement of Torun of October 19, 1466 between the Order and Poland, the knights agreed to give the Poles Kulm (Chlumec), their first possession in Prussia, together with the eastern part of Prussia, Michalow, Pomerania ) (including the port of Danzig) and the capital of the Order, Fortress Marienburg (Marienburg).
From October 1466, the Teutonic Order as a state became a vassal of the Polish crown.
In 1470, Grandmaster Heinrich von Richtenberg recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king.
After the loss of Marienburg, the capital of the Order moves to Königsberg Castle in East Prussia. Although they retained approximately sixty cities and fortresses, the Grand Master had to acknowledge the Polish king as his feudal overlord and acknowledge himself as a vassal, although the Grand Master simultaneously held the title of Emperor, nominal overlord of Prussia, and Prince of the Austrian Empire. The Grandmaster was recognized as a prince and a member of the Royal Council of Poland. The Grand Master confirmed the Papal authority in spiritual matters, but achieved the condition that no part of the agreement could be annulled by the Pope, which violated Catholic church law because religious orders are subordinate to the Holy See. The power of the knights was now under mortal threat.
The next four Grand Masters, the thirty-first to thirty-fourth in succession, were unable to prevent further conflicts with Poland, although some of the territories that had previously been lost were returned. In 1498, they elected as the thirty-fifth Grand Master Prince Friedrich of Saxony, the third son of Albert the Brave, Duke of Saxony, whose older brother George married the sister of the King of Poland. By choosing the throne of one of the largest royal houses in Germany, the knights hoped to maintain their position through negotiations, especially over the controversial issue of whether they should consider themselves vassals of the Polish state.
The new grandmaster petitioned the imperial court, which decided that the Polish king could not interfere with the grandmaster's free exercise of his power in Prussia. Frederick's tactics were aided by the frequent change of Polish kings (three changed) between 1498 and his death in 1510.
The choice of a prince from a large royal family turned out to be so successful that the knights decided to repeat it. This time their choice turned out to be a disastrous mistake. On February 13, 1511, they elected Margrave Albrecht von Hohenzollern (Brandenburg). Like his predecessor, Albert refused to obey the Polish king Sigismond (Sigismund), but was rebuked by the Emperor Maximilian of Austria, who, by agreement of 1515 with Sigismund, demanded that the Order fulfill the agreements of 1467. Albert still refused to submit to Sigismund, and instead signed a treaty of mutual defense with Tsar Basil III of Russia. In return for issuing Neumarck to Brandenburg for the sum of 40,000 florins, Albert was also able to guarantee support for the Joachim estate. In accordance with the Treaty of Torun of April 7, 1521, he agreed that the question of Poland's authority over the Order would be submitted to arbitration, but events caused by Luther's heresy derailed the trial and it never took place. The Order's desire to free itself from Polish suzerainty was defeated (because of this, the war of 1521 - 1522 occurred).
Martin Luther's challenge to the established spiritual order led to further losses of military and political power by the Order. Luther on March 28, 1523 called on knights to break their oaths and take wives. The Bishop of Sambia, who held the administrative posts of Regent and Chief Chancellor of Prussia, was the first to renounce his vows and on Christmas Day 1523 delivered a sermon inviting the knights to imitate him. On Easter he celebrated a new rite, which caused great damage to the Catholic faith in which he was raised and ordained as a pastor. Grandmaster Albrecht von Hohenzollern initially stood aside, but, by July 1524, decided to renounce his vows, married and transformed Prussia into a duchy with his own rule.
In July 1524, under Grand Master Margrave Albrecht von Hohenzollern of Brandenburg, the Teutonic Order ceased to exist as a state, but remained a powerful religious and secular organization with large possessions. The Order loses its most important possession - Prussia and the knights are forced to leave these lands forever.
(From the translator. - How similar this is to what happened in the USSR in the late eighties - early nineties of the 20th century. The top leaders of the Communist Party, who were supposed to be the guardians and defenders of communist ideology, were the first to betray it, both for self-interest and for their personal the authorities destroyed the state)
After the Treaty of Krakow on April 10, 1525, Albrecht converted to Lutheranism and swore allegiance to King Sigismund the Old of Poland, who recognized him as Duke of Prussia with the right of direct or joint hereditary succession. Livonia remained temporarily independent under the rule of Master Walther von Plettenberg, who was recognized as a prince of the Holy Roman Empire.
The new Master of Germany now assumed the title of Master of the Teutonic Order in Germany and Italy. Already as Prince of the Austrian Empire and Master of Germany, he established the capital of the Order at Mergentheim in Württemberg, where it remained until the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire.
Weakened with age, he did not hold on to power and resigned, leaving behind Walther von Cronberg on December 16, 1526, who combined the positions of leader of the Order with the position of Master of Germany. Now he was confirmed as Holy Roman Emperor, but with the title "Master of the Teutonic Order in German and in Italy, pro-Administrators of the Grand Magistery" with the requirement that all the commanders of the Order and the Master of Livonia showed him respect and obedience as the Grand Master of the Order. This title in German was later changed to: "Administratoren des Hochmeisteramptes in Preussen, Meister Teutschen Ordens in teutschen und walschen Landen", which remained the title of the head of the Order until 1834.
At the 1529 convention, Cronberg refused the seat of Master of Germany, advancing in seniority to receive the seat of Grand Master, after the Archbishop of Salzburg and before the Bishop of Bamberg.
On July 26, 1530, Cronberg was formally elevated to the dignity of Emperor of Prussia in a ceremony intended to directly challenge the Hohenzollern power, but this had little actual effect.
The Order still continued to accept priests and nuns who proved themselves to be zealous and humane ministers, but the religious members were effectively separated from laymen and knights, who were not required to live in the Order's monasteries. The Order did not lose all of its Protestant members or possessions, but in a number of places in its parishes the church denomination changed. In Livonia, although Master von Plettenberg remained loyal to the Catholic Church, he was unable to resist granting toleration to the reformed churches in 1525. The Order thus became a tri-confessional (Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist) institution with a Chief Magistrate and main offices supported by Catholic nobility. Lutheran and Calvinist knights were given equal rights under the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, with a seat and vote in the General Assembly. Only the Protestant district of Utrecht declared full independence in 1637.
A proposal in 1545 to unite the Teutonic Knights with the Knights of the Johannite Order was not accepted. Meanwhile, the Order's main diplomatic efforts were concentrated on restoring their statehood in Prussia, a project that continued to fail. Livonia continued to be ruled by the knights, but their rule was weak due to encirclement by Russia and Poland.
In 1558 Gothard Kettler was elected assistant master, and in 1559 master after the resignation of master von Furstenberg. Once again the Order unwittingly made a poor choice. While Kettler was a capable soldier, in 1560 he secretly converted to the Lutheran faith. The following year, after behind-the-scenes negotiations, he was recognized by the Polish king as Duke of Courland and Semigalla (Courland und Semigalla) with the right of succession by an agreement dated November 28, 1561. This state included all the territories formerly ruled by knights between the Dvina River, the Baltic Sea, Samogitia and Lithuania. This ended the existence of the Order in the north of Eastern Europe.
On March 5, 1562, Kettler sent an envoy to bring to the King of Austria the insignia of his dignity as Master of Livonia, including the cross and the great seal, meaning to transfer to the king the titles and privileges of the Teutonic Knights, the keys of Riga and even his knightly armor, as proof of his renunciation of the title of Grand Master of the order.
(From the translator. - Thus, since 1562, the Order has been more an Austrian than a German organization.)
In 1589, the fortieth Grand Master, Heinrich von Bobenhausen (1572-1595), transferred the rights of rule to his deputy, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, without formal abdication. This transfer was ratified by the latter's brother the Emperor of Austria on 18 August 1591, and Maximilian now had the right to accept oaths of loyalty from members and monks of the Order. At the disposal of the Austrian Emperor, the Knights then provided 63,000 florins, one hundred and fifty horses and one hundred foot soldiers, along with knights from each region of the Order, to fight the Turks as they rampaged through southeastern Europe. This was, of course, a small fraction of what they might have fielded in the past, but the territorial losses of the previous century had seriously impoverished them, significantly reducing the number of knights and priests. The Order was now firmly united with the Austrian royal house of Habsburg, and after Maximilian, Archduke Charles was Master from 1619. Of the remaining years before the fall of the Austrian Empire, there were eleven Grand Masters, of whom four were Archdukes, three Princes of the House of Bavaria, and one Prince of Lorraine (brother of Emperor Francis I of France).
Thus, while the Order's military might was merely a shadow of its earlier strength, prominence, and the position of its Grand Masters, membership in the Order was evidence of high standing among the royal houses. At this time, stricter rules excluded the addition of members to minor nobility.
On February 27, 1606, Grand Master Maximilian gave the Order new statutes, which were to govern the order until the reforms of the nineteenth century. They included two parts. The first part contained rules in nineteen chapters, which listed religious obligations, communal, holidays, customs, service to sick colleagues, the conduct of priests of the Order and the regulation of their duties, and relations between members. The second part, in fifteen chapters, was devoted to the ceremonies for arming and receiving knights, and the obligations to fight the unbeliever on the Hungarian frontier and elsewhere, the conduct of each body, the administration, the burial rites of deceased members, including the grandmaster himself, the choice of his successor and the circumstances, in which a knight could leave the Order. The Charter restored the main mission of the Order to fight the pagans and, for Catholic members, restored its spiritual significance.
Unfortunately, by the second quarter of the eighteenth century, the great powers abandoned the concept of the Christian Crusade. Having lost its historical mission and most of its military functions, the Order fell into decline and was now engaged in providing for its regiment in the service of the Archdukes of Austria, the Holy Roman Emperors and providing accommodation for knights and priests.
The Napoleonic Wars proved disastrous for the Order, as they were for every traditional Catholic institution. By the Treaty of Luneville of February 9, 1801, and the Treaty of Amiens of March 25, 1802, his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, with an annual revenue of 395,604 florins, were distributed among the neighboring German monarchs. As compensation, the Order was given episcopates, abbeys and convents of Voralberg in Austrian Swabia and convents in Augsburg and Constantia. Its Grand Master, Archduke Carl-Ludwig, took up his post without taking oaths, but nevertheless brought his rights to the Order. The Order was given a ninth vote in the Council of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, although a proposal to replace the title of Grand Master with the title of Elector was never made, and the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire soon made this title nominal.
On June 30, 1804, Karl Ludwig left the chief magistrate to his assistant Archduke Anton, who made the title simply an honorary title.
By Article XII of the Pressburg Agreement of December 26, 1805 between Austria and France, all the property of the chief magistrate in the city of Mergentheim and all order titles and rights began to belong to the Austrian Imperial House.
The new Grand Master, Archduke Anton, was the son of the Austrian Emperor Leopold II and the brother of Francis I of Austria, and had already been elected Archbishop of Munster and Archbishop of Cologne. On 17 February 1806, Emperor Francis I confirmed Brother Anton's title as Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, confirming the result of the Pressburg Agreement until such time as the title became a hereditary dignity. At the same time, he also imposed some restrictions on part of the Agreement, to the detriment of the Order. The sovereignty of the Order, recognized in the Treaty of Pressburg, was limited to the fact that any prince of the Austrian Imperial House who would in the future bear the title of Grand Master would be completely subordinate to the Emperor of Austria. No attempt was made to consult the Holy See, and this decision was a violation of ecclesiastical Catholic law. Meanwhile, the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine on July 12, 1806 cost the Order the loss of several more commanderies, given variously to the Kings of Bavaria and Württemberg, and to the Grand Duke of Baden.
In accordance with Napoleon's decree of 24 April 1809, the Order was dissolved in the territories of the Confederation, and Mergentheim was handed over to the King of Württemberg as compensation for the losses suffered by his nobles, supporters of Napoleon. The only surviving possessions of the Order were those in Austria. These were three commanderies assigned to the main commander and eight other commanderies, one nunnery, the possession of Adige and the Mountains. The Commandery of Frankfurt in Saxony (Sachsenhausen) was retained. In Austrian Silesia, two commanderies and some districts remained, but the commandery of Namslau in Silesian Prussia was lost, confiscated by the Prussian separation commission on December 12, 1810. Despite the Order's requests to enforce the Treaty of Pressburg, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 refused to return anything that the Order had lost in the previous twenty years.
A decision regarding the Order was delayed until 20 February 1826, when the Austrian Emperor Francis asked Metternich to determine whether the Order's autonomy should be restored within the Austrian state.
By this time, in addition to the grandmaster, the Order had only four knights in its composition. The Order urgently needed regeneration or it would disappear. By decree of March 8, 1834, the Austrian Emperor restored to the Teutonic Knights all the rights they had enjoyed under the Treaty of Pressburg, annulling the restrictions on those rights that had been imposed in accordance with the Decree of February 17, 1806. The Order was declared as an "Autonomous, Religious and Military Institute" under the patronage of the Austrian Emperor, with the Archduke as the "Higher and German Master" (Hoch- und Deutschmeister) and the status of a "direct fief of the Austrian and Empire". Moreover, Archduke Anton was the sovereign ruler of the order, and his heirs had to seek permission from the emperor for sovereignty.
The Order now had one class of knights who could prove their knightly lineage in sixteen generations of exclusively German or Austrian states, subsequently the requirement was reduced to four generations in the last two hundred years and were required to be Catholics.
This class was divided into chief commanders (abolished by the reform of April 24, 1872), chief capitularies (Capitularies), commanders and knights. Knights were considered to be religiously subordinate to the head of the Order, while the statutes governing their behavior were based on the statutes of 1606, restoring knightly symbols and ancient ceremonies, many of which had become moribund.
After a further reform on July 13, 1865, anyone who could prove noble German origin could be accepted into the Knights of Honor and wore a slightly modified cross. The main commandery of the Order was to include the commander-in-chief of the order district of Austria, the commander-in-chief of the Adige and Mountains, the commander-in-chief, and the captain-in-chief of the district of Franconia and the commander-in-chief of the district of Westphalia, with the right of the grand master to increase the number chief capituliers at his discretion.
A further restriction would have imposed on the Imperial House of Austria the obligation to choose a grand master (or appoint a deputy) and, if there were no archdukes among the members of the house, to choose the prince most closely associated with the imperial house. Although the Emperor of Austria failed to defend the Order against Napoleon, restoring some independence to the Order was undoubtedly his achievement. Emperor Francis died on March 3, 1835, and the Grand Master one month later, on April 3.
The Order chose Archduke Maximilian of Austria-Este (1782-1863), brother of the Duke of Modena, as Grand Master. Maximilian became a member of the order in 1801 and became a full member of the order in 1804. The new Emperor of Austria (Ferdinand I), Ferdinand I, issued a decree on July 16, 1839, confirming the privileges granted by his father, the rules and Charters of 1606, which did not conflict with the status of the Order as an Austrian fief.
Another Imperial Patent, dated 38 June 1840, defined the Order as an "Independent Religious Institute of Knighthood" and a "direct imperial fief" for which the Austrian Emperor is supreme leader and protector. The Order was given free control of its own estates and finances, independent of political control and, while the knights were regarded as religious figures, the earlier documents confirming the right of the knights to their estates and property were retained. Their wealth could be increased by inheritance, but gifts they received of more than three hundred florins would have to be approved by the grandmaster. In addition, if a knight died without leaving a will, then his property was inherited by the Order.
The priests of the Order were not required to be single, but were required to live away from their families. In 1855, more than two hundred years after the disappearance of the convents of the Order, the position of Hospitaller of the Order and the organization of sisters of the Teutonic Order were restored and the Grand Master gave several buildings for sisters at their own expense.
Confident of restoring the rights of the Order outside Austria, and especially in Frankfurt, they were now occupied by the religious brothers and sisters. Having lost its military functions, although the Knights had the right to wear military uniforms, the Order now specialized in religious, humanitarian and philanthropic missions in the spirit of "fraternal consciousness" and was engaged in the evacuation and treatment of the wounded and sick in the wars of 1850-1851 and 1859 (with Italy), 1864 and 1866 (with Prussia) and in the World War of 1914-18. The reforms carried out by Archduke Maximilian served to revive the spiritual powers of the Order, with approximately fifty-four priests obtained during his twenty-eight year reign.
(From the translator. Thus, having lost Prussia in the middle of the 16th century, the Order began to gradually lose its military forces and the function of a military-religious organization and by the middle of the 19th century it finally turned into a religious-medical organization. Chivalry and military attributes remained simply as a tribute to tradition and historical memory.)
Many ancient formations of the Order, ready to disintegrate, were restored and the Order's churches in Vienna yielded many valuable relics and religious miracles. By the time of his death in 1863, Grandmaster Maximilian had given more than 800,000 florins to support the sisters, hospitals and schools, and 370,000 to the Teutonic priests.
To enable the Order to cope with demands on its services, its next leader with the title Hoch und Deutschmeister, Archduke Wilhelm (1863-1894), (joined the Order in 1846), introduced a special category of “knights” by decree of March 26, 1871 and I will give it to the Virgin Mary." These lady knights were not full members of the Order, but had the right to wear one of the variants of the Order Cross. Initially this category was limited to Catholic nobles of the two Monarchies, but by decree of November 20, 1880, it was expanded to include Catholics of any nationality. By bull of July 14, 1871, Pope Pius IX confirmed the ancient statutes and rules, along with new reforms. In a Papal Letter dated 16 March 1886, Pope Leo XIII approved the reforms to the Rule drawn up by the Grand Master, which were then approved by the general assembly of the Order on 7 May 1886 and sanctioned by the Austrian Emperor on 23 May.
They revealed all the virtues of the Order to those who took simple oaths, abolishing the category of solemn oaths for the future, but not canceling the solemn oaths of those who had already taken this obligation. This meant that while knights still had to take vows of poverty, obedience and aid, they could leave the Order and, if they wished, marry after leaving the Order. This condition did not apply to the priests of the Order, whose membership was indefinite.
In 1886, the Order was headed by a leader with the title "Hoch- und Deutschmeister", members of the council (Rathsgebietiger), three chief capitularies (Capitularies). The Order consisted of eighteen full knights, four members were in simple vows, one novice, twenty-one knights of Honor, more than one thousand three hundred knights of the Virgin Mary, seventy-two priests, most of whom were in solemn vows, and two hundred and sixteen sisters.
During the last two-thirds of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, the Order increased its active role in the Austrian region, especially in Austrian Silesia and Tyrol. With schools and hospitals under its care, maintained by local residents, during the war the Order earned itself a privileged position within the Two Monarchies (Germany and Austria). The First World War, in which the Order particularly distinguished itself, led to the fall of the Austrian monarchy and the loss of the leading role of the nobility in Austria. Hostility towards the royal house of Habsburg on the part of the new republican regimes in Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia led to hostility towards everything associated with this house; including to the Order. The threat of Bolshevism and growing anti-Catholicism led to the destruction of any organization that could be considered anti-democratic, which also created a danger for the Order. The preservation of the Order in its old form was no longer possible and the possessions of the Order, perceived as the dynastic property of the royal house, were in danger of being confiscated by vengeful republican states.
However, according to ecclesiastical Catholic law, the Order was independent as an autonomous religious institution and could not be regarded as part of the Habsburg heritage. However, the last Grand Master of the House of Habsburg, Archduke Eugen (died 1954), now forced into exile along with all members of the dynasty, was forced to resign and inform the Pope of his resignation in 1923.
Before his resignation, he convened a general meeting in Vienna to choose a new leader and, at his proposal, Cardinal Norbert Klein, priest of the Order and bishop in the city of Brno, was elected deputy.
The Austrian government and representatives of the Order could now enter into negotiations and, fortunately, the understanding that the Order was primarily a religious institution prevailed, even though some representatives of the church were still against the Order. The papacy was now occupied by Fr Hilarion Felder, who could investigate complaints against the Order within the church.
The argument that since the Order was originally created as an infirmary, and therefore should be part of the Order of Malta, was rejected and the inquiry considered in favor of the Teutonic Order that it could be governed independently. Now retained as the "Hospital Religious Organization of Saint Mary in Jerusalem" (Fratres domus hospitalis sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum in Jerusalem) it accepted Papal sanction of the new administration on November 27, 1929.
The new reign restored it as a completely religious Order of priests and nuns, headed by a “High and German Master” (Hoch und Deutschmeisteren), who must necessarily be a priest with the title and seniority of Abbot with the right to a purple cap. This made it possible to maintain its independence from local authorities and directly depend on the Papal Throne.
The Order was now divided into three categories - brothers, sisters and parishioners. The brothers are divided into two categories - 1) priest-brothers and clerk-brothers, who take a lifelong oath after a three-year probation, and 2) novices, who obey the rules and take simple oaths for six years. The sisters make permanent vows after a probationary period of five years. Catholic priests and parishioners who serve the Order at the request, and those who work well - they are divided into two categories. The first of these are the Knights of Honor, there are very few of them (then nine, including the last Cardinal Franz König and the last Sovereign Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein, Archbishop Bruno Heim and Duke Maximilian of Bavaria) who have any prominent social position at all and must be has great services to the Order. The second of these are the devotees of the Virgin Mary, numbering about one hundred and fifty, and, in addition to the serving Catholics, must serve the Order in general, including financial obligation.
The results of the Reformation and ultimately the exclusive restriction of affiliation with the Catholic Church brought the Order under Austrian control into order.
But the military traditions of the Order were reflected in Prussia with the establishment in 1813 of the award (order) "Iron Cross", the appearance of which reflected the symbol of the Order. Prussia appropriated the history of the Teutonic Order as the source of Prussian military traditions, although it was this exclusively Protestant state that destroyed the ancient Christian Order.
This tradition was further perverted by the Nazis, who, after the occupation of Austria on September 6, 1938, arrogated to themselves the right to be considered the heirs of the Order. When they captured Czechoslovakia the following year, they appropriated the Order's possessions there too, although the Order's hospitals and buildings in Yugoslavia and the south of Tyrol remained. The Nazis, galvanized by Himmler's fantasies of reviving the German military elite, then attempted to recreate their own "Teutonic Order" as the highest manifestation of the spirit of the Third Reich. It included ten people led by Reinhard Heydrich and several of the most famous Nazi criminals. It goes without saying that this organization had nothing in common with the Teutonic Order, although it appropriated its name. At the same time, as they persecuted the priests of the Order, they also persecuted the descendants of those Prussian families who had once been knights of the Order (many of them fought against Hitler).
The Order's holdings in Austria were returned after the war, although it was not until 1947 that the decree on the liquidation of the Order was formally annulled. The Order was not restored in Czechoslovakia, but was significantly revived in Germany.
It retains its headquarters in Vienna and, although governed by the abbot as Hochmeister, consists mainly of sisters; Uniquely among Catholic religious Orders, the sisters are united under the authority of a different part of the Church.
The Order serves with its nuns only one hospital entirely in Friesach in Carinthia (Austria), and one private sanatorium in Cologne, but is nevertheless represented in other hospitals and private sanatoriums in Bad Mergenthem, Regensburg and Nurermberg.
The current Hochmeister chosen after the retirement of the eighty-five-year-old Ildefons Pauler in mid-1988 is the most reverend Dr. Arnold Wieland (b. 1940), previously the leader of the Italian brothers.
The order is distributed in the regions of Austria (with thirteen priests and brothers and fifty-two sisters), Italy (with thirty-seven priests and brothers and ninety sisters), Slovenia (with eight priests and brothers and thirty-three sisters), Germany (with fourteen priests and brothers and one hundred and forty-five sisters) and, earlier, in (Moravia-Bohemia)Moravia-Bohemia (ex-Czechoslovakia). The Order is divided into three (possessions) Bailiwicks - Germany, Austria and the south of Tyrol, and two commanderies - Rome and Altenbiesen (Belgium).
There are approximately three hundred and eighty members of the Society of St. Mary in the possession of Germany under the leadership of Deutschherrenmeister Anton Jaumann, constituting seven commanderies (Donau, Oberrhein, Neckar und Bodensee, Rhine und Main, Rhine und Ruhr, Weser und Ems, Elbe und Ostsee, Altenbiesen), sixty five in the possession of Austria under the master of the estate (Balleimeister) Dr. Karl Blach, forty-five in the possession of Tyrol under the direction of the master of the estate (Balleimeister) Dr. Otmar Parteley, and fourteen in the commandery of Am Inn und Hohen Rhein. And twenty-five members in the Italian Commandery of Tiberiam. There are a handful of St. Mary's members outside Germany, Austria and Italy. It now has fewer than twenty members in the United States. The symbol of the Order is a Latin cross in black enamel with a white enamel border, covered (for Knights of Honor) by a helmet with black and white feathers or (for members of the St. Mary's Society) by a simple circular decoration of black and white order ribbon.
Translation from English and additions by Yu.Veremeev
Sources
1.Guy Stair Sainty. THE TEUTONIC ORDER OF HOLY MARY IN JERUSALEM (Site www.chivalricorders.org/vatican/teutonic.htm)
2. Heraldic collection of the Federal Border Guard Service of Russia. Moscow. Border. 1998
3. V. Biryukov. The Amber Room. Myths and reality. Moscow. Publishing house "Planet". 1992
4. Directory - Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad book publishing house. 1983
5. Borussia website (members.tripod.com/teutonic/krestonoscy.htm)
Tell friends:
The name “Teutonic Order” first of all makes Russians remember the events of 1242, when German knights, faced with a squad Prince Alexander Nevsky and having been defeated, they sank to the bottom of Lake Peipsi under the weight of their own armor.
In fact, the Battle of the Ice is only a small fragment from the extensive history of the knightly order, which existed for three centuries as a full-fledged European state.
Hospital under the walls of Acre
The history of the Teutonic Order began in 1189, when German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa with his army took part in the Third Crusade.
At the end of August 1189, the army of the German emperor besieged the Syrian fortress of Acre, an ancient city founded approximately in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
During the siege, merchants from Lübeck and Bremen organized a field hospital for the wounded crusaders. King of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan signed a charter, according to which the hospital was given the right to organize a hospice in Acre after the city was taken.
Pope Clement III with his bull of February 6, 1191, he proclaimed the hospital as the “Teutonic Brotherhood of the Church of St. Mary of Jerusalem.”
On July 13, 1191, after an almost two-year siege, Acre was taken, and the field hospital moved to the city, already existing as a hospital monastery.
The position of the “liberators of the Holy Sepulcher” in the Middle East has always been unstable. That is why military functions were also assigned to hospital monasteries. In 1193, the same Guy de Lusignan entrusted the hospital with the protection and defense of one of the fortifications of Acre in the event of an enemy attack.
"Help - Protect - Heal"
On March 5, 1196, a ceremony took place in the temple of Acre to transform the hospital into a spiritual order. At the end of the same year Pope Celestine issues a bull which recognizes the existence of the monastic Order of St. Mary of Germany of Jerusalem.
The transformation of the hospital into a military monastic order was finally completed in 1199, when Pope Innocent III consolidates this status with his bull.
The tasks of the order are proclaimed:
- protection of German knights;
- treatment of wounded and sick crusaders;
- fight against the enemies of the Catholic Church.
The motto of the order: “Help - Protect - Heal.”
From this moment on, the order very quickly acquired its own regular army, and military functions in its activities became the main ones.
Membership in the order, which is a military-religious community, becomes extremely prestigious among European feudal lords. And although the residence of the head of the order (grandmaster) is located in Acre, his possessions are rapidly growing in Europe - due to lands donated by monarchs, as well as the possessions of feudal lords who become members of the order.
The Teutonic Order, whose members had to be knights of German blood, which, however, was not always observed, very quickly gained strength, standing on par with the previously created orders of the Templars and Hospitallers.
The order's charter divided members into two classes: knights and priests, who were required to take three monastic vows - poverty, celibacy and obedience, as well as promise to help the sick and fight unbelievers.
Unlike knights, who first had to prove their noble birth, priests were exempt from this obligation. Their function was to conduct religious services, administer communion to knights and the sick in hospitals, and participate in wars as physicians.
The knights lived together, slept in bedrooms on simple beds, ate together in the dining room, and had a limited amount of money. They worked daily, training for battle, maintaining their equipment and working with horses.
The head of the order, like its other leaders, was elected, and his rights were limited to the knights - members of the order.
Conquest of Prussia
Fourth Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order Hermann von Salza was a man with a remarkable analytical mind. Several decades before the final collapse of the Crusader state in the Middle East, he realized that the Teutonic Order had no future in these parts, and began to make efforts to transfer its main activities to Europe.
Several attempts to gain a foothold in Europe were unsuccessful, but the stubborn grandmaster was persistent and brought his plans to the end.
In 1217 Pope Honorius III a campaign was declared against the Prussian pagans who had seized the lands Polish Prince Konrad I of Masovia.
The Teutonic Knights, having started a war against the Prussian pagans in 1232, used the following tactics - they defeated the Prussian tribal alliances opposing them one by one, while the defeated were used as allies in subsequent wars.
The order founded its castles on the occupied lands, consolidating itself in these territories “forever.” In 1255, Königsberg Castle was founded on Prussian lands.
The Prussian nobility, finding itself under the rule of the knights and becoming their allies, gradually adopted Christianity. Gradually, the Germanization of the Prussian tribes also occurred - the German language, without which a successful career in the state of the Teutonic Order was impossible, supplanted the Prussian dialects.
Based on the edict of the Holy Roman Emperor and the bull of the Pope, Prussia became the possession of the Teutonic Order. Thus, the military monastic order, which absorbed and included similar smaller entities, turned into a whole state.
Pressure to the East
At the turn of the 1230s - 1240s, the Teutonic Order made an attempt to expand the borders of its possessions to the East by conquering the weakened Russian lands, which had just survived the invasion of Batu. The knights of the order intend to bring the local population, professing Orthodoxy, under the spiritual authority of Rome.
From 1240 to 1242, the knights of the Teutonic Order carried out territorial expansion in the Pskov and Novgorod lands, capturing Izborsk and Pskov. These territorial encroachments culminated in the Battle of Lake Peipsi on April 5, 1242, the results of which are well known to everyone.
Despite this setback, the order's influence continued to grow. The Teutonic Order waged a desperate struggle for territory with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which controlled most of the Russian lands in the 13th-14th centuries. In the 14th century, the order made more than a hundred trips to Lithuania, trying to subjugate it to its influence.
Such activity of the Teutonic Order in Europe is explained by the fact that its activity in the Middle East ended in May 1291, after the capture of Acre by the army of the Sultan of Egypt.
In 1386, the Lithuanian prince Jagiello converted to Catholicism and became engaged to the heir to the Polish throne, which led to the creation of a personal union - the unification of two states (Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) under the rule of one crown. Subsequently, personal union will lead to the creation of a full-fledged united state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Fatal Grunwald
For the Teutonic Order, which laid claim to Lithuanian lands, the Polish-Lithuanian union was a very serious threat.
In 1409, a war broke out between the order and the new state association, the cause of which was old grievances. Poland and Lithuania, taking advantage of the uprising in the Zhemoytsky land, which previously belonged to the Principality of Lithuania, decided to try to recapture the territories previously captured by the knights of the order.
The apotheosis of this war was the Battle of Grunwald, which took place on July 15, 1410. This battle, which became one of the largest and most important in the history of medieval Europe, ended in the defeat of the troops of the Teutonic Order. An important role in this battle was played by the regiments of the Russian lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who showed courage and fortitude at critical moments.
The defeat for the Teutonic Order turned out to be crushing: out of a 25,000-strong army, 8,000 were killed, about 14,000 were captured. Among those killed were almost the entire military leadership of the order, as well as its knightly elite.
And although the war as a whole ended in 1411 on relatively mild terms for the Teutonic Order, its power was undermined. The destruction of his invincible army practically reduced his influence to nothing.
"Master-defrocked"
Huge material losses, the need to pay indemnities and ransom captured knights forced the Teutonic Order to introduce new taxes in the territories under their control, which caused indignation among the population. In March 1440, representatives of the small nobility and Hanseatic cities from the territory of the Order State organized the Prussian Confederation to throw off the dominance of the Teutonic Knights. In February 1454, the Prussian Confederation appealed to Polish King Casimir IV asking for support for their revolution and the inclusion of Prussia in Poland. The king agreed, which led to the outbreak of the Thirteen Years' War, also known as the "War of the Cities." The result of this war was the transformation of the western part of the order's former possessions into the Polish province of Royal Prussia, and the remaining eastern part of the order's possessions became a vassal of the Polish monarch.
The decline of the great history of the Teutonic Order lasted for several more decades and was very deplorable for the keepers of its traditions. The Last Grandmaster, or Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albrecht Hohenzollern, disillusioned with his ideals, in 1525 he converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism, resigned as head of the order, announcing the secularization of the Prussian lands - the main territory that belonged to the Teutonic Order.
This decision was made with the approval of the King of Poland, whose vassal was the Master of the Order.
In the former territories, the Duchy of Prussia was formed, headed by a “Master-Master”. This duchy became the first state in Europe whose religion became Protestant, despite the fact that it remained a vassal state of Catholic Poland.
Sisters instead of brothers
The Teutonic Order, which had lost its influence, nevertheless retained control over some territories and officially existed until 1809, when it was dissolved during the Napoleonic wars.
The order was revived in 1834 in Austria with the support of Emperor Franz I. There was no longer any talk about military and political ambitions - the Teutonic Order returned to helping the sick and charitable activities.
The military traditions of the order were carefully preserved in Prussia, where the Order of the Iron Cross was even established, directly going back to the symbolism of the Teutons.
After the Nazis came to power in Germany, praise began for the military history of the order, primarily its attempts to conquer lands in eastern Europe. At the same time, persecution began against the priests of the real Teutonic Order, focused on charity.
After the end of World War II, the order's charitable activities continued. His current residence is located in Vienna. The residence contains unique historical archives on the activities of the Teutonic Order, which had a huge impact on the history of Europe.
Today the Teutonic Order operates several hospitals and private sanatoriums in Austria and Germany. An interesting point is that the basis of the modern Teutonic Order is not brothers, but sisters.