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]] After Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East , the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 , but were expelled in 1225 . The knights moved to Prussia , where they created the independent Teutonic Order State . After basing itself in Prussia, the Order became involved against the Kingdom Of Poland and the Grand Duchy Of Lithuania in brutal campaigns in which it was often the aggressor. In 1410 a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle Of Grunwald ( Tannenberg ). The Order steadily declined until 1525 when Grand Master Albert Of Brandenburg resigned and converted to Lutheranism to become Duke Of Prussia . The Grand Masters continued to preside over the Order's considerable holdings in Germany until 1809 , when Napoleon ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. The Order continued to exist, headed by Habsburg s through the First World War , and today operates primarily with Charitable aims. HISTORY Foundation The Order was formed in 1190 by German merchants in Palestine to give medical aid to pilgrims at the holy places. They received Papal orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem for Latin Christianity . They were based at Acre . When the mission of the Order in Palestine was nearing its end, the Teutonic Knights moved their headquarter to Venice and offered their services to Christian rulers confronted with hostile non-Christian neighbors. In 1211 , Andrew II of Hungary accepted their services and granted them the district of Burzenland in Transylvania . Andrew had been involved in negotiations for the marriage of his daughter with the son of Hermann, the Landgrave of Thuringia , whose Vassal s included the family of Hermann Of Salza , the new Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. Led by a brother called Theoderich, the Order defended Hungary against the neighbouring Cumans . In 1224 they petitioned Pope Honorius III to be placed directly under the authority of the Papal See, rather than of the King of Hungary. King Andrew responded by expelling them in 1225 . Teutonic Order in Prussia ]] In 1226 Konrad I , Duke of Masovia in west-central Poland , appealed to the Knights to defend his borders and subdue the pagan Baltic Prussians . Konrad agreed to allow the Teutonic Knights the usage of Chełmno Land as a base for the duration of their campaign against the Old Prussians. The Teutonic Order waited until they received official imperial authorisation. With the Golden Bull Of Rimini , Emperor Frederick II bestowed the Order a special imperial privilege for the possession of Prussia including Chełmno Land . Soon the Teutonic Knights assimilated the smaller Order Of Dobrzyń , which had been established earlier by Konrad. The conquest of Prussia was accomplished with great bloodshed over more than 50 years, during which native Prussians who remained unbaptised either fell in battle, were subjugated, enslaved, or forced into exile. Christianized Prussians received the same rights as the newcomer settlers from other parts of the Empire. The conversion to Christianity was largely nominal and usually did not entail more than Baptism . The Teutonic Knights were sometimes unwilling to convert Pagan s, as non-Christians could be used for labor. The Order transferred its headquarters to the brick castle of Marienburg ( Malbork ) on the Nogat River south of Danzig ( Gdańsk ) in 1309 . (Marienburg) ]] The Order ruled Prussia under permits issued by the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor as a Sovereign Monastic State , comparable to the arrangement of the Knights Hospitallers in Rhodes and later in Malta . Previous documents in 1224 had put the inhabitants of "Terra Prussia"' as '' Reichsfreie '', or under authority of only the emperor and the empire. In order to make up for losses from Plague and to replace the partially exterminated native population, the Order encouraged the Immigration of thousands of Colonists from the Holy Roman Empire (mostly Germans , Flemish , and Dutch ) and from Masovia ( Masovians , the later Masurians ). The surviving Old Prussians were gradually assimilated through Germanization . The settlers founded numerous towns and cities atop former Prussian settlements. They also built a number of castles ('' Ordensburg en'') from which the Order could defeat uprisings of Old Prussians, as well as continue its attacks on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, with whom the Order was often at war during the 14th and 15th centuries. Major towns founded by the Order included Königsberg , founded in 1255 in honor of King Otakar II of Bohemia atop a destroyed Prussian settlement, Allenstein , Elbing , and Memel . Because western Lithuania (most of modern Lithuania) remained non-Christian until the end of the 14th Century , much later than the rest of eastern Europe, many knights from western European countries such as England and France journeyed to Prussia to participate in the seasonal campaigns (''reyse'' or ''Reise'') against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Some of these knights and nobles campaigned against pagans to obtain remission for their sins, while others fought to gain military experience. , screenshot from the Polish movie ''Krzyżacy'']] When the Livonian Order merged with the Teutonic Order in 1237 , its nominal territorial rule extended over Prussia, Livonia , Semigalia , and Estonia . Their next aim was to convert Orthodox Russia to Roman Catholicism , but after the knights suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle On Lake Peipus ( 1242 ) at the hands of Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod , the idea had to be dropped. In 1337 Emperor Louis IV allegedly granted the Order the imperial privilege to conquer all Lithuania and Russia. King Albert of Sweden conceded Gotland to the Order as a Pledge (similar to a Fiefdom ), with the understanding that they would eliminate the piratical Victual Brothers from their strategic island base. An invasion force under Grand Master Konrad Von Jungingen conquered the island in 1398 , destroyed Visby , and drove the Victual Brothers out of Gotland and the Baltic Sea . In 1386 Jogaila, the Grand Duke Of Lithuania , was Baptised into Christianity and married Queen Jadwiga of Poland, thus becoming Władysław II , King Of Poland . This initiated an alliance between the two countries and created a potentially formidable opponent for the Teutonic Knights. The Order managed to play Jogaila and his cousin Vytautas against each other, but this strategy failed as Vytautas began to suspect the Order was planning to annex parts of his territory. The baptism of Władysław II allowed the official conversion of Lithuania to Christianity. Although the crusading rationale for the Order's state had ended as Prussia and Lithuania had become officially Christian, the Order's feuds and wars with Lithuania and Poland continued. Battle of Grunwald / Tannenberg '', by Jan Matejko , 1878]] In 1410 at the Battle Of Grunwald (also known as the battle of Tannenberg ), a united Polish-Lithuanian army, led by Władysław Jagiełło and Vitautas , decisively defeated the Order. The Grand Master, Ulrich Von Jungingen , and most of the Order's higher dignitaries fell on the battlefield (50 out of 60). The Polish-Lithuanian army then besieged the capital of the Order, Marienburg (Malbork) castle, but was unable to take it. When peace was made, the Order managed to retain essentially all of its territories. The Order was forced to put in place high taxation to pay an indemnity equivalent to £850,000, but did not give the cities sufficient requested representation. In 1454 the Gentry and burghers of western Prussia rose up against the Order in the "War of the Cities" or Thirteen Years' War , at the end of which the Order recognized the Polish Crown 's rights over Prussia's western half (subsequently Royal Prussia ) while retaining eastern Prussia under nominal Polish overlordship ( Second Treaty Of Toruń , 1466 ). End of the Monastic state in Prussia ]] Eastern Prussia (subsequently Ducal Prussia ) was also lost to the Order when in 1525 its Grand Master, Albert Of Brandenburg , after another unsuccessful war with Poland, converted to Lutheranism and assumed from the Polish king the title and rights of Hereditary Duke Of Prussia as a vassal of the Polish Crown. A new Grand Magistery was then established in Mergentheim in Württemberg , and the Grand Masters, often members of the great German families (and, after 1761 , by members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine ), continued to preside over the Order's considerable holdings in Germany until 1809 , when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. The order, headed by Habsburg s through the First World War , today operates primarily as a Charitable organization. QUOTE Description of conditions between the Teutonic Knights and the Lithuanians, from '' The Teutonic Order of Holy Mary in Jerusalem '' by Guy Stair Sainty: ''Enslavement of pagan prisoners by the knights was likewise seen as perfectly acceptable, non-Christians not being considered to have the same rights as Christians. A description by an Austrian poet, Peter Suchenwirt, quoted by Ekdahl, {Link without Title} well illustrates these horrifying events, not so dissimilar, perhaps, to recent events in Bosnia Herzegovina: "Women and children were taken captive; What a jolly medley could be seen: Many a woman could be seen, Two children tied to her body, One behind and one in front; On a horse without spurs Barefoot had they ridden here; The heathens were made to suffer: Many were captured and in every case, Were their hands tied together They were led off, all tied up - Just like hunting dogs". One can only wonder at the astonishing use of the word "jolly"! These slaves were then used to supplement the local labor force but, usefully did not require payment and so were often preferred to the Prussian natives who needed to be paid or granted land. By enslaving the Lithuanian prisoners as much needed manual laborers, there ceased to be any incentive to convert them as, once they became Christians, they could no longer be abused in this fashion.'' CULTURAL REFERENCES
GRAND MASTERS (''HOCHMEISTER'') OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER, 1198–PRESENT
SEE ALSO
COAT OF ARMS GALLERY Image:Teutonic order COA drawing.png Image:Den tyske ordens skjold.jpg Image:Ordre teutonique logo.gif CASTLES OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER |
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| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Golub-Dobrzyń" class="copylinks">Golub-Dobrzyń , Poland |
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| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Bilzen" class="copylinks">Bilzen , Belgium |
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| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Bran_Castle" class="copylinks">Bran Castle in Bran , Romania |
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| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/City_of_Acre" class="copylinks">Acre , Israel |
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