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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Teutonic Knights TEUTONIC
KNIGHTS (The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital at Jerusalem). An order
of knighthood which originated in a brotherhood formed by German knights in 1190
(during the siege of Acre by the Crusaders and recognized by Pope Clement III in
1191. In 1198 this association, was changed into an order of knighthood as a
balance to the political influence of the Templars and Hospitalers. Hermann von
Salza, grand master from 1210 to 1239, saw no future in Palestine, and the order
engaged in the conquest of the heathen Prussians, inhabiting the Baltic regions
to the northeast of Germany. After a fierce struggle of half a century they
completed their subjugation in 1283. Christianity was planted with fire and
sword, cities were founded, and the land was colonized by Germans. In 1237 the
Teutonic Knights absorbed the order of the Brothers of the Sword, and so
acquired Livonia and Kurland. They waged long wars with the Lithuanians for the
possession of the territory intervening between these regions and the Prussian
country. Early in the fourteenth century they extended
their dominion westward, making themselves masters of Danzig and Little
Pomerania (Pomerellen). They became a great power and their State prospered, but
the Knights themselves remained a ruling aristocracy, and were hated by the
conquered natives and Germans alike. In 1410 the power of the Teutonic Knights
sustained a great blow through their defeat in the battle of Tannenberg at the
hands of the Poles and Lithuanians. In 1466 they were compelled in the Treaty of
Thorn to cede West Prussia to Poland and to agree to hold East Prussia as a
Polish fief. Half a century later the Knights of the Sword cut loose from the
Teutonic Knights, whose dominion was now restricted to East Prussia. In 1525 the
grand master, Albert of Brandenburg (q.v.), having embraced Protestantism, laid
down his office and converted the State over which he ruled into the hereditary
Duchy of Prussia, for which he did homage to the King of Poland. The order was
composed of knights, priests, and servants. The rule followed was that of St.
Augustine. The insignia were the white mantle and the black cross. After-the
secularization of the Prussian domain of the Teutonic Knights the order
continued to exist in Germany, having numerous possessions, mostly of very small
extent, scattered throughout the Empire. Its head resided at Mergentheim (now a
town of Württemberg). The order was abolished by Napoleon in 1809, and its
possessions were confiscated. It was revived as an Imperial Austrian order in
1834. Its head is an Austrian archduke. Consult: Johannes Voigt, Geschichte
des deutschen Ritterordens (Berlin, 1857-59); Ernest Strehlke, Tabulæ
Ordinis Theutonici (ib., 1869); Max Perlbach, Die Statuten des deutschen Ordens (Halle, 1890); Johann Loserth, Geschichte
des späteren Mittelalters (Munich, 1903). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 135. |