Deutscher Orden

Deutscher Orden, known in English as the Teutonic Order, originated in Palestine as a religious order of knights analogous to the Knights Templar and the Knights of St John. Founded by North Germans at first as a hospital at Acre in 1190 and sanctioned by the Pope in the following year, it assumed its definitive military form in 1199 under Pope Innocent III. The knights, known as Deutschherren, Deutsche Ritter, Deutschordensritter, or Kreuzritter, were Germans, and early in the 13th c. their crusading activity began to be transferred to eastern Europe, where it was exclusively concentrated after the fall of Acre in 1291. The aim of the Order became the conversion of Prussia and the Baltic lands, a task which was readily combined with the extension of power and the acquisition of territory. Under the High Master (Hochmeister) Hermann von Salza (1210-39) the Order began the conquest of Prussia (then Slavonic and heathen), which was completed in 1236. In the second half of the 13th c. it penetrated into Courland and Livonia, and by the end of the 14th c. had conquered Lithuania in a series of campaigns marked on both sides by exceptional ferocity. From 1309 its central seat was Marienburg, south-east of Danzig. The Order was followed by colonists who settled in new German cities, including Thorn, Elbing, Danzig, and Königsberg. From 1234 the Order owed allegiance only to the Pope, and ruled its territories as an efficient, autocratic aristocracy. It acquired commercial interests, which led to rivalry with the cities, and its continued military aggressiveness alienated neighbouring principalities.

The decline of the Order began with a defeat at Tannenberg (1410) in the course of war with Poland. The Order was, however, temporarily saved by the successful defence of Marienburg by Heinrich von Plauen, who became High Master. Heinrich attempted reforms and was promptly deposed in 1413. In the course of the Thirteen Years War (from 1454 to 1467) the Order lost West Prussia, though it retained East Prussia. Marienburg was surrendered to Poland, and the seat of the government transferred to Königsberg. The effort to maintain independence failed, and from 1525 the Order confined itself to administering its possessions in Germany, with Mergentheim as its headquarters. It was dissolved in 1809 by Napoleon, but was revived in 1834 by Franz I of Austria (see Franz II) as an order providing medical help in time of war.

The High Master, who was the head of the Order, was complemented by a German master (Deutsch-meister). From 1530, with the loss of the east European territories, the two titles were combined in one (Hoch- und Deutschmeister).

In the 13th c. the court of Marienburg was a well-known centre of knightly activity. Chaucer's knight, it will be recalled, had travelled in ‘Pruce’ and ‘Lettwo’, territories of the Order.