Many militant holy orders of knights emerged during the crusades, such as the Knights Templar, who have gained almost mythical status, and the Knights Hospitaller, soldiers known to provide medical care. The Teutonic Knights are another such order, but while their name, “Teutonic,” has left its mark on history, the knights themselves are surprisingly overlooked. The Teutonic Knights fought not only in the Holy Land but also in northern Europe, and their impact on European history far exceeds their fame.

Third Crusade & Beginnings of the Order

Philip II and Richard I at the Siege of Acre, from Grandes Chroniques de France, 1375-1380. Source: Biblioteque nationale de France

Around 1190, while Crusaders besieged the city of Acre, a group of German pilgrims, most likely merchants from Bremen and Lubeck, established a field hospital. Some accounts suggest that they used the canvases from their ships as a tent. After the city fell in 1191, a permanent hospital was established in the city to treat Crusaders and pilgrims traveling to and from the Holy Land. For protection, a number of knights were assigned to guard the hospital. Over time, their efforts became increasingly militant.

Taking inspiration from the other knightly orders, they were organized along the same lines as the Templars and Hospitallers. Like these other orders, they also gained papal recognition and received land grants in both the Holy Land and Germany, their primary recruiting grounds. In 1205, they would be allowed to wear their distinctive colors, a black cross on a white background. The order was given the name Fratres Domus hospitalis sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum, or Brethren of the German Hospital of St. Mary. This name was somewhat lengthy and unwieldy, and is often abbreviated to the Teutonic Knights.

Organization of the Order

Sword from the Crusade era, c. 12th century. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Teutonic Knights were organized along similar lines to other militant holy orders. The knights were monks and took vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. They were ruled over by the Hochmeister, or Grand Master, who oversaw administrative provinces, each one led by a Landmeister. These lands were arranged into castles and fortress-monasteries, each with its own leadership.

The Teutonic Knights were primarily a cavalry force, with the full brothers and “halb-bruders” or half brothers, distinguished by their grey instead of white surcoats, fighting on horseback. Members were usually nobility, but the order also employed commoners as infantry or crossbowmen. There were foreigners who joined the order, but the vast majority of the Teutonic Knights were from the German-speaking lands in central Europe.

The number of the Teutonic Knights was always small. At their height, there were fewer than 1,300 full brothers, so they were forced to hire mercenaries due to manpower shortages.

Battle of Lake Peipus, by Mariusz Kozik, box art for FireForge Games. Source: Art Station

With their role as protectors, the Teutonic Knights operated several castles and strongholds around the Acre, the largest remaining stronghold in the Holy Land after the fall of Jerusalem. They were also granted land in Cilicia, now southeastern Turkey. They spent most of their time in the Middle East defending pilgrims, although this would come to an abrupt end in 1291 when the last Crusader stronghold, Acre, fell, effectively ending the principal purpose of the order.

Their fellow militant order, the Hospitallers, turned their attention to the west, continuing to defend Europe from Islamic expansion into the Mediterranean. The Teutonic Knight took a different path, heading to Europe. It was there that they would make their mark on history.

The Teutonic Knights Create Prussia

Map of the Teutonic Order’s territorial holdings, c. 1300. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Even when the Teutonic Knights were fighting in the Holy Land, they also had a presence in Europe. Their first European campaign was against the Cumans, a nomadic Steppe culture that was a threat to Hungary. The order was given lands on the Hungarian frontier as a bulwark. This relationship was strained as the knights made excessive demands for land and other privileges. The Teutonic knights were expelled from Hungarian territory in 1225.

For the rest of the century, they were granted other lands in Germany and established themselves within the Holy Roman Empire. As early as 1223, they began their conquests in what is now northeastern Germany and northern Poland. They spent the next 50 years wresting control of the region from the local population.

The Teutonic Knights spent the remainder of their history battling in northern and eastern Europe, with their primary enemies being the Slavic peoples who inhabited the region. The following centuries were a tangled web of alliances, treaties, battles, betrayals, and political maneuverings, with the Teutonic Knights right at the center of the chaos. The main objective of the Teutonic Knights was to bring the Baltic coast under the control of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. To make matters even more confusing, both the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, nominally allied with one another, often bickered. The Teutonic Knights generally supported the emperor, despite being a militant holy order directly answerable to the papacy.

Fredrick II allows the order to invade Prussia (1236), by Peter Janssen, c. 1844-1908. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Teutonic Knights, and later a splinter order, the Livonian Brotherhood of the Sword, established themselves as the feudal overlords along the Baltic coast, acquiring the territory through conquest and land purchases. This expansion put them into conflict with the local Slavic populations in Poland, Lithuania, and what would later become Russia. Invading these lands, the Teutonic Knights drove out the inhabitants and then resettled the region with German-speaking settlers. After numerous campaigns, the Teutonic Knights successfully established the Ordnungstaadt, or Order State, along the Baltic Coast.

Teutonic Campaigns and Castles

Bronze Seal with Wax Imprint of the Teutonic Order in Ulm, c. 12th century. Source: British Museum

Of course, the local Slavs didn’t just roll over in the face of the German juggernaut. In 1242, Novgorod, under the leadership of Alexander Nevsky, defeated the Teutonic Knights and their allies at the Battle of Lake Peipus, also known as the “battle on the ice.” As the name suggests, part of the battle was fought on a frozen lake. With this defeat, the Teutonic Knights redoubled their efforts to control Prussia and the Baltic coast.

This put them at odds with two other Slavic groups. The first was the Poles, a predominantly Catholic nation, with the Polish Church owing allegiance directly to the Pope. Surprisingly, this only made them a greater target with the Teutonic Knights due to their support for the Holy Roman Emperor.

The other Slavic group was the Lithuanians. Unlike the rest of Europe, which had converted to Christianity, either Catholic or Orthodox, Lithuania would not convert to Christianity until 1386, still maintaining its pagan traditions. Converting or fighting the heathens was more than enough reason for the Teutonic Knights to fight, and they won major territories in Pomerania and parts of Estonia in the 14th century. Even after Lithuania converted, the wars continued. The Teutonic Knights continued encroaching on Lithuanian territory. Rebellions of conquered lands were common, and the knights spent much of the 14th and 15th centuries putting them down.

Malbork Castle, Poland. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Like other feudal overlords during the medieval era, the Teutonic Knights built castles as strongholds to control their territories. Many Teutonic castles still stand across northern and eastern Europe. The largest is Malbork Castle in Poland. Construction began in 1274 after the lands were taken from the local pagan inhabitants, and the headquarters of the order was moved here in 1309. It expanded over the centuries, reaching its current form in the early 15th century. As it was the headquarters of a large monastic order and the de facto capital of the Ordnungstaadt, it is appropriately grand, covering 52 acres and consisting of three separate castles inside the complex. Three and a half million bricks were used in the construction, making it the largest brick building in Europe. Other castles may not have the same scale, but were still a vital part of the order’s control over Prussia.

Legacy of the Teutonic Knights

After the Battle of Grunwald, by Alphonse Mucha, 1924. Source: National Gallery Prague

As the centuries passed, the Teutonic Knights began to lose their power and influence. In 1410, they suffered their greatest defeat at the Battle of Grunwald, also known as the Battle of Tannenberg. A coalition of Poland and Lithuania, as well as some troops from Smolensk and Steppe horse archers. During the intense fighting, the grand master was killed along with a large number of the order’s best knights. Their defeat stopped the expansion of the Order, which was forced on the defensive. In 1457, they were forced to abandon control of Malbork and relocate to Koningsburg. From there, the order continued to diminish in strength and holdings. By the mid-16th century, the Teutonic order was a shadow of its former self. Nevertheless, it continued on with some minor holdings until these were dissolved in 1809 by Napoleon.

The Teutonic Knights had a lasting impact on history. Their campaigns helped spread Christianity to the last pagan holdouts in Europe. Their trade networks and political organization brought the regions under the cultural and political sphere of Europe, and laid the foundations for later states to rise in that part of the continent. In response to Teutonic encroachment, the state of Poland-Lithuania was created, one of the largest and most influential nations in Eastern European history. The religion, culture, and statecraft of the Baltic coast owe much to the presence of the Teutonic Knights. They were also seen in a negative light as outsiders who invaded Slavic lands without provocation.

Teutonic Knights in the film Alexander Nevsky, 1938. Source: Internet Movie Database

Both the battle on the Ice and the Battle of Grunwald are still seen as great victories in Eastern Europe against the West. During the Soviet era, the film Alexander Nevsky was immensely popular. It depicted the Teutonic Knights as bloodthirsty barbarians, and many wore modern German stahlhelms, connecting them to the Nazi regime. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the film was shown regularly. This and other propaganda pieces suggested that the current struggle was a continuation of the medieval conflicts. Today, the Teutonic Knights are often overshadowed by other knightly orders, such as the Templars; their once-proud and influential history is unfortunately overlooked. They still exist as a Catholic charitable order, more concerned with helping the needy than cleaving skulls, which was ironically closer to their original