Teutonic Knights (42 page)

Acre

Adalbert of Prague

Advocates

Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini

Albert von Buxhoevden

Albert Suerbeer

Albrecht of Hohenzollern-Ansbach

Albrecht von Habsburg

Aldona

Alexander of Moldavia

Alexander IV

Alexander, Bishop

Alexander Nevsky

Alexandra

Algirdas

Alle River

Andreas

Andreas von Felben

Andrew of Hungary

Anna, wife of Vytautas

Anno von Sangerhausen

Archbishop of Gniezno

Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen

Archbishop of Riga

Architecture

Art

Aurochs

Austria, Austrians

Avignon, Avignon popes

Balkans

Bad Mergentheim

Baptism

Bartia

Bartenste in

Basil of Moscow

Batu

Bavaria, Bavarians

Bela of Hungary

Belgrade

Bernard of Clairvaux

Birutė

Bishop of Cracow

Bishop of Culm

Bishop of Dorpat

Bishop of Ermland

Bishop of Kujavia

Bishop of Oesel-Wiek

Bishop of Olmütz

Bishop of Płock

Bishop of Pomesania

Bishop of Prussia

Bishop of Riga

Bishop of Samland

Bishop of Vilnius

Blue Waters

Blumenau

Bohemia

Bohemian mercenaries

Boleslas III

Boleslas the Pious

Boleslas of Masovia

Boniface VIII

Boyars

Brandenburg

Bremen

Brzesc

Bruno of Querfurt

Bug River

Bulgaria

Burchard von Schwanden

Burgundy

Burzenland

Byzantine empire

Calixtus III

Cannon

Capistrano

Casimir the Great

Casimir IV

Castles

Castellans

Caupo

Celestine III

Charles IV

Charles V

Charles Robert

Chaucer

Chivalry

Christburg

Christiansen, Eric

Christmemel

Christopher von Münchhausen

Churchmen

Cistercians

Clans

Clara of Zać

Clement VII

Coinage

Conrad of Masovia

Conrad of Masovia-Czerski

Conrad of Thuringia

Conrad von Feuchtwangen

Conrad von Jungingen

Conrad von Landsberg

Conrad von Thierberg

Conrad von Thierberg the younger

Conrad von Wallenrode

Conrad Zöllner

Conspiracies

Constantinople

Conversion

Council of Basel

Council of Constance

Council of Pisa

Council of Vienne

Counter-Reformation

Cracow

Crimean Tatars

Crusades

Crusaders

Culm

Cumans

Damietta

Danzig

Daugava River

Daumantas

David of Gardinas

Denmark, Danes

Dietrich von Altenburg

Dietrich von Grüningen

Dietrich von Schönberg

Dietrich von Werthern

Diplomacy

Dirschau

Długosz

Dmitri of Perejslavl

Dobrin

Dobriner Order

Dominicans

Dorpat

Drang nach Osten

Drinking

Düna (see Daugava)

Dünaburg

Dzewa River

East Central Europe

East Prussia

Egypt

Eisenstein, Sergei

Elbing

England

English crusaders

Eric IX

Ermes

Ermland

Estonia

Fellin

Feudal society

First Peace of Thorn

First Prussian Insurrection

Fifth Crusade

Fourth Crusade

Fourth Lateran Council

France

Franciscans

French Crusaders

Friars

Friedrich Barbarossa

Friedrich von Habsburg

Friedrich von Hohenstaufen

Friedrich II 24 – 28

Friedrich III

Friedrich of Saxony

Galicia

Galindia

Gardinas

Gediminid dynasty

Gediminas

Genghis Khan

Georg of Saxony

Gerhard von Mansfeld

German churchmen

German language

German master

German Order

Gniezno

Golden Bull of Rimini

Golden Horde (see Tatars)

Gotland

Gotthard Kettler

Grand Chapter

Grand Commander

Grand Master

Great Poland

Great Prince

Great Schism

Gregory IX

Gregory X

Guerrilla warfare

Guillaume de Machaut

Grunwald; see Tannenberg

Gunzelin of Schwerin

Gunther von Arnstein

Habsburg dynasty

Half-brothers

Hanseatic League

Hartmann von Heldrungen

Heidenreich Vincke von Overberg

Heilsburg

Heinrich VI

Heinrich von Plauen

Heinrich von Plötzke

Heinrich of Bavaria

Heinrich Reuss von Plauen

Heinrich Reffle von Richtenberg

Heinrich von Schwerin

Henry of Derby

Henry of Lancaster

Henry of Livonia

Henryk of Płock

Henryk of Silesia

Heralds

Herkus Monte

Hermann Balk

Hermann von Buxhoevden

Hermann von Salza

Hermann von Thuringia

Hiob, bishop of Pomesania

Historians

Hitler

Hohenstaufen dynasty

Hohenzollern dynasty

Holland, Netherlands

Holstein

Holy Land

Holy War

Holy woods

Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Empire

Honorius III

Hospitaller Order

Humanism

Hundred Years War

Hungary

Hunting

Hussites

Imperialism

Interdict

Italy, Italians

Ivan III

Ivan IV

Ivan of Galschan

Jadwiga

Jagiełło

Jaroslaw

Jerusalem

Jesuits

Jews

Jodokus von Hohenstein,

Jogaila(see Jagiełło)

Johann von Posilge

Johann von Tiefen

John of Bohemia

John XXII

Juliana

Junker class,

Just war

Kalish

Karabutas

Karl Birger

Karl von Trier

Karlstejn

Kaunas

Kęstutis

Khans

Kiev

Königsberg

Konitz

Kremlin

Kriavas

Kujavia

Kurland Bay

Kurland, Kurs

Labiau

Ladislas of Oppeln

Ladilas the Short

Ladislas of Masvoia

Ladoga, Lake

Lady Mary

Latin

Leal

Lekno

Leopold of Austria

Lev of Galicia

Leszek the Black

Liegnitz

Lithuania

Lithuanian nobles

Livonia

Livonian Confederation

Livonian Crusade

Livonian master

Livonian Order

Louis IV

Louis the Great

Louis Jagiellon

Louis of Brandenburg

Louis of Thuringia

Louis von Erlichshausen

Louis von Leibenzelle

Louis von Wittelsbach

Louis de Silves

Lübeck

Ludolf König

Luther, Lutheran

Luther von Braunschweig

Magnates and Palatines

Magnus of Holstein

Mangold von Sternberg

Marburg

Marger

Marienburg

Marienwerder

Marco Polo

Marquard von Salzbach

Marshal

Martin von Golen

Martyrdom

Masovia

Master of the Robes

Matejko, Jan

Matthias Corvinus

Maximilian

Mecklenburg

Meinhard

Meissen

Memel (for Memel River see Nemunas)

Men-at-arms

Mercenaries

Merchants

Mestwin

Mewe

Michael Küchmeister

Military Orders

Militia

Mindaugas

Ministerial es

Missionaries

Mitau

Moldavia

Mongols (see Tatars)

Moravia

Moscow

Music

Napoleon

Narew River

Nationalism

Narva

Nattangia

Navy

Nemunas River

Neumark

Neva River

Nicholas von Jeroschin

Nicholas Traba

Nicholas V

Nicopolis

Nobles

Novgorod

Nuremberg

Nurses

Oleśnicki

Orthodox Christians

Oesel

Ossa River

Osterode

Otto

Ottokar II

Paganism

Papal legate

Paul II

Paul Watt

Paulus Vladimiri

Peasant uprisings

Peasantry

Peipus, Lake

Peter von Dusburg

Peter von Suchenwirt

Peter’s Pence

Philipp de Mézières

Piast dynasty

Piccolomini (Aeneas Silvius, Pius II)

Piracy

Plague

Płock

Plowce

Pogesania

Poland

Polish Church and churchmen

Polish nobles, knights

Polotsk

Pomerania

Pomerellia

Pomesania

Poppo

Pregel River

Priests

Propaganda

Protestants

Prussia

Prussians

Prussian Estates, Prussian nobles

Prussian League

Prussian master

Przemysł

Pskov

Racibor

Ragnit

Racianz

Ransom

Reform movements

Reformation

Renaissance

Reval

Rhinelanders

Riga

Ringailé

Roman Catholic

Royal Prussia

Rudau

Rudolf von Habsburg

Ruprecht

Russia, Rus’

Sallinwerder

Sambor

Samland

Samogitia

Samogitian Crusade

Sandomir

Saracens

Saule

Saxony, Saxons

Scalovia

Schwerin

Schwetz

Scotland, Scots

Scouts

Scumand

Second Peace of Thorn

Second Prussian Insurrection

Secularization

Semgallia

Serbia, Serbs

Serfs, Serfdom

Sieghard von Schwarzburg

Siegfried von Feuchtwangen

Sigismund of Hungary

Sigismund, king of Poland

Sigismund Augustus

Silesia, Silesians

Skirgaila

Slaves

Smolensk

St.Augustine

St.Barbara

St.Dorothea

St.George

St.Wenceslas

Stefan Batory

Stensby

Stuhm

Sudovia

Superstition

Sventopełk

Svidrigailo

Sweden

Swenca

Swordbrothers

Tannenberg

Tapiau

Tatars

Taxes

Templars

Teutonic Order

Theodoric, missionary

Theodoric of Samland

Third Crusade

Third Prussian Insurrection

Thirteen Years War

Thomas, Bishop

Thorn

Thuringia

Tilsit

Timur

Tokhtamysh

Toleration

Tournaments

Trade

Traidenis

Trakai

Transylvania

Treasurer

Tribes

Tribute

Turcopoles

Turks

Ukraine

Ulrich von Jungingen

Urban II

Urban VI

Vassals

Venice

Victimisation

Vienna

Vikings

Vilnius

Virgin Mary

Visegrad

Vistula River

Vogelsang

Volhynia

Volquin

Vorskla River

Vytautas

Vytenis

Waldemar II

Wallachia

Warmia

Weissenstein

Welf

Welun

Wenceslas II

Wenceslas IV

Wendish Crusade

Werner von Orseln

Wesenberg

West Prussia

Westphalia, Westphalians

Wilderness

Wilhelm von Fürstenburg

Wilhelmine Germany

William of Modena

Winrich von Kniprode

Wizna

Wolter von Plettenberg

Women

Zantir

Žygimantas

See Bibliography.

Eric Christensen,
The Northern Crusades
(Penguin, London and New York, 1998). Christensen is not only a solid scholar, but his pithy comments are often very witty as well.

The reasons for this nomenclature are not particularly clear, although it may have something to do with the traditional insular unwillingness of Englishmen to take the time to tell
Deutsch
from Dutch. More likely there was a bit of modern intellectual snobbery involved –
Teutonic
was a more refined word than German, with its implications of fat old men sitting in a dark tavern, smoke spilling out of their long pipes, and tankards of beer on the tables.

Men-at-arms fought in units of ten mounted warriors under the direction of a knight. Since these men traditionally followed a knight’s flag, the unit was called a banner. Sometimes men-at-arms were equipped with heavy armour and rode a trained war-horse, but for scouting duties and raiding lighter equipment was more appropriate (and cheaper). In the Holy Land these men were called Turcopoles, and dressed for the hot climate – with light arms, less armour, and faster horses, like their Arab and Turkish foes. Later the Teutonic Order’s men-at-arms were usually Germans, though, unlike the knights, they could be born in Prussia or Livonia. Advancement of a man-at-arms into the ranks of the knights was extremely rare. They ate and slept in their own barracks, but observed the same daily religious services as knights and priests.

As a symbol of his friendship the emperor issued the Golden Bull of Rimini in 1226, granting the order extensive lands and privileges in Prussia should the Teutonic Knights choose to accept the invitation from Duke Conrad of Masovia to send knights there.

Rus’ is the name Western historians use for medieval Russia, with its centre in Kiev but its authority widely scattered among the descendants of the early grand princes. This usage minimises confusion with the very different Russian state that formed in the sixteenth century, with its centre in Moscow.

By ‘Mongol’ scholars generally mean the empire of the grand khan, with its centre in Mongolia, from which the khanate’s wars against China, Persia and the Near East could be directed most effectively. By ‘Tatar’ we refer to the lesser khans living in the west, from Turkestan to Kazan. By ‘Golden Horde’ we mean the westernmost Tatars, with their centre at Sarai on the lower Volga. Some lived as far west as the Crimea. In practice, these names are used interchangeably.

Nora Berend,
At the Gate of Christendom: Jews, Muslims and ‘Pagans’ in Medieval Hungary, c.1000 – c.1300
(Cambridge University Press, 2001); Norman Davies,
God’s Playground: A History of Poland in two volumes
(Columbia, New York, 1982).

Much scholarly ink has been spilled over the nature of Baltic paganism. Recent opinions range from Marija Gimbutas,
The Balts
(Thames & Hudson, London, 1963) and Algirdas Greimas,
Of Gods and Men: Studies in Lithuanian Mythology
(Indiana University Press, 1992), who see a complete pantheon of gods and spirits, to Endre Bojtár,
Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People
(Central European University Press, Budapest, 2000), who argues that the deities and most of Baltic folklore are nineteenth-century inventions, similar, perhaps, to currently fashionable neo-paganism and the goddess cult. The oldest descriptions of pagan practices were collected in their original languages by Wilhelm Mannhardt,
Letto-Prussische Götterlehre
(Lettisch-Literärische Gesellschaft, Riga, 1863).

One can hardly take a firm stand on nothing, but nationalists of all types rarely hesitate to put their feet down wherever they believe a solid foundation should exist. And other than the experts in the less well-known languages of the region, past and present, who would know to what degree their accounts are reliable? Abundant records exist for later centuries, when Poles, Germans and papal legates were writing letters, reports and treaties, and chroniclers were composing works of surprising quality. In the nineteenth century well-trained historians began to compose competent histories of this era and to publish edited editions of primary sources. Alas, some political histories were little more than polemics, but in the late twentieth century scholars had begun to overcome some of their most obvious political biases, at least to the extent of recognising alternative interpretations of events.

Modern historians have sought to identify the Teutonic Knights as the spearhead of the medieval
Drang nach Osten
(the German push to the East); with imperial Germany’s expansionist plans; and with Nazism. In the Cold War period a crude hostility to all Slavs was attributed to the entire West. In reality this important medieval migration is better associated with the peaceful settlement of German knights and peasants in eastern lands (as in the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin) by invitation. Across Europe landowners and clergymen were opening forests and swamps to farming and herding; Polish peasants and gentry were on the move eastward; and Jews and German artisans and merchants were creating towns.

Conrad created his own military order, the Dobriners, which he hoped to control fully; it was later wiped out fighting in Volhynia. The Templars and Hospitallers accepted estates in Pomerellia and Poland, but their contributions to later military expeditions were too small to be significant.

Native nobles rarely had sufficient income to allow them to function full-time as warriors and administrators. Nor did the Teutonic Order want to disperse its potential incomes by creating a class of secular knights. The masters gave away few fiefs, and most of those were small grants in Culm, given to Polish knights. The masters appointed members of the Teutonic Order to train and lead the native troops. Known as advocates, these lived with their charges, so they were usually fluent in Prussian and understood their customs well.

Mindaugas did promise the Livonian master Samogitia, but he could do this easily, since the Samogitians did not recognise him as their ruler anyway.

The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
(trans. James A. Brundage, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1961). This lively, intelligent account of the period 1180 – 1227 ranks as one of the better medieval chronicles. Apparently written for the benefit of William of Modena, the papal legate who arrived in Riga in 1225, it is more thorough and more reflective than all but a very few contemporary works.

There were no serfs in Livonia in these early days, though there were a few slaves – prisoners taken in raids upon pagan lands. Serfdom became widespread only in the fifteenth century.

A
hide
was the amount of land needed to support one family. This varied according to locality, from as little as 60 acres to as many as 240; most commonly it was 120 acres.

Chronicle of Novgorod
,
1016 – 1471
(trans. Robert Michell and Nevil Forbes, Camden Society 3rd series XV, London, 1914). This is not the easiest text to read, but it conveys vividly the flavour of the Orthodox faith.

The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle
(trans. Jerry C. Smith and William Urban, new and expanded second edition, Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, Chicago, 2001). A naïve, lively, informative narrative.

Quoted in David Nicolle,
Lake Peipus 1242: The Battle on the Ice
(Osprey, London, 1996).

As it turned out, only World War Two seems to have provided a solution – a very brutal one, involving as it did the forced removal of most of the German-speaking population of East and West Prussia, including most descendants of the original Prussian population.

After World War Two it was renamed Kaliningrad by its Soviet conquerors to honour a Stalinist party hack. Most evidence of the German past that survived the fighting was destroyed, thus eliminating the visual reminders that Emmanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) and Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 – 1803) had lived there, along with the monuments built by the Teutonic Knights and the dukes of Prussia.

Some historians have interpreted this document as a grant of all of Russia and Lithuania. This is unlikely – the Teutonic Order was ambitious, but it was also extremely realistic.

Christoph Maier,
Preaching the Crusade: Mendicant Friars and the Cross in the thirteenth century
(Cambridge University Press, 1994). Since bishops were often unable to support themselves in their Baltic dioceses, they travelled from one German bishopric to another, assisting fellow prelates in special celebrations, collecting pious donations, and preaching the crusade.

An excellent account is S.C. Rowell,
Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire within East-Central Europe
(Cambridge University Press, 1994).

An exception is Harvard scholar Samuel Huntington, whose 1993 article ‘Clash of Civilizations’, in
Foreign Affairs
, has been widely discussed.

Modern men and women are by no means above scheming and backbiting, but few modern states disintegrate when hereditary leaders change their allegiance.

The Hungarians objected to having Sigismund as their ruler, too, but he used his brother’s Czech and German troops to repress the nobles’ repeated uprisings.

In 1429 Vytautas sought to be crowned king of Lithuania, an honour cleverly offered by Sigismund, but his ambition was frustrated by Jagiełło, who arranged for the crown and other regalia to be stolen. The aged Vytautas was riding incredible distances through winter weather to prevent the coronation from being cancelled when his horse slipped and he was fatally injured.

Timur did not follow up his victory. Instead, he turned on the Ottoman Turks, beginning a two-year campaign that culminated in smashing their army at Angora in 1402. This left him master of Central Asia, the Golden Horde, Persia, and parts of India and Asia Minor.

The French supported the Avignon pope, the English and many Germans the Roman pope, and the Council of Pisa provided a third candidate for universal recognition. The situation in Germany became somewhat clearer after the death of Ruprecht of the Rhine. Germans, despairing of King Wenceslas ever amounting to anything, began to discuss whether his brother, Sigismund of Hungary, would be an effective Holy Roman emperor. Sigismund linked his candidacy with efforts to resolve the problems of the Church.

Historians remember Wenceslas mainly for his drunkenness. Britons and Americans remember him for the Christmas carol dating from the marriage of his daughter to King Richard II, ‘Good King Wenceslas’. Czechs remember him for throwing the archbishop of Prague from Charles Bridge to drown.

French and Hungarian crusaders were massacred by the Turks because they had lacked battlefield discipline. It was an experience that made Sigismund of Hungary extremely cautious for the rest of his long career.

On behalf of the Prussian merchants and the Hanseatic League, the Teutonic Knights had destroyed a major pirate base at Visby, then held the island for several years against Danish efforts to retake it.

A fraternal/chivalrous order of knights in Culm. ‘Lizard’ meant dragon.

The Hussites can be considered early Protestants, since they emphasised communion in both kinds (bread and wine for the congregation) and hymns and sermons in the local language. But they were also Czech nationalists who resented the German domination of Bohemia. The Teutonic Knights supplied many knights to Sigismund’s efforts to crush them, but they were almost always beaten badly.

The churchmen, unhappy at papal reluctance to turn the Church into a more representative body, refused to dissolve the council when ordered to go home. Instead, they declared the pope deposed and elected an anti-pope. It took years to restore unity.

Most peasants in Central Europe were poor. There were degrees of poverty, of course, but those reflected more than the condition of servitude. Climate, weather, war, disease, and price fluctuations were important too. Livonia was far to the north, with poor soil and a short growing season. Moreover, the loss of personal freedom was occurring throughout the region at this time – in Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. In contrast, serfdom was disappearing in the West.

Even knights who preferred Roman Catholicism could see that the need for church reform was pressing, and since the Council of Trent had not yet been called there was general despair that the papacy would begin to deal with the Church’s most pressing problems. Worse, no one could see how conservative ecclesiastical reforms in Germany would help Livonia politically.

Almost no knights had ever been recruited in Prussia or Livonia, lest they find ways to foster the interests of their secular relatives. This policy was relaxed in Livonia in the fifteenth century, but even there the few recruits were usually from families recently brought east from Westphalia by relatives who held high office and could promise them swift advancement.

Readers may wish to consult: William Urban, ‘Rethinking the Crusades’,
Perspectives
(the newsletter of the American Historical Association) 36/7, October 1998, pp.25 – 9; and ‘Victims of the Baltic Crusade’,
Journal of Baltic Studies
29/3, Autumn 1998, pp.195 – 212. The latter was awarded the Vitols Prize of the AABS for best article published in the
JBS
that year.