Welcome to House of History.
Last video we delved into the prehistory of Prussia in which the Deutschritter Orden,
or Teutonic Order, colonized pre-Hohenzollern Prussia.
Around 1192 this new order made its appearance in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
With their characteristic white mantles and horned helmets, the Knights of the Teutonic
Order emerged as a powerful force in Medieval Europe, greatly influencing its course of
history.
Because interestingly enough the Teutonic Order never distinguished itself in the Holy
Land.
It remained a purely Germanic movement and would eventually shape the future of the German
East.
In this video we will look at the order’s background, its rituals and how it reached
its zenith of power in Europe, only to eventually fall into decline.
Welcome to the complete history of Prussia.
-intro with Christ ist erstanden-
Background
The Teutonic Order, established around 1192, was quite different from the Templar Knights
and Knights of St. John, other contemporary Catholic Military Orders.
The initiative for the order didn’t come from the clergy or even from German knights,
but from German burghers: merchants from Bremen and Lübeck, old cities of the Hanseatic League.
As crusading knights were passing their settlements outside the city of Acre in the Kingdom of
Jerusalem, it is said disease befell them.
The merchants now took it upon themselves to build hospitals and dormitories in order
to care for their sick.
Pope Celestine III eventually granted them recognition as being a spiritual corporation
in 1196.
Pope Innocent confirmed this, under one condition: the corporation should become knightly, taking
after the Templars.
Furthermore, it should model its hospital rules after those of the Order of St John.
As such, a new order was born.
Whereas older orders such as the aforementioned two managed to accumulate much wealth, according
to historian H.W. Koch the Teutonic Order didn’t.
They hadn’t fought any famous battles in the Holy Land and thus hadn’t managed to
accumulate much wealth.
Paradoxically this meant that institutional corruption and decay didn’t affect the Teutonic
Knights.
Throughout its history, the order consisted of three main branches.
Firstly, the German branch which was concentrated in south-west Germany.
Secondly, there was a branch in Livonia, a region on the shores of the Baltic sea, and
thirdly there was a Prussian branch with its centre at Marienburg.
Eventually, the Prussian branch would become the centre of the entire Order, with Marienburg
as its headquarters.
Whereas initially, the order saw the Holy Land as its centre of missionary activity,
early on in the 13th century the order began to focus itself more on eastern-central Europe.
This change of their point of attention would greatly influence the history of the Order,
and Europe as a whole.
Teutonic Knights and the HRE
Alright, so after the establishment of the order, it led a relatively insignificant life
on the periphery of the Holy Land and medieval Europe.
On this map of the Holy Roman Empire, in the north-eastern corner, you can clearly see
the “Deutschordensgebiet”, or area of the Teutonic Order.
Now, its actual rise to prominence on the European theatre was in part thanks to the
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick II (r 1220-1250).
Frederick attempted to turn this Order into his personal loyal bodyguard.
On behalf of the order, he had the Papacy grant charters for it, he recruited prominent
members and tried to have knights from other orders join it.
Whenever something had to be done in the Holy Land, he trusted no one but the Teutonic Knights
to carry out the task, and within the Empire, he trusted the knights with the administration
over several territories.
Its Grand Master was to be part of the royal household when attending court.
And that wasn’t a blind decision.
The fourth grandmaster of the order, Hermann von Salza, was one of Frederick’s closest
confidants.
Von Salza, a true diplomat, used his position as Grand Master to mediate between Frederick
and the Papacy whenever necessary (and it was often necessary), without ever placing
himself in an unstable position.
Frederick in his own person is interesting as he centralized the judicial and political
administration of the Empire, something that was hitherto unknown in Europe.
Von Salza used this as a blueprint to restructure the Order, with some modifications where necessary.
Due to the restructuring of the order, it became practical to focus on settling in central-eastern
Europe instead of the Holy Land.
Around 1222 the order attempted to settle in Burzenland, Transylvania, upon invitation
of King Andrew of Hungary to fight the Cuman people.
Five castles were built in the region, with the reluctant agreement of the King.
There was much resistance from other German settlers and Hungarians in the region, and
actually imposing the orders own rule never happened.
Now, far north of Burzenland, Conrad of Masovia, Duke of Poland, happened to find himself unable
to rule the heathen Prussians within his domains.
As the last hope he turned to the Teutonic Knights, with the promise that if they would
subjugate the Prussians, they would be rewarded with the territories of Kulm along the river
Vistula.
After 4 years of issues without the Order gaining a real foothold in Burzenland, were
expelled by the Hungarian King for he didn’t take kindly to them trying to establish an
autonomous state.
Von Salza realized it would be smart to document the Order’s rights, confirmed by the Holy
Roman Emperor, before he helped the Polish Duke.
Overseen by Emperor Frederick II and the Pope, in March 1226 the Golden Bull of Rimini was
issued.
In it, considerable privileges were granted to Von Salza and the Order, basically containing
the foundation for the future state of the Teutonic Order.
Oh and just know that I won’t repeat it for every battle and every year, but just
know that the colonization of the Baltic and western Slavic territories was bloody and
can easily be considered genocide.
Rituals of the order
Before we delve into the Prussian Crusade and the state that was established, I want
to look a bit at the traditions and rituals of the Order.
In its oldest set of rules, dating back to their time in the Holy Land members of the
Order dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ.
Not a big surprise there.
They were exempted from secular justice, could not marry, had to adhere to celibacy, renounce
freedom of personal will and the possession of personal property.
The order dedicated itself to maintaining hospitals, a recognition of the origins of
the order.
The knights were expected to serve the sick in a humble and faithful matter.
Boys could join the order after the age of 14 and of course, no women could join, in
order to maintain the virility of the order.
Its members took holy communion 7 times a year and attended mass.
Now, interestingly enough, although hierarchy was shunned within the order, there was an
outer distinction between normal laymen and knights.
Only the knights could wear the characteristic white mantles bearing a black cross.
In terms of hairdo, the clergy was expected to have a tonsure and the knights close-cropped
hair with moderate beards.
The beard stood in contrast with many other knightly orders, hence earning the Teutonic
Knights the nickname ‘the bearded ones’.
Furthermore, there were many religious rituals, as expected.
Blessing food, praying and fasting on Fridays.
Fraternization was expected - all brothers of a ‘house’ within the order slept in
one room, and no knight was allowed to have his own seal, coat of arms, or write letters.
There is an incredibly interesting chapter in H.W.
Koch’s “A history of Prussia” if you’re interested in more rituals: there are too
many to mention here.
It is safe to say that the Teutonic order was a sober and pious fraternity.
The last important thing to note, perhaps the most important thing, is that marriage
was forbidden and the knights of the order were not allowed to talk to women, nor even
kiss their sisters and mothers on the cheek.
A logical result of this devout lifestyle was that members of the order did not have
any off-spring.
They had to constantly recruit ‘new blood’ from outside the order.
Even the position of the Hochmeister, or Grand Master, himself was prevented from turning
into a hereditary property.
Teutonic Knights in Prussia
Now, initially nothing was really granted to the Order.
After all, the territory still had to be conquered and the heathens still had to be converted.
Another order was active in the region, the religious order of Cistercian monks.
Grandmaster von Salza managed to make allies of them, and together the Teutonic Knights
and Cistercian monks became the main pillars of missionary activity in the north-east.
The Golden Bull stated something important: all conquests were to be free property of
the Order.
The GrandMaster was to enjoy all the privileges that pertain to a prince of the Empire, including
royal privileges, and in Prussia the order shall be free from all imperial taxes, burdens
and services.
The impact of these rights could not have been foreseen in the early 13th century, but
the future of the Teutonic Order and Prussia were heavily determined by it, and with that,
the future of Germany as a whole.
We’ve already looked at colonization and conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic knights
in the previous video about the history of Prussia.
By 1230 the land was granted to the order by Conrad of Masovia, disclaiming any enfeoffment.
The foundations for the State of the Teutonic Order were laid.
Now, it wasn’t a massive influx of Teutonic Knights.
During the days of Hermann von Salza the order listed approximately 600 members, though by
the late 1270s it had increased to 2000.
Still, very, very moderate numbers.
In order to conquer the Baltic Old Prussians living around the Vistula they recruited crusaders
from the German empire.
The Germans proved the crusading spirit was alive and well, for by 1231 Teutonic Knights
leading entire crusading armies conquered large parts of the eastern banks of the Vistula
and built their fortresses and castles there.
By von Salza’s death in 1239 the order controlled more than 150 kilometres of the Baltic coast.
A great foothold to expand further in-land.
Another decade later, in 1255, Ottokar the II, King of Bohemia, joined the crusade in
Prussia.
In Samland a new fortress was built in his honour.
Its name was Königsberg, with its emblem a knight with crowned helmet.
In the future centuries, the city built around it would serve as the cultural and economic
centre of Eastern Prussia.
The later decades of the 13th century consisted of multiple major and minor uprisings by the
Old Prussians.
Occasionally they were even supported by Prussian nobility against the Teutonic Order.
In response, the Order started to demand complete submission, cracking down on the Prussian
nobility and tribes.
At the same time, the Order attracted settlers from the German Empire to replenish their
ranks and populate their towns.
A policy of Germanization in its most rigorous form was implemented in Prussia alone.
The Zenith of Power
Now, international politics are a bit confusing and difficult during this time, I’ll try
to briefly summarize what went down.
In 1308 the Order lay claim to the city of Danzig after expelling the Ascanian Brandenburgers
at the request of the Polish crown.
The Order wasn’t too committed to the Polish crown however, they switched sides and fought
a brief war against the Polish crown.
Emerging victorious, Danzig, for now, was theirs.
The Lithuanians, controlling considerable territory in the region, weren’t too thrilled
about the Order expanding around their periphery.
A spectre of a Polish-Lithuanian alliance against the Order began to emerge.
During that time King Casimir of Poland married the daughter of the King of Lithuania.
Grand Master Siegfried von Feuchtwangen made it his priority to consolidate and expand
the Order’s colonial territory to resist this alliance.
The next 3 decades marked, among others, the Polish-Teutonic wars.
Until 1343 when the Peace of Kalisch was concluded, and Poland officially ceded Danzig.
It marked a real rift between the Order and their traditional ally, the Papacy, as Rome
supported the Poles.
After the victory over the Poles, the Order enjoyed its zenith of secular power.
Throughout the wars there was extensive trade with the Hanseatic league.
Nobles from all over Europe considered it a point of pride to become a Knight.
Not just any nobles, but famous examples are Henry Bolingbroke, who later became King of
England and Jean Boucicaut, who later became Marshal of France.
By 1398 the order even created its own fleet, supported by the Hanseatic cities.
Yet, the prosperity and political dominance were at the root of the eventual decline of
the order.
Decline of the Order
As the Order prospered, its vows of obedience, poverty and chasity became mere lip service.
Towns and land-owners increasingly complained about the Order suppressing and restricting
them in their doing.
It didn’t help that the intellectual development of the order halted… several Grandmasters
could neither read nor write, with educational facilities withering away.
Because the offices of the order weren’t hereditary, it lost the connection to its
own lands.
They recruited new blood from the German Empire, not so much from Prussia.
As the Lithuanians were forced to convert to Christianity following the marriage of
Prince Jagiello of Lithuania to the heiress of the crown of Poland, the external pagan
threat bore no semblance anymore and the townsfolk increasingly started to look at the foreign
Poles and Lithuanians as a potential ally against the Order.
In the north a strong Denmark emerged, the long-feared union of Poland and Lithuania
had come true and the Hanseatic cities started to contest privileges.
In 1410 Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen bet it all on one horse: he raised an army
of nearly 50.000 men and rode out to confront the Poles and Lithuanians on 15 July 1410.
The battle became known as the Battle of Grunwald and resulted in the resounding defeat of the
Order by an army twice their size.
International politics, mainly the threat of Hungary attacking Poland, led to the relatively
favourable peace of Thorun in 1411, although at Prussia’s periphery bands of marauding
Poles and Lithuanians were commonplace.
It led to the new Grand Master to raise an army against both countries again, culminating
in the ever-so fittingly named ‘Hunger War’ and Gollub war, resulting in a defeat for
the Teutonic Order.
Following the defeat several divisions within the Order became apparent and a period of
internal wars and feuds followed.
An alternative government to that of the Teutonic Order was created: the Prussian League.
It consisted of members of the cities and landed nobility.
The League requested help from King Casimir of Poland against the Order, which led to
the Thirteen Years’ War.
The King, after all, was all too happy to support the League since they promised for
Prussia to become part of Poland in case of victory.
At the start of the war, in 1454, the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick II bought Neumark
from Prussia, in an attempt to expand his control to the Baltics.
By 1466 the Order had lost the war - and as the Second Peace of Thorn was signed, the
Order ceded West Prussia to Poland, which would be ruled in Personal Union by the Polish
King.
From now on, it was known as Royal Prussia.
Furthermore, the Grandmaster of the order swore an oath of fealty to the King of Poland.
Now, there were several more Grandmasters after this peace but the one that is important
for our study is the one that ascended in 1510, Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach.
He played a pivotal role in the emergence of the Hohenzollerns as rulers over Brandenburg-Prussia.
Next episode, we’ll look at the history of the Hohenzollern clan in Brandenburg and
at Albert’s political play that resulted in the Hohenzollern’s controlling the Order’s
territories as well.
Thank you for watching this video.
Make sure you check out the playlist with the Complete History of Prussia on the screen.
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