THE PRUSSIAN CRUSADE & THE STATE OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER

 

The Prussian Crusade (1217-1274 CE) was officially declared by Pope Honorius III (1216-1227 CE) at the behest of the Polish Duke of Mazovia, Konrad I (1187-1247 CE). The Catholic Poles had been trying to conquer the pagan Prussians (Prusi), who inhabited the central Baltic littoral to the north of Poland, since the early tenth century CE (with little success), and several Catholic missions to the region during this same period had also failed to gain converts. The Poles had successfully participated in the conquest of the West Slavs of Pomerania, which lay to the west of Prussia beyond the Vistula River, and thus had gained access to the Baltic Sea—the Germans conquered western Pomerania, the Poles eastern Pomerania—although Polish Pomerania (known as the Pomeranian Voivodeship, the Duchy of Pomerelia, the Pomorskie Region, or Eastern Pomerania) encompassed only a small strip of coastal territory with only one port (Gdansk), and the Prussians often raided Pomerelia and the northern territories of Poland (Mazovia/Masovia/Massovia and Kujawy/Kuyavia/Cuyavia). A Cistercian monk named Christian of Oliva—who had led an earlier peaceful mission to Prussia—was named Bishop of Prussia (1216-1228 CE) and founded the military order of the Brothers of Dobryzn (ca. 1225 CE) to aid the Duke of Mazovia in the Prussian Crusade. Konrad's troops had already established control over a small corner of territory in southwestern Prussia known as Chelmnoland (ca. 1219-1222 CE), but with the arrival of several contingents of German crusaders led by Duke Henry of Silesia (1238-1241 CE) and southern Polish crusaders led by Duke Laurentius of Wroclaw and Bishop Laurentius of Lebus, the crusaders seem to have started counting their chickens before they were hatched, arguing over who would control what lands in Prussia once it was conquered. Many of the crusaders abandoned their leaders and returned home by 1223 CE, which was likely one of the major factors that contributed to the formation of the Order of Dobryzn (i.e., to protect the early, if modest, gains of the crusade). However, the Order started with only 15 knights (and never had more than 35), and when the Prussians launched a devastating counterattack against Chelmnoland, Pomerelia, and Mazovia (ca. 1223-1235 CE), the Order of Dobryzn was virtually wiped out and the forces of Konrad of Mazovia were forced into retreat. Christian and Konrad once again appealed to Pope Honorius, and while in Rome Christian made the acquaintance of Grand Master Hermann von Salza of the Teutonic Order (1210-1239 CE).

 

The Teutonic Order had originally been organized during the Third Crusade (ca. 1182-1192 CE) to protect German pilgrims to the Holy Land and to help defend the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1291 CE). The Order was founded (ca. 1190 CE) by Konrad von Querfurt, Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire (1194-1201 CE), originally as a noncombatant sub-order of the Hospitallers, but in 1198 CE Pope Celestine III (1191-1198 CE) re-constituted the Teutonic Order as an independent military order. The Teutonic Order was first established at the German hospital in Acre (a port on the Mediterranean coast in what is today northwestern Israel), and the nearby castle of Montfort/Starkenberg was made its military headquarters after it was re-constituted, but as the fortunes of the crusader states in Outremer declined, the Teutonic Order was forced to move its headquarters from Montfort to Acre (after the fall of Montfort to the Mamluks in 1271 CE), and from Acre to Venice (after the fall of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291 CE). Thereafter, the Order maintained some land holdings in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (an ally of the crusader states in the Levant)(ca. 1211-1271 CE) and participated in the Fifth Crusade (1217-1221 CE), which failed to dislodge the Ayyubids from Egypt. The Teutonic Order attempted to establish itself in the Terra Borza (known as the Burzenland in German sources) in southeastern Transylvania (modern southwestern Romania) by answering the call of King Andrew II of Hungary (1205-1235 CE) to help defend the eastern provinces of the Kingdom of Hungary against the Cumans (much of what is today Romania was at that time part of the Kingdom of Hungary). The Cumans were a Turkic people that controlled most of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe (southern Russia and southern Ukraine) and the Baragan Plain (Moldavia and eastern Romania), who often raided across the eastern Carpathian Mountains into Transylvania. However, shortly after the Teutonic Order established itself in the Burzenland (ca. 1211-1225 CE), Andrew became convinced the Order was trying to carve out their own independent state and expelled them, which meant the Order was eager to find another area into which they might expand. As mentioned above, Christian of Oliva and Hermann von Salza met in Rome in 1215 CE, and Christian seems to have suggested to Hermann that the Teutonic Order might join the Prussian Crusade. This idea also gained the support of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II (1194-1250 CE), and of Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241 CE), who each gave their blessing to the Teutonic Order to join the Prussian Crusade (Frederick also provided material support by promoting the crusade among the German lords and by recruiting German colonists). Frederick went further, and promised the Order control over Chelmnoland (which they subsequently re-named Kulmerland/Culmerland) and any other territories they could conquer in Prussia—these extraordinary promises, proclaimed in the Golden Bull of Rimini (issued in March 1226 CE), were supposedly ratified by Konrad of Mazovia in the Treaty of Kruszwica (16 June 1230 CE), and were definitely ratified by Pope Gregory IX in the Golden Bull of Rieti (1234 CE), but Konrad later claimed that he never signed the Treaty of Kruszwica, that it was a forgery, and that the Order had no right to Chelmnoland/Kulmerland/Culmerland or the territories it subsequently seized in Prussia. Unfortunately, modern historians have been unable to resolve this controversy because no physical copy of the Treaty (forged or otherwise) has survived, and strong arguments can be made for the two dominant theories that have been put forward to try to explain what happened—either the Treaty was legitimate, signed by a desperate Konrad who was rapidly losing ground to the Prussians, and it was later repudiated by Konrad when the conquests of the Teutonic Order proved far more successful than he had believed possible when he signed the Treaty; or the Treaty was indeed a forgery intended to legitimate the seizure of Chelmnoland by the Order and to sideline Konrad of Mazovia in the subsequent conquest of Prussia.

 

The facts are these: The Teutonic Order was able to establish itself in Kulmerland (ca. 1228-1229 CE) and then went on to conquer the Prussian federations of Pomeddi/Pomesania/Pomesanien and Paguddi/Pogesania/Pogesanien (ca. 1231-1237 CE); Warmia/Varmia/Ermland, Barta/Bartia/Barten, Natangi/Natangia/Natangen, and Galinda/Galindia/Galindien (ca. 1238-1241 CE); Lubawa/Lubavia/Lubavien (ca. 1243 CE); Semba/Sambia/Samland (ca. 1254-1255 CE); Nadrauwa/Nadruvia/Nadrauen and Sasna/Sossinensia/Sassen (ca. 1255-1275 CE); Skallawa/Scalovia/Schaulen (ca. 1276-1277 CE); and Sudawa/Sudovia/Sudauen/Yotvingia (ca. 1280-1283 CE). In 1235 CE, most of the surviving members of the Order of Dobryzn defected to the Teutonic Order, and the remainder of the members of the Order of Dobryzn were transferred by Konrad to a remote outpost on the Polish-Russian frontier (ca. 1237 CE)(they disappear from history altogether by 1240 CE). Mazovian crusaders continued to participate in the Prussian Crusade, although Konrad does not seem to have made any significant territorial acquisitions and withdrew from the crusade in 1242 CE, claiming (as stated above) that the Treaty of Kruszwica was a forgery. Polish-German relations took another blow when the Polish Duke of Pomerelia, Swietopelk/Zwantopolc/Swantopolk II (1190-1266 CE), supported a revolt among the newly conquered Prussians in Pomesania, Pogesania, Warmia, Bartia, Natangia, and Galindia—the First Prussian Uprising (ca. 1242-1249 CE). Swietopelk was forced to abandon this effort in 1248 CE under pressure from the Pope, and although a treaty was made with those Prussians that agreed to convert to Christianity (the Treaty of Christburg, 2 February 1249 CE), the pagan Prussians fought on until 1253 CE. The Teutonic Order continued its conquests by launching an invasion of the eastern Prussian territory of Sambia (ca. 1252-1255 CE), but when the Brothers of the Sword (see page for Medieval Livonia) were badly defeated by the Zemaitijans (who lived to the east of Prussia) at the Battle of Durbe (1260 CE), the Prussians were inspired to again rise in rebellion—the Great Prussian Uprising (1260-1274 CE). The Brothers of the Sword, whose territories lay in Livonia (northeast of Prussia), were made a suborder of the Teutonic Order (ca. 1268 CE), henceforth known as the Livonian Order (a.k.a., the Livonian Brothers of the Sword), and a large army of German crusaders (as many as 60,000 men) led by Duke Albert I of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1269-1279 CE) and Henry III (1221-1288 CE), Margrave of Meissen and Lusatia and Landgrave of Thuringia, helped the Teutonic Order to turn the tide against the Prussian rebels. The Teutonic Order went back over to the offensive thereafter, conquering the remaining Prussian federations of Nadruvia and Skalovia (ca. 1276-1277 CE), and finally Sudovia/Yotvingia (ca. 1280-1283 CE). It is at this point that the expansion of the State of the Teutonic Order in the Baltics began to stall, although with the subordination of the Livonian Order the Teutonic Order rapidly achieved general hegemony over Prussia and Livonia. The Teutonic Order intervened on behalf of the Kingdom of Denmark in 1238 CE, forcing the Livonian Order to cede the Duchy of Estonia (northern Estonia) to Denmark (the Sword Brethren had seized the Duchy from Denmark in 1227 CE), and at the time the Teutonic Order also established its overlordship in the bishoprics of Ösel-Wiek (western Estonia) and Courland (western Livonia).

 

Technically, the prince-archbishops of Riga in Livonia were superior to the grand masters of the Teutonic Order in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church (indeed, the members of the military orders were considered laymen), and the Teutonic Order seems to have at least initially respected the primacy of the Papacy over the bishoprics established in Prussia by the Papal Legate, William of Modena (ca. 1234-1244 CE), but in reality the Archbishopric of Riga only directly administered a small number of fiefs in central and southern Livonia, and its prince-archbishops often had difficulty asserting their authority over the bishoprics of Dorpat, Ösel-Wiek, and Courland, much less over the Sword Brethren and the bishoprics in Prussia (Culm, Pomesania, Ermland, and Samland). Many of the secular vassals of the Livonian bishoprics looked to the military leadership of the Teutonic Order, as did those in Estonia, and within Prussia itself the Prussian bishoprics were clearly fiscally and administratively subordinated to the Teutonic Order. Thus, the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia and Livonia became, for the most part, an independent entity that had no real administrative ties to the Papacy or the Holy Roman Empire. The Teutonic Order maintained estates in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Levant (ca. 1190-1291 CE), the Holy Roman Empire (Germany and northern Italy)(ca. 1226-present), the Republic of Venice (ca. 1291-1483 CE), the Kingdom of Sicily (ca. 1291-1492 CE), the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in Anatolia (ca. 1211-1271 CE), the Kingdom of Hungary (ca. 1211-1225 CE), and the Principality of Achaea in Greece (ca. 1204-1500 CE), and the bailiwicks in these regions often owed some fealty to the lords in whose realm they were located, but with the conquest of Prussia (ca. 1228-1283 CE) the resources of the Order were increasingly devoted to the consolidation and expansion of its holdings in the Baltics. Thanks to the Golden Bull of Rimini (see above), the territories of the Teutonic Order in Prussia were independent of the Holy Roman Empire, despite the undoubted contributions of Germany to the Prussian Crusade that made it part of the Ostiedlung (German, "East-settling," a colonial expansion of Medieval Germany to the east into eastern Germany, western Poland, and the Baltics). The State of the Teutonic Order was considered an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire, but the peculiar political structure of the Holy Roman Empire, which was essentially a federation of semi-independent feudal states, combined with the generous terms of the Golden Bull of Rimini, meant that the Teutonic Order was able to tightly control Prussia in a way that it was unable to do in its other bailiwicks (even within the Holy Roman Empire itself).

 

The Teutonic Order was technically a democracy, with the members of the Order meeting in General Chapter (Generalkapitel) to elect an executive officer—the Grand Master (Hochmeister)—who would appoint several officers to serve as his staff (the Grossgebietiger)—the Grand Commander (Grosskomtur) who was the deputy of the Grand Master, the Treasurer of the Order (Ordenstressler) who was the chief financial officer, the Grand Hospitaler (Grosspitler) who administered the Order's hospitals, the Supreme Marshall (Oberstermarschall) who was the chief of military affairs, and the Supreme Drapier (Oberstertrapier) who was the chief quartermaster. Although the Grand Master was the nominal head of the Order, the territories of the Order were divided into three regional chapters—in Germany, Prussia, and Livonia—each governed by a Land Master (Landmeister) who was elected by the members of the Order in each respective territory. These Land Masters were technically subordinate to the Grand Master, but in practice they were often highly independent. The Land Master of Germany (also known as the Deutschmeister) had authority over the affairs of the German Chapter (with bailiwicks in Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse, Brandenburg, Westfalia, Franconia, Koblenz, Lorraine, Swabia, and Bohemia), but he also supervised the Order's bailiwicks in France (Alsace and Burgundy), Italy (south Tyrol, Apulia, and Lombardy), and Holland (Utrecht). Initially, the focus of the Teutonic Order was on the crusades to the Holy Land and the defense of the crusader states in the Levant, and its Grand Masters directly administered the Order's bailiwicks in the Mediterranean (the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Sicily, the Principality of Achaea, and the Kingdom of Cilicia) from a series of headquarters—Acre (ca. 1190-1230 CE), Montfort (ca. 1230-1271 CE), Acre (1271-1291 CE), and Venice (1291-1309 CE)—but with the growing importance of Prussia, Grand Master Siegfried von Feuchtwangen (1303-1311 CE) moved the headquarters of the Order from Venice to Marienburg in Prussia (ca. 1309-1457 CE), and during that time period the offices of Land Master of Prussia and Grand Master of the Order were merged (this was still true when the capital was later moved to Königsberg (ca. 1457-1525 CE)). It was only with the loss of Prussia to Poland that the headquarters was moved to Marienthal in Hesse (ca. 1525-1810 CE), at which time the offices of Land Master of Germany and Grand Master were merged. On the local level, each bailiwick (balleien) of the Teutonic Order was administered by a governor (landkomtur, literally, "land-commander"), and each bailiwick was subdivided into commanderies (komtureis) administered by a commander (komtur). Each commandery was garrisoned by a number of aristocratic brother-knights (ritterbrüder) and non-aristocratic men-at-arms (dienerbrüder, literally, "serving-brothers") who lived communally under quasi-monastic rules and discipline, and each bailiwick also usually had a number of vassals (confratres, literally, "associated brothers") who held their fiefs in fealty to the Teutonic Order but did not live communally with the brother-knights. In Prussia and Livonia, there were also Christianized indigenous vassals of the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, generally known as strutere or latrunculi.

 

Despite the Christianization of Lithuania (ca. 1385-1411 CE) and a Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic Order alliance against the Mongols—the coalition army born of this alliance came to grief at the Battle of the Vorskla River (12 August 1399 CE)—the Order remained adamantly opposed to the Lithuanians, and Teutonic-Polish relations were never warm. Konrad of Mazovia had withdrawn from the Prussian Crusade because of territorial disputes with the Teutonic Order in Prussia (ca. 1242 CE), the Polish duke of Pomerelia had supported the First Prussian Uprising (ca. 1242-1248 CE), and Pomerelia was later annexed by the Teutonic Order (ca. 1309-1466 CE). The Teutonic Order fought no less than nine wars against Catholic Poland (ca. 1308-1309, 1326-1332, 1409-1411, 1414, 1422, 1431-1435, 1454-1466, 1467-1479, and 1519-1521 CE), and scored major victories against the Poles at the battles of Pyzdry (27 July 1331 CE), Plowce (27 September 1331 CE), and Chojnice/Konitz (18 September 1454 CE), but ultimately the only significant territorial gain the Order made at the expense of the Poles was the annexation of Pomerelia (the port of Gdansk was re-named Danzig in German). As mentioned on the History page for Medieval Livonia, the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order/Sword Brethren also launched annual campaigns against Zemaitija (the westernmost region of Lithuania) for a period of almost 200 years (ca. 1229-1410 CE) in an attempt to make Livonia and Prussia territorially contiguous (Zemaitija lay in-between Livonia and Prussia), but the Lithuanians ultimately proved to be something of a nemesis for the Teutonic Order. There are really only two major victories recorded for the Teutonic Order over the Lithuanians during this time period—the battles of Streva/Strebe/Strawe (2 February 1348 CE) and Rudau/Rudavos (17/18 February 1370 CE)—and thus the Order was only able to conquer a narrow strip of territory along the eastern Baltic littoral between the Pregolya/Pregola River and the Curonian Peninsula (they and the Sword Brethren sometimes took control of larger sections of Zemaitija, but these conquests were all short-lived). The absorption of the Brothers of the Sword (ca. 1237 CE) only served to embroil the Teutonic Order in the fractious internal disputes of Medieval Livonia, including a civil war between the Livonian Order and the Archbishopric of Riga (ca. 1296-1330), although the Teutonic Order successfully intervened in the Duchy of Estonia during the St. George's Night Uprising (ca. 1343-1345 CE), which led Christopher II of Denmark (1276-1332 CE) to sell the Duchy of Estonia to the Teutonic Order (1 November 1346 CE). In 1398 CE the Teutonic Order invaded the island of Gotland, off the coast of Sweden, in order to drive out a piratical guild of warrior-merchants known as the Victual Brothers, and Gotland remained in the hands of the Order until it was sold to the Kalmar Union in 1409 CE (the Kalmar Union temporarily united the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, ca. 1397-1523 CE). Thus, by the late fourteenth century/early fifteenth century (ca. 1350-1409 CE) the State of the Teutonic Order in the Baltics reached its greatest extent, stretching from Pomerelia/eastern Pomerania in the west, through Prussia and the Baltic littoral of Zemaitija, into Livonia and Estonia in the northeast, and including the island of Gotland.

 

However, as so often happens in history, a state's demise often follows its period of greatest hegemony. In the Livonian Civil War (ca. 1296-1330 CE), the Teutonic Order took the side of the Archbishopric of Riga and the bishoprics of Dorpat, Ösel-Wiek, and Courland, treating the Livonian Order as a recalcitrant and rebellious vassal (which it was), and although the Teutonic Grand Master was able to defeat the Land Master of Livonia and to receive his submission, the members of the Livonian Order remained sullen. When the Teutonic Order invaded Poland in 1409 CE, the Livonian Order failed to send troops to serve in the effort, which undoubtedly contributed to the Teutonic Order's defeat at the Battle of Grunwald/First Tannenberg/Zalgiris (15 July 1410 CE), in which the Teutonic Order suffered devastating losses (203-211 Teutonic knights KIA out of 270 that fought in the battle). The Teutonic Order subsequently repelled an invasion of western Prussia and Pomerelia by the Poles, and peace was restored between the Teutonic Order and Poland-Lithuania by the terms of the First Treaty of Thorn (1 February 1411 CE), but thereafter the fortunes of the State of the Teutonic Order steadily declined. When the Livonian Order intervened in the Lithuanian Civil War (1432-1438 CE) and was badly defeated at the Battle of Swienta/Wilkomierz/Vilkmerge/Pabaiskas (1 September 1435 CE), Medieval Livonia officially broke away from the State of the Teutonic Order and formed the Livonian Confederation (1435-1562 CE)—later, during the Livonian War (1558-1582 CE), the Livonian Order was disbanded (ca. 1561 CE), the Livonian Confederation was dissolved (ca. 1562 CE), and Livonia and Estonia were divided between Denmark-Sweden, Poland-Lithuania, and Russia. In 1440 CE, 16 Hanseatic cities in Pomerelia, eastern Germany, and Prussia broke away from the State of the Teutonic Order and formed the Prussian Confederation (1440-1454 CE), and when the Teutonic Order attempted to re-assert its hegemony over the Prussian Confederation, the merchant-lords of these cities sought the protection of King Casimir IV of Poland (1440-1492 CE)(ca. February 1454 CE). This led to the Thirteen Years' War of 1454-1467 CE, which saw the victory of the Kingdom of Poland, and in the Second Treaty of Thorn (19 October 1466 CE) the Teutonic Order was forced to cede Pomerelia/eastern Pomerania and the western half of Prussia (the dioceses of Culm, Pomesania, and Ermland) to Poland (these were made into the Polish province of Royal Prussia). Eastern Prussia (the Diocese of Samland) remained in the hands of the Teutonic Order, although the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (Ludwig von Erlichshausen) was forced to accept the King of Poland (Casimir IV) as his sovereign. The headquarters of the Teutonic Order were moved from Marienburg, which fell to the Poles, to Königsberg in Samland (ca. 1457-1525 CE).

 

Meanwhile, the Protestant Reformation was sweeping through the Holy Roman Empire (ca. 1517-1648 CE) and Poland-Lithuania (ca. 1520-1658 CE), and when Albrecht von Preussen (1490-1568 CE)(a.k.a., Albert of Prussia, Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, or Albrecht Hohenzollern), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (ca. 1510-1525 CE), tried to re-assert the independence of the Order and to force Poland to cede western Prussia back to the Order, he was defeated in the Polish-Teutonic War of 1519-1521, and thereafter Albert adopted the Lutheran faith (he was converted by Martin Luther himself), resigned as Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, and assumed the title of Duke of Prussia—the Duchy of Prussia, which consisted of the last Teutonic Order holdings in eastern Prussia/Samland, became a Polish fief (ca. 1525-1701 CE). The headquarters of the Teutonic Order was then moved to Mergentheim in Württemberg (within the Holy Roman Empire)(ca. 1525-1809 CE), the Grand Masters continued to govern the bailiwicks of the Order within the Empire (all those outside the Empire had fallen away by then), and Teutonic knights continued to serve in the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and, after 1761 CE, the Habsburg Monarchy (1526-1804 CE), until Napoleon Bonaparte dismantled the Holy Roman Empire, established the Confederation of the Rhine (ca. 1806 CE), and disbanded the Teutonic Order in Germany (ca. 1809 CE). The Order survived in Austria and Italy, however, although from 1804 onwards the Grand Masters of the Order were all ordained priests, and the Order was gradually transformed into a purely spiritual organization. In 1929, the Order was re-named the German Order (Deutscher Orden), serving German Catholics in Austria and Italy, but when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany (ca. 1938 CE), the German Order was suppressed by the Nazis in Austria. The Order remained in Italy, however, and after the defeat of the Nazis (ca. 1945 CE), the Order was reintroduced to Austria and Germany by the Papacy. It remains a Roman Catholic charitable organization to this day.