THE ORDER OF THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS
The origin of the Order of the Teutonic Knights was practically the same as that of the Order of Saint John: the Teutonic Order sprang from a fraternity of lay men engaged in charitable work. A number of crusaders from Bremen and Lübeck in Germany, under the leadership of a certain Meister Sigebrand, operated a field hospital during the dreadful winter of the Siege of Acre (1190 A.D.), when the Christian army through famine and sickness was almost decimated. Pope Clement III, recognizing the remarkable services of the confraternity, gave it his approbation in 1191; the first Superior of this religious congregation was Conrad, chaplain of Fredrick of Swabia. During the next eight years a number of German knights joined, and the community gradually assumed the character of a military order of knighthood, becoming known as the Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of Saint Mary of Jerusalem. The Pope approved the Order in 1199 with Henry Walpott of Bossenheim as first master. The new order was organized along the same lines as the Hospitallers; it comprised professed knights, priests and lay brothers and its purpose was to care for the poor and the sick as well as to wage war against the foes of Christendom. Like the Hospitallers, the knights followed the Augustinian rule, but whereas the former wore a black mantle with a white cross, the Teutonic Knights adopted a white mantle with a black cross. Only German candidates were eligible for the new order, which rapidly grew in numbers and influence. This may have been due to the fact that the German knights, always resentful of the predominantly Latin influence in the existing military orders, were only too happy to have an organization of their own and thus gave it strong support. The fourth Master, Hermann of Salza (1210-1239), shifted the military activities of his order from Palestine, first to Hungary, and then to the northeastern frontier of Germany, where the order engaged in fighting the heathen Prussians. But although the Knights operated mainly in Prussia, their general headquarters still continued at Acre, until the latter fell in 1291, after which they transferred to Venice. Finally, in 1309, the seat of the order was established in the famous fortress of Marienburg in Prussia.[20]
In 1236 the Teutonic Order absorbed the remnants of the Brothers of the Sword, an order of knighthood which had been founded some thirty-four years earlier for the purpose of subjugating and christianizing the peoples of the Baltic countries of Livonia, Lettonia and Esthonia (now known as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia).
Thus the Teutonic Knights prevailed in these countries. By donations and conquest the knights gradually increased their holdings, until they included large parts of Prussia, Kurland and Lithuania. Although these followers of Christ used the unorthodox methods of fire and sword for the propagation of the faith, it cannot be denied that they greatly contributed to the pacification and civilization of the peoples under their jurisdiction. They encouraged cultivation of the land and built a great number of towns and villages, providing each with a church. In some places they erected schools and, faithful to the original purpose of their order, they established hundreds of hospitals and hospices. In this respect it is worthy of note that the Teutonic Knights were the first to establish a mental hospital (Dollhaus) in Germany, namely at Elbig in 1316. The knights also proved to be clever businessmen inasmuch as they sponsored profitable markets in foreign countries for the produce of their land.
For more than a century after the final subjugation of the Prussians in 1283, the Teutonic Knights were the undisputed rulers of a vast and well-organized domain that stretched along the coast of the Baltic Sea, from the river Oder to Leningrad. The grand master, residing in his fortified convent of Marienburg and then from 1457 on at Königsburg, was de jure et de facto a sovereign, equal to the other princes of the Empire, and only nominally subordinate to the Emperor. But in the fifteenth century decline set in. The first blow was struck in 1410, when in the battle of Tannenberg the Knights were overthrown by the Polish troops. In 1525 the Order received the coup de grâce; its grand master Albrecht of Brandenburg embraced the Protestant religion, secularized the possessions of the Order in East Prussia which once he had vowed to protect, and styled himself Duke of Prussia.[21] When later this duchy was united with Brandenburg, the foundations were laid for the kingdom of Prussia and eventually for the German Reich of the Hohenzollerns. In 1561, when Gotthard Kettler, “Landmeister” of Livonia, followed Albrecht’s apostasy, the Teutonic Order ceased to be a sovereign power. However, the loss of sovereignty did not mean the end of the Teutonic Order, for—although a skeleton of its former glory—it still possessed large estates and strongholds in Western Germany. (During the Reformation the Teutonic Knights in the Netherlands separated themselves from their Catholic brethren. This Protestant branch was suppressed by Napoleon but was re-established at the time of the Restoration and is known as the bailiwick of Utrecht.) After the loss of Prussia the general head of the order became known as “Hoch-und Deutsch Meister” (Grand-and Teutonic Master). From 1590 on, these grand masters were almost without exception members of the imperial house of Hapsburg, which meant that the former independent Teutonic Order became more and more an appendix of the Austrian crown. Nevertheless, the order was not completely secularized. True, community life soon ceased to exist, but the knights still took religious vows. The next blow was dealt by Napoleon, who suppressed the Teutonic Order in Germany and confiscated its possessions. The order was now restricted to the confines of the Austrian empire. Around 1839, attempts were made to revive the languishing order by dedicating its members—priests and professed knights—to its original objective, namely ambulance service and works of charity. Besides, the professed knights, instead of fighting the infidels, took upon themselves the obligation of serving as officers in the Austrian army.
The question of profession was settled by a papal indult in 1886 (Neminem profecto latet, March 16, 1886), according to which the knights of the Teutonic Order were to take simple perpetual vows which, however, included the same rights and obligations as solemn vows.
When the Hapsburg dynasty fell after the first World War, only a handful of knights were left. On April 30, 1923, the grand master Eugene, Archduke of Hapsburg-Lothringen, commander in chief of the Austrian forces on the Italian front in World War I, resigned and was succeeded by Bishop Norbert Klein.
In 1929 a radical change took place in the entire structure of the order. The erstwhile military order of the Teutonic Knights was transformed into a religious community of priests and lay-brothers with solemn vows similar to any other religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It assumed the title of Ordo Teutonicus Sanctae Mariae in Jerusalem (officially designated by the initials O.T.) and is listed in the Annuario pontificio as a mendicant order. This new community—with a very old past—devotes itself to parish work and works of charity; it is divided into five provinces (Austria, Bavaria, Italy, Yugoslavia and the practically extinct province of Czechoslovakia) with a total membership of 93, of whom 70 are priests. (See the Catalogus ordinis teutonici, Jan. 1, 1950). A congregation of sisters is affiliated to the Order, also divided into five provinces with a total membership of 572, mostly dedicated to hospital work.
The superior general has the old title of Grand Master (Hochmeister, Supremus Magister); he has abbatial rank and enjoys the privilege of the pileolus violaceus. So far his residence is in Vienna, Austria. The professed knights of the old guard who were still alive when the transformation was effected became members of the new outfit with the title of Ordensritter (Knights of the Order). Since the last grand master, Eugene of Hapsburg, died in January, 1955, only one of the old knights is left. It is all that remained of an order which at one time counted its knights by the hundreds. However, as a remnant of the old prerogatives, the new Teutonic Order has the right to bestow knighthood on eminent Catholic men, either lay or clerical, and on great benefactors of the order. These honorary knights are called familiares. Before 1952 the order had made use of this privilege in only three cases.