Knights of the Teutonic Order: history of the creation of the order, vestments of knights, description, faith, symbolism, campaigns, victories and defeats. Knights of the Teutonic Order: history of the creation of the order, vestments of knights, description, faith, symbolism, campaigns, victories and defeats of Teutonics

During the 3rd Crusade, when Acre was besieged by the knights, merchants from Lübeck and Bremen founded a field hospital. Duke Frederick of Swabia transformed the hospital into a spiritual order, headed by Chaplain Conrad. The order was subordinate to the local bishop and was a branch of the Johannite Order. On February 6, 1191, Pope Clement III approved the founding of the Order. On December 21, 1196, the Order came under the patronage of Pope Celestine III under the name "Hospital of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem."

On March 5, 1196, in the temple of Acre, a ceremony was held to reorganize the Order into a spiritual-knightly Order. The ceremony was attended by the Masters of the Hospitallers and Templars, as well as secular and clergy of Jerusalem. Pope Innocent III confirmed this event with a bull dated February 19, 1199, and defined the tasks of the Order: protecting the German knights, treating the sick, fighting the enemies of the Catholic Church. The Order was subject to the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. The official name of the order is "Order of the Brothers of the Hospital of St. Mary of the German House in Jerusalem" (Ordo domus Sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum in Jerusalem).

In the 13th century The Teutonic Order fought against Muslims in Palestine. With the support of the Pope and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the Order acquired a number of lands in Asia Minor, Southern Europe and especially much in Germany. In 1211 the Order was invited to Hungary to defend Transylvania from the Cumans. In 1224 - 1225, due to the desire to create their own separate state on the territory of Hungary, the Order was expelled by the Hungarian king Endre II. According to the agreements of 1226-1230 with the Mazovian prince Konrad, the Order received ownership of the Kulm (Chelmen) and Dobrzyn (Dobryn) lands and the right to expand its influence on neighboring lands. The right to govern the captured Lithuanian and Prussian lands was confirmed in 1234 by Pope Gregory IX and in 1226, 1245, 1337 by Emperors Frederick II and Ludwig IV. In 1230, the first parts of the Order, 100 knights under the command of Master Hermann von Balk, built Neshava Castle on Kulm land and began to attack the Prussians. From the 4th decade of the 13th century. The Order was the main organizer and executor of the Crusades in the Eastern Baltic, declared by the Pope. In 1237, after the Battle of Saul, the Order of the Sword-Bearers was added to the order, reorganized into the Livonian Order. Until 1283, the Order, with the help of German, Polish and other feudal lords, captured the lands of the Prussians, Yotvings, and Western Lithuanians and occupied territories as far as the Neman. The Prussian uprisings of 1242 - 1249, 1260 - 1274 were suppressed. In the occupied territories in the 13th century. A German theocratic feudal state was formed. The capital of the Order was Acre, until it was moved to Venice in 1291. The capital and residence of the grandmaster in 1309 - 1466 was the city of Marienburg. 2/3 of the lands were divided into komturias, 1/3 were under the authority of the bishops of Kulm, Pamed, Semb and Varm. Between 1231 and 1242, 40 stone castles were built. Near the castles (Elbing, Königsberg, Kulm, Thorn) German cities were formed - members of the Hansa.

From 1283, under the pretext of spreading Christianity, the Order began to attack Lithuania. He sought to capture Samogitia and lands from the Neman in order to unite Prussia and Livonia. The strongholds of the Order's aggression were the castles of Ragnit, Christmemel, Bayerburg, Marienburg and Jurgenburg located near the Neman. Velena, Kaunas and Grodno were the centers of Lithuanian defense. Until the beginning of the 14th century. both sides staged small attacks on each other. The largest battles were the Battle of Medininka (1320) and the defense of Pilenai (1336). The devastated Lithuanian lands became the so-called. wild. The Order also attacked Poland. In 1308 - 1309, Eastern Pomerania with Danzig was captured, 1329 - Dobrzyn lands, 1332 - Kuyavia. In 1328, the Livonian Order transferred Memel and its surroundings to the Teutonic Order. In 1343, according to the Treaty of Kalisz, the order returned the occupied lands to Poland (except for Pomerania) and concentrated all its forces on the fight against Lithuania. In 1346, the Order acquired Northern Estonia from Denmark and transferred it to the Livonian Order.

The Order reached its greatest strength in the mid-14th century. during the reign of Winrich von Kniprode (1351 - 1382). The Order made about 70 major campaigns to Lithuania from Prussia and about 30 from Livonia. In 1362 his army destroyed Kaunas Castle, and in 1365 for the first time attacked the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius. In 1348 the great battle of Streva took place. In 1360 - 1380 major campaigns against Lithuania were carried out every year. The Lithuanian army made about 40 retaliatory campaigns between 1345 and 1377, one of which ended in the Battle of Rudava (1370). After the death of Algirdas (1377), the Order instigated a war between his heir Jogaila and Kestutis with his son Vytautas (Vytautas) for the princely throne. Supporting either Vytautas or Jogaila, the Order attacked Lithuania especially strongly in 1383 - 1394, and invaded Vilnius in 1390. For peace with the Order in 1382 Jogaila and in 1384 Vytautas renounced Western Lithuania and Zanemania. The Order strengthened even more, occupying the island of Gotland in 1398 (until 1411) and New Mark in 1402 - 1455. Against the Order’s aggression, Lithuania and Poland concluded the Treaty of Krevo in 1385, which changed the balance of power in the region not in favor of the Order. After the baptism of Lithuania (Aukštaitija) in 1387, the Order lost the formal basis for attacking Lithuania. According to the Treaty of Salina in 1398, Vytautas gave the Order the lands as far as Nevėžis. In 1401, the rebel Samogitians expelled the German knights from their lands, and the Order again began to attack Lithuania. In 1403, Pope Baniface IX forbade the Order to fight with Lithuania. From 1404, according to the Treaty of Rationzh, the Order, together with Poland and Lithuania, ruled Samogitia. In 1409 the Samogitians rebelled. The uprising served as the reason for a new decisive war (1409 - 1410) with Lithuania and Poland. The Order lost the so-called The Great War at the Battle of Grunwald; The Peace of Torun and the Peace of Meln obliged the Order to return Samogitia and part of the lands of the Jotvings (Zanemanje) to Lithuania.

Unsuccessful wars (with Lithuania and Poland in 1414, 1422, with Poland and the Czech Republic in 1431 - 1433) provoked a political and economic crisis; contradictions intensified between members of the Order on the one hand, secular feudal lords and townspeople who were dissatisfied with increased taxes and wanted to participate in government , with another. In 1440, the Prussian League was formed - an organization of secular knights and townspeople that fought against the power of the Order. In February 1454, the union organized an uprising and announced that all Prussian lands would henceforth be under the protection of the Polish king Casimir. Because of this, the Thirteen Years' War of the Order with Poland began. As a result, the Order lost Eastern Pomerania with Danzig, Kulm Land, Mirienburg, Elbing, Warmia - they went to Poland. In 1466 the capital was moved to Königsberg. In this war, Lithuania declared neutrality and missed the chance to liberate the remaining Lithuanian and Prussian lands. In 1470, Grandmaster Heinrich von Richtenberg recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king. The Order's desire to free itself from Polish suzerainty was defeated (because of this, the war of 1521 - 1522 occurred).

In the 20-30s of the 16th century. During the beginning of the Reformation in Germany, Grandmaster Albrecht Hohenzollern and many brothers converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism. He secularized the Teutonic Order, declaring its territory his hereditary principality, which was called Prussia. On April 10, 1525, Albrecht recognized the Polish king Sigismund the Old as his vassal. The Teutonic Order ceased to exist as an independent state. During the Livonian War, the Livonian Order also ceased to exist.

Valeria Werd

The name “Teutonic Order” first of all makes Russians remember the events of 1242, when German knights, faced with a squad Prince Alexander Nevsky and having been defeated, they sank to the bottom of Lake Peipsi under the weight of their own armor.

In fact, the Battle of the Ice is only a small fragment from the extensive history of the knightly order, which existed for three centuries as a full-fledged European state.

Hospital under the walls of Acre

The history of the Teutonic Order began in 1189, when German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa with his army took part in the Third Crusade.

At the end of August 1189, the army of the German emperor besieged the Syrian fortress of Acre, an ancient city founded approximately in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.

During the siege, merchants from Lübeck and Bremen organized a field hospital for the wounded crusaders. King of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan signed a charter, according to which the hospital was given the right to organize a hospice in Acre after the city was taken.

Pope Clement III with his bull of February 6, 1191, he proclaimed the hospital as the “Teutonic Brotherhood of the Church of St. Mary of Jerusalem.”

On July 13, 1191, after an almost two-year siege, Acre was taken, and the field hospital moved to the city, already existing as a hospital monastery.

The position of the “liberators of the Holy Sepulcher” in the Middle East has always been unstable. That is why military functions were also assigned to hospital monasteries. In 1193, the same Guy de Lusignan entrusted the hospital with the protection and defense of one of the fortifications of Acre in the event of an enemy attack.

"Help - Protect - Heal"

On March 5, 1196, a ceremony took place in the temple of Acre to transform the hospital into a spiritual order. At the end of the same year Pope Celestine issues a bull which recognizes the existence of the monastic Order of St. Mary of Germany of Jerusalem.

The transformation of the hospital into a military monastic order was finally completed in 1199, when Pope Innocent III consolidates this status with his bull.

The tasks of the order are proclaimed:

protection of German knights;
treatment of wounded and sick crusaders;
fight against the enemies of the Catholic Church.

The motto of the order: “Help - Protect - Heal.”

From this moment on, the order very quickly acquired its own regular army, and military functions in its activities became the main ones.

Membership in the order, which is a military-religious community, becomes extremely prestigious among European feudal lords. And although the residence of the head of the order (grandmaster) is located in Acre, his possessions are rapidly growing in Europe - due to lands donated by monarchs, as well as the possessions of feudal lords who become members of the order.

The Teutonic Order, whose members had to be knights of German blood, which, however, was not always observed, very quickly gained strength, standing on par with the previously created orders of the Templars and Hospitallers.

The order's charter divided members into two classes: knights and priests, who were required to take three monastic vows - poverty, celibacy and obedience, as well as promise to help the sick and fight unbelievers.

Unlike knights, who first had to prove their noble birth, priests were exempt from this obligation. Their function was to conduct religious services, administer communion to knights and the sick in hospitals, and participate in wars as physicians.

The knights lived together, slept in bedrooms on simple beds, ate together in the dining room, and had a limited amount of money. They worked daily, training for battle, maintaining their equipment and working with horses.

The head of the order, like its other leaders, was elected, and his rights were limited to the knights - members of the order.

Conquest of Prussia

Fourth Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order Hermann von Salza was a man with a remarkable analytical mind. Several decades before the final collapse of the Crusader state in the Middle East, he realized that the Teutonic Order had no future in these parts, and began to make efforts to transfer its main activities to Europe.

Several attempts to gain a foothold in Europe were unsuccessful, but the stubborn grandmaster was persistent and brought his plans to the end.

In 1217 Pope Honorius III a campaign was declared against the Prussian pagans who had seized the lands Polish Prince Konrad I of Masovia.

The Teutonic Knights, having started a war against the Prussian pagans in 1232, used the following tactics - they defeated the Prussian tribal alliances opposing them one by one, while the defeated were used as allies in subsequent wars.

The order founded its castles on the occupied lands, consolidating itself in these territories “forever.” In 1255, Königsberg Castle was founded on Prussian lands.

The Prussian nobility, finding itself under the rule of the knights and becoming their allies, gradually adopted Christianity. Gradually, the Germanization of the Prussian tribes also occurred - the German language, without which a successful career in the state of the Teutonic Order was impossible, supplanted the Prussian dialects.

Based on the edict of the Holy Roman Emperor and the bull of the Pope, Prussia became the possession of the Teutonic Order. Thus, the military monastic order, which absorbed and included similar smaller entities, turned into a whole state.

Pressure to the East

At the turn of the 1230s - 1240s, the Teutonic Order made an attempt to expand the borders of its possessions to the East by conquering the weakened Russian lands, which had just survived the invasion of Batu. The knights of the order intend to bring the local population, professing Orthodoxy, under the spiritual authority of Rome.

From 1240 to 1242, the knights of the Teutonic Order carried out territorial expansion in the Pskov and Novgorod lands, capturing Izborsk and Pskov. These territorial encroachments culminated in the Battle of Lake Peipsi on April 5, 1242, the results of which are well known to everyone.

Despite this setback, the order's influence continued to grow. The Teutonic Order waged a desperate struggle for territory with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which controlled most of the Russian lands in the 13th-14th centuries. In the 14th century, the order made more than a hundred trips to Lithuania, trying to subjugate it to its influence.

Such activity of the Teutonic Order in Europe is explained by the fact that its activity in the Middle East ended in May 1291, after the capture of Acre by the army of the Sultan of Egypt.

In 1386, the Lithuanian prince Jagiello converted to Catholicism and became engaged to the heir to the Polish throne, which led to the creation of a personal union - the unification of two states (Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) under the rule of one crown. Subsequently, personal union will lead to the creation of a full-fledged united state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Fatal Grunwald

For the Teutonic Order, which laid claim to Lithuanian lands, the Polish-Lithuanian union was a very serious threat.

In 1409, a war broke out between the order and the new state association, the cause of which was old grievances. Poland and Lithuania, taking advantage of the uprising in the Zhemoytsky land, which previously belonged to the Principality of Lithuania, decided to try to recapture the territories previously captured by the knights of the order.

The apotheosis of this war was the Battle of Grunwald, which took place on July 15, 1410. This battle, which became one of the largest and most important in the history of medieval Europe, ended in the defeat of the troops of the Teutonic Order. An important role in this battle was played by the regiments of the Russian lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who showed courage and fortitude at critical moments.

The defeat for the Teutonic Order turned out to be crushing: out of a 25,000-strong army, 8,000 were killed, about 14,000 were captured. Among those killed were almost the entire military leadership of the order, as well as its knightly elite.

And although the war as a whole ended in 1411 on relatively mild terms for the Teutonic Order, its power was undermined. The destruction of his invincible army practically reduced his influence to nothing.

"Master-defrocked"

Huge material losses, the need to pay indemnities and ransom captured knights forced the Teutonic Order to introduce new taxes in the territories under their control, which caused indignation among the population. In March 1440, representatives of the small nobility and Hanseatic cities from the territory of the Order State organized the Prussian Confederation to throw off the dominance of the Teutonic Knights. In February 1454, the Prussian Confederation appealed to Polish King Casimir IV asking for support for their revolution and the inclusion of Prussia in Poland. The king agreed, which led to the outbreak of the Thirteen Years' War, also known as the "War of the Cities." The result of this war was the transformation of the western part of the order's former possessions into the Polish province of Royal Prussia, and the remaining eastern part of the order's possessions became a vassal of the Polish monarch.

The decline of the great history of the Teutonic Order lasted for several more decades and was very deplorable for the keepers of its traditions. The Last Grandmaster, or Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albrecht Hohenzollern, disillusioned with his ideals, in 1525 he converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism, resigned as head of the order, announcing the secularization of the Prussian lands - the main territory that belonged to the Teutonic Order.

This decision was made with the approval of the King of Poland, whose vassal was the Master of the Order.

In the former territories, the Duchy of Prussia was formed, headed by a “Master-Master”. This duchy became the first state in Europe whose religion became Protestant, despite the fact that it remained a vassal state of Catholic Poland.

Sisters instead of brothers

The Teutonic Order, which had lost its influence, nevertheless retained control over some territories and officially existed until 1809, when it was dissolved during the Napoleonic wars.

The order was revived in 1834 in Austria with the support of Emperor Franz I. There was no longer any talk about military and political ambitions - the Teutonic Order returned to helping the sick and charitable activities.

The military traditions of the order were carefully preserved in Prussia, where the Order of the Iron Cross was even established, directly going back to the symbolism of the Teutons.

After the Nazis came to power in Germany, praise began for the military history of the order, primarily its attempts to conquer lands in eastern Europe. At the same time, persecution began against the priests of the real Teutonic Order, focused on charity.

After the end of World War II, the order's charitable activities continued. His current residence is located in Vienna. The residence contains unique historical archives on the activities of the Teutonic Order, which had a huge impact on the history of Europe.

Today the Teutonic Order operates several hospitals and private sanatoriums in Austria and Germany. An interesting point is that the basis of the modern Teutonic Order is not brothers, but sisters.

WARBAND(full name "Order of the Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St. Mary in Jerusalem"), also known as the Order of the Crusaders, a German spiritual knightly order established in 1190 in Akka, where pilgrims from Lübeck and Bremen established a hospital, which soon came under the patronage of the German Church of St. . Mary in Jerusalem. In 1198, the crusaders of Emperor Henry VI transformed the hospital brotherhood into a knightly order, open only to Germans. Until 1291, the seat of the order was in Akka, and after the fall of the city - in Venice. Meanwhile, hostility flared up between the Teutons and two other orders of the crusaders: the Templars and the Hospitallers (Johannites). At the beginning of the 13th century. The Teutonic knights moved their activities to Eastern Europe and initially settled in Transylvania - serving here as a barrier to Kumyk raids. Emperor Frederick II then reorganized the order, conferring a princely title on Grand Master Hermann von Salz, and sent the knights to conquer and Christianize the eastern borderlands.

In 1226, Hermann von Salz responded to a request for help from the Polish prince Konrad of Mazovia and organized a crusade against the Prussians. According to the agreement with Conrad, the Teutons received possession of the Chelminsky land in Poland as a springboard, as well as all the lands that they would conquer in Prussia. In 1234, the Teutons formally recognized their possession of the papal fief, but felt themselves to be full masters, since the weak papal power could not have any significant influence on them. In 1237, the Teutonic Order annexed the Order of the Swordsmen (which had previously suffered defeats from the Russians, Lithuanians and Semigallians) and strengthened significantly. In subsequent centuries, he established control over the entire Baltic coast from the borders of Pomerania to the Gulf of Finland, blocking Poland, Lithuania and Russia from accessing the Baltic Sea. The Teutons allocated lands to the German barons as fiefs, settled German peasants on the conquered lands and, together with the Hanseatic League of Cities, founded a number of new trading settlements. In 1309, the order moved its residence to Marienburg (modern Malbork, Poland). At the beginning of the 14th century. The Teutonic Order reached the peak of its power and prosperity. But due to the decline in discipline among the knights, who surrounded themselves with luxury, the order began to show signs of weakness. In the second half of the 14th century. there was a strengthening of Poland, especially after its unification with Lithuania under the rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty. In 1410, the Polish king Wladyslaw II inflicted a crushing defeat on the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald. According to the Peace of Torun 1466, which ended the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the Teutonic Order (1454–1466), the latter recognized itself as a vassal of Poland and transferred West Prussia to it. In 1525, Grand Master Albrecht the Elder (Hohenzollern) accepted Lutheranism and secularized East Prussia, which henceforth became a hereditary duchy. When this dynastic line was cut short in 1618, the duchy came into the possession of the Brandenburg electors, also from the Hohenzollerns. In 1801, France annexed the lands of the order west of the Rhine, and in 1809 Napoleon closed the order by decree and gave its lands on the right bank of the Rhine to the German allies.

The Teutonic Order was restored in Austria in 1834 - as a Catholic noble union. After 1918, there was only a priestly branch of the order (transformed by Pope Pius XI into a spiritual order) with its seat in Vienna. The Order also continues to exist within Protestantism in Utrecht.

The state founded by the Germans in the Baltic region has reached its natural limits: the sea to the north and west, strong peoples to the east and south, i.e. Rus' and Lithuania. It seemed that the time for peaceful internal development had come for him. But that wasn't really the case. External enemies threatened from all sides. The Danish king did not at all think of abandoning his claims to Estonia; Novgorod Rus' was only waiting for an opportunity to reverse its losses; Lithuanian power, dangerous for the Germans, arose in the south; the conquered tribes were restrained from uprising only by the fear of cruel retribution. Meanwhile, the tide of crusaders from Germany gradually decreased, and the Livonian Germans had to be content with almost their own means in the fight against the surrounding enemies. With the death of Bishop Albert, that mind and that iron will, which still held together the diverse composition of the new state, disappeared from the historical stage. After Albert, the Order of the Swordsmen clearly sought to become superior to their feudal master, the Bishop of Riga, and to turn the conquered region into their direct possession, i.e. put Livonia in the same relationship as Prussia was then in with the Order of the Teutonic Knights. Hence it is natural why the Livonian Order began to look for support from this side. Albert had barely time to pass into eternity when Master Volkvin sent envoys to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Hermann Salza, proposing a close alliance and even a merger of two neighboring orders.

The conquest of Prussia by the Poles, once begun by Bolesław the Brave and some of his successors, was lost during the fragmentation of Poland into fiefs and internal turmoil. Moreover, the Polish regions themselves began to suffer from the invasions and robberies of the neighboring Prussians, and the Polish princes, who opposed the pagans, often suffered defeats from them. At the same time, for a long time the missionaries’ attempts to continue the work begun by Vojtech and Brun remained in vain; some of them also found a painful death in Prussia. Only two centuries after these two apostles, i.e. at the beginning of the 13th century, one monk from the Danzig Cistercian monastery, named Christian, managed to found a Christian community in Prussian Kulmia, which lay on the right side of the Vistula and jutted out like a wedge between the Slavs of Poland and Pomerania. This Christian, to some extent, was to Prussia what Albert Buxhoeveden was to Livonia. The famous Pope Innocent III elevated him to the dignity of Prussian bishop, entrusted him with the patronage of the Archbishop of Gniezno, as well as the princes of Poland and Pomerania, and generally provided the same active, skillful support for the establishment of the Catholic Church in Prussia as in Livonia.

In the neighboring Polish region of Mazovia, Konrad, the youngest son of Casimir the Just, reigned then, not distinguished by any valor. Taking advantage of his weakness, the Prussians intensified their attack on his lands. Instead of a courageous defense, Conrad began to buy off their raids. They even tell the following story about this. One day, not having the means to satisfy the greed of the robbers, he invited his nobles with their wives and children to a feast, during the feast he ordered to secretly take the horses and outer clothing of the guests and send it all to the Prussians. Under such circumstances, the cowardly Conrad willingly followed the advice of Bishop Christian and voluntarily installed the worst enemies of the Slavs, the Germans, in his land. The idea of this was suggested by the successes of the Order of the Sword Bearers, which had just been founded in Livonia. First, Conrad and Christian, with the permission of the pope, tried to found their own order to fight the pagans. Their order received possession of the Dobryn castle on the Vistula and the right to half of all the lands that it would conquer in Prussia. But he turned out to be too weak for such a task and soon suffered such a strong defeat from the Prussians that he no longer dared to move beyond the walls of his castle. Then Conrad, on the advice of Christian and some of the Polish bishops and nobles, decided to call upon the Teutonic Order to tame the fierce neighbors.

History of the Teutonic Order before arrival in the Baltics

Hermann von Salza. Sculpture at Malbork Castle

This order was founded by the Germans shortly before that time in Palestine, in honor of the Mother of God, following the example of the Italian Johannites and the French Templars. He took monastic vows with the obligation to attend to the sick and fight the infidels. True, his exploits in Palestine did little to help the Kingdom of Jerusalem; but he was endowed with various possessions in Germany and Italy. Its importance rose a lot, thanks in particular to the grandmaster Hermann Salza, who knew how to gain equal respect from both Frederick II of Hohenstaufen and his opponents, that is, the popes. In 1225, the ambassadors of the Prince of Mazovia came to him in Southern Italy and invited the Order to move to the Kulm and Lubavsk regions under the condition of war with the Prussian pagans. Such a proposal, of course, could not but please the grandmaster; but he was in no hurry to agree, taught by experience. Around that time, the Ugric king Andrew II similarly called upon the Teutonic knights to fight the Polovtsians and gave the order possession of the Transylvania region; but then, noticing the danger that threatened from the installation of a military and power-hungry German squad, he hastened to remove the Teutons from his kingdom. Obviously, the Ugrians had a greater instinct for self-preservation than the Poles.

The Teutonic grandmaster was not so much concerned about the baptism of pagans as he had in mind to found his own independent principality. He began by asking the order from Emperor Frederick for a charter for complete possession of the Kulm land and all future conquests in Prussia; for according to the German concepts of that time, Poland itself was considered a fief of the German Empire. Zalza wanted to place the future principality under the direct supremacy of the empire, and not of Poland. Then he entered into lengthy negotiations with Konrad Mazowiecki about the conditions for transferring the order to the Kulm region. The fruit of these negotiations was a whole series of acts and charters, with which the short-sighted Polish prince granted the Teutons various rights and privileges. Only in 1228, for the first time, a significant detachment of Teutonic knights appeared on the borders of Poland and Prussia under the command of the provincial master Herman Balk to take the Kulm land into the possession of the order. Before starting the fight against the pagans, the Germans continued their negotiations with Conrad, until the treaty of 1230 received from him confirmation of eternal, unconditional ownership of this area. At the same time, they tried to protect themselves from the claims of the aforementioned Prussian Bishop Christian, who thought that the Teutonic Order would be in the same relationship with him as the Livonian Order was with the Bishop of Riga. At first, the order recognized the bishop's fief rights to the Kulm land and undertook to pay him a small tribute for it. A favorable case for the order soon helped him completely free himself from these feudal relationships. Bishop Christian with a small retinue carelessly delved into the land of the pagans to preach the Gospel and was captured, in which he languished for about nine years. The clever Herman Salza, who remained in Italy and from there managed the affairs of the order, persuaded Pope Gregory IX to recognize the Prussian possessions of the Teutons as the direct spiritual fief of the papal throne, which eliminated the claims of the Kulm bishop. In addition, with the consent of the pope, the remnants of the Dobrynka knights and their estates were included in the Teutonic Order. In this region, as well as in the land of the Baltic and Polabian Slavs, the Catholic Church was the main ally of Germanization.

Knights of the Teutonic Order in Prussia

The supreme patron of the order, the Pope, zealously called on the crusaders from neighboring countries, Poland, Pomerania, Holstein, Gotland, etc., to a common struggle against the Prussian pagans and granted these crusaders the same privileges and absolution as those who went to Palestine. His call did not go unanswered. In Western and Central Europe at that time there was still a strong belief that nothing pleases God more than the conversion of pagans to Christianity, at least through sword and fire, and that this is the surest way to wash away all past sins. The Teutonic Knights began the conquest and forced baptism of Prussia with the help of neighboring Catholic sovereigns who brought crusading squads, especially with the help of the Slavic princes of Poland and Pomerania, who, more than the Germans, worked in favor of Germanization. The knights secured every step they took by building stone castles and, first of all, of course, tried to take possession of the lower reaches of the Vistula. Here Toruń was the first stronghold of the order, followed by Helmno (Kulm), Marienwerder, Elbing, etc. The Prussians defended stubbornly, but could not resist the new force, which enjoyed superior military art, weapons, unity of action and was generally well organized. In order to further strengthen its rule, along with the construction of fortresses, the order actively introduced German colonization, calling for settlers to their cities, endowing them with trade and industrial benefits and, in addition, distributing plots of land on fief rights to settlers of the military class. To establish the new faith, the Germans paid special attention to the younger generation: they tried to capture children and sent them to Germany, where the latter received education in the hands of the clergy so that, upon returning to their homeland, they would be zealous missionaries of Catholicism and Germanization. During the conquest of Prussia, almost the same cruelties, devastation and enslavement of the natives were repeated as we saw during the conquest of Livonia and Estonia.

The Livonian master Volkvin approached this Teutonic, or Prussian, order with a proposal to join forces and sent ambassadors to Italy to the grandmaster for this purpose. But the first proposal was made at a time when the Teutonic Order had barely settled in the Kulm region and was just beginning its aggressive activities. Livonia was separated from it by still independent Lithuanian tribes; the union of two knightly orders could lead to the union of their enemies for a common resistance. Herman Salza wisely declined the offer for now, but did not give up hope. A few years later, negotiations on the union were resumed, and in Marburg, the main German refuge of the Teutons, a meeting of the order's chapter took place in the presence of Volkvin's ambassadors. Here the majority of the Teutons spoke out against the union. Their order consisted mainly of members of old noble families, seasoned, pious people, proud of their vows and strict discipline; while the ranks of the Sword Bearers were filled with the sons of Bremen and other Low German traders, various seekers of adventure and prey, people who were superfluous in their homeland. Rumors had already spread to Germany about their dissolute life and such despotic treatment of the natives, which made Christianity itself hateful to the latter and sometimes forced them to return to paganism. The Teutons looked down on the Sword Bearers and were afraid to humiliate their order with such comradeship. From Marburg the case was transferred again to Italy for consideration by the grandmaster. Herman Salza this time turned out to be more inclined towards the union and submitted the question of it to the permission of Pope Gregory IX.

Meanwhile, an event occurred that accelerated this matter. Master Volkvin with a strong army undertook a campaign into the wilderness of Lithuanian lands. The Lithuanians secretly gathered in the surrounding forests, from where they suddenly emerged and surrounded the Germans from all sides. A desperate battle took place on the day of Mauritius in September 1236. In vain the knights exclaimed: “Forward, with the help of St. Mauritius!” They were completely defeated. Master Volquin himself, forty-eight order knights and many free crusaders remained at the battle site. The Order was saved only by the fact that Lithuania did not take advantage of its victory and, instead of moving to Livonia, turned against Rus'. After that, the Sword Bearers intensified their requests for a union, which was finally accomplished by their ambassadors with the permission of Gregory IX at his residence of Viterbo, in May 1237. The Livonian knights accepted the charter of the Teutonic Order; they had to change their order cloak with a red sword to a Teutonic white mantle with a black cross on the left shoulder.

The governor of Salz in Prussia, Herman Balk, was appointed the first regional master (landmaster) in Livonia. One of his first acts here was to conclude an agreement with Voldemar II. In the dispute between the order and the Danish king for Estonia, the pope leaned towards the king, and the grandmaster conceded. According to the concluded agreement, the order returned to Denmark the coastal regions of the Gulf of Finland, Verria with the city of Wesenberg and Garria with Revel. In the latter city, Valdemar appointed a special bishop for his Estonian possessions. But he was no longer able to oust the German knights from here, who received lands and various privileges from the order. On the contrary, in order to attract this military class to his side, he tried to satisfy its greed and lust for power with new privileges and rights to enslave the natives. In general, Danish rule existed in that region for about another century, but did not take deep roots. German Balk restored the importance of the Sword Bearers with a successful war with neighboring Novgorod Rus. But soon both he and Grandmaster Salza himself died (1239).

Joint wars of the Teutonic and Livonian orders in the Baltic states

Things got worse for the united order. He had to fight at the same time with Russia, Lithuania and his former ally - the Pomeranian prince Svyatopolk. The new Livonian Landmaster Von Heimburg suffered especially sensitive defeats from the Russian hero Alexander Nevsky. These defeats were accompanied by a desperate uprising of the Kurons and Semigallians. Both tribes, as we have seen, submitted quite easily to German rule and accepted priests. But they soon became convinced that the missionaries' promises to leave their property and personal freedom alone were only empty words, that German rule and German Christianity meant all kinds of extortions and oppression. Taking advantage of the cramped position of the order, the Kurons rebelled; They killed their bishop and those priests whom they had managed to capture, drove out or killed the Germans who had settled among them, and entered into an alliance with the Lithuanian prince Mindaugas. The Semigallians also rebelled behind them.

Dietrich von Grüningen managed to suppress this uprising, whom the new Teutonic grandmaster Heinrich von Hohenlohe appointed Landmaster of Livonia and supplied with significant military funds. The stern, energetic Grüningen crossed the land of the Kurons with fire and sword and forced them to ask for peace with terrible devastation. They had already managed to return to their old gods, but now they were forced to hand over hostages and again perform the rite of baptism (1244). The following year, the war resumed when Mindovg came with the Lithuanian army to the aid of the oppressed. However, in a decisive battle on the heights of Amboten, he was defeated.

Conquests of the Teutonic Order in the Baltic States. Map

Having re-conquered Curonia and Zemgallia, the Germans established their dominion here by fortifying the old native cities and building new stone castles on the outskirts and inside the country at all the most important points. Thus, there arose: Vindava, at the mouth of the river of the same name, Pilten, higher on the right bank of the same river, even higher - Goldingen on its left bank, opposite the place where it forms a picturesque waterfall; then Dondangen and Angernminde on the northern edge of Curonia; Gazenpot, Grobin and the newly fortified Amboten in the south, on the borders with Lithuania, etc. Some of these castles became the residence of commanders and Vogts, i.e. order or episcopal governors, equipped with sufficient armed force to maintain obedience in their districts. In Zemgall around that time there were the German fortresses of Selburg on the left bank of the Dvina and Bauska - on the border with Lithuania, at the confluence of the Musa and Memel. This confluence forms the Aa River (Semigalskaya, or Kuronskaya), on the left bank of which, in the lowlands, the foundation of the Mitavsky Castle was soon laid. With the new conquest of the Kurons and Zemgales, they were already deprived of the rights that were promised to them by the original treaties. The Germans took advantage of the uprising to enslave them completely, i.e. convert into the same serfdom that had already been established in Livonia and Estonia. Thus, the Livonian Order, thanks to its union with the Teutonic Order, managed to strengthen the hitherto shaky German rule in the Baltic region, repel hostile neighbors and completely enslave the native peoples. With the help of the same connection, he almost achieved the goal of his other aspirations: he became more independent in his relationship to episcopal power and to the clergy in general, recognizing over himself only the supreme, very distant power of the emperor and the pope. But his struggle with the bishops, which had subsided during the external danger, was subsequently resumed due to disputed fiefs, income and various privileges.

The city of Riga took a very prominent place in this struggle. Thanks to its advantageous position on a large trade route, as well as close connections with Gotland and the Low German cities, Riga quickly began to grow and become rich. The bishops of Riga, who soon received the archbishop's title, awarded significant citizens for various services with fiefs, or plots of land, in the surrounding area, and endowed the city itself with such privileges that it received almost complete internal self-government. This city government of Riga was modeled after its metropolis, Bremen, and was concentrated in the hands of two guilds, the large or merchant guild and the small or craft guild. Next to them a third guild arose, under the name of the Blackheads; it initially admitted only unmarried citizens who had distinguished themselves in wars with native pagans, and this institution became the core of the city's own armed force. In addition to his civilian militia, he often kept mercenary troops. Having significant military resources, Riga was able to provide its archbishop with very effective assistance in his fight against the order and to some extent balance the forces of these two rivals. Its importance rose even more when it joined the famous Hanseatic League.

from lat. teutonicus - German) is a religious order founded at the end of the 12th century.

Motto of the Teutonic Order:

"German" Helfen - Wehren - Heilen" (“Help - Protect - Heal”)

Founding of the order

First version

The new institution with the status of a spiritual order was approved by one of the German knightly leaders, Prince Friedrich of Swabia (F?rst Friedrich von Schwaben) on November 19, 1190, and after the capture of the Acre fortress, the founders of the hospital found a permanent place for it in the city.

Second version

Pope Clement III established the Order as "fratrum Theutonicorum ecclesiae S. Mariae Hiersolymitanae" (Fraternity of the Teutonic Church of St. Mary of Jerusalem) by a papal bull dated 6 February 1191.

Name of the order

Officially the order was named in Latin:

* Fratrum Theutonicorum ecclesiae S. Mariae Hiersolymitanae

* Ordo domus Sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum in Jerusalem (second title)

In German, two variants were also used:

* full name - Br?der und Schwestern vom Deutschen Haus Sankt Mariens in Jerusalem

* and abbreviated - Der Deutsche Orden

In Russian historiography, the Order received the name Teutonic Order or German Order.

Order structure

Grand Master

The supreme power in the Order was held by the Grand Masters (German: Hochmeister). The charter of the Teutonic Order (unlike the charter of the Benedictine Order, to which it dates back) does not transfer unlimited power into the hands of the Grand Master. His power was always limited by the General Chapter. In carrying out his duties, the Grand Master depended on the assembly of all the brothers of the order. However, with the expansion of the Order, the power of the Grand Master increases significantly, due to the inability to frequently assemble the General Chapter. In fact, the relationship between the Master and the Chapter was determined more by legal custom. The intervention of the Chapter was necessary in crisis situations, which sometimes led to the resignation of the Grand Masters from office.

Landmaster

Landmaster (German: Landmeister) is the next position in the structure of the order. The Landmaster was the deputy of the Grand Master and supervised smaller administrative units - ballei. In total, there were three types of landmasters in the Teutonic Order:

* German Landmaster (German: Deutschmeister) - German Landmasters first appeared in 1218. From December 11, 1381, their power began to extend to the Italian possessions of the order. In 1494, Emperor Charles V granted the German Landmasters the status of imperial princes.

* Landmaster in Prussia (German: Landmeister von Preu?en) - the position was established in 1229 with the beginning of the conquest of Prussia by the Order. Hermann von Balck became the first Landmaster, making a significant contribution to the conquest of Prussia. Through his efforts, several castles were founded and many campaigns were carried out on Prussian lands. Throughout the 13th century, the main task of the landmasters was to suppress the constant uprisings of the Prussians and the war with the Lithuanians. In the 14th century, the “duty” to lead the constant campaigns in Lithuania completely passed to the Marshals of the Order. The position existed until 1324. After the capital of the Order was moved to Marienburg in 1309, the need for a special “deputy” Grand Master in Prussia disappeared. From 1309 to 1317 the position remained vacant. From 1317 to 1324, Friedrich von Wildenberg became the last landmaster.

* Landmaster in Livonia

Landkomtur

Literally translated as “earth commander”. He led the ballet of the Order.

The lowest official unit in the structure of the Order. The commander led the command together with the Convent - a meeting of the knights of a given command. The knights subordinate to the commander were called trustees (German: Pfleger) or Vogts (German: V?gte) and could have various “specializations” and, in accordance with them, were called, for example: fishmeisters (German: Fischmeister) or foresters (German: Waldmeister) .

Chief officers of the Order

In addition, there were five officials in the Order with whom the Grand Master had to consult:

Great Commander

Grand Commander (German: Grosskomture) - was the deputy of the Grand Master, represented the Order during his absence (due to illness, in case of resignation, premature death), and carried out other assignments of the Grand Master.

Marshal of the Order (German: Marschalle or German: Oberstmarschall) - his main duties included directing the military operations of the Order. He spent most of his time either on military campaigns or in Konigsberg, which was the base for gathering the brothers of the Order for campaigns against Lithuania. He was the second person of the Order in battles after the Grand Master.

High Hospitaller

Supreme Hospitaller (German: Spitler) - in the first years after the creation of the Order, he led the hospitals and clinics of the Order. After the conquest of Prussia, his residence was in Elbing.

High Quartermaster

High Intendant (German: Trapiere) - his functions included supplying the brothers of the Order with everything necessary in peaceful life: clothing, food and other household items. After the conquest of Prussia, his residence was at Christburg Castle.

Chief Treasurer

Chief Treasurer (German: Trapiere) - led the financial operations of the Order, was in charge of the financial resources of the Order.

Other positions

*Commander. In Russian the term “commander” is used, although the essence of this word means “commander”, “commander”.

* Capitularies. It is not translated into Russian, transcribed as “capitulier”. The essence of the title is the head of the chapter (meeting, conference, commission).

* Rathsgebietiger. Can be translated as “member of the Council.”

*Deutschherrenmeister. It is not translated into Russian. Means roughly "Chief Master of Germany".

* Balleimeister. It can be translated into Russian as “master of the estate (possession).”

History of the order

Beginning of approval in Eastern Europe

By that time, the influence and wealth of the Teutonic Order had been noticed by many powers who wanted to deal with opposing groups under the banner of “the fight against the pagans.” The then head of the Teutons, Herman von Salza (Herman von Salza, 1209-1239), had significant influence, having significant possessions and becoming a prominent intermediary of the Pope. In 1211, King Andrew II of Hungary (Andras) invited knights to help fight the militant Huns (Pechenegs). The Teutons settled on the border of Transylvania, gaining significant autonomy. However, excessive demands for greater independence led to the fact that the king in 1225 demanded that the knights leave his lands.

Fight against Prussian pagans

Meanwhile (1217), Pope Honorius III declared a campaign against the Prussian pagans who had seized the lands of the Polish prince Conrad I of Mazovia. In 1225, the prince asked for help from the Teutonic knights, promising them possession of the cities of Kulm and Dobryn, as well as the preservation of the captured territories. The Teutonic Knights arrived in Poland in 1232, settling on the right bank of the Vistula River. The first fort was built here, giving birth to the city of Toruń. As they moved north, the cities of Chelmno and Kwidzyn were founded. The tactics of the knights were the same: after the suppression of the local pagan leader, the population was forcibly converted to Christianity. A castle was built on this site, around which the arriving Germans began actively using the land.

Expanding influence

Despite the active activities of the Order in Europe, its official residence (together with the Grand Master) was in the Levant. In 1220, the Order purchased part of the land in Upper Galilee and built the fortress Starkenberg (Montfort). The Order's archives and treasury were located here. Only in 1271, after the capture of the fortress by Baybars, the leader of the Mamluks, the residence of the Order moved to Venice. In 1309, the capital of the Teutonic Knights became the city of Marienburg (German: “Mary’s Castle”; Polish name: Malbork). Gradually, all of Prussia came under the rule of the Teutonic Order. In 1237, the Teutonic Order merged with the remnants of the military brotherhood of the Knights of the Sword (Knights of Christ), thereby gaining power in Livonia. During the aggressive campaign against Gdansk (1308) under the slogan “Jesu Christo Salvator Mundi” (Jesus Christ the Savior of the World), almost the entire Polish population (about 10,000 local residents) was destroyed, and German settlers arrived in the occupied lands. The acquisition of Eastern Pomerania dates back to the same time, which was of great importance: the seizure no longer pursued religious goals. Thus, by the end of the 13th century, the order actually became a state. By the middle of the 13th century, a split in the church occurred, and the order launched an active offensive to the east, in support of the old German idea of ousting the Slavs [source?] [neutrality?] “Drang nach Osten”. Over time, two more similar organizations of knights arose in the Baltic states - the Order of the Sword Bearers and the Livonian Order.

Relations with the Russian principalities and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The conquest of the Estonians led to a clash between the order and Novgorod. The first conflict occurred in 1210, and in 1224 the Teutons captured a strategically important point of the Novgorodians - the city of Tartu (Yuryev, Dorpat). The confrontation was over spheres of influence, but by the 1240s. a real threat arose of a coordinated attack by all Western forces against the Russian lands themselves, weakened by the Mongol invasion. At the end of August 1240, the order, having gathered the German crusaders of the Baltic region, the Danish knights from Revel and enlisting the support of the papal curia, invaded the Pskov lands and captured Izborsk. The attempt of the Pskov militia to recapture the fortress ended in failure. The knights besieged Pskov itself and soon took it, taking advantage of the betrayal among the besieged. Two German Vogts were planted in the city. Next, the knights invaded the Novgorod principality and built a fortress in Koporye. Alexander Nevsky arrived in Novgorod, and in 1241 he liberated Koporye with a swift raid. After this, he returned to Novgorod, where he spent the winter awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Vladimir. In March, the united army liberated Pskov. The decisive battle took place on April 5, 1242 on Lake Peipsi. It ended in a crushing defeat for the knights. The Order was forced to make peace, according to which the crusaders renounced their claims to Russian lands.

Another Russian principality that clashed with the order was Galicia-Volyn. In 1236, Prince Daniil Romanovich stopped the expansion of knights into South-Eastern Rus' in the battle of Drohochin. The object of dispute in this region was the Yatvingian lands. In 1254, the vice-master of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, Burchard von Hornhausen, Daniel and the Mazovian prince Siemowit concluded a tripartite alliance in Račenz to conquer the Yatvingians.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Russian lands (mainly Belarusian principalities) that were part of it were subjected to the most massive onslaught of the order. The fight against the order was started by a contemporary of Alexander Nevsky, the Lithuanian prince Mindovg. He inflicted two crushing defeats on the knights at the Battle of Saul (Šiauliai) in 1236 and at the Battle of Lake Durbe (1260). Under Mindaugas's successors, princes Gediminas and Olgerd, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia became the largest state in Europe, but continued to be subject to fierce attacks.

In the 14th century, the Order made over a hundred campaigns within Lithuania. The situation began to improve only in 1386, when the Lithuanian prince Jagiello converted to Catholicism and became engaged to the heir to the Polish throne. This marked the beginning of the rapprochement between Lithuania and Poland (the so-called “personal union” - both states had the same ruler).

Decline of the Order

The Order began to experience difficulties in 1410, when the combined Polish-Lithuanian troops (with the participation of Russian regiments) inflicted a crushing defeat on the Order's army in the Battle of Grunwald. More than two hundred knights and their leader died. The Teutonic Order lost its reputation as an invincible army. The Slavic army was commanded by the Polish king Jagiello and his cousin, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas. The army also included Czechs (it was here that Jan Zizka lost his first eye) and the Tatar guard of the Lithuanian prince.

In 1411, after a two-month, unsuccessful siege of Marienburg, the Order paid an indemnity to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A peace treaty was signed, but minor skirmishes occurred from time to time. For the purpose of reform, the League of Prussian States was organized by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. This subsequently provoked a thirteen-year war, from which Poland emerged victorious. In 1466, the Teutonic Order was forced to recognize itself as a vassal of the Polish king.

The final loss of power occurred in 1525, when the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, the “Grand Elector” of Brandenburg, Albrecht Hohenzollern, converted to Protestantism, resigned as Grand Master and announced the secularization of the Prussian lands - the main territory that belonged to the Teutonic Order. Such a step became possible with the consent of the Polish king and through the mediation of Martin Luther, the author of this plan. The newly formed Duchy of Prussia became the first Protestant state in Europe, but continued to remain a vassal state of Catholic Poland. The order was dissolved in 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars. The possessions and territories that remained under the rule of the order were transferred to Napoleon's vassals and allies. The Teutonic Order was reorganized only during the First World War.

Claimants to the Legacy of the Order

Order and Prussia

Prussia, despite being a Protestant state, claimed to be the spiritual heir of the Order, especially in terms of military traditions.

In 1813, the Order of the Iron Cross was established in Prussia, the appearance of which reflected the symbol of the Order. The history of the Order was taught in Prussian schools.

The Order and the Nazis

The Nazis considered themselves to be continuators of the Order's work, especially in the field of geopolitics. The Order’s doctrine of “pressure to the East” was fully internalized by the leadership.

The Nazis also laid claim to the Order's material property. After the Anschluss of Austria on September 6, 1938, the remaining possessions of the Order were nationalized in favor of Germany. The same thing happened after the capture of Czechoslovakia in 1939. Only the order's hospitals and buildings in Yugoslavia and the south of Tyrol retained their independence.

There was also an attempt, inspired by Heinrich Himmler, to create his own “Teutonic Order” in order to revive the German military elite. This “order” included ten people led by Reinhard Heydrich.

At the same time, the Nazis persecuted the priests of the real Order, as well as the descendants of those Prussian families whose roots went back to the knights of the Order. Some of these descendants, such as von der Schulenburg, joined the anti-Hitler opposition.

Restoration of the Order. Order today

The restoration of the order took place in 1834 with the assistance of the Austrian Emperor Franz I. The new Order was deprived of political and military ambitions and focused its efforts on charity, helping the sick, etc.

During the period of Nazi persecution of the Order, its activities were virtually curtailed.

After the end of the war, the Austrian possessions annexed by the Nazis were returned to the Order.

In 1947, the decree on the liquidation of the Order was formally annulled.

The Order was not restored in socialist Czechoslovakia, but was revived in Austria and Germany. After the collapse of the Soviet bloc, branches of the Order appeared in the Czech Republic (in Moravia and Bohemia), Slovenia and some other European countries. There is also a small (less than twenty people) community of members of the Order in the USA.

The residence of the Grand Master is still located in Vienna. There are also the order's treasury and a library storing historical archives, about 1000 old seals, and other documents. The order is governed by the abbot-hochmeister, although the order itself consists mainly of sisters.

The Order is divided into three possessions - Germany, Austria and South Tyrol, and two commanderies - Rome and Altenbiesen (Belgium).

The Order fully serves with its nuns one hospital in the city of Friesach in Carinthia (Austria) and one private sanatorium in Cologne. Sisters of the Order also work in other hospitals and private health centers in Bad Mergengem, Regensburg and Nuremberg.

Modern symbolism of the Order

The symbol of the Order is a Latin cross of black enamel with a white enamel border, covered (for Knights of Honor) by a helmet with black and white feathers or (for members of the Society of St. Mary) by a simple circular decoration of black and white order ribbon.

Information sources

* Hartmut Bockmann, “The German Order: Twelve Chapters from Its History” Trans. with him. V. I. Matuzova. M.: Ladomir, 2004 ISBN 5-86218-450-3 ISBN 978-5-86218-450-1

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