Teutonic Order - Deutscher Orden

Teutonic Order - Deutscher Orden - 1190

Welcome to the Website of the Teutonic Order
of the Hospital of the Virgin Mary in Jerusalem

The Teutonic Order or in its full name the Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem - looks back on a long and eventful history of more than 800 years. Formally established as hospital brotherhood near the seaport Acre in the Holy Land in the year 1190, during the third crusade. In the prologue of the Order's Book it reads: "Real knighthood does not only know the time-bound form of swordplay, which has passed; the actual composure of chivalrous men is rather expressed in their commitment for the Lord's kingdom, for protecting the defenceless, for helping the maltreated, those beset, the condemned and those in need." It is the pronounced goal of the Knights, Brothers and Sisters of the German Order to jointly implement this composure, abiding by the Order's motto "Helping and Healing" With this Website we would like to provide you with some insight in the History of the Order, our work, in our roots and spirituality, in our past, but also the presence of the Order today.

Latin: Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ
Theutonicorum Hierosolimitanorum,
"Order of the Teutonic House of Mary in
Jerusalem"; Ordo Teutonicus, "German Order"

German: Deutscher Orden, "German Order";
officially Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen
Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem, "Order of
the Brothers of the German House of St.
Mary in Jerusalem"

Belarusian: Тэўтонскі ордэн, "Teutonic Order"

Danish: Tyske Orden, "German Order"

Dutch: Duitse Orde, "German Order"

Croatian: Teutonski Red, "Teutonic Order"

Estonian: Saksa Ordu, "German Order"

Finnish: Saksalainen ritarikunta, "German Order"

French: Chevaliers Teutoniques, "Teutonic Knights"

Hebrew: המסדר הטבטוני , "The Teutonic Order"

Hungarian: Német Lovagrend, "German Knighthood"

Latvian: Vācu ordenis, "German Order"

Lithuanian: Kryžiuočių Ordinas, "Order of Crusaders"

Norwegian: (bokmål): Tyske Orden

Portuguese: Ordem dos Cavaleiros Teutônicos,
"Order of the Teutonic Knights"

Polish: Zakon Krzyżacki,"Order of the Crossbearers"

Romanian: Ordinul Cavalerilor Teutoni,
"Teutonic Knights Order"

Russian: Тевтонский орден, "Teutonic Order"

Slovenian: Križniki, "Crossbearers"

Slovak: Rád nemeckých rytierov

Serbian: Тевтонски ред-Tevtonski red, "Teutonic Order"

Swedish: Tyska orden, "German Order"

Swiss German: Tütsche Ordä, "German Order"

Turkish: Töton Şövalyeleri, "Teutonic Knights"

Italian: Ordine Teutonico, "Teutonic Order"

Spanish: Orden Teutónica, "Teutonic Order"

Japanese: "Knights of Germany"(doitsu-kishidan)

The Introduction to the Teutonic Order of
Knights of St Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem

The Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem (Official names: Latin: Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum, German: Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem), or for short the Teutonic Order (Today: German Teutonic Order), is a Two armed German Roman Catholic Order of Knights made up of a Religious Arm and a Secular Arm. It was formed to aid Catholics on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals to care for the sick and injured. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, since they also served as a crusading military order during the Middle Ages. The membership was always small and whenever the need arose, volunteers or mercenaries augmented the military forces.

Formed at the end of the 12th century in Acre, in the Levant, the medieval Order played an important role in Outremer, controlling the port tolls of Acre. After Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend Hungary against the Cumans. They were expelled in 1225 after allegedly attempting to place themselves under Papal instead of Hungarian sovereignty. In 1230, following the Golden Bull of Rimini, Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke Konrad I of Masovia launched the Prussian Crusade, a joint invasion of Prussia to Christianise the Baltic Old Prussians. The Order then created the independent Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights in the conquered territory, and subsequently conquered Courland, Livonia, and Estonia. The Kings of Poland accused the Order of holding lands rightfully theirs.

The Order lost its main purpose in Europe with the Christianisation of Lithuania. The Order became involved in campaigns against its Christian neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Novgorod Republic (after assimilating the Livonian Order). The Teutonic Knights had a strong economic base, hired mercenaries from throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies, and became a naval power in the Baltic Sea. In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg). In 1515, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I made a marriage alliance with Sigismund I of Poland-Lithuania. Thereafter the Empire did not support the Order against Poland. In 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg resigned and converted to Lutheranism, becoming Duke of Prussia. Estonia and Livonia soon followed, and also the Order's holdings in Protestant areas of Germany.

The Teutonic Order kept its considerable holdings in Catholic areas of Germany until 1809, when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. The Teutonic Order continued to exist as a charitable and ceremonial body. It was outlawed by Hitler in 1938, but re-established in 1945. Today the Order operates with two seperate arms, a Chivalric Teutonic Order and a Clerical Teutonic Order which is run primarily with charitable aims in Central Europe. Both the Chivalric and Clerical Knights wear white surcoats with a black cross. A cross pattée was sometimes used as their coat of arms; this image was later used for military decoration and insignia by the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany as the Iron Cross.

The Grand Master (German: Hochmeister; Latin: Magister generalis) is the holder of the supreme office of the Teutonic Order. It is equivalent to the grand master of other military orders and the superior general in non-military Roman Catholic religious orders. Hochmeister, literally "high master", is only used in reference to the Teutonic Order, as Großmeister ("grand master") is used in German to refer to the leaders of other Chivalric Orders of knighthood. An early version of the full title in Latin was that of Magister Hospitalis Sanctae Mariae Alemannorum Hierosolymitani. Since 1216, the full title Magister Hospitalis Domus Sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum Hierosolymitani (Master of the Hospital House of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Germans of Jerusalem) was used. The offices of Hochmeister and Deutschmeister (Magister Germaniae) were united in 1525. The title of Magister Germaniae had been introduced in 1219 as the head of the bailiwicks in the Holy Roman Empire, from 1381 also those in Italy, raised to the rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1494, but merged with the office of grand master under Walter von Cronberg in 1525, from which time the head of the order had the title of Hoch-und Deutschmeister.

The coat of arms representing the grand master (Deutschmeisterwappen) is shown with a golden cross fleury or cross potent superimposed on the black cross, with the imperial eagle as a central inescutcheon. The golden cross fleury overlaid on the black cross becomes widely used in the 15th century. A legendary account attributes its introduction to Louis IX of France, who on 20 August 1250 granted the master of the order this cross as a variation of the Jerusalem cross, with the fleur-de-lis symbol attached to each arms While this legendary account cannot be traced back further than the early modern period there is some evidence that the design does indeed date to the mid 13th century.

Teutonic Order - Name

The full name of the Order in German is Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem or in Latin Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum (engl. "Order of the House of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem"). Thus the term "Teutonic" echoes the German origins of the order (Theutonicorum) in its Latin name. It is commonly known in German as the Deutscher Orden (official short name, literally "German Order"), historically also as Deutscher Ritterorden ("German Order of Knights"), Deutschherrenorden, Deutschritterorden ("Order of the German Knights"), Marienritter ("Knights of Mary"), Die Herren im weißen Mantel ("The lords in white capes"), etc. The Teutonic Knights have been known as Zakon Krzyżacki in Polish ("Order of the Cross") and as Kryžiuočių Ordinas in Lithuanian, Vācu Ordenis in Latvian, Saksa Ordu or, simply, Ordu ("The Order") in Estonian, as well as various names in other languages.

In the prologue of Teutonic Order's Book it reads:

"Real Knighthood does not only know the time-bound form of swordplay, which has passed; the actual composure of chivalrous men is rather expressed in their commitment for the Lord's Kingdom, for protecting the defenseless, for helping the maltreated, those beset, the condemned and those in need." It is the pronounced goal of the Knights, Brothers, Sisters and Marian Associates of the German Order to jointly implement this composure, abiding by the Order's motto "Helping and Healing".

"Helfen - Wehren - Heilen " Help - Defend - Heal"