The Teutonic Knights

This week we will talk about the end of the rule of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. Instead of a land ruled by a chivalric order answering to the pope, Prussia became a secular state, ruled by a protestant prince and run by a newly created class of land-owners, the famous Prussian Junkers whose impact on German history stretched well into the 20th century.

But the conversion of the last Grand Master and his submission to the Polish crown wasn’t the end of the order. In fact the order still exists to this day, though on a fundamentally different form, which is another fascinating history we will explore in this episode.

Episode webpage: Episode 137– Conversion • History of the Germans Podcast

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

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Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: History of the Germans Podcast | a narrative history from 919 AD to 1990 in weekly episodes | Patreon

The theocratic state of the Teutonic Knights had survived the devastating defeat at Tannenberg with most of its territory intact. But underneath the foundations of the edifice are crumbling. The economy is in tatters, the theological justification for their existence has disappeared and their power as a military force has failed to keep up with the changing times. The order needs a new business model for absence of a suitable term. How well or badly it did in this attempt is what we will be looking at in this episode.

For the episode website with transcripts and links to maps, book recommendations etc. go here: Episode 136– 13 years of war • History of the Germans Podcast

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: History of the Germans Podcast | a narrative history from 919 AD to 1990 in weekly episodes | Patreon

Last week we ended with the famous battle of Tannenberg or as the Poles would call it Grunwald. This battle is not just famous for its outcome but also for the various accounts of what happened. There is a Polish version there is a Lithuanian version and there's obviously a German version, actually 2 German versions. Though the one German version that blames the defeat on betrayal by Polish vassals is now debunked.

With that exception I find it rarely matters who did what during the battle but what the outcome was and what happened afterwards.

The Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and all his major officers were dead as well as hundreds of Knights brothers and thousands of secular knights, crusaders, squires and mercenaries. What was also lying there prostrate on the battlefield was the notion of the invincibility off the Teutonic Order. As the Polish and Lithuanian troops pursued what remained of the order’s forces, the Prussian cities and castles opened their gates to the winners.

A complete victory? Well as it happened it would take another nearly 60 years before Poland would regain control of Pomerelia and its capital Gdansk. And even that wasn’t the end of the Teutonic Knights. Despite the devastating defeat, the loss of its purpose, and the fundamentally changed political structure inside their state, the Teutonic order soldiered on, how they managed is what we will explore in this episode.

This week we look at the reasons the golden age of the Teutonic knights came to an abrupt end at the beginning of the 15th century. It is a sequence of events that involve some remarkable Polish and Lithuanian princes, the Templars, and of course – The brothers of the house of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem. Ah, and a very famous battle.

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

Podcasts on Poland:

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Poland Is Not Yet Lost — WDFpodcast.com

The History of Poland Podcast (libsyn.com)

In the century that followed the last of the Prussian and Livonian uprisings the states of the Teutonic Order in the Baltic experienced a period of economic growth and internal and external stability that is almost unique in the chaotic 14th century. Whilst Europe was in the grip of the Hundred-Years War, an incessant merry go round of internecine feuds, the Black Death, Papal Schisms and a deteriorating climate, this theocracy on the Northern Baltic shore became a beacon of prosperity and peace.

How was it possible that a religious order became an astute manager of its estates, a de-facto member, if not by its own claim head of the Hanseatic League and the organizer of the greatest chivalric adventure holidays for Europe’s aristocracy?

That is what we try to find out in this episode..

You can find the transcript for this episode as wella s maps and lots more here: https://historyofthegermans.com/teutonic-knights/

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

Bibliography:

Werner Paravicini Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels : https://perspectivia.net/receive/ploneimport_mods_00009997

Eric Christiansen: The Northern Crusades

This week we look at the activities of the Teutonic order in Livonia during the 13th century. The situation in Livonia was profoundly different to Prussia and posed a number of new challenges for the brothers. In Livonia there were the powerful bishops of Riga to contend with who had led the crusade there since its inception in the 1180s. The Hanse merchants who have settled in Riga, Reval and Dorpat are no pushovers. Like in Prussia, the Lithuanians are a formidable force able to inflict painful defeats on the brothers as are some of the Baltic peoples who didn’t enjoy conversion at swordpoint as much as the planners back in Bremen, Marburg and Acre had hoped. And let’s not forget some new neighbors, the Danes in Northern Estonia and the great republic of Novgorod.

In 1240 a great effort gets under way to forcibly convert the orthodox Rus’ian states, including Novgorod that are already under pressure from the Mongols. In their distress the boyars of Novgorod make the second son of the grand duke of Vladimir becomes their military leader, a man we know as Alexander Nevsky. On April 5, 1242 Alexander Nevsky and his men stand on the shore of Lake Peipus staring at a squadron of heavily armored cavalry thundering across the ice towards them…

Whilst the riders almost certainly weren’t accompanied by Prokofief’s amazing soundtrack, they may have brought an organ, but that, like everything else about the Battle on the Ice is subject to intense debate, a debate we will examine in this episode.

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

Last week we left the action after the Teutonic Knights had signed the peace of Christburg in 1249 to put an end to the first Prussian revolt. The local population had risen up with the help of duke Swantopolk of Pomerelia who feared for the commercial success of his main city, the city of Danzig/Gdansk. After 7 years of war and devastation the pope had forced both sides to the negotiating table and made them sign a peace agreement intended to be a long term settlement. It constrained the Teutonic Order and gave the converted Prussians civil rights on par with the settlers who had come from the German lands.

Things should therefore be calm and peaceful from here – well they weren’t. The fighting continued as the order expanded further north and inland and soon the Prussians and Pomerelains rose up again, and again…

For Book recommendations, go here: Book Recommendations • History of the Germans Podcast

The translation of Nicolaus of Jeroschin is here: Jeroschin N. The Chronicle of Prussia (2016), OCR.pdf

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

Last week we heard about Konrad of Masovia’s offer of the Kulmer Land to the Teutonic knight. This week we will talk about what they did once they had accepted the offer. The first knights arrived in 1226 but it would take almost 6o years before their new principality of Prussia was fully established.

The Prussians, despite initially being lightly armed and disunited were no pushover. Rarely successful in open battle they disappeared into the dense forest or swampy marches before they could be routed. Again and again they rose up, reclaiming their freedom and again and again did the Teutonic Knights and the German and Polish crusaders pushed them back into submission.

Do not worry, this will not be an endless litany of battles and raids, but we will look at the relative military strength, the political structure they established and as you would expect, the economic underpinnings of the effort.....

For Book recommendations, go here: Book Recommendations • History of the Germans Podcast

The translation of Nicolaus of Jeroschin is here: Jeroschin N. The Chronicle of Prussia (2016), OCR.pdf

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

“.. the far-sighted planning of Grand Master Brother Hermann von Salza had so strengthened the Teutonic Order that it had many members and such power, riches and honour that word of its fame and good reputation had spread the length and breadth of the empire.” So describes the chronicler Nicolaus von Jeroschin the role of the fourth and arguably most influential of the grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights. His role in promoting and expanding the order is hard to exaggerate. Without his skill and energy, the Teutonic Knights would have ended up like the Order of the Knights of St. Thomas. Have you have never heard of the Knights of St. Thomas, a English chivalric military order founded as a field hospital during the siege of the city of Acre in 1191? Well, that is the difference one man can make, at least very occasionally.

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: https://the-teutonic-knights.captivate.fm/

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

Hello and welcome to a new season of the History of the Germans, the Teutonic Knights or to give them their full title, the knights of the hospital of St. Mary of the House of the Germans in Jerusalem.

Even though the state they had created in Prussia has been wiped off the map with all its cultural markers, the Teutonic Knights are not forgotten. Less shrouded in nonsense than the Templars, less devoted to social causes than the Knights of St. John they still loom large not just in German history but even more so in Polish and Russian history. Both of these nations have placed victories over the Teutonic Knights at key junctions of their national narrative.

But were the Teutonic knights these near invincible, cruel faceless war machines that Sergei Eisenstein had charging over the ice to the sound of Prokofiev brilliant score? That is what we will try to find out over the next few episodes. Expect your fair share of heroic battles, chivalric entertainment all intermingled with twisted theology and astute commercial activity. I hope you will enjoy it.

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod 

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

Here is the link to the article by Cory Doctorow: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/

Bibliography:

Steven Runciman: A history of the Crusades

Eric Christiansen: The Northern Crusades

William Urban: The Teutonic Knights - A mlitary History

Jurgen Sarnowsky: Der Deutsche orden