The Teutonic Knights: Rise and Fall of a Religious Corporation

Medieval Lives

by Aleksander Pluskowski

A gripping account of the rise and fall of the last great medieval military order.
 
This book provides a concise and incisive introduction to the knights of the Teutonic Order, the last of the great military orders established in the twelfth century. The book traces the Order’s evolution from a crusader field hospital into a major territorial ruler in northeastern Europe. Notably, the knights constructed distinctive fortified convents, including their headquarters in Western Christendom’s largest castle. The narrative concludes with the Order’s fifteenth-century decline due to the combined effects of a devastating war with Poland-Lithuania and the Protestant Reformation. The result is an accessible overview of this pivotal corporation in European history.

Genres: History, Medieval, Christianity

224 pages, Hardcover

First published July 19, 2024

Reviews

[Dorota · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good concise history of the Teutonic Knights Order, especially in the Eastern Europe. I would have appreciated a broader political context for the regional dynamics but then it would have to be a much longer book. Also, it is a beautiful book as an object: lovely paper and many illustrations.

[Bruce Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both detailed and concise.

The Middle Ages and the Crusades have always been popular areas of study, though, perhaps with a slight over-emphasis on England, France and Outremer. I was therefore delighted by the release of “The Teutonic Knights: Rise and Fall of a Religious Corporation” by Professor Aleksander Pluskowski, which has provided a valuable expansion to modern academic scholarship with a comprehensive work of reference on the Teutonic Knights. The book moves fairly seamlessly through three main themes; the rise of the Teutonic Knights as a crusading military order, their important social and political impact on the history of Northern Europe and the gradual decline of the order in the post-medieval period. The published work is detailed but also concise and is well supported with evidence, photographs, maps and diagrams.
One interesting theme which is apparent throughout the book is that while the other military orders, such as the Knights Templar, had literally disappeared by the end of the Middle Ages, the Teutonic Knights were able to successfully reinvent themselves more than once, so as to survive in some form until as late as 1809 when the order was abolished by Napoleon!
Having been born as a crusading order, the Teutonic Knights operated simultaneously in both the Holy Land and Eastern Europe, where initially they acted as border guards, protecting Christendom from the pagan tribes. Later they functioned as the governing authority for several territories, with powerful officers elected to their positions. In this role the order administered justice, supervised land ownership and managed the economy, even producing their own coinage. It would be no exaggeration to say that their administrative systems played a part in the creation of the national states of Northern Europe.
The grand sweep of the research is supported by a wealth of fascinating details, including the construction of majestic castles in the “Brick Gothic” style and a mention of Frederick II of Hohenstauffen who appears to have been the only monarch to wage a successful crusade whilst excommunicated from the Catholic Church. I was also intrigued to discover that the Teutonic Order had female members whose duties included nursing sick and injured knights.

All in all, Professor Pluskowski has provided a fascinating read, suitable for both the academic and the history enthusiast.

[Koit · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is always interesting to read a short general history: what an author consider noteworthy versus what one does not. In general, it’s clear that even most of the small mentions could be covered in a lot more detail. In this case, Mr Pluskowski’s version of the history of the Teutonic Order feels for me weaker than that of Klaus Militzer though it is newer and should indeed have not found it very difficult to correct a number of the errors presented in Militzer’s work. On the whole, however, I will consider it a positive book and shedding light on a relatively low coverage subject is to be praised.

The negatives: when trying to fit so much into a general history, I do not see the benefit to include mentions of very short periods or endeavours. The Teutonic Order’s time in Transylvania, therefore, doesn’t really deserve the coverage it had here, especially as at no point does it look like the author is basing himself on the newest research. The coverage of the Order’s establishment in Poland and Kulmland is similarly biased, echoing earlier Teutonic themes of the subversion of the Order of Dobrin, which however are pretty strongly disproven by newer research.

The author’s own subject of interest seems to lie in the Order’s history in Prussia. The Livonian side is mentioned as an afterthought while the German branch comes into its own only after the fall of Prussia. Meanwhile both the military and the political endeavours that led to these events are described only barely and I would say definitely not in the complexity they deserve. Neither is the overview of the way the Order was governed sufficiently thorough in my estimation: the parts concerning the early development of the general chapter were pretty interesting, but then we lose nearly all of its later development. And, in contrast, Militzer had a pretty long discourse, for example, on how the Statutes of Orseln affected the order while this subject is also barely mentioned in this work.

Therefore, this ranks as an okay very basic introduction into the subject, but unlikely to offer much for people who are more familiar with the topic.

This review was originally posted on my blog.

[Ethan Parrish · Rating 4 out of 5]

It provided exactly what I wanted - a primer on the lesser known religious order of the medieval period.

[Gabriel Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

An interesting book about the generally least well known of the major military orders. I found the differences between the Orders activity and organisation depending on where it was based, quite fascinating.