The Teutonic Knights

Rise and Fall of a Religious Corporation

Aleksander Pluskowski

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9781789148688
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789149043
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

This book provides a concise and incisive introduction to the Teutonic Knights, or Teutonic Order, the last of the great military orders established in the twelfth century. Evolving into a powerful religious institution, the Knights left a profound and enduring legacy. Aleksander Pluskowski traces the Order's journey from a field hospital outside the walls of Acre during the Third Crusade to its remarkable rise as a major territorial ruler and power in northeastern Europe. He charts the three centuries of theocratic rule by this remarkable religious corporation and examines the Order's notable accomplishments, as well as its failures.
From constructing distinctive fortified convents, including the largest castle in Western Christendom as its headquarters, to the Order's decline in the fifteenth century due to a devastating war with Poland-Lithuania and the secularization of its Prussian and Livonian branches during the Reformation, The Teutonic Knights is a compelling look at a pivotal force in European history.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Introduction
• 1 The German Hospital of the Third Crusade: The Origins of the Teutonic Order
• 2 Expansion and Loss in the Thirteenth Century: The Teutonic Order in the Holy Land
• 3 A New Frontier: The Teutonic Order in Transylvania
• 4 Holy War and Conquest: The Teutonic Order’s Crusades in Prussia and Livonia
• 5 Territorial Lords: The Teutonic Order’s Rule in the Baltic
• 6 Power and Faith: The Teutonic Order’s Fortified Convents
• 7 Crusading in the Wilderness: The Teutonic Order’s Wars against Lithuania
• 8 Defeat and Decline in the Fifteenth Century
• 9 The Reformation and the End of the Teutonic Order’s Rule in the Baltic
• 10 The Rise and Fall of a Medieval Religious Corporation
• REFERENCES
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INDEX