In 1190, during the Third Crusade, the Domus Hospitalis Sanctæ Mariæ Teutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum (Order of the Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of Saint Mary of Jerusalem) was founded in Jerusalem, better known as the Teutonic Order because it was created by a specific commission from Pope Celestine II to the Knights Hospitaller: to manage the Domus Theutonicorum (House of the Germans), the city’s hospital that cared for German pilgrims and crusaders. The pontiff also decreed that those appointed must always be of German origin. But what was originally a monastic-military order intended to operate in the Holy Land ended up having its own country in the Baltic starting in 1224: the Ordenstaat or State of the Teutonic Order.

In Latin, it was called Civitas Ordinis Teutonici, and it was the result of an idea by the fourth Grand Master, Hermann von Salza, who had taken on the responsibility of transforming the original hospice brotherhood into a military order governed by the Augustinian Rule—granted by Celestine III—taking the Templar model as inspiration. Its headquarters in the Near East was the fortress of Montfort, in Acre, which they lost to the Saracens in 1271, forcing them to take refuge in Saint John. By then, they were no longer fighting only that enemy, as in 1226 they expanded their activity to northeastern Europe: through the Golden Bull of Rimini issued by Frederick II Hohenstaufen, the Baltic Crusades began.

As the name suggests, the objective was to Christianize the Baltic peoples who still practiced paganism. For that reason, the Holy Roman Empire elevated Von Salza to the rank of Reichsfürst, or Imperial Prince, and his knights escorted Frederick when he visited the Holy Sepulcher. The order also received numerous territories in what are now Germany and Italy, in addition to those it already held in Jerusalem and Armenia. The fall of Acre in 1291 forced the Teutonic Knights to retreat—first to Transylvania and Hungary, since there was a Saxon community there, and then to Prussia, where the aforementioned struggle against the northern pagans unfolded.

Teutonic Knights State Ordenstaat
Monument in Marienburg in honor of Grand Master Hermann von Salza. Credit: Hans Weingartz / Wikimedia Commons

It was not the first time an attempt had been made to subjugate them. Adalbert of Prague, Bolesław IV of Poland, the Kievan Rus, and Conrad I of Masovia had tried before, but without lasting success, which is why the latter requested the help of the Teutonic Knights. However, the crusade status also attracted knights from other parts of Europe, such as Henry II of Breslau, Sambor II of Pomerania, and so on. The aforementioned bull issued by Frederick II, along with the papal one from Rieti, granted the order the Prussian territory—including the Polish region of Chełmno, under nominal papal authority—to govern, colonize, and evangelize. But their dominions would expand even further.

In 1234, they absorbed those of the Order of Dobrzyń (founded by Conrad), and in 1237 did the same with the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (who lacked sufficient troops), so the present-day Latvia and Estonia also came under their control, although in exchange they lost the Burzenland fief in Transylvania, as the Hungarian king Andrew II expelled them. Thus, the Teutonic Knights living there had to relocate, and they moved to their new northern lands. The first settlement, made up of about seven hundred men, was established in the castle of Nessau, on the banks of the Vistula. From there, they began expanding through Chełmno and founded several castles.

It was then that Pope Gregory IX called the crusade, with the usual advantages for those who participated: indulgences, forgiveness of sins, promises of salvation, etc. The Baltic conquest was very long—almost half a century—because paganism was still deeply rooted among many peoples: Sorbs, Rugians, Finns, Estonians, Curonians, Livonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Abrodites, and Eastern Prussians resisted Christianity even after the Vikings had already converted (in fact, Swedes and Danes conducted their own crusades, not just for religious reasons but also for clear expansionist interests).

Teutonic Knights State Ordenstaat
Baltic peoples between the 12th and 13th centuries. Credit: MapMaster / Rowanwindwhistler / Wikimedia Commons

Besides being long, it was bloody. According to Teutonic chronicles, the Prussians _”roasted captured brothers alive in their armor, like chestnuts, before the sanctuary of a local god”, which led to the search for strategic alternatives. One was to convince the native nobility in exchange for privileges, although the success was limited—Prussian nobles generally agreed, but the common people did not and were often forced to flee—and the Order tended to settle for the mere baptism of the conquered, without engaging in doctrinal work. Nonetheless, decade after decade, the new faith took root by fair means or foul, and the state prospered.

The Teutonic Knights cleared vast forests and drained marshlands to turn them into farmland and found settlements. The economic base was farming, which not only supplied the commanderies and cities but also allowed the export of grain and timber—along with amber, which they had a monopoly on—often through an active network of Baltic ports. The state retained ownership of the land but granted its use hereditarily to settlers, distributing it in plots when a town was established (up to ninety towns were created, along with fifteen hundred villages and sixty castles). The native Prussians were relegated to the status of serfs.

That was the origin of cities such as Marienburg and Königsberg (now Malbork and Kaliningrad), characterized by rectangular urban layouts and solid fortifications, and governed according to the so-called Magdeburg Law (a set of privileges granted by Otto I three centuries earlier to regulate the degree of autonomy of each locality in relation to the Holy Roman Empire). Other notable cities were Thorn (Toruń), Kulm (Chełmno), Allenstein (Olsztyn), Memel (Klaipėda), and Elbing (Elbląg); the latter was the only one that did not adopt Magdeburg Law but rather Lübeck Law, due to its founders coming from there.

Most of the inhabitants usually came from Silesia and central Germany, drawn by the dual idea of replacing the native population and compensating for demographic losses caused by war and epidemics. And that’s despite benefiting from a healthcare system that inherited the original legacy of that hospital in the Holy Land. The healing art was largely based on traditional monastic medicine, to which was added the systematic use of all kinds of baths (steam baths, drip baths, etc.) and the prevention of undesirable behaviors: alcoholism, begging, wastefulness…

Teutonic Knights State Ordenstaat
Statues of Teutonic knights at Malbork Castle, Poland. Credit: Schlaier / Wikimedia Commons

Livestock farming was usually associated with the castles. On a total of one hundred and ten thousand hectares of land, thirteen thousand horses, ten thousand cows, nineteen thousand pigs, and sixty-one thousand sheep were raised. On the other hand, stone for construction was lacking, which led to the establishment of brick factories. Given the marshy geography of its holdings, river transport and the construction of numerous bridges were chosen; a navigable canal between Königsberg and Labiau was even opened, in the Curonian Lagoon: the so-called Deimegraben. The relationship with the Hanseatic League helped trade and brought prosperity, with the main imports being salt, spices, wine, and textiles; also honey, saffron, wax, furs, gold, and copper.

The Order issued its own currency starting in 1238, initially only in the form of bracteates (thin silver pennies). In addition, pennies from Cologne, groschen from Bohemia, and Hungarian florins were valid. Usury was strictly prohibited, so the Teutonic State was not attractive to money changers, who instead had neighboring Poland. But all that economic dynamism, favored by general tax exemption as well as by a more or less uniform monetary and weights-and-measures system, made the Teutonic State one of the richest in Europe.

All of this also resulted in a postal system of its own, to ensure fast communications, and numerous cathedral and primary schools; likewise, thousands of Prussians were sent to foreign universities, where scholars from the lands of the Order worked as professors. The Teutonic Knights essentially maintained the structure of a monastic order, and the administrative hierarchy of the State was practically identical, with the Grand Master assisted by a council and a chancellery, under whom there were a Grand Commander, a Marshal, a Großspittler (Counselor)…

Teutonic Knights State Ordenstaat
The Teutonic State in 1260. Credit: S. Bollmann / Rowanwindwhistler / Wikimedia Commons

And below that, a tree of officers and subordinates who managed and defended the commanderies, estates, hospitals, patronages, encomiendas, etc. It should be noted that the total area of the Teutonic State amounted to tens of thousands of square kilometers if the various territories (Livonia, Prussia…) governed in a sovereign manner are counted. The Golden Bull of Rimini granted the Grand Master the ability to hold and exercise power in his lands “better than any imperial prince”, although historians are not so sure about that.

The lands of the bishops and cathedral chapters did not belong to the territory of the State, although they were in a certain dependence and connection, but subordinated to the respective bishop as sovereign. Livonia and Prussia also formed their own territories, which were under the jurisdiction of respective Landmeisters authorized by the Grand Master. In 1243, all of Prussian territory, already converted into the Ordenstaat, was divided by the Pope into four bishoprics subject to the Archbishopric of Riga. From then on, the only thing left was to grow and, indeed, in 1308 they did so by conquering Gdansk (Danzig), taking advantage of a request for help from Władysław I of Poland, who was fighting against the Margrave of Brandenburg. The latter sold them his rights, but the Poles did not.

Danzig became a source of discord for years because Władysław and his successors wanted to recover it. In 1343, through the Treaty of Kalisz, a compromise solution was reached: Pomerelia, the region where the city was located, would be the property of Poland but under Teutonic government. Three years later, Valdemar IV of Denmark, in need of funds, sold Estonia to the Order. Ironically, it ended up waging war on him in 1367 after joining the Confederation of Cologne and allying with the Hanseatic League, taking away Scania and Gotland due to commercial rivalry.

It was commerce, precisely, that led to an alliance with Richard II’s England during the crusade against the Lithuanians. That alliance was broken in 1385, after an English fleet, incomprehensibly, attacked several Prussian ships. Eventually an agreement was reached, resuming relations with the British while those with the Hansa deteriorated. It is worth noting that the Teutonic Order assigned a specific official to deal with these matters, the Großschäffer (something like “head of purchases and sales”). It was precisely the integrity of navigation through the Baltic that led, in 1403, to the purchase of the Brandenburg Neumark and, under the command of Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen, the acquisition of Samogitia.

Teutonic Knights State Ordenstaat
Teutonic Knights in a painting by Wojciech Kossak (1909). Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

With Von Jungingen – in fact, from a little earlier, with his predecessor, Winrich von Kniprode – the Teutonic State reached its greatest extent. But upon the Grand Master’s death in 1407, he was succeeded by his younger brother, Ulrich, and everything fell apart because he had to face an alliance of his two great enemies when the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jagiello (later Władysław II) married Queen Jadwiga I of Poland as part of the Union of Krewo, signed in 1385 after the former’s conversion to Christianity. Thus was born the so-called Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which, aided by Ruthenians, Tatars, and Moldavians, defeated Ulrich – who only managed to gain the support of the Duchy of Pomerania – at the Battle of Grunwald (or Tannenberg, in 1410).

At that time, the Teutonic State was still strong enough to retain part of its territory, although in exchange it had to pay tribute. Heinrich von Plauen, who had defended Pomerania and was elected Grand Master, signed in 1411 the First Treaty of Thorn, which ended the war with the Poles and Lithuanians. However, everyone had seen the Order’s weakness and took advantage of the opportunity. In 1440, several cities, discontent with the high taxes they had to pay the Teutons for recovery and their lack of representation, decided to found the Prussian Confederation and secede.

Fourteen years later, Casimir IV of Poland offered them help, and the ensuing war ended with the Second Treaty of Thorn (1466), through which the Teutonic State lost the western half of its domains, which became Royal or Polish Prussia, with the remainder left as a mere Polish fief. The Grand Master himself became a prince and royal counselor, while his mercenaries, as they received lands in payment for their services, also gained greater social status and eventually became what are known as junkers, the landowning Prussian nobility so characteristic of the later German Empire of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Teutonic Knights State Ordenstaat
The Teutonic State in 1466. Credit: S. Bollmann / Ipankonin / Rowanwindwhistler / Wikimedia Commons

The Order could not avoid the religious wars of the 16th century between Catholics and Protestants. Since 1466, the Grand Masters had to perform the so-called Prussian Homage, a pledge of loyalty to the Polish monarch as their feudal lord in Prussia. In 1518, Imperial Prince Frederick of Saxony, appointed Grand Master, tried to evade that obligation, hoping for support from the Holy Roman Empire that never came, and in 1525 Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, the last Grand Master, agreed with his uncle Sigismund II Augustus Jagiellon, the Polish sovereign, to convert to Lutheranism and renounce the position in exchange for being named Duke of Prussia. In this way, the Teutonic State was transformed into a hereditary duchy, the first Protestant state, though still subject to Poland.

The rest of the Order, loyal to the Pope and tied to the Habsburgs, refused to recognize that secularization, rallying around Master Walther von Cronberg. In 1530, Emperor Charles V officially appointed him Administrator of Prussia, a title that was practically meaningless though retained until the 18th century. Dukes and electors considered the possibility of uniting their dominions, and the opportunity came thanks to a Prussian alliance with Sweden, which was interested in conquering Poland. Thus, in 1701 the duchy became the Kingdom of Prussia, recognized and promoted by the Swedish king John II Casimir Vasa, putting an end to what remained of the Teutonic State.

As for the Teutonic Order, it did not disappear but remained under the protection of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Napoleon came close to eliminating it in 1809 and it lost much of its secular property, but was reactivated after his fall. In 1923 it abandoned its character as a military chivalric state and was disqualified after the Second World War, since the Nazis had promoted it. By then, it no longer had its traditional name, as in 1929 Pope Pius XI renamed it the Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary of Jerusalem. The last master, for now, was Prince Paolo Francesco Barbaccia Viscardi of Hohenstaufen of Swabia, who died in 2016 without leaving an heir.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on May 8, 2025: Ordenstaat, el estado fundado por los Caballeros Teutónicos en el Báltico

SOURCES

Edward Henry Lewinski-Corwin, The Political History of Poland

Philippe Dollinger, The German Hansa

Desmond Seward, The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders

Eric Christiansen, The Northern Crusades

Deutscher Orden (Web Oficial)

Wikipedia, Estado monástico de los Caballeros Teutónicos

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