§ 60. THE MILITARY ORDERS. 305
The order survived the fall of Acre less than twenty years. After finding a brief refuge in Cyprus the knights concentrated their strength in France, where the once fa mous organization was suppressed by the violent measures of Philip the Fair and Clement V. The story of the sup pression belongs to the next period.
III. The order of the Teutonic Knights1 never gained the prominence in Palestine of the two older orders. During the first century of its existence, its members de voted themselves to the maintenance and care of hospitals on the field of battle. They seldom appeared until the historic mission of the order opened in the provinces of what is now northeastern Germany which were reduced to subjection and to a degree of civilization by its arms and humanizing efforts.
The order dates from 1190, when a hospital was erected in a tent under the walls of Acre by pilgrims from Bremen and Liibeck. Frederick of Swabia commended it, and Clement III. sanctioned it, 1191. 2 It was made a military order in 1198 by a bull of Innocent III.3 and in 1221 Honorious III. conferred upon it the privileges enjoyed by the Hospitallers and Templars. The order was made up almost exclusively of German elements.4 The members took the triple vow. Their dress was a white mantle with a black cross. Women were affiliated with some of the hospitals, as at Bremen. The first possession of the order in Europe was a convent at Palermo, the gift of Henry VI., 1197. Its first hospital in Germany was St. Kunigunde,
1 Deutscher Orden, Ordo 8. Marice Theutonicorum.
2 Under the name domus liospitalis S. Marice, Theutonicorum in Jerusa lem. A German hospital was dedicated in Jerusalem to St. Mary, 1128.
3 At the council of Constance, 1415, the king of Poland protested against their right to convert by the sword.
4 In the conflict of Lewis the Bavarian with the papacy, the Teutonic order espoused the emperor's cause and received from him important gifts and privileges
306 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
at Halle. Subsequently its hospitals extended from Bremen and Liibeck to Niirnberg and further south. Its territory was divided into bailiwicks, balleyen, of which there were twelve in Germany. The chief officer, called Grand Mas ter, had the dignity of a prince of the empire.
Under Hermann von Salza (1210-1239), the fourth grand master, the order grew with great rapidity. Von Salza was a trusted adviser of Frederick II., and received the privi lege of using the black eagle in the order's banner. Fol lowing the invitation of the monk Christian and of Konrad of Morovia, 1226, to come to their relief against the Prussians, he diverted the attention and activity of the order from the Orient to this new sphere. The order had the promise of Culmland and half of its conquests for its assistance.
After the fall of Acre, the headquarters were transferred to Venice and in 1309 to Marienburg on the Vistula, where a splendid castle was erected. Henceforth the knights were occupied with the wild territories along the Baltic and southwards, whose populations were still in a semibarbaric state. In the hour when the Templars were being suppressed, this order was enjoying its greatest prosperity. In 1237 it absorbed the Brothers of the Sword.1
At one time the possessions of the Teutonic knights in cluded fifty cities such as Culm, Marienburg, Thorn, and Konigsberg, and lands with a population of two million. Its missionary labors are recorded in another chapter. With the rise of Poland began the shrinkage of the order, and in the battle of Tannenberg, 1410, its power was greatly shaken. In 1466 it gave up large blocks of territory to Poland, including Marienburg, and the grand master swore fealty to the Polish king. The order continued to hold Prussia and Sameland as fiefs. But the discipline had become loose, as was indicated by the popular saying, " Dressing and undressing, eating and drinking, and going
1 fratrcs militicc Christi, yladiferi, a military order foupded in 1202,