History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 223, the Baltic Crusades, the Prussian Crusade, Part 5, the Teutonic Knights.

Hello again. Last week we saw Duke Conrad of Mesovia ask the Teutonic order to send an army to

Prussia to Christianise the local Prussians in exchange for land in the region of Kulm.

This move which effectively outsourced the conquering of Prussia to forces outside Poland, was born of desperation.

Years of attempted Christianization of Prussia by preaching and by crusading had failed to

yield any permanent results.

So really if Bishop Christian wanted his Bishopric of Prussia to be

full of Christian converts, all faithfully paying ties to the church, this was the only means left available to achieve

it.

So we left last week's episode with members of the Teutonic Order journeying back to the Holy Roman Empire

from Mesovia bearing with them a formal offer from Duke Conrad, witnessed by Bishop Christian. The offer was made to the

Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Hermann von Salzer, and stated that the order would be provided with land inside Prussia if they provided military assistance which was to be used to Christianize Prussia.

Now, before the members of the Teutonic Order arrive back in the Holy Roman Empire and hand the offer over to their Grand Master, we should take a look at how

the Teutonic Order itself has been fairing in recent times. We last examined the order way back in episode 193. In that episode we saw how the order was established in the Holy Land in the year

1198, originally to care for sick and injured German Crusaders and later to build and garrison castles in

strategic locations in the Holy Land. Well, it's now the year 1226, so the Teutonic Order has been in existence for 28 years.

So the question we need to ask is what has happened to the order

during that time. As we pointed out in last week's episode, the history of the Teutonic Order really begins with the appointment of Hermann von Salzer as its Grand Master in the year 1210.

So let's take a look at the history of the order from 1210

until the point we currently find ourselves in the timeline the year 1226. In his book the Teutonic Knights

a military history William Urban describes Hermann Vonsaltsa as being an ambitious young man who was not quite of noble birth.

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