TEUTONIC ORDER. – The T. O., formerly Ordo equestris Teutonicus, also called Kreuzherren e Deutschherren, began in 1190 at Acre as a tent hospital established by Crusaders from Bremen and Lübeck. In 1191 it was placed under papal protection; in 1198, having become involved in the struggle for the faith, it became a knightly order. Confirmed by the Supreme Pontiff on 19 February 1199, it adopted the rule and organization of the Orders of the Templars and of St John (now the Order of the Knights of Malta), and, like them, consisted of knights, clerics, lay brothers, sisters, and familiars (Third Order).
The members of the T. O. wore as their distinctive insignia a black cross on a white mantle (the mantle of the lay brothers and sisters was dark).
Legislative and elective power lay in the hands of the General Chapter and the grand master; that of the provinces belonged to the provincial commander (Landkontur), and that of individual houses to the commander; several provinces had a regional master (Landmeister). The Order’s house was called a commandery, and the province a “bailiwick.”
The grand master had as his collaborators five major commanders: the grand commander, marshal, treasurer, hospitaller, and draper. The headquarters of the Order was transferred from Acre in 1291 to Venice, in 1309 to Marienburg, in 1457 to Königsberg, in 1526 to Mergentheim, and in 1809 to Vienna. From the Holy Land the T. O. spread to Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and the intervening countries, so that 22 bailiwicks were formed: 13 in Germany, 3 in Italy (northern Italy, Apulia, Sicily), and one in each of Spain, France, Romania, Greece, Armenia, and the Holy Land.
From 1211 to 1225 it was entrusted with the protection of Hungarian Transylvania against the Mongols; then, commissioned by the Pope and the Emperor, in 1226 it undertook the struggle against the pagan Prussians, who threatened and ravaged Poland; in 1237, the protection of the Christian mission in Livonia, Courland, Estonia, and Latvia; and around 1254, also the propagation of the faith in Lithuania and in the neighboring Orthodox countries. Through this apostolate, Prussia and Livonia had been evangelized by 1283, and it was precisely here that a powerful state arose, extending from the Oder to Leningrad and comprising eight bishoprics, three of which were incorporated into the Order: Pomerania, Samland, and Kulmerland. The Brothers of the T. O. cultivated Prussia and Livonia with such success that approximately 160 towns arose there, while many other new ones were added to the villages of the indigenous population. Every village had its own well-endowed church; towns and boroughs had richly endowed parish churches (parishes were then very extensive), as well as hundreds of hospitals, shelters, and schools. Outside the territory of the T. O. state, the Brothers were engaged in approximately 800 churches with pastoral care, 65 hospitals, and many schools.
In Greece they had to fight continually against the Muslims, and in Sicily against pirates. Intellectual life was cultivated through historical works by Dusburg, Jeroschi, Alnpeke, and Wigand von Marburg, or through commentaries on Sacred Scripture and the lives of the saints. Notable figures included Bishop Anselm of Varmia, Enrico von Hesler, Tilo von Kulm, and Ugo von Langenstein.
From 1467 to 1570 the T. O. had to cede its territories to the new great powers advancing toward the sea: Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. In 1410, because of the defeat at Tannenberg; in 1453–67, because of the war with Poland, with the loss of western Prussia; in 1525, with the surrender of eastern Prussia to Poland by the supreme master Alberto von Brandenburg, who had apostatized from the faith and from the Order; and in 1562, because of the great war with the Russians.
The Order ceded the bailiwicks of northern Germany to the Protestants, and those of France, Spain, Italy, and Greece in the military upheavals after 1500. In 1525 the general headquarters was transferred to Mergentheim, and the offices of grand master and German master were united. Moreover, in order to counter Protestant propaganda, the Brothers of the Order had Sacred Scripture and catechetical books printed, founded two major seminaries, and fielded their own army, especially against the Turks (the Hoch-und Deutschmeister Regiment). Thus the orthodox faith was preserved in all the territories that remained to the T. O.
As a result of the French Revolution, the Order lost many houses, was expelled from Germany, and was suppressed by Napoleon (1805–1809). Emperor Francis I, however, secretly preserved it in Austria, and in 1859 it was once again solemnly recognized. The supreme master, Archduke Maximilian (1835–63), devoted himself to its reconstruction, obliging the priests to live in common in convents, establishing minor seminaries, and reviving the Institute of the Sisters of Charity of the T. O. In all the territories of the T. O. he founded schools, kindergartens, hospitals, shelters, etc., where the sisters taught and provided assistance free of charge. The supreme master, Archduke Wilhelm, added a large medical organization for wartime.
After the war of 1914–18, on the initiative of the supreme master, Archduke Eugenio (1893–1923), it was transformed into a clerical Order and reconfirmed by the Holy See, with an updated Rule, on 27 November 1929. From that date it has consisted of priests and lay brothers and, by virtue of a special privilege, has supreme direction of the Sisters of Charity of the T. O. Collaborators and benefactors may be affiliated with it as “Mariani.”
The Brothers and sisters carry out their work in Austria, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and, since 1945, Germany, providing pastoral care in hospitals, schools, etc. Today the T. O. numbers only 131 members, with few houses.