The Teutonic Knights were powerful and ferocious advocates of holy war. Their history is suffused with crusading, campaigning and struggle. Feared by their enemies but respected by medieval Christendom, the knights and their Order maintained a firm hold over the Baltic and northern Germany and established a formidable regime which flourished across Central Europe for 300 years.

This major new book surveys the gripping history of the knights and their Order and relates their rise to power; their struggles against Prussian pagans; the series of wars against Poland and Lithuania; the clash with Alexander Nevsky’s Russia; and the gradual stagnation of the order in the fourteenth century. The book is replete with dramatic episodes - such as the battle on frozen Lake Peipus in 1242, or the disaster of Tannenberg - but focuses primarily on the knights’ struggle to maintain power, fend off incursions and raiding bands and to launch crusades against unbelieving foes. And it was the crusade which chiefly characterized and breathed life into this Holy Order.

William Urban’s narrative charts the rise and fall of the Order and, in an accessible and engaging style, throws light on a band of knights whose deeds and motives have long been misunderstood.

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 - The Military Orders
  • Missionaries and Armed Missions
  • Lessons of the Early Crusades
  • Other Crusades
• 2 - The Foundation of the Teutonic Order
  • The Third Crusade
  • The Foundation Era 1190-8
  • Laws and Customs
  • Officers
  • Religious Life
  • Warrior Monks
• 3 - War in the Holy Land
  • The Holy Land
  • Hermann von Salza
  • The Holy Land
• 4 - The Transylvanian Experiment
  • Defending Hungary against Pagan Attack
  • The Mongol Storm blows in from the East
  • The Mongol Impact on East Central Europe
  • Conflict between the Pope and the Emperor
• 5 - The War against Paganism in Prussia
  • Pagan Prussia
  • Prussian Disunity
  • Prussian Military Traditions
  • Efforts to bring Christianity to Prussia
  • The Teutonic Knights enter Prussia
  • William of Modena
  • Hermann Balk
  • Pagan and Orthodox Enemies
  • War along the Frontier
  • The Third Prussian Insurrection 1275-83
  • Problems in Poland and Pomerellia
  • Guerrilla Warfare
  • The End of the Crusade in Prussia
• 6 - The Crusade in Livonia
  • Paganism and Orthodoxy
  • Missionaries and Crusaders
  • The End of the Swordbrothers
  • Lithuania
  • The Teutonic Knights
  • Conflict with Novgorod
  • The Battle on the Ice
  • Dorpat and Novgorod
  • Native Life at the End of the Thirteenth Century
• 7 - Territorial Rivalries with Poland
  • Pomerellia and Danzig
  • The Unification of Poland
  • Pomerellia Up for Grabs
  • The Teutonic Knights take Danzig and Pomerellia
  • King Ladislas of Poland
  • King Ladislas and the Pagans
  • Wars on Several Fronts
  • John of Bohemia joins the Conflict
  • Papal Intervention
  • Victory in Livonia
  • War with Ladislas
  • Werner’s Assassination
  • Luther von Braunschweig
  • The Battle of Plowce, 1331
  • Peace Talks
  • Samogitian Operations
  • More Papal Investigations
  • Peace with King Casimir
  • The Cult of Chivalry in Prussia
  • The Age of Chivalry
  • Chivalry in Prussian Literature
  • Lady Mary
  • Castles and Chivalry
  • Chivalry and the Decorative Arts
  • Periodisation of Art and Architecture
  • Coinage an Expression of Chivalry
  • The Decline of Chivalry
  • The International Crusade
  • International Popularity
• 8 - The Lithuanian Challenge
  • Lithuanian Expansion
  • Crusader Efforts to Revitalise Holy War
  • Vytenis of Lithuania
  • Karl von Trier targets Samogitia for attack
  • Brutal Warfare
  • Principles of Frontier Warfare
  • The Death of King Vytenis
  • Western Crusaders Arrive
  • Prince Gediminas
  • The Crusader Response
  • Hopes of Lithuanian Conversion
• 9 - The Conversion of Lithuania
  • The Feud Among the Lithuanian Dukes
  • Lithuania Becomes a Christian State
  • Civil War in Lithuania
  • More Civil War in Lithuania
  • The Tatar Complication
  • Crusader Sieges of Vilnius
  • Peace
• 10 - The Battle of Tannenberg
  • Background
  • The Changing Balance of Power
  • Political Manoeuvring
  • The Raising of Armies
  • The Invasion of Prussia
  • The Combat
• 11 - The Long Decline and the End in the Baltic
  • The Aftermath of Tannenberg
  • Heinrich von Plauen
  • Significance of the Battle of Tannenberg
  • A Century of Decline
  • The Thirteen Years’ War
  • The War
  • The Second Peace of Thorn 1466
  • Dissolution and Rebirth
• 12 - The End in Livonia
  • The Turkish Wars
• 13 - Summary
• Appendices
• Bibliography
• Index