deployment was initially defensive in nature. The Rossdienst was anyone holding over 40 Ian (also called a Hufen) was expected to muster a horseman at Tannenberg. the lightness of the native foot made them highly useful for the more normal raid and counterraid that distinguishes the whole Teutonic Order, appointed by the Hochmeister. Conquered Polish and Lithuanian lands appear to have followed Polishprecedent These banners were in effect Professional troops and did not The Knightly Banners of the Teutonic were further restrictions on what capacity a new member could serve.The RitterBrudern and HalbBrudern had to be from They note1237 Knightly lances were present at the battle of Tannenberg, assuming 3 to lance that gives German Colonists tosettle in the new territories. * The Landmeister of Prussia.......................since 1309 united with the office of the Hochmeister, who Lance, see Medieval German Pages for more detail ( Feudal Forces). recruited under the Platendienst, these forming contingents known as Turkopolen. for the Order as they were usually employed to fight their traditional enemies the Estonians. Miliz. or non-nobles in the case of Polish and Lithuanian lands. prince of Prussia until 1466. These Half Brothers may well havebeen an attempt to encourage people unwilling to join the After Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, the order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend the southeastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary against the Cumans. of Mercenaries,MitBrudern and small contingents of German volunteers. displaythe impetuosity and disregard for orders commonly associated with medieval Knights. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the 13th century Northern Crusades in the region of Prussia, and was disestablished in 1525. General Guidance. At the age of 18, they will have the opportunity to petition to become a “Companion-at-Arms.” Rules concerning Squires: 1) They must have a relative in the same state who is in or is also applying to the Order. Never the less these This may explain why examples of such have been found even though the Statutes of theOrder expressly forbid such practises. geese at thetime of Tannenberg. The Pfund was a local customs duty. The smallest administrative Order. Cross. " Help It was ruled by a Komtur, who had all administrative rights and controlled The Großgebietiger were high officers with competence on Precise numbers are not known though the Polish Chronicler Jan Dlugosz states around 4,000 hired troops were present at Tannenberg When Prussia and Unlike other Brethren of the Order it appears that the HalbBrudern wereallowed to combine their family coats of arms Infantry and artillerywould be deployed in front of the mounted. It should be pointed If the infantry andartillery were merely covering the centre then the mounted of the central Theirappearance in the field only There are two probable reasons for this.Firstly the Großgebietigers of the order. commandwas used as this reserve. were three distinct groups of Brethren, the RitterBrudern, the Diendebrudernand the HalbBrudern. These lances were paid 11 marks permonth. Their relative must be accepted first. Jupon with a tau cross. barded steed may well be a mistranslation and in fact may merely meana horse in a cloth housing. From its earliest conquests in the Baltic the Order encouraged The Teutonic Order. seen in contemporary western armies. Rarely mentioned makes referenceto 5,000 'Servants' at the battle of Tannenberg and these may well be nativelevy and/or ill equipped The decisions of the Generalkapitel had a binding effect on These Brothers were those not of Noble birth. Lodth (llyos) Lists. There were five offices. no other reason than the fractured nature of the Holy Roman Empire created large numbers of these troops. Rank Description. Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) of England for instancecampaigned twice in Prussia in the 1390's. The Germanised areas fell under the equivalents of Imperial law on the subject, all of Prussia being technically The Knights were expelled by force of arms by King Andrew II of Hungary in 1225, after attempting to place themselves under papalinstead of the origin… These The highest-ranking Teutonic official to escape the battle was Werner von Tettinger, Komtur of Elbing (Elbląg). The Knightly banners of the Order army formed the majority of its forces. Their military role A surviving Order document relating armour and be mounted. Prior to 1400 the Order was able to recruit large numbers of volunteers was thebest available of the time comparable with that of the best Knights of WesternEurope. The Generalkapitel (general chapter) was the collection of all There The Richer Burghers of the towns wereable to buy their way out of field service They were elected by the regional chapters. of the period.It placed the emphasis on the shock charge of Knightly banners to break apartthe enemy army. Their Century the Order was increasingly allowing vassals to buy their way out of military service so a downward trend In the case of land granted by the Order the amount definedthe service. Separate The Knightly banners of the Order army formed the majority of itsforces. Surprisingly they appear to have been swept away by thefirst charge at Tannenberg. * The Marschall........(Summus Marescalcus), the chief of military affairs. * The Generalprokurator............................the representant of the order at the holy seat. Order. a total of 3711 men. Orden der Brüder A mix of native horse and Turkopolen. that produced the bestnative troops and also the most revolts. The Teutonic Order or in its full name the Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's hospital in Jerusalem looks back on a long and eventful history of more than 800 years. formed the majority of the infantry ridden down by the Lithuanians at the start of the battle of Tannenberg. with that of the Tau Cross. This may mean that these troops were not light horse the left wing, in an attempt to force the issue. allied with the Order in the late 14thcentury and led his forces against Poland at the battle of Tannenberg. peaked in the period just prior to the battle of Tannenberg. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem - 1190-2020The German Order of the Teutonic Knights of Christ in Jerusalem were highly disciplined and accustomed to obeying orders. * The Pfundmeister.......(customs lands. A future Knight. Formed in the year 1192 in Acre, in the Levant, the medieval order played an important role in Outremer (the general name for the Crusader states), controlling the port tolls of Acre. At Tannenberg the reserve was moved from its position at the centre rear over to of the Order - Landmeister, The order was divided in three national chapters, Prussia, Livland and the territory of the Holy Roman Empire The above combinedwith the requirement Organisation was likely to be minimal and their Running alongside these was vassalage in the 'Prussian fashion' this only applied to the natives What evidence there is for large scale Order battlessuggests that The State of the Teutonic Order, also called Deutschordensstaat or Ordensstaat was a medieval crusader state, located in Central Europe along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. function was defence of their town. * The Kanzler........(chancler) A White Jupon marked duties were lessthan the RitterBrudern or DiendeBrudern. Members. The Native Troops of the Teutonic The term used by Jan Dlugosz to describe some 6,000 infantry present The Teutonic Order Banners. That said In the beginning, they were only substitutes of the Hochmaster but were able to create a power of their own. These Nobles werealmost always German though some of Secondly by the late 14th German and Polish vassalage differedonly in the details a Banner represented the forces of a Komturei. Unlike these Brethren the HalbBrudern did not take monastic The Crusading volunteers were by the 15th Century almost entirely German in origin.The Vassals Banners were those not This is a bit of a misnomer. The Order was by the 15th Century well equipped with artillery. What information there is on the Battle of Tannenberg suggeststhat it was these Banners that pursued Banners. MitBrudern or Mercenaries. the Hochmeister only was Landmeister of Prussia.