A medieval history lesson.

My avatar is of the Ritterbruder. They were German knights of the Teutonic Order. They were of high honor among these warrior monks. The things on their helmets were placed there to inflict fear in the enemy ranks. They were both heavy calvary and heavy infantry. Most enemies trembled when the Ritterbruder entered the battle field. If anyone else knows anything else about them please post here i would like to learn more about them.

Here's a little of what I found for ya


During the Siege of Acre in the Third Crusade a field hospital set up by German merchants and soldiers was formally organized by Duke Frederick of Swabia as a Religious Order under the auspices of local Latin Bishops. Pope Clement III may have recognized the Order as early as 1191, though the evidence is ambiguous. The name and existence of the Order is confirmed in 1196 by an order of papal protection by Pope Celestine III. 1198 saw the Order given a military role in the Levant. A papal bull issued by Pope Innocent III in 1199, affirmed the Orders military role and defined its religious rules. It was to care for the sick in the manner of the Hospitaller Order and in all other business it was to follow the Templar rule and wear the Temple's white cloak with the addition of a black cross. It was initially subordinate to the Master of the Hospitaller Order.

From its earliest days the Order was involved in countries outside of the Levant. Although for over a hundred years they remained a substantial force within the Holy Land, their focus increasingly moved to Eastern Europe. By the time of the fourth Grand Master, Von Salza (1210-39), the Order had holdings that ranged from the Netherlands to the Holy Land. They were substantially involved in Southern Greece, Hungary, Prussia and the Grand Masters had been given a place in The Holy Roman Empire's Diet.

In 1211 saw the Order invited to establish a presence on the borders of Transylvania by King Andrew of Hungary. Their role was to help in the military defeat and conversion of the Cuman pagans of the area. In 14 years the Order established control over a significant area, sufficient for them to start demanding more and more autonomy from the Hungarian Crown. These demands led to their expulsion in 1225 by force from Hungary. This expulsion coincided with an appeal from Duke Conrad of Massovia against Prussian tribes to the Order for help. The Prussian tribes were pressurizing Northern Polish territories. The offer of cities as fiefs to the Order combined with the Crusade declared against Baltic pagans by Pope Honorius III in 1217 convinced Von Salza to participate. Von Salza also extracted guarantees that any lands conquered by the Order would be theirs to control. The Golden Bull of Rimini confirmed this in 1226 by the Holy Roman Emperor. This conferred Princely rank on the Grand Master of the Order and sovereignty over any Prussian lands captured, to be held as Imperial Fiefs.

Using the resources of their other European holdings and the crusading zeal of many of Europe's senior families, the Order was able to conquer many of the Prussian, Latvian and Estonian tribes in the space of some 50 years. This created large holdings running along much of the south and eastern Baltic coastlines. At the same time the small Order of the Sword, founded by the Bishop of Riga, had successfully conquered large parts of Livonia and Estonia. The Order of the Sword suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Sauler in 1236. This battle cost the Brotherhood of the Sword its Grand Master and over a third of their Order Knights. This defeat severely weakened them and threatened their existence. To survive the mass rebellions brought about by their defeat the Brotherhood of the Sword merged with the Teutonic Order. The inclusion of the Brotherhood of the Sword greatly increased the holdings of the Teutonic Order. The Order of the Sword adopted Teutonic insignia and its Grand Master became a Provincial Teutonic Master, though with slightly more autonomy than normal. The conquest of the coastal areas and control of the Order of the Swords domains changed the direction of the Crusades.

Ahh that was a little.... Yeah the Teutonic Order was great. They served God and anything they owned was not only theirs but the whole orders. They believed in staying poor and not having someone more powerful than another. They were at sometime evil. They killed jews, muslims, and some christians. But, not all the time they were an order of warrior monks. They mainly prayed in their free time but loved the war. They were great warriors and held high honor on the battlefield.

....and are actually still in existence today.

Oh cool! I thought they had disbanded! But, they probably aren't warrior monks anymore just monks. without the sword and shield in war they would just be dudes with guns. I prefer medieval times because it actually showed these men were in shape. I'm not saying the modern day warriors aren't in shape but like a rookie can shoot a highly ranked commander anyday in war. But, back then there was no luck like this. If a rookie challenged a commander the commander would win using tactics in sword and shield combat the rookie hasn't mastered yet.

Very true. Today, it is more of re-enactments in the sense of arms and armor. Today they are more along the lines of sayyyyy,,,,the Masons.

The Masons.....my Dad is the master of the New Hope Masonic Lodge in Alabama. He has served 3 different terms as the master of the Lodge but at different Lodges each time. He was also Secretary of the New Hope Lodge a few years back and served in that capacity for @ 8 years. He has been a Mason in the Blue Lodge (up to 33 degrees) for over 34 years now.

He is now a Masonic lecturer and goes to different lodges helping his masonic brothers learn various aspects of the moral and spiritual teachings of Freemasonry and explanations of the symbols and rituals. He is very dedicated to his fellow brothers and of course the Lodge as well. I am very proud of him. They study a lot about the Bible, our Creator and they also use the different tools of building to apply moral to their lives in a way that only another Mason could truly understand. For the sake of not committing plagiarism, I will quote someone else and say that the Masons are concerned with principles of right and wrong and in conforming to standards of behavior and character based on principles of very high value.

I have been around A LOT of Masons in my life and I have found them to be very decent and trustworthy people with a very high moral ethic. No I am not a Mason, YET. But one day..................

Love history now! Never good stay still long enough in school to enjoy it though.

Oh cool! I'm not learning this in school i was just on youtube and i found the Teutonic Order and got interested in them and learned more about them. When i do start learning this in school i want to learn even more than i do know about them right now.