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The Knights of the Virgin Mary – or '''Teutonic Knights''' of the Hospital of St. Mary, the Virgin – was a religious-military Order that that was founded at the siege of Acre in 1190 during the [[Crusades|Third Crusade]]. [[German]] in origin, its original purpose was to care for and protect German pilgrims to the [[Holy Land]]. Its knights took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They wore a white mantle with a black cross. The Order gained the approval of the German Emperor 1191 and its conversion to a military order was approved by the [[pope]] in 1199.

The Knights of the Virgin Mary – or '''Teutonic Knights''' of the Hospital of St. Mary, the Virgin – was a religious-military Order that that was founded at the siege of Acre in 1190 during the [[Crusades|Third Crusade]]. [[German]] in origin, its original purpose was to care for and protect German pilgrims to the [[Holy Land]]. Its knights took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They wore a white mantle with a black cross. The Order gained the approval of the German Emperor 1191 and its conversion to a military order was approved by the [[pope]] in 1199.

About 1225 a Polish duke employed them to assist in his invasion of the then heathen [[Prussia]]ns. By the 1280’s, helped by their absorption of a purely military order, the Brethren of the Sword, they had conquered most of the area of what is now north-east Germany, [[Poland]] and the [[Baltic]] states in a sort of perpetual on-growing crusade-cum-invasion that, in the end, was to bring about their downfall as the political implications of their power began to out-weigh the religious. By the 1380s they were, effectively, the most powerful Catholic state in north-east [[Europe]], ruling from a series of great castles.

About 1225 a Mazovian duke of Poland employed them to assist in his invasion of the then heathen [[Prussia]]ns. By the 1280’s, helped by their absorption of a purely military order, the Brethren of the Sword, they had conquered most of the area of what is now northern [[Poland]] and the [[Baltic]] states in a sort of perpetual on-growing crusade-cum-invasion that, in the end, was to bring about their downfall as the political implications of their power began to out-weigh the religious. By the 1380s they were, effectively, the most powerful Catholic state in Northern and [[Central Europe]], ruling from a series of great castles.

Their control of already converted states caused alienation and they were soundly defeated in battle by Christian Polish-[[Lithuania]]n forces  in 1410. They went into decline, were secularised in Prussia in 1525, and were finally abolished as any sort of force by [[Napoleon]] in 1809.

Their control of already converted states caused alienation and they were soundly defeated in battle by Christian Polish-[[Lithuania]]n forces  in 1410. They went into decline, were secularised in Prussia in 1525, and were finally abolished as any sort of force by [[Napoleon]] in 1809.

[[Category: Crusades]]

[[Category: Crusades]]

[[Category: German History]]

[[Category: German History]]

[[Category: Medieval History]]

[[Category: Medieval History]]