Germany's Grand Catholic Knights
By Michael Durnan
In the summer of 1991 I spent two weeks touring Poland. One of the most impressive places on my sightseeing itinerary was the medieval castle of Malbork located in Pomerania east of Gdansk on the River Nogat. This massive building is the largest castle by surface area in the world and the largest building made of brick in Europe. Why was this massive fortress constructed and by whom?
albork castle was built on the orders of the Teutonic Knights, or to give
them their full and proper title, the ‘Order of Brothers of the German House of St. Mary in Jerusalem.’ (In German, ‘Orden der Bruder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem.’)
The Knights were one of the military religious orders established in Catholic Europe during medieval times. Other leading military religious orders of the time included the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitallers of St. John.
The Teutonic Knights, and the other military religious orders, were founded to give aid, assistance, and protection to Christian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land, as well to establish and run hospitals.
The German Travelers in the Holy Land
They were founded at the end of the 12th century in Acre, in the Holy Land, or as that region was known, the Levant. The Order’s origins go back to the year 1143 when Pope Celestine II ordered the Knights Hospitaller of St. John to take over the running and management of a hospital that accommodated countless German-speaking pilgrims and crusaders who spoke neither the local language, nor Old French, nor Latin.
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