The Monks of War

by Desmond Seward

  King Andrew II of Hungary was worried about eastern Transylvania, savagely raided by heathen Kumans. In 1211 he gave its mountainous Barcasag district to the Teutonic Order. The brethren adapted methods of warfare learnt in Syria and Armenia, building a network of wooden fortresses, and the Turkish Kumans proved neither so numerous nor so skilful as their Anatolian cousins. By 1225 the 'Burzenland' had not only been pacified but settled with German colonists. King Andrew grew alarmed; in any case the Kumans were now being integrated with the Magyars. Suddenly he descended on the Burzenland with a large army and evicted the knights. After loud protests Hermann began to look elsewhere.

  Livonia, the modern Estonia and Latvia, was peopled by pagan Baltic and Finnish tribes. To the east it was bounded by Russian princes, whilst to the north it was scantily settled at Reval by Danes. The idea of a Holy War in northern Europe was not new. In 1147 the ubiquitous St Bernard had summoned all Germans to a crusade against the heathen Wends, who lived across the Elbe. Livonia was a fair enough prospect for land-hungry Teutons. In 1201 Albrecht von Buxhövden sailed from Lübeck with a great fleet of colonists to found Riga at the mouth of the river Dvina, in the land of the Baltic Livs. The town prospered and many Livonians were converted. Nevertheless the little colony could not afford to depend on stray crusaders for protection, and in 1204 Albrecht, now Bishop of Riga, founded the Sword Brethren, who took the Templars' rule. The habit was white, marked with a red sword and red cross on the left shoulder. Their purpose was the defence of 'Mary's land', commemorated in the lines spoken by the Master in the ceremony of profession:

  Dis Schwert entfange von meiner Hand

  Zu schützen Gotts und Marien Landt.

  They are supposed to have admitted postulants of ignoble birth, but recent research seems to disprove this legend.3 Master Wenno von Rhorbach was murdered by one of his own brethren in 1208,4 yet they were fine soldiers. For Albrecht, colonization was as much a part of the crusade as conversion. First his Schwertbrüder built the castle of Wenden as a headquarters, then they invaded Estonia with an army half-German, half-Livonian, penetrating the deep pine forests to rout the natives and their Russian allies; in 1227 they conquered the island of Oesel (Saaremaa), shrine of the god Tarapilla. German burghers settled in the new towns and the colony rested on sound foundations when its bishop died in 1229.

  The bishop, later Archbishop of Riga, was the true governor of Marienland, and at first a system of dividing conquered territory between bishop and brethren worked very well. ('Thus arose the first Order State,' observes their modern historian, Friedrich Benninghoven.) Large estates were given to German nobles, in return for military service. Shortly after Albrecht's death the Sword Brethren proclaimed a Holy War against 'the Northern Saracens' and made steady progress. They possessed six preceptories, each administered by a guardian or 'vogt' their chief strongholds being Wenden and Fellin, though the Master's seat was the Jurgenhoff at Riga. They also had chaplains, according to the priest chronicler, Heinrich von Lettland. Soon they wrested sovereignty from the bishop, seizing church lands, while their stern rule embittered their subjects who rebelled more than once. In 1237 the second Master, Wolquin Schenk (probably a son of the Count of Naumberg), was defeated and slain with fifty of his brethren – 'cut down like women amid the marshes' – at Siauliai by the Kurs in alliance with the Lithuanian prince, Mindaugas.5

  In the meantime Hochmeister Hermann von Salza had seen other opportunities. The seaboard from the Vistula to the Niemen and its hinterland of lakes, marshes, sandy heaths and pinewood were inhabited by the heathen Prusiskai, a Baltic people who spoke a language closely related to Lithuanian.6 The latter, in the primeval forest north and east of Poland, resembled the Prussian tribes in everything except disunity and were now coming together under the able Mindaugas. Baits worshipped idols in sacred groves and fields, and attributed divine powers to the entire creature-world, including their own animals.7 They practised human sacrifice, by burning or beheading, and buried animals alive at funerals; dead warriors were cremated astride their horses, while widows were often made to hang themselves. Stockades of towns and temples were adorned with animal skulls to ward off the evil eye, their grim shrines served by weird priests and soothsayers. The Prussians' domestic habits were as unpleasant as their religion. The old, the sick, the blind and the lame were invariably slaughtered. Drunkenness from mead and fermented mares' milk was a major pastime while tribesmen often drank the living blood from their horses' veins. Inter-tribal warfare was endemic. Hermann decided that Prussia would make a good training ground for the wars in Outremer.

  Konrad, Duke of Mazovia, had become so demoralized by Prussian raids that he abandoned the entire province of Chelmo. In 1222 the bishops of Kujawia and Plock recruited a handful of German knights to form a new military order as protection, the Order of Dobrzyn, though it proved to be ineffectual. Konrad offered Chelmo to Hermann with any other territory his brethren might succeed in conquering. In 1223 the Hochmeister obtained a document from his friend the emperor, known as the Golden Bull of Rimini, later confirmed by the pope, which gave him full sovereignty over these lands with nominal papal suzerainty. Two knights arrived in 1229 and built the castle of Vogelsang ('Birdsong') on the Vistula but were soon killed by the Prussians.8

  The year after, one of the Teutonic Order's great heroes came with twenty knights and 200 sergeants to take possession of Vogelsang. It was Hermann Balke, styled Landpfleger (Preceptor), whose skill in war was equalled by his modesty and generosity. It is no exaggeration to call Balke the Pizarro of the Baltic lands. Most of his troops were volunteers who regarded themselves as Crusaders, the brethren acting both as command structure and as panzers. The Emperor gave lands in Apulia to establish southern Italian commanderies, providing the necessary financial resources. Help also came from Bohemia and Silesia. Transport was supplied by the seafaring merchants of Lübeck. In 1231 Hermann crossed the Vistula and stormed a fortress-temple, hanging the Prussian chief from his own sacred oak tree. This Landpfleger used his enemies' tactics of forest ambush. At first the Prussians were scornful of his tiny force, but soon they came to dread it. White-robed horsemen attacked them even in the snow and, riding over frozen rivers or charging out of blizzards like winter ghosts, their great cloaks served for camouflage. 'Often under the weird glitter of the Northern Lights combat was joined upon the ice that covered the rivers and marshes, until the solid crust broke beneath the weight of the warriors and the men of both sides were engulfed to their chilly doom.'9 Tribesmen who fought on horseback with sword and battleaxe or on foot with bows found the uncanny strangers' terrible charge irresistible, very different from undisciplined Polish levies. The 'Pruzzes', as the Germans called them, retreated to simple forts which were easily overrun by the brethren who employed ballistae, huge stone-throwing catapults, and used crossbows to pick off the defenders on the walls. Balke allied with one tribe to defeat another, Prussians who submitted and accepted Christianity being left in possession of their lands and enlisted as auxiliary troops. Systematically he reduced the territory between the Vistula and the Niemen, penetrating up the rivers and consolidating his gains by wooden blockhouses.

  In 1232 the town of Kulm (Chelmno) was founded on the left bank of the Vistula, in 1233 that of Marienwerder. The same year a Northern crusade was launched, the brethren joining forces with Duke Konrad and Duke Swientopelk of Pomerellen, and a great victory was won on the Sirgune where 1,500 Prussians fell. In 1234 the Hochmeister himself came to inspect Kulm and Thorn (Thorun). The year after, the Order of Dobrzyn was united with the Teutonic Order. Elbing was founded in 1237 near the mouth of the Vistula, and brethren could now attack along the Frisches Haff. By 1238 Pomezanien and Pogezanien were completely subdued. A new polity had been created, the Ordensstaat, or Order-State, ruled by the brethren themselves; German colonists, not only noblemen and burghers but peasants too, were brought in and given land. After the disastrous defeat of the Sword Brethren in 123710 the survivors applied for affiliat
ion with the Teutonic Knights, a union ratified by the pope. Hermann Balke left Prussia with sixty knights to become Landmeister of Livonia with a hierarchy of officers similar to the Hochmeister's. A Landmeister of Prussia was also appointed, though Livonian Landmeisters always enjoyed greater independence. Two years later he and Hermann von Salza died, leaving their Order an extraordinary and magnificent destiny. Already it controlled 150 miles of the Baltic coastline from which to launch its conquest of the interior.

  The vocation of the Teutonic Knight in Prussia and Livonia differed from those of his comrades in Palestine, who were in contact with a superior civilization. Prussians were aggressively barbarous and their land of swamps and forests held no sacred associations. Extremely treacherous, the tribesmen were expert at ambushes and their ways with prisoners did not endear them. The Order's chronicles describe the fate of two knights. One was placed in a cleft tree-trunk held apart by ropes which were released, crushing the wretched brother, whereupon the tree was set on fire. The other knight was lashed to his horse, mount and man being hauled to the top of an oak underneath which a great fire was lit. The usual practice was to roast captured brethren alive in their armour, like chestnuts, before the shrine of a local god.

  Suddenly in 1237 the principalities of Kievan Russia were overwhelmed by a Mongol horde under the grandson of the late Genghis Khan, Batu the Splendid, who burnt Kiev itself to the ground in 1240, massacring every living soul. He then galloped west. A division commanded by Baibars Khan destroyed the Polish army of Boleslav the Chaste in March 1241. On 9 April Baibars met the troops of Duke Henry of Silesia at Liegnitz: 30,000 Poles and Bavarians with a force of Templars and Hospitallers and a strong detachment of Teutonic Knights under the Prussian Landmeister, Poppo von Osterna. The Christians were misled by the dense formations of the Mongols and underestimated their strength. The Mongols seem to have taken Duke Henry by surprise. The Christians broke before the whirlwind onslaught of the Nine Yak Tails, and were annihilated, the brethren dying almost to a man, though Poppo managed to escape. The duke's head was impaled on a lance, while nine sacks of severed ears were taken to Batu. The fugitives believed that they had been defeated by witchcraft; the Yak banner was a demon 'with a devil face and a long grey beard'. Fortunately Batu returned to Mongolia on hearing of the death of Khan Ogodai. (In Hungary the Arpad royal family was saved by the Hospitallers, who took them to a fortified island off the Dalmatian coast.)

  Encouraged by the disasters of the Slavs, undeterred by Liegnitz and with papal encouragement, the Livonian Landmeister sought to enlarge his territory at the expense of the Russian schismatics. In 1240 brethren crossed the river Narva to take Pskov; their objective was Novgorod, of whose wealth alluring reports had been brought by German merchants. There was little love between the Orthodox Christians of Russ and Catholic Teutons. Novgorod was ruled by Prince Alexander Yaroslavovitch, surnamed Nevsky after his victory on the river Neva in 1240 when he had defeated the Swedes. Alexander chose his ground with care. In April the Knights – outnumbered sixty to one if the Livlandische Reimchronik is to be believed – were manoeuvred onto the ice of Lake Peipus, which could support lightly armed Slavs but not heavy German cavalry. Twenty Knights died with their Landmeister, as did many of the troops who had accompanied them. Eisenstein's film Alexander Nevsky caricatures the scene, but does at least provide some idea of the dread which the brethren inspired among Baits and Slavs; their huge horses, faceless helmets, black-crossed shields and billowing white cloaks gave them a truly nightmarish appearance. The 'Ice Slaughter' put an end to Teutonic hopes of expansion into Russia beyond the Narva.

  Although a Christian, the Duke of Pomerellen, Swientopelk, at first the brethren's enthusiastic ally, had become increasingly restive. Like Andrew of Hungary, he now realized that a dangerous power was emerging as his neighbour. Too many Germans had settled in Pomerellen. The building of Elbing on the lower Vistula and the Order's claim to the Vistula delta alarmed him as much as the Germanization of his erstwhile Prussian enemies. Liegnitz and Lake Peipus gave him his chance to redress the situation. In late 1242 he attacked the brethren without warning, using his fleet of twenty ships to strike at them from the river. At the same time, aided by their untamed kinsmen in the east, the Prussian tribes revolted and relapsed into paganism. In the Kulmerland (Chelmno) alone 40,000 Germans perished. One tribe, the Pomezaniens, stayed loyal, but only Thorun and a few castles held out.

  Livonia was laid waste by Mindaugas and his savage Lithuanians. He had united them under his leadership, killing or cowing rival princes and making himself king. He equipped his mounted warriors with chain mail and swords captured from Germans or Slavs and with short throwing spears; they employed Mongol-style tactics but, instead of shooting arrows, hurled their javelins at short range. His infantry were armed with pikes, axes and crossbows. He put his entire domain on a military footing, every able-bodied male being recruited to raid and lay waste in carefully planned campaigns. He increased his territory steadily at the expense of the Slavs, who submitted to his rule or else paid tribute. The dynasty he founded would continue his formidable organization and his aggressive policies.

  However, the Teutonic Order now had commanderies all over Germany with the manpower to cope with the situation. A hundred commanderies from the German bailiwicks attended the chapter-general of 1250. Nevertheless, it took a full-scale crusade to rescue their beleaguered brethren in Prussia. In 1254 an army of 60,000 Germans and Czechs marched to their aid, led by Rudolf of Habsburg and Ottokar II of Bohemia. The most thickly populated region of Prussia, the Samland peninsula north of the Pregel estuary, was overrun and the Sambians, the foremost Prussian tribe, were conquered. Königsberg was founded, named after King Ottokar. Hochmeister Poppo von Osterna finally restored order and by 1260 had overcome all the western tribes as well.11

  In Livonia the Lithuanians were beaten off, while two capable Landmeisters, Gruningen and Struckland, tamed the Kurs – Memel being built to stop arms from reaching the Kurs. Mindaugas made peace, seemingly converted to Christianity; with the pope's blessing he was crowned King of Lithuania. The brethren's aim was now to join Livonia to Prussia by conquering the Lithuanian seaboard. However, in 1260 Livonia was raided by tribesmen whom Mindaugas declined to control. Through the Kurs' treachery Landmeister von Hornhausen was ambushed at Durbe, perishing with 150 Knights who included the Marshal of Prussia. Mindaugas threw off Christianity and attacked, joined by Russians who seized Dorpat. The Kurs and Estonians rose in revolt. In 1263 Mindaugas's nephew Treniota crushed the Livonian brethren outside Riga and swept on into Prussia. But by some providence Mindaugas, Treniota and Alexander Nevsky all died later that year. By 1267 the Kurs had at last been brought to heel.

  Even so, Durbe had precipitated a Prussian rebellion which went on for thirteen years, the 'great apostasy' as brethren termed it. The tribes united under Herkus Monte and Glappon, two able leaders who had lived in Germany and who understood the Knights' tactics, the possibilities of wooded terrain and how to besiege castles. They acquired crossbows and stone-throwing catapults, then they cut the waterways. Almost every commandery fell, even Marienwerder; Königsberg had to be rescued by the Livonian Landmeister. To survive, brethren acted on the axiom 'who fights the Order fights Jesus Christ'. Double apostates who worshipped snakes could not hope for any mercy.12 Tribes disappeared without trace, their villages obliterated, Prussian 'capitanes' (leaders) being kidnapped or hunted down. Brethren copied Prussian tactics, sending raiding parties deep into the forest, guided by friendly tribesmen.13 No quarter was given. By 1273 the Prussian Landmeister Konrad von Thierberg, having broken his rebellious subjects for good, went on to conquer hitherto untamed tribes. Their last leader, Skurdo, laid waste his own lands and took his people to Lithuania. By the end of 1283 only 170,000 Prussians remained in Prussia.14

  No doubt the Knights found justification in the Old Testament. 'So Joshua smote all the country of the hills and of the south and of the vale, and of the springs, an
d all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed as the Lord God commanded. And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-Barnea even unto Gaza and all the country of Goshon even unto Gibeon. And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.' Many Landmeisters must have seen themselves as Joshuas.

  These early Teutonic Knights were famous for a meticulous observance of the Order's rule.15 Self-renunciation was absolute, the only possessions allowed being a sword,16 a habit and a right to bread and water; no brother was allowed to use his family coat of arms – the black cross was the sole blazonry permitted, though Livonian banners bore the Virgin.17 Fur coats, indispensable in Baltic winters, had to be of goat or sheep skin. Beards were compulsory. Brethren slept by their swords, fully clothed, rising in the night to say Office. No meat was eaten in Lent or Advent, when the diet was restricted to porridge with an occasional egg. The Bible was read at all meals. Self-flagellation took place every Friday; to curb the flesh still further, a mail shirt was sometimes worn next to the skin. On campaign the Knights heard Mass daily, before dawn in the Marshal's tent, where the Office was recited at the prescribed hours. Silence was kept on the march as in the cloister. On the battlefield the Marshal enforced discipline with a club. It was scarcely surprising that this strict observance began to relax during the later thirteenth century.