Teutonic Order

Teutonic Order

The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem (official names: Latin: Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum, German: Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus der Heiligen Maria in Jerusalem), commonly the Teutonic Order (Deutscher Orden, Deutschherrenorden or Deutschritterorden), is a Catholic religious order founded as a military order in the 12th century (c. 1190) in Acre. Purely religious since 1929, it still confers limited honorary knighthoods.

The order was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals during the Third Crusade. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having a small voluntary and mercenary military membership, serving as a crusading military order for protection of Christians in the Holy Land and the Baltics during the Middle Ages.