A major new history of this military order * Details the lives, deeds and
actions of medieval German crusaders * Covers 500 years of European history
‘Urban brings an epic quality to the lives of the German crusaders, the hard men
of Europe, whose military campaigns could rival those of the Templars.’ – Oxford
Times The Teutonic knights were powerful and ferocious advocates of holy war.
Their history is suffused with crusading, campaigning and struggle. Feared by
their enemies but respected by medieval Christendom, the knights and their Order
maintained a firm hold over the Baltic and northern Germany and established a
formidable regime which flourished across central Europe for 300 years. This
book surveys the gripping history of the knights and relates their rise to
power; their struggles against Prussian pagans; the series of wars against
Poland and Lithuania; the clash with Alexander Nevsky's Russia; and the gradual
stagnation of the Order in the fourteenth Century. The book is replete with
dramatic episodes – such as the battle on frozen Lake Peipus in 1242, or the
disaster of Tannenberg – but focuses primarily on the year-after-year struggle
to maintain power, fend off incursions and raiding bands, and to launch crusades
against unbelieving foes. And it was the crusade, with knights demonstrating
their valour, which chiefly characterised and breathed life into this militant,
conquering Holy Order. The narrative charts the rise and fall of the Order, and,
in an accessible and engaging style, throws light on a band of knights whose
deeds and motives have long been misunderstood.
