Competition between the Military–Religious Orders in Central Europe, c. 1140–c. 1270

Abstract

The three great military-religious orders were founded more or less for the same purpose, to support fighting in the Holy Land; and they attracted men and money from the same social groups, the milites or, in the empire north of the Alps, the ministeriales, whose profession was fighting on horseback and whose aim was to save their souls by fighting for a good Christian cause. These similarities sparked off competition between the Templars, the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights, although the three orders were expected to co-operate and were severely criticized for their selfishness and greed when, by the end of the thirteenth century, the crusader conquests in the Holy Land were lost. In central Europe, the competition began during the 1140s, in the context of the Second Crusade, and gradually lost its bitterness after the 1270s, when crusading to the Holy Land ceased to be an immediate issue. The purpose of this paper is to look at this competition in central Europe, where, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, all three orders strove for donations and established commanderies that were supposed to help finance fighting against the infidels. As a first step, the scarcity of our sources has to be emphasized. Then two instances of rivalry will be explained, at Marburg and at Mergentheim. Thirdly, we will look at places where two or even all three military-religious orders acquired possessions side by side. And finally I will try, albeit tentatively, a general conclusion.