Intercultural Communication: The Teutonic Knights In Palestine, Armenia, And Cyprus

Abstract

In the small communities of the Teutonic Order in the Mediterranean, German was used for internal communication. We also learn that in 1419 the Teutonic knights in Venice did not know Italian. If there were difficulties in communication in Italy, the situation must have been even more difficult in Greek, Armenian, or Arab contexts, where the Teutonic knights were also present: in Palestine, in the Kingdom of Armenia, in Cyprus, and in the Peloponnesus. From the point of view of intercultural communication, a document drawn up on 23 April 1280 by John, a clergyman from Acre, assisius of the church of the Holy Cross in Acre and public notary sacrosancte Romane Ecclesie, is of particular interest. The Kingdoms of Cyprus and Armenia were vassal states of the Roman-German Empire, which explains why they expected military assistance from the Teutonic Order. Keywords: Cyprus; Greek; intercultural communication; Italy; Kingdom of Armenia; military assistance; Palestine; Peloponnesus; Roman-German Empire; Teutonic knights