1.2: 1.2 The Northern Crusades and the Teutonic Knights

The “Northern Crusades” were invasions of the various Baltic regions of northeastern Europe (i.e. parts of Denmark, northern Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland). According to Catholic Church officials, the purpose was to convert pagans to Christianity. Leading the charge were the Teutonic Knights, a group closely modeled after the Templars, adopting their “rule” (code of conduct) and spending most of the twelfth-century crusading in the Holy Land.

The Baltic lands were the last major region of Europe to remain pagan. Neither Latin nor Orthodox missionaries had made significant headway in converting the people of the region, outside of the border region between the lands of the Rus and the Baltic Sea. Thus, the Teutonic Knights could make a very plausible case for their Crusades as analogous to the Spanish Reconquest.

The Teutonic Order ultimately outlasted the other crusading orders. The Order was authorized by various popes not only to conquer and convert, but to rule over the peoples of the eastern Baltic. Thus, by the thirteenth century, the Teutonic Knights were in the process of conquering and ruling Prussia, parts of Estonia, and a region of southeastern Finland and present-day Lithuania called Livonia. These kingdoms lasted a remarkably long time. In fact, the Teutonic Order ruled Livonia all the way until 1561, when it was finally ousted. Thus, for several centuries, the map of Europe included the strange spectacle of a theocratic state: one ruled directly by monk-knights, with no king, prince, or lord above them.

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