Fuhrmann, Rolf Der Deutschorden

The order of the teutonic knights. From Akkon in the Outremer to the state of the german knights order in the Baltic. In 1190 citizens of the german cities Bremen and Luebeck founded a field-hospital for the pilgrims and crusaders near Akkon in Palestine. They cared for the sick and wounded. The monks called themselves "German Brothers of the church St. Mary of Jerusalem". In 1198 they became the Deutschritterorden or Deutschorden, the order of the teutonic knights. In the Holy Land the germans became the third most mighty knights order, but the templars and the order of St. John had still claimed most of the land for themselves. So the knights and german settlers conquered the land east of the river Oder along the baltic coast to the lake Peipus. In 1410 the knights were beaten at the battle of Tannenberg by polish knights and lost most of their territory.

Content:
Origins and expansion of the Order
Timeline
Order structure and organisation
What kind of men were they
The Order in the Holy Land
Crusade in the Baltic
The Prussians and Lithuanians
The Order's Cross
The Order's Costume
The members of the Order
The Army of the Order
The Horses of the Teutonic Order
The Sword
Other Weapons
The Shield
The Helmet
The Armour
The flags of the Order's army
Towns and crusaders
Mercenaries and Witings
Tactics and fighting methods
The lance or glefe
Horn, whistles, heralds
The siege system
The camp
The troop; field rations
The medical service
The Struthers - Christian buccaneers
The scouts
The couriers
Monetary value, cost of living
The Castle of the Order
The ships of the order
Other Orders of Knighthood in the Baltic; List of Sources

Rolf Fuhrmann
Born 1957 in Gronau/Leine, living in Wilhelmshaven since 1996.
Trained as a nurse, self-taught draughtsman.
Since graduating from high school in 1976, he has worked mainly as a freelance artist and author, specialising in costume, uniform and military history. During the 1970s he worked as a freelancer for the editorial staff of Modell-Fan in the field of figures, in 1999 he started publishing the ROFUR-Flags flag series, since 2004 he has been a freelancer for the magazine Figuren International.