Chollet, Loic Les Chevaliers Teutoniques de la Terre Sainte à la Baltique

The Teutonic Order, also known as the Teutonic Knights, had its origins in the Crusades to the Holy Land at the end of the 12th century. After establishing itself alongside the clerical knightly orders of the Knights Templar and the Knights of St John, the Teutonic Order made the conquest and missionary work of the last pagans in Europe one of its main tasks

In the course of the Order's conquest and missionary efforts in the Baltic, the knights of the Order established their own Order state. Driven by the crusading spirit and the chivalric ideal, the Order repeatedly invited the European knighthood to so-called "Prussian journeys", which were crusade-like war campaigns into the territory of the heathens. Some of the most important French and English nobles, including various major players in the Hundred Years' War, took part in these "Prussian journeys". The book describes the history of the Teutonic Order from its beginnings as a hospitaller community in the crusader camp outside Acre to the Order's dissolution in the 16th century. It shows the spiritual knightly order as a link between the world of chivalry and the world of the pagan tribes in north-eastern Europe. The author looks at the Order's relationship with its Christian and pagan neighbours in the Baltic region as well as its diverse political, military and economic contacts with the Christian empires of Central and Western Europe.