Teutonic Knight - Prussia 1239

The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was founded in Holy Land during the XII century with the mission of helping pilgrims visiting Outremer and establishing hospitals.

Since the beginning, the orders interests and expansion plans were more aimed at Northeastern Europe than to Holy Land. One of the earliest and more famous Grandmasters, Hermann von Salza launched a crusade against the Prussians already in 1230. Since then, their involvement in the Baltic area grew continuously.

In the early XV century, the order started to see a decline as a power in the area. With the Christianization of Lithuania, its main purpose in Europe disappeared, and also, in 1410, its defeat in the Battle of Tannenberg at the hands of a Polish and Lithuanian army was a severe blow to its aspirations. In spite of it, as they had grown as a feudal and commercial power, they still kept a mighty presence until the next century.

Our figure depicts a Teutonic Knight of the era of the Prussian Crusade, with the heraldry of the Grandmaster Conrad of Thuringia. Obviously, the figure can be painted to suit any other militant order or knight scheme from the same period. It includes an optional great helm that can be placed as an alternative head or as a decoration in the base.