Medieval Teutonic Knights 4 part 18 August 2011

In 1525 Albert met the King of Poland at Cracow, and formally resigned

his office as grand master of the Teutonic order, making over his dominions to

the King, and receiving from him in return the title of hereditary Duke of

Prussia.  Shortly afterward he followed Luther's advice, and married the

princess Dorothea of Denmark.  Many of the knights followed his example.  The

annals and archives of the order were transferred to the custody of the King

of Poland, and were lost or destroyed during the troubles that subsequently

came upon that kingdom.

     A considerable number of the knights refused to change their religion and

abandon their order, and in 1527 assembled in chapter at Mergentheim to

consult as to their plans for the future.  They elected Walter de Cronberg

grand master, whose appointment was ratified by the Emperor, Charles V.  In

the religious wars that followed, the knights fought on the side of the

Emperor, against the Protestants.  In 1595 the commandery of Venice was sold

to the Patriarch and was converted into a diocesan seminary; and in 1637 the

commandery of Utrecht was lost to the order.  In 1631 Mergentheim was taken by

the Swedes under General Horn.

     In the war against the Turks during this period some of the knights, true

to the ancient principles of their order, took part on the Christian side,

both in Hungary and in the Mediterranean.  In the wars of Louis XIV, the order

lost many of its remaining commanderies, and by an edict of the King, in 1672,

the separate existence of the order was abolished in his dominions, and its

possessions were conferred on the Order of St. Lazarus.

     When Prussia was erected into a kingdom, in 1701, the order issued a

solemn protest against the act, asserting its ancient rights over that

country.  The order maintained its existence in an enfeebled condition till

1809, when it was formally abolished by Napoleon.  In 1840 Austria instituted

an honorary order called by the same name, and in 1852 Prussia revived it

under the designation of the Order of St. John.