Auf den Spuren des Deutschen Ordens

Following in the footsteps of the Teutonic Order, we hike from Mergentheim Residential Palace to Neuhaus Castle and back via Igersheim.

The origins of the Teutonic Order date back to the Third Crusade. back. At that time, knights founded a field hospital to provide medical care for the Christian army a field hospital. In 1198, the nurses were to the rank of a knightly order during the crusade of Henry VI. raised.

While the activities of the order in the first half of the half of the 13th century mainly concentrated on the Holy Land later pursued an aggressive expansionist policy in the Baltic region. Baltic region. Between 1230 and 1525, the Order was significantly involved in the German colonization of the East and conquered large areas of the present-day states of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

With the German Order state, it even ruled its own state there, independent of the rest of the Holy Roman Empire, from which the secular Duchy of Prussia emerged in 1525. Duchy of Prussia emerged. Until this time, Marienburg Castle near Gdansk had been the headquarters of the Knights of the Order.

From the secularization of the state of the Teutonic Order, the Order's activities of the Order were restricted to the Reich, which is why the headquarters Mergentheim Castle in 1529. As a result, the Order returned to its the order returned to its spiritual and pastoral roots and founded new seminaries and new seminaries and hospitals.

With the dissolution of the the old empire at the beginning of the 19th century, the order lost almost all its territories. Its headquarters were then relocated to Vienna, where it is still located today, with a brief interruption of 25 years. is still located today.