Who were the teutonic knights?

The Teutonic Knights is the name of an organization of German crusaders founded in 1190. The Teutonic Knights modelled their organization on two earlier crusading orders, the Knights Templars and the Knights Hospitallers. The crusades were part of a Christian movement to recapture the Holy Land from the Moslems, in which kings, nobles and thousand of knights, peasants and townspeople took part. The crusades were originally called armed pilgrimages, the word 'crusade' coming from the Latin word crux, meaning cross. In the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights shifted their activities to central Europe, where they tried to convert and control the people of what became Prussia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Their power and influence spread throughout central and eastern Europe. In the 14th century, the Teutonic Knights lost much of their power, and were finally overthrown by the Poles and Lithuanians.

resources: Tell me (Chancellor Press)
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