Barbarossa's Army of Crusaders did not come home again, any more than
Barbarossa. They were stronger than Turk or Saracen, but not than Hunger
and Disease; Leaders did not know then, as our little Friend at Berlin
came to know, that "an Army, like a serpent, goes upon its belly." After
fine fighting and considerable victories, the end of this Crusade was,
it took to "besieging Acre," and in reality lay perishing as of murrain
on the beach at Acre, without shelter, without medicine, without food.
Not even Richard Coeur-de-Lion, and his best prowess and help, could
avert such issue from it.
Richard's Crusade fell in with the fag-end of Barbarossa's; and it
was Richard chiefly that managed to take Acre;--at least so Richard
flattered himself, when he pulled poor Leopold of Austria's standard
from the towers, and trailed it through the gutters: "Your standard? YOU
have taken Acre?" Which turned out ill for Richard afterwards. And
Duke Leopold has a bad name among us in consequence; much worse than he
deserves. Leopold had stuff in him too. He died, for example, in this
manner: falling with his horse, I think in some siege or other, he
had got his leg hurt; which hindered him in fighting. Leg could not be
cured: "Cut it off, then!" said Leopold. This also the leech could not
do; durst not, and would not; so that Leopold was come quite to a halt.
Leopold ordered out two squires; put his thigh upon a block the sharp
edge of an axe at the right point across his thigh: "Squire first, hold
you that axe; steady! Squire second, smite you on it with forge-hammer,
with all your strength, heavy enough!" Squire second struck, heavy
enough, and the leg flew off; but Leopold took inflammation, died in a
day or two, as the leech had predicted. That is a fact to be found in
current authors (quite exact or not quite), that surgical operation:
[Mentzel, _Geschichte der Deutschen_ (Stuttgard and Tubingen, 1837), p.
309.] such a man cannot have his flag trailed through the gutters by
any Coeur-de-Lion.--But we return to the beach at Acre, and the poor
Crusaders, dying as of murrain there. It is the year 1190, Acre not yet
taken, nor these quarrels got to a height.
"The very Templars, Hospitallers, neglect us," murmured the dying
Germans; "they have perhaps enough to do, and more than enough, with
their own countrymen, whose speech is intelligible to them? For us, it
would appear, there is no help!" Not altogether none. A company of pious
souls--compassionate Lubeck ship-captains diligently forwarding it, and
one Walpot von Bassenheim, a citizen of Bremen, taking the lead--formed
themselves into a union for succor of the sick and dying; "set up canvas
tents," medicinal assuagements, from the Lubeck ship-stores; and did
what utmost was in them, silently in the name of Mercy and Heaven. "This
Walpot as not by birth a nobleman," says one of the old Chroniclers,
"but his deeds were noble." This pious little union proved unconsciously
the beginning of a great thing. Finding its work prosper here, and gain
favor, the little union took vows on itself, strict chivalry forms, and
decided to become permanent. "Knights Hospitallers of our dear Lady of
Mount Zion," that or something equivalent was their first title, under
Walpot their first Grand-Master; which soon grew to be "German Order
of St. Mary" (TEUTSCHE RITTER of the MARIE-ORDEN), or for shortness
TEUTSCHES RITTERTHUM; under which name it played a great part in the
world for above three centuries to come, and eclipsed in importance both
the Templars and Hospitallers of St. John.
This was the era of Chivalry Orders, and GELUBDE; time for Bodies of Men
uniting themselves by a Sacred Vow, "GELUBDE"--which word and thing have
passed over to us in a singularly dwindled condition: "CLUB" we now
call it; and the vow, if sacred, does not aim very high! Templars and
Hospitallers were already famous bodies; the latter now almost a
century old. Walpot's new GELUBDE was of similar intent, only German in
kind,--the protection, defence and solacement of Pilgrims, with whatever
that might involve.
HEAD OF TEUTSCH ORDER MOVES TO VENICE.
The Teutsch Ritters earned character in Palestine, and began to get
bequests and recognition; but did not long continue there, like their
two rival Orders. It was not in Palestine, whether the Orders might
be aware of it or not, that their work could now lie. Pious Pilgrims
certainly there still are in great numbers; to these you shall do the
sacred rites: but these, under a Saladin bound by his word, need little
protection by the sword. And as for Crusading in the armed fashion, that
has fallen visibly into the decline. After Barbarossa, Coeur-de-Lion and
Philippe Auguste have tried it with such failure, what wise man will be
in haste to try it again? Zealous Popes continue to stir up Crusades;
but the Secular Powers are not in earnest as formerly; Secular Powers,
when they do go, "take Constantinople," "conquer Sicily," never take
or conquer anything in Palestine. The Teutsch Order helps valiantly in
Palestine, or would help; but what is the use of helping? The Teutsch
Order has already possessions in Europe, by pious bequest and otherwise;
all its main interests lie there; in fine, after less than thirty years,
Hermann von der Salza, a new sagacious TEUTSCHMEISTER or HOCHMEISTER (so
they call the head of the Order), fourth in the series, a far-seeing,
negotiating man, finds that Venice will be a fitter place of lodging
for him than Acre: and accordingly during his long Mastership (A.D.
1210-1239), he is mostly to be found there, and not at Acre or
Jerusalem.
He is very great with the busy Kaiser, Friedrich II., Barbarossa's
grandson; who has the usual quarrels with the Pope, and is glad of such
a negotiator, statesman as well as armed monk. The usual quarrels this
great Kaiser had, all along, and some unusual. Normans ousted from
Sicily, who used to be so Papal: a Kaiser NOT gone on the Crusade, as
he had vowed; Kaiser at last suspected of freethinking even:--in which
matters Hermann much serves the Kaiser. Sometimes he is appointed
arbiter between the Pope and Kaiser;--does not give it in the Kaiser's
favor, but against him, where he thinks the Kaiser is wrong. He is
reckoned the first great Hochmeister, this Hermann von der Salza, a
Thuringer by birth, who is fourth in the series of Masters: perhaps the
greatest to be found there at all, though many were considerable. It is
evident that no man of his time was busier in important public affairs,
or with better acceptance, than Hermann. His Order, both Pope and
Emperor so favoring the Master of it, was in a vigorous state of growth
all this while; Hermann well proving that he could help it better at
Venice than at Acre.
But if the Crusades are ended,--as indeed it turned out, only one other
worth speaking of, St. Louis's, having in earnest come to effect, or
rather to miserable non-effect, and that not yet for fifty years;--if
the Crusades are ended, and the Teutsch Order increases always in
possessions, and finds less and less work, what probably will become of
the Teutsch Order? Grow fat, become luxurious, incredulous, dissolute,
insolent; and need to be burnt out of the way? That was the course of
the Templars, and their sad end. They began poorest of the poor, "two
Knights to one Horse," as their Seal bore; and they at last took FIRE on
very opposite accounts. "To carouse like a Templar:" that had become a
proverb among men; that was the way to produce combustion, "spontaneous"
or other! Whereas their fellow Hospitallers of St. John, chancing upon
new work (Anti-Turk garrison-duty, so we may call it, successively in
Cyprus, Rhodes, Malta, for a series of ages), and doing it well, managed
to escape the like. As did the Teutsch Order in a still more conspicuous
manner.
TEUTSCH ORDER ITSELF GOES TO PREUSSEN.
Ever since St. Adalbert fell massacred in Prussia, stamping himself as
a Crucifix on that Heathen soil, there have been attempts at conversion
going on by the Christian neighbors, Dukes of Poland and others:
intermittent fits of fighting and preaching for the last two hundred
years, with extremely small result. Body of St. Adalbert was got at
light weight, and the poor man canonized; there is even a Titular Bishop
of Prussia; and pilgrimages wander to the Shrine of Adalbert in Poland,
reminding you of Prussia in a tragic manner; but what avails it?
Missionaries, when they set foot in the country, are killed or flung
out again. The Bishop of Prussia is titular merely; lives in Liefland
(LIVONIA) properly Bishop of RIGA, among the Bremen trading-settlers and
converted Lieflanders there, which is the only safe place,--if even that
were safe without aid of armed men, such as he has there even now.
He keeps his SCHWERTBRUDER (Brothers of the Sword), a small Order of
Knights, recently got up by him, for express behoof of Liefland itself;
and these, fighting their best, are sometimes troublesome to the
Bishop, and do not much prosper upon Heathendom, or gain popularity
and resources in the Christian world. No hope in the SCHWERTBRUDER
for Prussia;--and in massacred Missionaries what hope? The Prussian
population continues Heathen, untamable to Gospel and Law; and after two
centuries of effort, little or no real progress has been made.
But now, in these circumstances, in the year 1226, the Titular Bishop
of Prussia, having well considered the matter and arranged it with the
Polish Authorities, opens a communication with Hermann von der Salza,
at Venice, on the subject; "Crusading is over in the East, illustrious
Hochmeister; no duty for a Teutsch Order there at present: what is the
use of crusading far off in the East, when Heathenism and the Kingdom
of Satan hangs on our own borders, close at hand, in the North? Let
the Teutsch Order come to Preussen; head a Crusade there. The land is
fruitful; flows really with milk and honey, not to speak of amber, and
was once called the TERRESTRIAL PARADISE"--by I forget whom. [Voigt, (if
he had an Index!) knows.] In fact, it is clear, the land should belong
to Christ; and if the Christian Teutsch Ritterdom could conquer it from
Satanas for themselves, it would be well for all parties. Hermann, a man
of sagacious clear head, listens attentively. The notion is perhaps not
quite new to him: at all events, he takes up the notion; negotiates
upon it, with Titular Bishop, with Pope, Kaiser, Duke of Poland, Teutsch
Order; and in brief, about two years afterwards (A.D. 1228), having
done the negotiatings to the last item, he produces his actual Teutsch
Ritters, ready, on Prussian ground.
Year 1225, thinks Dryasdust, after a struggle. Place where, proves
also at length discoverable in Dryasdust,--not too far across the north
Polish frontier, always with "Masovia" (the now Warsaw region) to fall
back upon. But in what number; how; nay almost when, to a year,--do not
ask poor Dryasdust, who overwhelms himself with idle details, and by
reason of the trees is unable to see the wood. [Voigt, ii. 177, 184,
192.]--The Teutsch Ritters straightway build a Burg for headquarters,
spread themselves on this hand and that; and begin their great task.
In the name of Heaven, we may still say in a true sense; as they, every
Ritter of them to the heart, felt it to be in all manner of senses.
The Prussians were a fierce fighting people, fanatically Anti-Christian:
the Teutsch Ritters had a perilous never-resting time of it, especially
for the first fifty years. They built and burnt innumerable stockades
for and against; built wooden Forts which are now stone Towns. They
fought much and prevalently; galloped desperately to and fro, ever on
the alert. In peaceabler ulterior times, they fenced in the Nogat and
the Weichsel with dams, whereby unlimited quagmire might become grassy
meadow,--as it continues to this day. Marienburg (MARY'S Burg), still
a town of importance in that same grassy region, with its grand stone
Schloss still visible and even habitable; this was at length their
Headquarter. But how many Burgs of wood and stone they built, in
different parts; what revolts, surprisals, furious fights in woody boggy
places, they had, no man has counted. Their life, read in Dryasdust's
newest chaotic Books (which are of endless length, among other ill
qualities), is like a dim nightmare of unintelligible marching and
fighting: one feels as if the mere amount of galloping they had would
have carried the Order several times round the Globe. What multiple
of the Equator was it, then, O Dryasdust? The Herr Professor, little
studious of abridgment, does not say.
But always some preaching, by zealous monks, accompanied the chivalrous
fighting. And colonists came in from Germany; trickling in, or at times
streaming. Victorious Ritterdom offers terms to the beaten Heathen;
terms not of tolerant nature, but which will be punctually kept by
Ritterdom. When the flame of revolt or general conspiracy burnt up
again too extensively, there was a new Crusade proclaimed in Germany and
Christendom; and the Hochmeister, at Marburg or elsewhere, and all
his marshals and ministers were busy,--generally with effect. High
personages came on crusade to them. Ottocar King of Bohemia, Duke of
Austria and much else, the great man of his day, came once (A.D. 1255);
Johann King of Bohemia, in the next century, once and again. The mighty
Ottocar, [Voigt, iii. 80-87.] with his extensive far-shining chivalry,
"conquered Samland in a month;" tore up the Romova where Adalbert had
been massacred, and burnt it from the face of the Earth. A certain
Fortress was founded at that time, in Ottocar's presence; and in honor
of him they named it KING'S FORTRESS, "Konigsberg:" it is now grown a
big-domed metropolitan City,--where we of this Narrative lately saw a
Coronation going on, and Sophie Charlotte furtively taking a pinch of
snuff. Among King Ottocar's esquires or subaltern junior officials on
this occasion, is one RUDOLF, heir of a poor Swiss Lordship and gray
Hill-Castle, called HAPSBURG, rather in reduced circumstances, whom
Ottocar likes for his prudent hardy ways; a stout, modest, wise young
man,--who may chance to redeem Hapsburg a little, if he live? How the
shuttles fly, and the life-threads, always, in this "loud-roaring Loom
of Time!"--
Along with Ottocar too, as an ally in the Crusade, was Otto III.
Ascanier Markgraf and Elector of Brandenburg, great-grandson of Albert
the Bear;--name Otto THE PIOUS in consequence. He too founded a Town
in Prussia, on this occasion, and called it BRANDENBURG; which is still
extant there, a small Brandenburg the Second; for these procedures he
is called Otto THE PIOUS in History. His Wife, withal, was a sister of
Ottocar's; [Michaelis, i. 270; Hubner, t. 174.]--which, except in the
way of domestic felicity, did not in the end amount to much for him;
this Ottocar having flown too high, and melted his wings at the sun, in
a sad way, as we shall see elsewhere.
None of the Orders rose so high as the Teutonic in favor with mankind.
It had by degrees landed possessions far and wide over Germany and
beyond: I know not how many dozens of BALLEYS (rich Bailliwicks, each
again with its dozens of COMTHUREIS, Commanderies, or subordinate groups
of estates), and Baillies and Commanders to match;--and was thought to
deserve favor from above. Valiant servants, these; to whom Heaven had
vouchsafed great labors and unspeakable blessings. In some fifty or
fifty-three years they had got Prussian Heathenism brought to the
ground; and they endeavored to tie it well down there by bargain and
arrangement. But it would not yet lie quiet, nor for a century to come;
being still secretly Heathen; revolting, conspiring ever again, ever
on weaker terms, till the Satanic element had burnt itself out, and
conversion and composure could ensue.
Conversion and complete conquest once come, there was a happy time for
Prussia: ploughshare instead of sword; busy sea-havens, German towns,
getting built; churches everywhere rising; grass growing, and peaceable
cows, where formerly had been quagmire and snakes. And for the Order
a happy time? A rich, not a happy. The Order was victorious; Livonian
"Sword-Brothers," "Knights of Dobryn," minor Orders and Authorities
all round, were long since subordinated to it or incorporated with it;
Livonia, Courland, Lithuania, are all got tamed under its influence,
or tied down and evidently tamable. But it was in these times that
the Order got into its wider troubles outward and inward; quarrels,
jealousies, with Christian neighbors, Poland, Pommern, who did not love
it and for cause;--wider troubles, and by no means so evidently useful
to mankind. The Order's wages, in this world, flowed higher than
ever, only perhaps its work was beginning to run low! But we will not
anticipate.
On the whole, this Teutsch Ritterdom, for the first century and more,
was a grand phenomenon; and flamed like a bright blessed beacon through
the night of things, in those Northern Countries. For above a century,
we perceive, it was the rallying place of all brave men who had a career
to seek on terms other than vulgar. The noble soul, aiming beyond money,
and sensible to more than hunger in this world, had a beacon burning (as
we say), if the night chanced to overtake it, and the earth to grow too
intricate, as is not uncommon. Better than the career of stump-oratory,
I should fancy, and ITS Hesperides Apples, golden and of gilt
horse-dung. Better than puddling away one's poor spiritual gift of God
(LOAN, not gift), such as it may be, in building the lofty rhyme, the
lofty Review-Article, for a discerning public that has sixpence to
spare! Times alter greatly.--Will the reader take a glimpse of Conrad
von Thuringen's biography, as a sample of the old ways of proceeding?
Conrad succeeded Hermann von der Salza as Grand-Master, and his history
is memorable as a Teutonic Knight.
THE STUFF TEUTSCH RITTERS WERE MADE OF. CONRAD OF THURINGEN: SAINT
ELIZABETH; TOWN OF MARBURG.
Conrad, younger brother of the Landgraf of Thuringen,--which Prince
lived chiefly in the Wartburg, romantic old Hill-Castle, now a
Weimar-Eisenach property and show-place, then an abode of very earnest
people,--was probably a child-in-arms, in that same Wartburg, while
Richard Coeur-de-Lion was getting home from Palestine and into troubles
by the road: this will date Conrad for us. His worthy elder brother was
Husband of the lady since called SAINT Elizabeth, a very pious but also
very fanciful young woman;--and I always guess his going on the Crusade,
where he died straightway, was partly the fruit of the life she led him;
lodging beggars, sometimes in his very bed, continually breaking his
night's rest for prayer, and devotional exercise of undue length;
"weeping one moment, then smiling in joy the next;" meandering about,
capricious, melodious, weak, at the will of devout whim mainly! However,
that does not concern us. [Many LIVES of the Saint. See, in particular,
_Libellus de Dictis Quatuor Ancillarum,_ &c.--(that is, Report of
the evidence got from Elizabeth's Four Maids, by an Official Person,
Devil's-Advocate or whatever he was, missioned by the Pope to question
them, when her Canonization came to be talked of. A curious piece):--in
Meuckenii _Scriptores Rexum Germanicarum_ (Lipsia, 1728-1730), ii.
dd.; where also are other details.] Sure enough her poor Landgraf went
crusading, Year 1227 (Kaiser Friedrich II.'s Crusade, who could not put
it off longer); poor Landgraf fell ill by the road, at Brindisi, and
died,--not to be driven farther by any cause.
Conrad, left guardian to his deceased Brother's children, had at first
much quarrel with Saint Elizabeth, though he afterwards took far other
thoughts. Meanwhile he had his own apanage, "Landgraf" by rank he too;
and had troubles enough with that of itself. For instance: once the
Archbishop of an Mainz, being in debt, laid a heavy tax on all Abbeys
under him; on Reichartsbronn, an Abbey of Conrad's, among others. "Don't
pay it!" said Conrad to the Abbot. Abbot refused accordingly; but was
put under ban by the Pope;--obliged to comply, and even to be "whipt
thrice" before the money could be accepted. Two whippings at Erfurt,
from the Archbishop, there had been; and a third was just going on
there, one morning, when Conrad, travelling that way, accidentally stept
in to matins. Conrad flames into a blazing whirlwind at the phenomenon
disclosed. "Whip my Abbot? And he IS to pay, then,--Archbishop of
Beelzebub?"--and took the poor Archbishop by the rochets, and spun him
hither and thither; nay was for cutting him in two, had hot friends
hysterically busied themselves, and got the sword detained in its
scabbard and the Archbishop away. Here is a fine coil like to be, for
Conrad.
Another soon follows; from a quarrel he had with Fritzlar, Imperial
Free-Town in those parts, perhaps a little stiff upon its privileges,
and high towards a Landgraf. Conrad marches, one morning (Year 1232)
upon insolent Fritzlar; burns the environs; but on looking practically
at the ramparts of the place, thinks they are too high, and turns to
go home again. Whereupon the idle women of Fritzlar, who are upon the
ramparts gazing in fear and hope, burst into shrill universal jubilation
of voice,--and even into gestures, and liberties with their dress, which
are not describable in History! Conrad, suddenly once more all flame,
whirls round; storms the ramparts, slays what he meets, plunders
Fritzlar with a will, and leaves it blazing in a general fire, which had
broken out in the business. Here is a pair of coils for Conrad; the like
of which can issue only in Papal ban or worse.
Conrad is grim and obstinate under these aspects; but secretly feels
himself very wicked; knows not well what will come of it. Sauntering one
day in his outer courts, he notices a certain female beggar; necessitous
female of loose life, who tremulously solicits charity of him.
Necessitous female gets some fraction of coin, but along with it
bullying rebuke in very liberal measure; and goes away weeping bitterly,
and murmuring about "want that drove me to those courses." Conrad
retires into himself: "What is her real sin, perhaps, to mine?" Conrad
"lies awake all that night;" mopes about, in intricate darkness, days
and nights; rises one morning an altered man. He makes "pilgrimage to
Gladbach," barefoot; kneels down at the church-door of Fritzlar with
bare back, and a bundle of rods beside him. "Whip me, good injured
Christians for the love of Jesus!"--in brief, reconciles himself to
Christian mankind, the Pope included; takes the Teutsch-Ritter vows
upon him; [A.D. 1234 (Voigt, ii. 375-423).] and hastens off to
Preussen, there to spend himself, life and life's resources thenceforth,
faithfully, till he die. The one course left for Conrad. Which he
follows with a great strong step,--with a thought still audible to
me. It was of such stuff that Teutsch Ritters were then made; Ritters
evidently capable of something.
Saint Elizabeth, who went to live at Marburg, in Hessen-Cassel, after
her Husband's death, and soon died there, in a most melodiously pious
sort, [A.D. 1231, age 24.] made the Teutsch Order guardian of her Son.
It was from her and the Grand-Mastership of Conrad that Marburg became
such a metropolis of the Order; the Grand-Masters often residing there,
many of them coveting burial there, and much business bearing date of
the place. A place still notable to the ingenuous Tourist, who knows his
whereabout. Philip the Magnanimous, Luther's friend, memorable to some
as Philip with the Two Wives, lived there, in that old Castle,--which
is now a kind of Correction-House and Garrison, idle blue uniforms
strolling about, and unlovely physiognomies with a jingle of iron at
their ankles,--where Luther has debated with the Zwinglian Sacramenters
and others, and much has happened in its time. Saint Elizabeth and her
miracles (considerable, surely, of their kind) were the first origin of
Marburg as a Town: a mere Castle, with adjoining Hamlet, before that.
Strange gray old silent Town, rich in so many memories; it stands there,
straggling up its rocky hill-edge, towards its old Castles and edifices
on the top, in a not unpicturesque manner; flanked by the river Lahn and
its fertile plains: very silent, except for the delirious screech,
at rare intervals, of a railway train passing that way from
Frankfurt-on-Mayn to Cassel. "Church of St. Elizabeth,"--high, grand
Church, built by Conrad our Hochmeister, in reverence of his once
terrestrial Sister-in-law,--stands conspicuous in the plain below, where
the Town is just ending. St. Elizabeth's Shrine was once there, and
pilgrims wending to it from all lands. Conrad himself is buried there,
as are many Hochmeisters; their names, and shields of arms, Hermann's
foremost, though Hermann's dust is not there, are carved, carefully kept
legible, on the shafts of the Gothic arches,--from floor to groin, long
rows of them;--and produce, with the other tombs, tomb-paintings by
Durer and the like, thoughts impressive almost to pain. St. Elizabeth's
LOCULUS was put into its shrine here, by Kaiser Friedrich II. and all
manner of princes and grandees of the Empire, "one million two hundred
thousand people looking on," say the old records, perhaps not quite
exact in their arithmetic. Philip the Magnanimous, wishing to stop
"pilgrimages no-whither," buried the LOCULUS away, it was never known
where; under the floor of that Church somewhere, as is likeliest. Enough
now of Marburg, and of its Teutsch Ritters too.
They had one or two memorable Hochmeisters and Teutschmeisters; whom
we have not named here, nor shall. [In our excellent Kohler's
_Muntzbelustigungen_ (Nurnberg, 1729 et seqq. ii. 382; v. 102; viii.
380; &c.) are valuable glimpses into the Teutonic Order,--as into
hundreds of other things. The special Book upon it is Voigt's, often
cited here: Nine heavy Volumes; grounded on faithful reading, but with
a fatal defect of almost every other quality.] There is one Hochmeister,
somewhere about the fiftieth on the list, and properly the last real
Hochmeister, Albert of Hohenzollern-Culmbach by name, who will be very
memorable to us by and by.
Or will the reader care to know how Culmbach came into the possession
of the Hohenzollerns, Burggraves of Nurnberg? The story may be
illustrative, and will not occupy us long.