Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/599

 TEUCHIRA

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TEUTONIC

zel indulgence chests exhibited at JUterbog and other German towns, are counterfeits, according to the Prot- estanl writer Korner (Tptzel's Leben, 73). The lat- est Catholic biographer of Luther, Grisar, writes: " To ascribe to the unhappy monk the 'cause' of the en- tire apostasy that set in since 1517 ... is an un- true legend" ("Luther", Freiburg, 1911, I, 281).

Hechtius, Vita Joannis Tetzelii (Wittenberg, 1717); Vogel, /.' -1 Johann Telzeh (Leipzig, 1717); Grone, Tflzel u. Luther -'ri <'<\., Soest, 1860): HoFMANN, Lebensbeschreibung des Ablass- ■ rs Johann Tetzd (Leipzig, 1844); Korner, Telzel der Ab- i ■ ^" "tiger (Franitenburg, 1880); Janssen-Pastor, Gesch.- dea dt:,t«,hen Volkes. II (Freiburg, 1897), 81-83; Grisar, Luther. I (Freiburg, 191 1), 276-88; Paulus, Johann Tetzelder Ablassprediger (Mainz, 1899) ; the last-named for thoroughness of research and objective character supersedes all that has ever been written on Tetzel, on both the Catholic and Protestant sides.

H. G. Ganss.

Teuchira, a titular see in Libyan Pentapolis. Teu- chira, Tet/xetpo, neuter plural, was a city on the coast of Cyrenaica,200 stadia west of Ptolemais. It was cel- ebrated for its worship of Cybele, in whose honour an- nual festivals were held. During the reign of the Ptolemies it was called Arsinoe; at a later period it be- came a Roman colony, and was garrisoned by Jus- tinian. The ruins are called Tokra (vilayet of Benghasi). Two of its bishops are known, Secundus, at the Council of Nicaea in 325, and Zeno, at that of Ephcsus in 431 (Le Quien, "Oriens christ.", II, 623). The see is mentioned in Parthey (Notitia episco- patuum, I) about 840.

^MiTii, Diet, of Gr. njid Rom. Geogr.t s. v. Teuchira: MOller, notes to Ptolemy, od. DlDOT, I, 666. S, P^TRID^S.

Teutonic Order, a medieval military order mod- elled on the Hospitallers of St. John, which changed its residence as often as the latter. These resi- dences, marking as nianj' stages in its development, are: (1) Aecon (Acre), its cradle in Palestine (1190- 1309); (2) Marienburg, Prussia, the centre of its temporal domination as a military princip,ality (1309- 1525); (3) Mergentheim in Franconia, which inherited its diminished possessions after the loss of Prussia (1.52.5-1805); (4) finally, Vienna in Austria, where the order has gathered the remains of its revenues and survives as a purely hospital order. A Protestant br,anch likewise subsists in Holland.

(1) There was already a Teutonic hospital for pilgrims from Germany in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, with a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, who is still the patroness of the order and after whom the name Mariani is sometimes given to its members. But this establishment, which was under the jurisdiction of the Grand Master of St. John, was broken up at the conquest of Jerusalem by >Saladin (1187). During the Third Crusade German pilgrims from Bremen and Liibeck with the Duke of Hoistein established a temporary hospital under the besieged walls of Acre ; this was a large tent, constructed from the sails of their ships, in which the sick of their country were received (1190). After the cap- ture of Acre this hospital was perin.anpntly established in the city with the co-operation of Frederick of Suabia, le.ider of the German crusade, and at the s.ame time religious knights were attached to it for the defence of pilgrims. The Order of Teutonic Knights was founded and look its place besifle the other two orders of Jerusalem, the Hospit.allers and the Templ.ars. As early a-s 1192 they were endowed by Celestine III with the same privileges as the Order of St. John, whose hospital rule they adopted, and as the Order of the Temple, from which they borrowed their military organization. Innocent III in 1205 gr.anted them the use of the white habit with a black cross. The emperors of the House of Suabia heaped favours upon them. Moreover, they took sides with Fred- erick II even after he had broken with the papacy and in opposition to the other two military orders. During the Fourth Crus.ade, when the gates of Jeru- salem were for the last time opened to Christians,

under the command of this emperor, the Teutonic Knights were able to take pos.session of their first house, St. Mary of the Germans (1229). But it was not for long and before the end of the century they left Palestine, which had again fallen under the yoke of Islam (1291).

(2) A new career was already open to their war- like and religious zeal, in Eastern Europe, against the p.agans of Prussia. This coast of the Baltic, difficult of access, had hitherto resisted the efforts of the missionaries, many of whom had there laid down their lives. To avenge the.se Chris- tians a crusade had been preached; a military order founded with this object, the Sword-bearers (see Military Orders, The), had not been very .successful, when a Polish duke, Conrad of Massovia, de- termined to ask the assistance of the Teutonic Knights, offer- ing them in return the territory of Culm with whatever they could wrest from the infidels. Hermann of Salza, fourth Grand Master of the order, was authorized to make this change by Honorius III and the Em- peror Frederick II, who, more- over, raised him to the rank of prince of the empire (1230). The knight Hermann Balk, appointed Provincial of Prussia, with twenty-eight of his brother knights and a whole army of crusaders from Germany began this struggle which lasted twenty-five years and was fol- lowed by colonization. Owing to the privileges assured to German colonists, new towns arose on all sides and eventually Germanized a country of which the natives belonged to the Letto - Slavic race. Thence- forth the history of this mihtary principality is identified with that of Prussia (q. v.). In 1309 the fifteenth Grand Master, Sigfried of Feuchtwangen, transferred his residence from Venice, where at that time the knights had their chief house, to the Castle of Marienburg, which they made a formidable fortress.

The number of knights never exceeded a thousand, but the whole countn,' was organizerl in a military manner, and with the constant arrival of new crusa- ders the order was able to hold its own among its neighbours, especially the inhabitants of Lithuania, who were of the same race as the natives of Prussia and, like them, pag.ans. In the battle of Rudau (1307) the Lithuanians were driven back, and they were converted only some years later, with their grand duke, Jagellon, who embraced Christianity when he married the heiress of the Kingdom of Poland (1386). With this event, which put .an end to p.aganism in th.at section of Europe, tlic Teutonic Knight.-i lost their raison d'etre. Thenceforth their history consists of incessant conflicts with the kings of Poland. Jagellon inflicted on them the defeat of Tannenberg (1410), which cost them 600 knights and ruined their finances, in order to rei)air which the order w;is obligefl to have recourse to exactions, which aroused the native nobility and the towns and provided the Poles with an opportunity to interfere against the order. A fresh war cost the order half its territory and the remaining half was only held under the suzerainty of the King of Poland (Treaty

Figure on the Tomb

OF CONRAP OP ThLIR-

ingia, XIII Cen- tury, Showino the Habit of the Teu- tonic Knight.s