The castle, 60 km southeast of Danzig an der Nogat, was the seat of the Grand Masters from 1309 to 1457. This is where the heart of the Teutonic Order beat. The huge Gothic brick fortress was badly damaged in World War II and rebuilt according to original plans in the post-war years. Zebrzydowska Calvary
Teutonic Order Castle Malbork: Facts
Official title:
Teutonic Order Castle Malbork (Marienburg)
Cultural monument:
in the 14./15. Headquarters of the Teutonic Order (1226-1410), headed by the Grand Master (Grand Master) elected by the General Chapter, who with the Marshal (warfare), the Grand Commander (administration), the Spittler (welfare), the Trappier (clothing), the Tressler (finances) and the landmasters pursued the interests of the order
Continent:
Europe
Country:
Poland
Location:
Malbork (Marienburg)
Appointment:
1997
Meaning:
the former seat of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order as an outstanding example of a medieval brick castle
Teutonic Order Castle Malbork: History
1190
German order founded in Akkon as a brotherhood of nursing
1198
Conversion of the order into a knightly order
1209-39
Under Grand Master Hermann von Salza, Prussia becomes a country of the Order through the Golden Bull of Rimini (1226)
1237
Association of the Teutonic Order with the Order of the Brothers of the Sword
1309
Seat of the Grand Master of the Order in Marienburg
1351-82
under Winrich von Kniprode highest development of the religious state
1410
The decline of the state began with the Battle of Tannenberg
02/01/1411
Assignment of territory in the First Peace of Thorn
1454
The “Prussian Confederation” refused to obey the Teutonic Order
1457
Storming of Marienburg by the troops of Casimir IV of Poland; the Grand Master of the Order moves his seat to Königsberg
1466
Second Peace of Thorn: Pomerania, Kulmer Land, Warmia and Marienburg are united with Poland
Of coat and sword games
The drawbridge rattles down over the moat, horses snort, a daring band of knights checks the seat of their helmets and the folds of the flowing, white coats, on which the characteristic large black crosses adorn, one last time. The Polish-Lithuanian army of knights is already in sight. The fight can begin. It is re-enacted every year: the battle near Grunwald or – as the Germans say – near Tannenberg. Over five centuries ago, in 1410, this knightly order began to decline. Called by the Polish Duke Konrad of Masovia in the 13th century to Christianize the Pruzzen, the Teutonic Order had gradually established a state within the state. A few years after the defeat at Tannenberg, the last knights left the Marienburg,
Today the castle and town bear the Polish name Malbork. Year after year, millions are raised for the extensive restoration of the monastery fortress, which was largely destroyed during the Second World War. The huge defense system made of red brick now houses a museum that deals with the history of the Teutonic Order as well as medieval trade and monetary affairs. The Teutonic Order, founded in the Palestinian Acre at the end of the 12th century as Ordo fratrum hospitalis sanctae Mariae Theutonicorum Ierosolimitanorum, owed its political rise to Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor. In exchange for military support against the pagan Pruzzen, the emperor guaranteed them extensive political independence. Pope Gregory IX declared that he would take the property conquered by the knights of the order in “ius et proprietas”, that is to say that the conquests would pass into ecclesiastical property. The Duke of Mazovia, however, who had wanted a politically dependent helper, was later too weak to defend himself against the knights who continued to expand the state of the order from the Kulmer Land. Marienburg was a huge construction site for centuries: around 1275, construction of the high castle began with a chapel, dormitories for the monks and the crusaders, a large remter where people could eat together, an armory, a dungeon and a library. After the relocation of the headquarters of the Order from Venice to Marienburg, the convent church was built, on the outside of which a monumental Madonna and child was attached. Mary, the patroness of the order, should protect castle and city. The figure, decorated with precious mosaic, was destroyed in 1945 during the artillery bombardment into innumerable pieces. Next to the church, the so-called middle palace was built with a representative ballroom that could accommodate a few hundred guests. Since these guests, who drank from silver cups and ate exquisite delicacies such as roast venison and bear, should not freeze even in winter, the entire central castle was equipped with a sophisticated heating system: the hot air was drawn in from an oven in the castle’s cellar heated rooms. The sick in the hospital, the monks and crusaders in their dormitories as well as the Grand Master in his bathhouse were comfortably warm. In the middle of the 14th century, the castle complex was surrounded by a last wall ring, so that the monastery and fortifications were now impregnable. According to politicsezine, only with the Prussians, who took over the Marienburg after the partition of Poland and set up barracks there, did the decline begin. The soldiers removed most of the “pile of bricks”, and it was only Friedrich Wilhelm III. withdrew the permit to demolish the Marienburg. Reconstruction began at the beginning of the 19th century and continued after the end of World War II when the facility was badly damaged. Much of the castle, with the exception of the church, has been renovated today and it looks almost like it did in the Middle Ages. And from time to time even the knights return to the Medieval Festival in the Ordensburg.
