Teutonic Knights in popular culture

Deutscher Orden-Reenactment, Poland, Sanok-Mrzygłód, 2010

This article is about depictions of the Teutonic Knights in popular culture.

Literature

• The knight who narrates Geoffrey Chaucer's Knight's Tale is described as having served with the Knights.^[1]

• The Order and its relations with Poland, Masovia, and Lithuania are the main subject of Nobel Prize-winning Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz's historical novel The Teutonic Knights, which describes the era of the Battle of Grunwald from the Polish point of view. A Polish film based on the novel, Krzyżacy, was released in 1960.

• The conflict between the Order and Poland is featured in James A. Michener's historical novel Poland.

• The conflict between the Order and Poland in years 1409-1411 with Teutonic-Lituanian conflict and Hanza cities trading business as background is featured in Dariusz Domagalski's fantasy-historical series of novels and novellete Delikatne uderzenie pioruna, Aksamitny dotyk nocy, Gniewny pomruk burzy, I niechaj cisza wznieci wojne. Fantasy part is mostly connected with true nature of the world (meaning there is no God in Christian understanding but Sephirots meaning emanations taken from Kabbalah and many of the novel's characters serve those attributes while the world in in war between two groups of them. Many historical characters are depicted in the series.

• In the Conrad Stargard science fiction series, by Polish American writer Leo Frankowski, the Teutonic Knights are depicted in an extremely hostile way, including repeated references to their "bad body smell". The title character, a modern Polish engineer who is sent back in time to the 13th century and introduces modern technology, encounters Teutonic Knights who are taking children into slavery, whereupon he kills them and sets the children free. Stargard's later conflicts with the Teutonic Knights culminate with his exterminating the entire order by flooding the city of Torun with poison gas.

• Descendants of the Teutonic Knights play an important role in the novel "Le Roi des aulnes" (translated as "The Erl-King" or "The Ogre", taking place in Nazi times, which was written by the French Goncourt Prize winner Michel Tournier.

• Author Bruce Quarrie, an historian of the Third Reich, titled his study of the elite Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions Hitler's Teutonic Knights.

• In the book cycle "the Mongoliad" the Teutonc Knights, and some similar rivals, are the central characters on a quest to kill the Khan of the Mongols.^[2]

• In the 1967 Nick Carter spy novel, The Bright Blue Death, the Teutonic Knights are a neo-Nazi paramilitary organization intent on overthrowing the West German government

Politics

• The black and white colours of the Order became the colours of the state of Prussia.

• Emperor William II of Germany posed for a photo in 1902 in the garb of a monk from the Teutonic Order, climbing up the stairs in the reconstructed Marienburg Castle as a symbol of the German Empire's policy.^[3]

• German nationalism often invoked the imagery of the Teutonic Knights, especially in the context of territorial conquest from eastern neighbours of Germany and conflict with nations of Slavic origins, who were considered to be of lower development and lacking in culture. The German historian Heinrich von Treitschke used imagery of the Teutonic Knights to promote pro-German and anti-Polish rhetoric. Such imagery and symbols were adopted by many middle-class Germans who supported German nationalism. During the Weimar Republic, associations and organisations of this nature contributed to laying the groundwork for the formation of Nazi Germany.^[3]

• During World War II, Nazi propaganda and ideology made frequent use of the Teutonic Knights' imagery, as the Nazis sought to depict the Knights' actions as a forerunner of the Nazi conquests for Lebensraum. Heinrich Himmler tried to idealize the SS as a 20th-century incarnation of the medieval knights. The modern Order however, was banned in the Third Reich in 1938, due to long standing belief of both Hitler and Himmler, that Catholic military-religious orders, were untrustworthy and politically suspect as subordinates of the Vatican, and representatives of its policy.^[4]

Film & Music

• The Order plays an important part of the story in the opera I Lituani by Ponchielli (1874), based on Adam Mickiewicz's poem Konrad Wallenrod (1828).

• The historical drama film Alexander Nevsky (1938) depicts the defeat of the Teutonic Knights by the Russians in the Battle of the Ice (1242).

• The Teutonic Knights are featured in a variety of historically-themed computer games, including Medieval: Total War, Medieval II: Total War, in which the Order is equaled with the Templars and the Knights of Saint John in power. In the expansion Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms, a campaign is dedicated to the Order's campaigns. They are featured in Age of Empires II, in which "Teutonic Knights" and "Elite Teutonic Knights" are some of the most powerful armed units in the game. The Order is a playable country in the grand strategy games Europa Universalis II, Europa Universalis III and Europa Universalis IV, and feature in Crusader Kings II. Teutonic Knights are shown to be occupying the city of Acre in Assassin's Creed, which their Grand Master Sibrand is secretly a member of the Knight Templars. They are featured in Empire Earth II's German campaign as well.

• Knights of the Teutonic Order (film)

• The Norwegian black metal band Dimmu Borgir used the story of the Teutonic Knights for the music video of their single "The Serpentine Offering".

• The Soviet/Russian heavy metal band Aria's song "Ballada o Drevnerusskom Voïnie"/"Ballad of an Ancient Russian Warrior" (1987, "Geroy Asphalta"/"Hero of a Speedway") depicts the Battle of the Ice.

• The Season of the Witch, a 2011 American action horror fantasy film, has Nicolas Cage starring as a Teutonic Knights Crusader.

• In the popular anime Hetalia the character Prussia spent an amount of time as Teutonic Knights

Reenactment and Roleplaying

The Teutonic Knights are recreated by many re-enactment groups around the world. Many historical and fantasy fighting groups recreate the teutonic order, an example are the Teutonic Knights of Daghorhir which encompass two separate units in New York and Texas respectively.^[5]

In Countries such as England, Poland and Estonia, The popularity of reenactment of the teutonic order has increased with organizations recreating the Order fight in battle demonstrations, living history exhibits and of course battle reenactments commemorating famous battles of the Teutonic Knights.^[6][7][8]

References

1. Chaucer, G The Canterbury Tales, 'The Prologue' II 43-6, 51-4
2. The Mongoliad
3. (Polish) Mówią wieki. "Biała leganda czernago krzyża". Accessed June 6, 2006.
4. Christiansen, p. 5
5. http://teutonicknightsdagorhir.yolasite.com
6. http://rotoil.blogspot.com/
7. http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/features/article_1571486.php/2-200-knights-reenact-medieval-battle-in-Poland-Feature
8. http://www.medieval-siege-society.co.uk/Households/KnightEnvoysoftheTeutonicOrder.aspx