Knights and Brigades in the Field
The Teutonic Order’s reputation in the Latin West rested, in significant part, on the Order’s battlefield performance in the Baltic theatre. The Order’s battlefield performance was, in turn, the product of a distinctive tactical organisation that combined, in an unusual way, the discipline of a religious order, the cohesion of a knightly brotherhood, and the operational flexibility of a medieval field army. The Order’s tactical organisation — the Züge, the Spitze, the squires and the household knights that formed the Order’s heavy cavalry — was, the foundation of the Order’s military reputation.
The Order’s tactical organisation was, on the whole, conventional Latin tactical organisation of the high and late middle ages, but the Order’s tactical organisation was, in significant part, distinctive. The Order’s tactical organisation was, distinguished by the discipline and coordination of the Order’s heavy cavalry: the Order’s knight-brothers were trained to fight in close order, to deliver a concerted charge, and to maintain cohesion under the pressure of combat.
The Knight-Brothers
The Order’s principal tactical asset was, throughout its history, the knight-brothers — the Ritterbrüder — the professed members of the Order who had taken the religious vows and who formed the Order’s professional military core. The knight-brothers were, in operational terms, the Order’s heavy cavalry: heavily armoured, mounted on the great war-horses of the Latin West, and trained in the conventional Latin military practice of the mounted charge and the lance.
The knight-brothers were organised, in the formal hierarchy of the Order, into a system of ranks: the Komtur, who was the senior knight-brother of a Komturei; the Trappiere, who was the senior knight-brother of a regional chapter; the Spitze, who was the senior knight-brother of a tactical unit; the Knappen, who were the squires; and the simple knight-brother. The number of knight-brothers in the Order’s Prussian establishment varied, but the Order’s principal field formations, in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, comprised perhaps 700 to 1,200 knight-brothers in Prussia and 200 to 400 in Livonia.
The knight-brothers were, the foundation of the Order’s military reputation. By the standards of the age, they were very highly trained, very well equipped, and very well disciplined.
The Knight Brigades: the Züge
The Order’s principal field formations were the Züge — the knight brigades — that formed the core of the Order’s field armies. A Zug was a tactical unit comprising 50 to 100 knight-brothers, organised in three or four ranks, with the Spitze — the most experienced knight-brothers — in the vanguard. The Züge were, in operational terms, the building blocks of the Order’s field armies, and they were, in significant part, the tactical units in which the Order’s heavy cavalry delivered its principal attack.
The Züge were, in the operational sense, very heavily armoured. The knight-brothers of a Zug were equipped with the full plate harness of the late medieval period, and the war-horses with the chamfron, the crinet, the peytral and the croupière. The total weight of a fully equipped Zug was, in the operational sense, very substantial.
The Züge were, in the tactical sense, very disciplined. The knight-brothers of a Zug were trained to maintain their formation under the pressure of combat, to deliver a concerted charge, and to rally on the Spitze in the event of a repulse. The Züge were, in significant part, the foundation of the Order’s tactical doctrine, and the Züge were, in significant part, the reason why the Order’s heavy cavalry was, throughout the Order’s history, a very formidable force.
The Spitze
The Spitze — literally “the point” — was the senior knight-brother of a Zug. The Spitze was, in the operational sense, the commander of the Zug in the field: the Spitze was responsible for the conduct of the Zug in combat, the Spitze was responsible for the discipline of the Zug in the field, and the Spitze was, in the formal sense, the rallying point of the Zug in the event of a repulse.
The Spitze was, in the formal sense, a senior knight-brother of considerable experience and prestige, drawn from the senior knight-brothers of the Order’s Prussian Komtureien.
The Squires and the Household Knights
The Order’s Züge were, in addition to the knight-brothers, supported by a substantial force of squires — the Knappen — and household knights — the Hofritter. The squires were, in operational terms, the Order’s light cavalry: they were lightly armoured, mounted on lighter horses, and employed in the Order’s scouting, raiding and screening operations. The household knights were, in operational terms, a mixed force: they were, on the whole, more lightly equipped than the knight-brothers, but they were, in significant part, drawn from the same knightly families as the knight-brothers themselves.
The Field Army
The Order’s principal field armies were, in the operational sense, a combination of Züge, squires, household knights, mercenaries, vassals and crusaders. The Order’s field armies, in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, were typically organised as follows: a vanguard of one or two Züge under a Spitze; a main body of two or three Züge under a senior Spitze; a rearguard of one or two Züge under a Spitze; a force of squires and household knights on the flanks; and a force of mercenaries and crusaders in support.
The Order’s field armies were, in the operational sense, very heavily armoured. The Order’s field armies were, in significant part, the reason why the Order was a dominant military power in the Baltic theatre.
The Order’s Major Engagements
The Order’s tactical organisation was, the foundation of the Order’s military reputation. The Order’s tactical organisation was, the foundation of the Order’s performance in the major field engagements of the Order’s late medieval period: the battle of Durbe in 1260, the battle of Tannenberg in 1410, the battle of Wilkomierz in 1435, and the various engagements of the Order’s Lithuanian and Prussian Reisen.
The Order’s tactical organisation was, however, also a substantial long-term liability. The Order was, in the fifteenth century, increasingly unable to compete with the larger and more flexible military organisations of the Polish-Lithuanian union, and the Polish-Lithuanian army was, able to defeat the Order’s army in the major field engagements.
Sources
- Boockmann, Hartmut. Der Deutsche Orden: Zwölf Kapitel aus seiner Geschichte. Munich: Beck, 1981.
- Favreau-Lilie, Marie-Luise. Die Ritterbrüder im livländischen Zweig des Deutschen Ordens. Cologne: Böhlau, 2003.
- Strehlke, Ernst, ed. Tabulae ordinis Theutonici. Berlin: Weidmann, 1869.
Related Reading
For the broader context of the Order’s military organisation, see the cluster on military organisation and the pillar on military campaigns. For the role of the Grand Marshal in the Order’s field armies, see the article on the Grand Marshal. For the Order’s armament and tactics, see the cluster on weapons, armor and tactics and the article on the weapons of the Sword Brothers. For the Order’s major campaigns, see the article on the battle of Tannenberg 1410 and the article on the battle of Wilkomierz 1435.