The Statuten of the Teutonic Order
The internal discipline of the Teutonic Order was regulated by a body of statutes and customary laws, of which the Statuten was the principal source. The Statuten was the formal constitution of the Order, and the Statuten was, under the Order’s law, the supreme internal authority below the Rule of St Augustine and the three monastic vows. The Statuten dealt with the admission of candidates, the duties of the brethren, the organisation of the convent, the conduct of the daily offices, the administration of the Komtureien, the conduct of war, the relations with the laity, and the procedures for the trial of brethren.
The Statuten was supplemented, in the practical details of the daily life, by a substantial body of customary laws, recorded in the Gewohnheiten of the various Komtureien. For the daily life of the brethren, see the article on the daily rules and life in the Order and the article on meals and prayers in the convent.
The Origins of the Statuten
The Statuten has its origins in the customary rules of the founding brotherhood at Acre. The early brotherhood lived under the Rule of St Augustine, and was governed by a small body of customary rules transmitted orally from the principal brethren to their successors. The transition from a charitable fraternity to a military order, conventionally dated to 1198, required a substantial expansion of the customary rules, and the new regulations were drafted by the chapter general. The first formal redaction is conventionally associated with Hermann von Salza, and was, the foundation of the Order’s constitutional system.
The Redaction of 1260
The earliest surviving complete redaction of the Statuten is the Statuten of 1260, a compilation of older rules and customs. The redaction was prepared by a commission of senior brethren appointed by the chapter general, and was, the first comprehensive statement of the Order’s constitutional system. The redaction comprised some three hundred individual articles, divided into substantial sections dealing with the three estates of brethren, the chapter general, the five Grossgebietiger, the daily offices, the administration of the Komtureien, the conduct of war, and the trial of brethren.
The redaction of 1260 was, a remarkable constitutional achievement, a comprehensive statement of the Order’s constitutional system. The redaction was more concerned with the constitutional framework than with the practical details of the daily life, and was supplemented by the Gewohnheiten of the various Komtureien.
The Later Redactions
The Statuten was redacted again in 1330, in 1357, and at several other points in the Order’s history. Each new redaction incorporated the accumulated customary laws of the Order and the constitutional practice of the chapter general. The redaction of 1330 was prepared under the Grand Master Luther von Braunschweig, and was, a comprehensive revision of the redaction of 1260. The redaction of 1357 was prepared under the Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode, and was, a further revision of the redaction of 1330.
The later redactions did not, generally change the constitutional framework of the Order, refined the procedures for the trial of brethren, and added new regulations to deal with new circumstances. The redaction of 1357 was a substantial document, comprising some four hundred individual articles, and was, the definitive statement of the Order’s constitutional system for the rest of the medieval period. The Statuten was redacted again in the early fifteenth century, after the disaster of Grunwald in 1410.
The Statuten was divided into substantial sections, each dealing with a particular aspect of the Order’s constitutional system. The principal sections dealt with the three estates of brethren, the chapter general, the five Grossgebietiger, the daily offices, the administration of the Komtureien, the conduct of war, and the trial of brethren. Each section was divided into individual articles, and each article dealt with a particular question of the Order’s internal discipline. The Statuten was, under the Order’s law, binding on all the brethren of the Order, in all the Order’s territorial branches, and could be amended only by the chapter general. The Statuten was, under the Order’s law, in Latin, and the Latin text was the only text with constitutional authority, although a German translation was prepared for the use of the German-speaking brethren.
The Gewohnheiten
The Statuten was supplemented, in the practical details of the daily life, by a substantial body of customary laws, recorded in the Gewohnheiten of the various Komtureien. The Gewohnheiten were not, under the Order’s law, a part of the Statuten, but the Gewohnheiten were, the more important source for the actual daily life of the brethren. The Gewohnheiten dealt with the cleaning of the dormitory, the behaviour of the brethren in the refectory, the conduct of the brethren in the field, the relations between the knight-brothers and the serving brothers, and the various other practical details of convent life that the Statuten could not cover.
The Gewohnheiten of a particular Komturei might, by the late Middle Ages, comprise several hundred individual articles. The Gewohnheiten were, under the Order’s law, valid only within the Komturei in which they had been recorded, but were transmitted from one Komturei to another. The two sources together formed the complete system of the Order’s internal discipline.
The Constitutional Place of the Statuten
The Statuten was, in the constitutional theory of the Order, the supreme internal authority below the Rule of St Augustine and the three monastic vows. The Statuten could not, contradict the Rule of St Augustine or the three monastic vows. The Statuten was, however, the supreme internal authority for all the practical questions of the Order’s internal discipline, and the backbone of the Order’s internal discipline.
The Statuten was, by the late Middle Ages, a central element of the constitutional stability of the Order, providing a clear and consistent constitutional framework for the Order’s internal discipline, and a substantial contribution to the constitutional culture of the Latin medieval world.
Sources
- Boockmann, Hartmut. Der Deutsche Orden: Zwölf Kapitel aus seiner Geschichte. Munich: Beck, 1981.
- Perlbach, Max, ed. Die Statuten des Deutschen Ordens nach den ältesten Handschriften. Halle: Niemeyer, 1890.
- Strehlke, Ernst, ed. Tabulae ordinis Theutonici. Berlin: Weidmann, 1869.
Related Reading
For the broader context of the Order’s internal discipline, see the parent pillar on the structure and daily life of the Order and the article on the daily rules and life in the Order. For the daily rhythm, see the article on meals and prayers in the convent. For the three estates governed by the Statuten, see the article on the brothers and sisters of the Order. For the constitutional framework, see the article on the hierarchy of the Order. For the rule that the Statuten was subordinate to, see the article on the Rule of St Augustine and the article on the three monastic vows.