x At the time of Tannenberg,
the grandmaster of the
order was Ulrich von
Jungingen, from a noble
southern German family.
Over the years, he served
in nearly every major
position in the Teutonic
Knights’ hierarchy,
including marshal of the
order and commander
of a castle. Although he
was an effective military
leader, contemporary
sources describe him as
headstrong, arrogant, and a
bit impulsive.
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ordained warriors equipped
with complete suits of plate
armor and mounted on great chargers probably amounted to only a
few hundred. They were supplemented by a much larger number of
Teutonic lay brothers, who trained as knights but were not ordained
and fought as somewhat less heavily armed horsemen.
x Each castle also had larger numbers of hired men-at-arms,
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crossbowmen.
x Finally, the Teutonic Knights made extensive use of noblemen
from many countries, who volunteered to serve temporarily as a
demonstration of piety but were not part of the formal membership.
Each of these guest Crusaders would have been accompanied by his
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The Teutonic Knights were
professional soldiers encased from
head to foot in the highest quality
plate armor and mounted atop huge
war horses specially bred to carry
their enormous weight.© Livrustkammaren/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.