Kommunikation der Ideen: Das Ideal der Hingabe des eigenen Lebens für andere im Deutschen Orden

Communication of Ideas in the Teutonic Order: The Ideal of Sacrificing One’s Life for Others In the monastic rules of the Teutonic Order, the founding history and the central purpose of the Order are brought together. Within the community, the brotherhood of priests had to encourage the knight brothers, who actively fought for the defense of Christendom, in following the example of the suffering Christ, which was a central facet in their self-image. The model for the active struggle was prefigured in the Old Testament narratives on the succession of Abraham. Further examples can be found in Moses and Joshua as well as King David. A ‘new knighthood’ (nuwe ritterschaft) will continue this battle to drive away the Gentiles from the Holy Land. This knighthood were the new Maccabees who, as monks and knights, had to fight for the native land of Christ.This ‘new battle’ (bellum novum) was based on Christian virtues: Therefore, Peter von Dusburg gives a detailed symbolic re-interpretation of military weapons in his Chronicle: The milites and bellatores of the Teutonic Order have to defeat the enemies of the faith. For the necessary fight, they should prepare themselves by means of secular and spiritual exercises. The synopsis of the connection of the secular struggle against the heathen with that of the spiritual fight against evil in general, which was supposed to take place within the individual fighter, likely prevented a stronger emphasis on martyrdom in the normative texts of the Teutonic Order. Although the Teutonic Order respected the idea of martyrdom, the monk-knights had a second area of responsibility in the way of hospitality.Communication of Ideas in the Teutonic Order: The Ideal of Sacrificing One’s Life for Others In the monastic rules of the Teutonic Order, the founding history and the central purpose of the Order are brought together. Within the community, the brotherhood of priests had to encourage the knight brothers, who actively fought for the defense of Christendom, in following the example of the suffering Christ, which was a central facet in their self-image. The model for the active struggle was prefigured in the Old Testament narratives on the succession of Abraham. Further examples can be found in Moses and Joshua as well as King David. A ‘new knighthood’ (nuwe ritterschaft) will continue this battle to drive away the Gentiles from the Holy Land. This knighthood were the new Maccabees who, as monks and knights, had to fight for the native land of Christ.This ‘new battle’ (bellum novum) was based on Christian virtues: Therefore, Peter von Dusburg gives a detailed symbolic re-interpretation of military weapons in his Chronicle: The milites and bellatores of the Teutonic Order have to defeat the enemies of the faith. For the necessary fight, they should prepare themselves by means of secular and spiritual exercises. The synopsis of the connection of the secular struggle against the heathen with that of the spiritual fight against evil in general, which was supposed to take place within the individual fighter, likely prevented a stronger emphasis on martyrdom in the normative texts of the Teutonic Order. Although the Teutonic Order respected the idea of martyrdom, the monk-knights had a second area of responsibility in the way of hospitality