Military Orders
Origin of Other Orders
Leper Knights
Once the Templars and Hospitallers were established, especially after the Second Crusade, military orders proliferated. One of the oddest in Outremer was the Knights of St. Lazarus, the so-called Leper Knights. These were knights who had contracted leprosy and who had sworn to spend their remaining days in the Holy Land, combating the infidel.
Teutonic Knights
The device of knights taking monastic vows and fighting to defend the Church had application elsewhere. Probably the best known is the Teutonic Knights, who were formed out of the remnants of Frederick Barbarossa's crusade. A handful of them took an oath at Acre in 1191 and were recognized in the 1220s as a separate order. They found little opportunity in the Holy Land, for by this time the Templars and Hospitallers pretty well controlled the field. Under their leader Herman von Salza, the Teutonic Knights were granted special dispensations from the papacy and were given Prussia as a papal fief. The only catch was, Prussia was still pagan. The Teutonic Knights could have it if they could conquer it. This they did with such thoroughness that Prussia became a German enclave within the Polish lands, remaining German down to the 20th century.
Brothers of the Sword
Many other orders sprang up in the 13th century. One such was the Brothers of the Sword, an order dedicated to converting the pagans of Livonia (modern Latvia and Estonia). They were absorbed into the Teutonic Knights in the 14th century. Another example was the xxx in Spain.