Northern Crusades
The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were undertaken by Western Europeans against the "still heathen" people of North Eastern Europe around the Baltic Sea. Non-Christian peoples who were objects of the campaigns at verious dates included the Old Prussians, Polabians, Abotrites, Rugians and Letts.
Armed conflict between the Balts and Slavs who dwelt by the Baltic shores and their Saxon and Danish neighbors to the west and south had been common for several centuries prior to the Crusade. The previous battles had largely been caused by attempts to control land and sea trade routes and gain economic advantage in the region, and the Crusade basically continued this pattern of conflict, albeit now inspired and prescribed by the pope and undertaken by papal knights and armed monks. The first campaigns were launched in parallel with the Second Crusade to the Holy Land in the mid-1100s, and continued irregularly right up until the 16th century.
The Northern Crusades provided the primary rationale for the growth and expansion of the Teutonic Order of German crusading knights, modelled on the Knights Templar who took part in the Holy Land Crusades. The Teutonic Order came to excercise political control over large territories in the Baltic region.
Referenced By
Masuren | Masurenland | Masuria | Mazury
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