Western Oregon University Digital Commons@WOU Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History) Department of History 6-10-2019 The eutT onic Order and the Baltic Crusades Alex Eidler Western Oregon University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his Part of the European History Commons, Medieval History Commons, and the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Eidler, Alex, "The eT utonic Order and the Baltic Crusades" (2019). Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History). 273. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his/273 This Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at Digital Commons@WOU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History) by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@WOU. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. The Teutonic Order and the Baltic Crusades By Alex Eidler Senior Seminar: Hst 499 Professor David Doellinger Western Oregon University June 5, 2019 Readers Professor Elizabeth Swedo Professor David Doellinger Copyright © Alex Eidler, 2019 Eidler 1 Introduction When people think of Crusades, they often think of the wars in the Holy Lands rather than regions inside of Europe, which many believe to have already been Christian. The Baltic Crusades began during the Second Crusade (1147-1149) but continued well into the fifteenth century. Unlike the crusades in the Holy Lands which were initiated to retake holy cities and pilgrimage sites, the Baltic crusades were implemented by the German archbishoprics of Bremen and Magdeburg to combat pagan tribes in the Baltic region which included Estonia, Prussia, Lithuania, and Latvia.1 The Teutonic Order, which arrived in the Baltic region in 1226, was successful in their smaller initial campaigns to combat raiders, as well as in their later crusades to conquer and convert pagan tribes.