The Teutonic Order (Deutscher Orden) was founded in 1190 in Akko (Palestine) as an Order of Hospitalers (Hospitalorden) in the age of the Crusades. Already in 1198 the Brotherhood of Hospitalers was converted to a religious order of knights. Every man who joined the Order took an oath of chastity, obedience and a life in poverty. At the same time the Order also saw itself as a fighting order of knights that followed the Pope's calls to liberate the Holy Sepulcher of Christ in Jerusalem from the Muslims.
The Order achieved international importance and wealth, which it had also purchased from rich noble and patrician families due to the Crusades indulgence. Each year new Order chapters were founded. In 1300 there were already 300 commendams (administrative areas) from Sweden to Southern Europe. The Order saw its duties in protecting pilgrims, fighting against non-Christians in the Holy Land and in social services such as founding and maintaining hospitals.
In the 15th and 16th century the Teutonic Order increasingly lost importance in the East. In the Holy Roman Empire the Order's holdings survived until 1809, when the Order was abolished under Napoleon. The Teutonic Order was renewed in 1834 in Austria, was converted to a religious order in 1929 and was forbidden in 1938 by the National Socialists. After 1945 it was restored in Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany.