Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chiyaley,
appropriated the lauds of the idolaters whom they drove beyond the Lithuanian frontier , the spirit of industry and commercial enterprise , with a rapidity never surpassed , was rearing at every favourable point of the seaboard new emporia of peaceful traffic . Thus peace and war were for a time engaged in a common mission ; each alike active in securing and adorning Christianity and civilization along the northern-.-edge of Europe , — -the latest retreat of paganism to the
westward of the Danubeand the Vistula . " The middle of the fourteenth century was the golden age of the Teutonic Order . "While the Templars , destitute of any such European field of action , soon fell a prey to the cupidity of the Christian ' sovereigns .-on . their expulsion from Palestine ; while the Knights of
St . John , confined to a single ' point in the Mediterranean , with difficulty maintained their stronghold against the Turks—the Teutonic military priests grew into virtual sovereigns of a territory not inferior in extent to that of many second-rate powers of modern Europe ; and throughout the period now in question they ruled with a display
of power which their nominal relations to the empire left for a time entirely uncontrolled . "We have in this Order another instance of the hostility of the church when the field of action was removed from the east to the west . At first , the pretensions of the Knights , as against the clergy , were directly favoured by the Homan see . This protection was continued so long as the affairs of the East left any hope of recalling the Crusaders thither ; and when ,, at a later period , the tone of the papacy was changed towards the Teutonic Knights , it was found too late to
assail the supremacy they had acquired . The attempts of the bishops to domineer in the territories of the Order only resulted in their own subjection ; and the sword in this district , though worn in the name of religious duty , was advanced as paramount over the crozier so long as the Order continued to flourish . "
The Grand Master of the Order , when the Knights arrived from Palestine in , 12 e 30 , was Herman Balk , who erected the present fortress of Thorn . The seat of the Grand Master was , in 1309 , removed to Marienburg , in West Prussia . The ancient castle , with its lofty towers and parapets , has a grand and striking appearance . In front of the houses , on botli sides of the streets , there is a connected line
of porticos , the origin of which dates from the first building of the town in 1276 by the Knights . The remains of the palace of the Order are extremely grand , and the Prussian government has caused it to be repaired and partly restored to its ancient splendour . The election of Albert of Brandenburg to the Grand Mastership of the Order , and that office becoming hereditary in his successors , caused the Order with its possessions to he submerged in the Prussian sovereignty . Thus the patronage which the institution of
Freemasonry has always received from the Prussian monarchy , wo may not unreasonably conclude , was derived from the early connection of its founder with an association which , if not identical with Freemasonry , was at least of a like character . vol . iv . * 2 a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chiyaley,
appropriated the lauds of the idolaters whom they drove beyond the Lithuanian frontier , the spirit of industry and commercial enterprise , with a rapidity never surpassed , was rearing at every favourable point of the seaboard new emporia of peaceful traffic . Thus peace and war were for a time engaged in a common mission ; each alike active in securing and adorning Christianity and civilization along the northern-.-edge of Europe , — -the latest retreat of paganism to the
westward of the Danubeand the Vistula . " The middle of the fourteenth century was the golden age of the Teutonic Order . "While the Templars , destitute of any such European field of action , soon fell a prey to the cupidity of the Christian ' sovereigns .-on . their expulsion from Palestine ; while the Knights of
St . John , confined to a single ' point in the Mediterranean , with difficulty maintained their stronghold against the Turks—the Teutonic military priests grew into virtual sovereigns of a territory not inferior in extent to that of many second-rate powers of modern Europe ; and throughout the period now in question they ruled with a display
of power which their nominal relations to the empire left for a time entirely uncontrolled . "We have in this Order another instance of the hostility of the church when the field of action was removed from the east to the west . At first , the pretensions of the Knights , as against the clergy , were directly favoured by the Homan see . This protection was continued so long as the affairs of the East left any hope of recalling the Crusaders thither ; and when ,, at a later period , the tone of the papacy was changed towards the Teutonic Knights , it was found too late to
assail the supremacy they had acquired . The attempts of the bishops to domineer in the territories of the Order only resulted in their own subjection ; and the sword in this district , though worn in the name of religious duty , was advanced as paramount over the crozier so long as the Order continued to flourish . "
The Grand Master of the Order , when the Knights arrived from Palestine in , 12 e 30 , was Herman Balk , who erected the present fortress of Thorn . The seat of the Grand Master was , in 1309 , removed to Marienburg , in West Prussia . The ancient castle , with its lofty towers and parapets , has a grand and striking appearance . In front of the houses , on botli sides of the streets , there is a connected line
of porticos , the origin of which dates from the first building of the town in 1276 by the Knights . The remains of the palace of the Order are extremely grand , and the Prussian government has caused it to be repaired and partly restored to its ancient splendour . The election of Albert of Brandenburg to the Grand Mastership of the Order , and that office becoming hereditary in his successors , caused the Order with its possessions to he submerged in the Prussian sovereignty . Thus the patronage which the institution of
Freemasonry has always received from the Prussian monarchy , wo may not unreasonably conclude , was derived from the early connection of its founder with an association which , if not identical with Freemasonry , was at least of a like character . vol . iv . * 2 a