Edinburgh Napier University

  This article aims to show how the Teutonic Order exploited the cult of pilgrimage and traditional crusading appeals to position Prussia as a locus for crusade. In order to justify diverting crusaders to north-eastern Europe it was necessary to show that the same spiritual benefits accrued to these crusaders. The article argues that the order's leadership used the language of the mystics and the linguistic and metaphorical resources these suggested to revitalise the idea of Christian knighthood, taking the idea of chivalry back to its ideological roots. They co-opt the lexicon of pilgrimage in the service of armed pilgrimage in Prussia and uses the authority of the saints and biblical heroes to buttress its claim to authenticity.