XXIV: The Valiant Die but Once (1472-1475)
Parry and Riposte
"This was the Order's darkest hour. It was their brightest moment. It was their final days." So begins
The Road to Perdition, an early nineteenth century novel covering a series of characters during a gritty, oft-times fictional novel set during the Bohemian-Teuton war. While somewhat dramatic, the novelist could make a compelling argument for the veracity of his opening lines.
In August 1472 Bohemian Grand Marshal Pardubice left a small force sieging Danzig while his protege, Labunic, led the siege at Allenstein in Warmia. The Grand Marshal moved his army towards the capital of Marienberg when Hochmeister von Holstein carried out his threat. On September 13 sappers undermined the castle walls resulting in a largely controlled collapse. The 'government,' including most of the Order's records, arms and other supplies, retreated to the port city of Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) to regroup behind its walls.
Von Buexhoeven darted away from the advancing army with 3,000 men and landed in Pommerania. This forced Pardubice to turn back. Using a series of forced marches under cover of darkness, he made it back in early October and forced von Buexhoeven into a disastrous battle where he lost 1,700 men.
This left thirteen hundred however, and if the Order proved anything during this war, it was resourceful. Lord von Richtenberg carried out his orders: He armed any noble, burgher or farmer who would take up the cross. Slowly, in bits and pieces, the Teutons came back to life.
It didn't hurt that von Keyserling found a large number of allies inside occupied Poland willing to try and throw off the Bohemian yoke. In September Posen revolted. Sieradz followed, and on December 16, the Fraticelli heretics attacked Thorn. Pardubice spent the rest of the year answering frantic calls for help from home.
In 'Estonia,' the rebels marched towards the heart of Teuton territory hoping to force the still crippled Order to come to terms. Finally Ingria made a move and sieged Narva in September. The Pskovians, all three hundred of them, threw themselves in the path of the rebel army outside of Mittau on September 23 and were annihilated. The rebels turned back and retook 'their' homeland in November.
Reinforcements pushed Buexhoeven's army to 2,300 men when he returned to Pommerania in December. Rather than siege Stargard, he surprised and annihilated the banner sieging Danzig before retreating to sea ahead of Pardubice's vengeance.
In January 1473 Pommeranian rebels, supported by Keyserling's purse, joined the anti-Bohemian coalition. Every time Marshal Pardubice moved towards Teuton lands another revolt began and the offensive ground to a halt. Buexhoeven's army continued to grow, albeit slowly, and in August his 4,300 men once more crushed a single regiment attacking Danzig.
The Pskovians were nothing if not determined. In May 1473 they attacked Warsaw, only to be thrown out by a fresh army moving up to finally siege Konigsberg. They met again in June and once more suffered a catastrophic defeat. Once more the tiny Russian state built yet another army to continue the fight.
Rebels seized Kalisch in May. Two months later Pardubice fought the last battle of his career as his twelve thousand Bohemians met a coalition of heretics and Poles near Thorn. The Bohemians lost five thousand men and their marshal.
By late summer the Montoro dynasty in Vienna thought the tide might be turning and began subsidizing the Teuton war effort. In turn von Holstein ordered Richtenberg to once more hire any mercenary he could find. Ultimately it might have been a mistake, for while they certainly helped the Teutons replenish their ranks faster, these men weren't fighting for their Order's survival and couldn't be expected to fight with the same zeal.
Allenstein fell in September and the attackers moved north to help invest Konigsberg. "Estonia" meanwhile finally declared independence, but few took them seriously as the Teutons already had two mercenary banners sieging the 'capital.'
Von Buexhoeven, now back up to 5,000 men, watched for the opportunity to attack the weakened Bohemian army. They weren't weak enough however, and Buexhoeven wasn't quick enough: In October they met in a nasty, inconclusive battle that cost 1,300 Bohemian and 1,200 Teuton lives before he once more retreated to his ships....
...but not for long. On February 14, 1474 he returned to Danzig and destroyed yet another lone banner.
Here Buexhoeven's overconfidence betrayed him. Convinced that the war had indeed turned in his favor, and further that the bulk of Bohemian forces were sieging Konigsberg, he moved his main force to retake Allenstein and a small banner of cavalry to harass Warsaw. The 200 or so horsemen ran straight into newly promoted Marshal Labunic's fresh army of 12,000 Bohemians. The results were predictable enough. He then surprised Buexhoeven on the shores of the Baltic and killed some 2,300 before the Teutons could escape. He failed to follow up on his victory however and instead moved south to receive orders from his emperor.
Buexhoeven sailed to Memel and reinforced the army growing there to deal with the Bohemians attacking Konigsberg. He felt that a few more mercenary banners, veterans of the Portugese conquest of Sicily, would be enough to risk the throw...
Betrayal
Perhaps the Rurikovich dynasty of Archangel (Novgorod) felt the same, for now they decided to risk everything on defeating the weakened Order before they could react. It was a foolish move, for the weakened republic fought alone against not only the Teutons (who were indeed weakened), but Brandenberg (fully occupied), Ingria (unscathed but uninterested), and Pskov (always ready for another go).
The Novgorod war is barely worth mentioning except part of the larger context: 2,000 Rus sieged Beloozero in June. "Estonia" fell on July 11, allowing the Order to send fresh troops into the area. On October 2, the eastern Teuton army of some 2,500 routed the Russians. They pursued to Archangel, destroyed them in December and laid siege to the two known cities.
On the Bohemian front, they once more sieged Danzig and this time Buexhoeven could make no reply. Konigsberg fell in July and the Grossgebetiger retreated to Osel. Ten days later, much to their embarassment, Muscovy guaranteed the Order's independence against 'anyone else' who would take advantage of her during the crisis.
After sacking Konigsberg, the Bohemians moved north to deal with the Teuton army at Memel. Richtenberg and Buexhoeven agreed it was time to make a stand setting the stage for the last major battle of the Bohemian War:
On August 6, fifteen thousand Bohemians, mostly pikemen and crossbowmen from the Imperial states as local manpower was long since exhausted, met a thirteen thousand man menagerie about thirty miles north of Konigsberg. Teuton regulars - green but determined - formed the core of the formation favoring sword and crossbow while mercenaries from almost the entire Catholic world took up ranks on both flanks. Both sides enjoyed the advantages and disadvantages of diversity: New tactics and techniques balanced by a complete lack of cohesion and dis-united command.
For two days they fought: The mercenaries fought better, but as objectives changed and lines shifted, the Teuton generals proved unequal to the task of maintaining order. Early on the second day the entire Imperial left wing imploded, but rather than panic they smoothly shifted their vanguard to face the threat and closed ranks. Each Teuton banner that fell caused the mercenaries to waver and finally they began leaving the field. By the end of the battle the Imperials lost nearly 12,000 men. The Teutons lost six thousand...the field...and the war.
Buexhoeven and Richtenberg fought bitterly over their loss, each blaming the other in increasingly violent terms. Losing control of the army and field meant they couldn't follow up on the shattered Bohemians. Marshal Labunic rallied the survivors outside of Allenstein and marched north to deal with the Teutons himself.
The two generals continued to argue. The only man capable of resolving their differences, Hochmeister von Holstein, knew none of this and awaited word of the battle from behind the fleet's wooden wall in Osel. Buexhoeven set sail to once more harass Pommerania and possibly relieve Danzig. Richtenberg sent a single banner south to relieve Konigsberg, not realizing that Labunic was on the way with overwhelming force. Grasping his mistake, he set fire to the crops in Memel and Courland and retreated before the Bohemian advance. Not knowing that Richtenberg left, Buexhoeven returned and landed directly in Labunic's path.
On November 22, 1474 von Buexhoeven found himself trapped against the sea for the third time in two years. He escaped, but not before losing three in every four men.
Word finally reached Osel of the autumn campaign and the latest disaster at Memel. Holstein summoned both commanders and railed at them for over an hour. They would continue fighting. Richtenberg would raise another army, and another, and another while Buexhoeven would learn how to fight with one without getting pinned.
Grosskomtur von Keyserling had enough. He considered himself a pragmatist. He did
not believe the Order won anything in the last few years. His efforts as well as the army's slowed the bleeding, but the Order still bled. They couldn't mount a counteroffensive and he lacked agents he trusted enough to incite more trouble within Bohemia. He saw no particular glory in fighting to the last man or ruling over nothing but a handful of islands in the Baltic.
It took the better part of a month to find someone to negotitate with and come to terms, but finally he ended the war.
Disillusioned
Hochmeister von Holstein reacted to The treaty - the signed, sealed and quite binding treaty - predictably: He ordered von Keyserling arrested for treason.
The Pope, now in possession of the Hochmeister's regalia, took great interest in the resulting trial and sent observers to report on the state of the Order and its grand master.
(Vatican Infiltration: +2 spies or -5 prestige. Decisions, decisions...) After a day's questioning, von Holstein summarized his argument for the Grossgebetiger:
Friedrich von Holstein said:
Most of you were there in Marienberg when I spoke. I ordered him to make one last attempt to end this war. He tried. They refused. Now we find out he's tried at least thrice per year since then to make amends. First he stayed to the original terms regarding Ingria. As the Bohemians sensed weakness however, they continued pushing and he offered more and more. This treaty destroys our ally. It destroys our standing with our neighbors. In both instances it breaks faith with God: How can we ask others to trust our example after this? Grosskomtur von Keyserling violated his oath to me and to you as well.
Isidor von Keyserling said:
Nonsense. First, we only have one man's word that God intended us to make a final stand - the word of a man first puzzled, then hurt and angered that a Catholic state would attack him. Consider, brothers: Perhaps God did intend this as a test...of our humility. Do you really believe He would want us, as an Order, to perish from this earth? Who would that provide an example to? If we were fighting the Turk or the Rus, then I might concede the point...but the Emperor?
Second, I broke no oath. Yes, we are all aware of what the Hochmeister said two years ago, but I dare say we can guess what was meant: He didn't want the Emperor to profit from this war: He didn't. Cologne did, and they're so small and badly scattered that they'll never hold Ruppin or Potsdam. He also didn't want the Order to lose land: We didn't. We lost two vassals - one who we were looking to rid ourselves of anyway, and the other whose only value in every war has been to distract the Bohemians long enough to be conquered.
Regarding the Brandenburgers: So they suffered in this war. Better them than us. They are the ones who could not provide an adequate defense. Second, at the Hochmeister's command it would be easy enough for us to stir trouble in the lands they lost to Cologne. If they didn't then rejoin Berlin I would find that strange indeed.
Holstein didn't realize that his inflexibility regarding the Bohemians in the face of increasing danger cost him support. Neither Trapier von Bayern nor Marschal von Buexhoeven felt the war could be won. Keyserling served as the Order's tressler (treasurer), so that position abstained. The spittler (Hospitaller), Anders von Hansen, abstained as well. In the end the Grossgebetiger acquitted Keyserling, though Holstein did dismiss him in disgust.
Disgust and despair, for now began the painful rebuilding process. The Order's economy was stretched to the breaking point trying to build up enough money to cover loans from increasingly anxious Danzigers while replacing mercenaries willing to serve. The Archangel war, led by newly promoted Rittermeister August von Loringhoven,
(F 6 Sh 2 Mv 3 Sg 1) continued through 1475.
On June 25, 1475 Estonian nationalists once more rose up outside of Narva. Von Holstein himself led the counterattack, crushed the rebellion in a single clash, then punished the population by allowing the 'victors' free reign over the countryside and raising taxes.
(Scorched Earth. Why? 'Cuz..)
The End of the Dream
As summer softened into autumn, the Hochmeister learned that Innocentus VIII ruled that the 'crisis' had not yet passed and would hold the Order's regalia in trust for the time being. Von Holstein saw this as a condemnation of his efforts and disassociated from reality. He turned nostalgic, looking back to a chivalric Order, their just rule, and bringing enlightenment to those who suffered under the yoke of the Enemy crying for salvation. In short he sought the Teutonic Order as it existed perhaps two hundred years ago ... a highly idealized, romanticized version that never existed in this vale of tears.
Fortunately the rebuild almost ran itself. State funding of mercantile enterprises ended until the loans were paid. Mercenary contracts expired as Bayern and Buexhoeven slowly rebuilt the army. Loringhoven needed no help against Archangel: Just time.
Autumn yielded to winter and von Holstein emergedfrom his fantasy. On December 22, one year to the day from Keyserling's 'betrayal,' he traveled to the ruins of Marienberg Castle to, as he put it, commune with the fallen grandmasters now entombed beneath the rubble. Whatever he may have learned never appeared, for he took ill upon returning home. The fantasy resumed with a fever for company.
Friedrich von Holstein died on December 31, 1475 from the fever. They buried him at the cathedral in Konigsberg.
Some historians and novelists, again the more romantic ones, regard Lord von Holstein as the last of the Teuton Grand Masters. Literally speaking this is simply untrue. After Three Kings Day the Grossgebetiger summoned the Conclave to pick his successor: Life, and the Order, would go on.
Yet there is a wisp of truth in the claim. Though religious men would follow, Hochmeister von Holstein was the last to keep devotion to God and the Order's roots at the core of his decision making. Von Holstein's clashes with Bohemia convinced succeeding generations they could not simply assume the entire Catholic world was united behind them. The men that followed would be more cynical and analytical about the politics. Though religion could and would come up again and again as a casus belli, it would never again be the
only reason. The Baltic Crusade died with von Holstein and the Ordenstaadt began, decades after everyone else and perhaps far too late, the slow and painful climb to nationhood.
Teutonic Order said:
Population: 1,337,000
Largest City: Danzig (35,500)
Religion: Catholic (100%)
Culture: Prussian (61.3%), Russian (20.2%), Estonian (8.6%), Other (9.9%)
Tech: Gov 7, Pro 8, Trd 8, Lnd 8, Nvy 7
Prestige -24, MP 653, Gold 114 Stab 2, Infamy 6.0, Inflation 17.1, WE 14.3
Army: 12 Men at Arms, 7 Knights (including mercs: Actual strength about 14,000)
Navy: 15 Galleys, 5 Cogs
