Teutonic Order recognized as military

1198

Pope Innocent III formally confirmed the Teutonic Order's new military status, placing it on the same footing as the Templars and Hospitallers. The German knights in Acre got a Rule, a white mantle with a black cross, and the license to make war on behalf of the Church. Within three decades the order would shift its crusading mission from the Holy Land to the pagan Baltic, carving out a theocratic state in Prussia.