Teutonic Knights begin crusade in Prussia

1226

Invited by the Polish Duke Conrad of Masovia to subdue the pagan Prussians on his border, the Teutonic Order crossed the Vistula with papal blessing and began a half-century campaign of conquest, conversion, and colonization that would transform the Baltic shore into a German-speaking monastic state. The Prussians resisted fiercely, but the order's stone castles and steady stream of crusading volunteers ground down their resistance.