Appearing within the context of the Crusades in Palestine, the militaro-religious order of the Teutonic Knights imposed itself as an essential player in a relatively unknown episode in our part of the world: the conquest and evangelisation of the last pagans in Europe. Living to the south-east of the Baltic Sea, these pagans were confronted with missionary and warlike enterprises rather like crusades. Called upon to defend the frontiers of Poland against the pagans in Prussia, the brothers of the Teutonic Order carved a real state for themselves in this area of the Marches of Christianity. In...