Customer Reviews

Fortress 11: Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (1) AD

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After the Crusades, a new order of Military Knights started in Germany. Created by a group of German Merchants for the care of countrymen who had been at the siege of Acre and had suffered, they started with makeshift hospitals for their care.

From this arose the Teutonic Order. Never having seen battle in the Holy Land, their Crusade was against the pagans in Prussia. Their weapon... red-brick castles.

This book outlines the Teutonic Order, its origins, and the campaigns they waged in the areas of Prussia and Poland

These castles remain today as a memorial to the Order and the battles they fought and the lands they claimed. The book outlines the building of these fortresses, their designs and layouts, how they were used, and how the Teutonic Knights operated their campaigns.

The material is easy to follow, very descriptive in the campaigns and military strategies and historical details. This, accompanied by color and black and white photos of the castles, the surrounding areas, contemporary art depicting the Knights, and wonderfully detailed maps make this a book easy to understand and a good reference guide for the Order and the time period covered.

The author provides insights into the areas discussed, in everyday life as well as military references. This gives you a good grasp on the culture and background. He also provides key dates, important names and places.

There is a list in the back of the book of the important Prussian castles that have survived to the present day and their locations. There is a bibliography and a glossary of terms, important to help you understand some of the German titles and words. And there is an index for quick reference.

Worth noting are the detailed illustrations of castle layouts, battle scene illustrations and some wonderful photography of the actual castles, some intact, others of the remains. Overall, this makes for a fine book to familiarize yourself with the topic or to use as reference to include this in your studies of the time, the castles, or the Teutonic Order. A very good overview of the topic. medievalcrusadesbabe

"Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (1): The Red-brick Castles of Prussia 1230-1466" by Stephen Turnbull and illustrated by Peter Dennis concisely describes various aspects of Teutonic castles that are located in modern-day Poland. The history and transformation of the Teutonic castles from wooden forts to red-brick castles is described. Furthermore, the history of the rise and fall of the Teutonic Knights is covered.

Maps with the location of the Teutonic castles, color and black-and-white photographs of various Teutonic castles, several color illustrations, and a couple of floor plans make a vivid picture of the topic. The color illustrations are fantastic and breathtaking, filling one with awe at the splendor these castles possessed.

First published in 2003, this 64 page book serves as an excellent overview of the history of the Teutonic Knights' castles that are located in modern Poland. The book does discuss some of the Teutonic castles outside of the borders of Poland, however that is not its emphasis. The castles outside of Poland are to be reviewed in part 2 of the book.

I have just reviewed three Osprey books, and found one excellent, one terrible, and this one, which actually is very good but very annoying too. Stephen Turnbull knows his stuff and does writes well, which you expect from an Osprey veteran like him, so this is interesting information on an unusual subject, as far as it goes, I wish I had it when I was visiting Poland where it would have been invaluable. But this book is only half the length is seems. The captions on the pictures and the artwork are simply pasted from the text word for word. The chapters often repeat each other. For a short book this is really frustrating. I think Osprey has become a victim of its own format. Here they cannot talk about the history of the castles as that would be the Campaign series; they cannot talk about the knights themselves as that would be their Warrior series. Instead they just repeat themselves and put in a lot of filler. What a shame, as more maps would have been nice, or larger plans of the castles, or if they could have just made the pictures larger I would have been happy. But the repetition mars a good book; I recommend this book, as there's nothing else like it, but you will grit your teeth often enough.