ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relationship between the Castilian king and the Teutonic Order as a starting point for comparing the roles of the international military orders in mid thirteenth century Castile. Among the Salazar collection of papers in the Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, is a letter from the Teutonic Order addressed to King Alfonso X of Castile. According to Salazar, the document is a fifteenth-century copy of a thirteenth-century original. The letter contains three references to Alfonso X as a German prince. First, it speaks of the German origin of the Order and identifies Alfonso with the German nation. Secondly, we have another appeal to a natural link to the Castilian king's ancestors as founders of the Order. The third reference, which again point out the important role of Alfonso's forefathers as protectors of the Order.
