ABSTRACT
In the Rhineland, as in other parts of the Empire, the Teutonic Knights did not begin their expansion until about a generation after their Order was first founded as a field hospital during the siege of Acre in 1190. In a series of articles published between 1962 and 1969, one of the then leading Rhenish regional historians, Herbert Neu, argued that the early spread of the Teutonic Knights in the Rhineland was primarily fostered by their ability to manage hospitals. All the donations of hospitals coincide with the intense propaganda that accompanied the Fifth Crusade. The Teutonic Knights, like the Hospitallers of St John, could argue that their Order as a whole was at least nominally a hospital. The changed attitude of the general public towards crusading forced the Teutonic Knights to reconsider the importance of hospital service. The Teutonic Knights received their early donations as an order of crusaders.
