ABSTRACT
The Teutonic Order has had three principal patrons: Mary as the mother of God, St Elizabeth of Thuringia and St George. The inauguration of the Teutonic Order at Acre (1189–90) is celebrated on 6 February as the solemn Feast of Our Dear Lady of the Teutonic House of Jerusalem, and is followed in the hierarchy of feasts by the Feast of St Elizabeth (19 November), the first female patron, and the Feast of St George (23 April). According to Udo Arnold's research into the liturgical manuscripts of the Middle Ages, 1 the Feast of St Elizabeth had a higher status (totum duplex, with octave and nine lessons), than St George's Day with only nine lessons. These liturgical-historical facts are only true, however, for the second half of the thirteenth century, after Elizabeth had been canonized in 1235 by Pope Gregory IX, only four years after her death. At that time, the Teutonic Order celebrated the feast of St Elizabeth in the same way as Epiphany and the Feasts of the Assumption and the Nativity of the Virgin. However, towards the end of the thirteenth century, and during the fourteenth century, the status of St George began to rise within the Teutonic Order, when, particularly in Prussia, his feast was celebrated as equal to that of St Elizabeth. The circumstances of the conquest of Prussia and the advance towards Latvia and Livonia (after 1283) benefited the celebration of the martial George, and his banner was carried first in front of the army into battle. It was followed by the flag with the image of the Madonna 246and the flag of the Order with the eagle and cross. The connection between the Order's Eastern policy and its increasing interest in the patronage of St George cannot be explored further here; instead, this paper will concentrate upon the bailiwick of Franconia, where the Order's preference for St Elizabeth was strongly connected with the founding of hospitals in the region.
