ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the causes, modalities and aftermath of the loss of the Order's possessions. It is organized into two sections with the first one describing the case of the bailiwicks of Apulia and Sicily at the end of the fifteenth century and the second describing the expropriation of the commanderies of Bologna, Venice and Padua in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. Among the reasons for the loss there are not only the diminution of prestige of the Teutonic Order, the local evolutions in Italy, the Order's internal difficulties but also the role of some badly intentioned persons, including some unscrupulous brethren of the Order itself.
