INTRODUCTION

There is no doubt that the Teutonic Order was a major player among the powers of the Baltic Sea region in the Middle Ages. To what extent maritime affairs occupied the heads of the decision-makers in this religious military order is, however, not that obvious. The Order was mostly a continental power, concerned with its crusading mission and rule of the countries along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, i.e. Prussia and Livonia, so the share of the Baltic maritime politics in all activities of the Teutonic Order is, at first glance, modest. The Order undertook only one major naval action on the Baltic Sea, when it conquered Gotland in 1398, only to give it up in 1408.

In historical writings the maritime aspects of the activities of the Teutonic Order appear only on the margins. The maritime dimension of the Teutonic Order, if it existed at all, has been seen as intertwined with the Hanseatic League, which dominated the trade on the Baltic Sea in the period under consideration. Furthermore, close cooperation between the Hanseatic League and the Teutonic Order is often considered as a recipe for their mutual success, the breach between them as a cause of the decay for the both.