a military order of knights, established towards the close of the twelfth century, and thus called as consisting chiefly of Germans or Teutons. The origin, &c. of the Teutonic order, is said to be this, The Christians, under Guy of Lusignan, laying siege to Acre, or Acon, a city of Syria, on the borders of the Holy Land, some Germans of Bremen and Lubec, touched with compassion for the sick and wounded of the army, who wanted common necessaries, set on foot a kind of hospital under a tent, which they made of a ship's sail, and here betook themselves to a charitable attendance on them. This started a thought of establishing a third military order, in imitation of the templars and hospitalers. The design was approved of by the patriarch of Jerusalem, the archbishops and bishops of the neighbouring places, the king of Jerusalem, the masters of the temple and hospital, and the German lords and prelates then in the Holy Land, and pope Calixtus III. confirmed it by his bull, and the new order was called the order of the Teutonic knights of the house of St. Mary at Jerusalem. The pope granted them all the privileges of the Templars and Hospitalers of St. John, excepting that they were to be subject to the patriarchs and other prelates, and that they should pay tithe of what they possessed.