Burchard von Schwanden

Burchard of Schwanden, Burkhard, (* 1245 in Bern, † 1310) was the 12th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1282/83 bis 1290th

Burchard came from a patrician family from Bern in Switzerland. He was a monk in Hitzkirch before joining in 1269 the Teutonic Order. 1275 he was commander of Köniz 1277 and rose to the rank of Landkomturs for the German Order Balleien Thuringia and Saxony. In 1282 or 1283 he was elected Grand Master in Acre.

During his reign, the situation of Christians in the Holy Land became critical. The Mamelukes gradually captured a number of towns and castles of the Crusaders, were dashed in 1289, the County of Tripoli and threatened the remaining Kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre his capital. This situation had a serious impact on the religious, who still had his headquarters in Acre, but Burchard was not in a hurry to assist the Crusaders in Outremer, because he was busy with the Ange opportunities in Prussia, Lithuania and the Holy Roman Empire completely.

1287 destroyed large parts of a Lithuanian invasion of Livonia. Burchard 1289 broke on to Rome, where the new boundary lines of the German Order state on the Baltic Sea were grown in the presence of the Pope. Burchard also also called on the Pope Nicholas IV coronation as Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg permission.

Beginning in 1290 Burchard was eventually forced to help the Crusaders in Acre, which threatened a siege by the Mamluk Sultan Qalawun. He led a hastily assembled army to the Holy Land. Shortly after arriving in Acre Burchard came surprisingly from his office, leaving the command of the German Order of Bonlant troops Heinrich, commander of Sicily, and left Acre for unknown reasons. Because of the sudden death of the Sultan Qualawun the attack the Mamluks delayed until well into next year. The city fell after bitter fighting in May 1291, the last possessions of the Order in the Holy Land were thus finally lost.

After he left Acre to Burchard went to all appearances to his relatives in Switzerland, where he joined the Order of St. John. In any case, a Burkhard Schwanden as Commander of St John Heimbach, Buchsee, High Rain, Thun Stetten and Reiden ( near Bern ) is mentioned from 1296. He died in 1310.

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