Teutonic Order established as a military order
Acre, IsraelBased on the model of the Knights Templar, the Teutonic Order was transformed into a military order in 1198 and the head of the order became known as the Grand Master (magister hospitalis). It received papal orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem for Christianity and defend the Holy Land against the Muslim Saracens. The ceremony in Acre's Temple was attended by the secular and clerical leaders of the Latin Kingdom.