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I know a few of the orders of knights of this time period, but I need to know all of them for this game. The idea is that Knightly Orders will be the kind of 'Roman' factions with the Papacy as the 'Senate'. I have thought about it and think now that this is the best way of including the senate in the game.
Right, this'll be my first task then.
I believe the Knights Hospittaller were still around. I'll go and do a google.
Edit:
Right heres a good site with the names of the various Knightly orders.
Knightly Orders
If you need more gimme a bell and I'll go and do a little more digging.
Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights and Order of the Dragon could be added as a faction I think
Teutonic Knights would only be early period, that's the problem...
OK, I've made my descision, Order of the Dragon, Knights of St. John and Teutonic Knights are to be made as knightly orders.
I'm gonna have to stretch history a bit though and put the Teutonic Knights in the Peak and Late periods though, probably in some German state rather than Prussia. (putting them in Prussia would just ruin the accuracy and gameplay for the Polish)
Well, the Teutonic Order was still existing in 1938. Even today, it's a charity association, mainly working in Austria I think. I don't think it ever got destroyed. Weakened, yes, after many wars against Poland-Lithuania, Hungary and some german stats, but not eliminated.
The Order of the Dragon would OTOH not be really accurate, since it consisted mostly of nobles and kings who sweared to kick the Ottoman empire out of Europe I think. Not really a knight order, but rather something like the Order of the Jarretiere, or however you call it in English.
Meneldil, I've figured out a good way of dealing with this. I'm gonna give Wallachia over to the Order of the Dragon now to clear space, as the Wallachians were probably the biggest members of the order.
I'm opening a poll to decide on which faction the wallachian space will go to.
The Hungarians made up a huge part of the order of the Dragon but they weren't on the same level or structure as the Knights of St John or the Teutonic Order.
The Papacy had little control over these big orders, the latter especially who move who settled there for good after the fall of Acre and latre the brutal suppression of the Knights Templar.
The Teutonic lands were based around Prussia with Marienburg at the centre with Livonia and pomeranian areas with constant warring gaining lands in samogitia. The battle of Puck in 1462 ended most of the power of the Teutonic state( which was not already shattered at Tannenberg in 1410) with the loss of Prussia to the Poles in 1525.
The Hospitillars were obliged to seek refuge, under their grand master, Jean de Villiers, in the Kingdom of Cyprus, where they already has some possessions. King Amaury assigned them as a place of residence the town of Limassol on the coast. Having become islanders, the Hospitallers were obliged to modify their manner of warfare. They equipped fleets to fight the Muslims on the sea and to protect the pilgrims, who had not ceased to visit the Holy Places. But it was chiefly the conquest of the island of Rhodes, under the Grand Master Foulques de Villaret, that brought about a complete transformation of the order.
A most important change in the character of the order was the transformation of the knights into corsairs. The piracy practiced by the Muslims was the scourge of the Mediterranean and especially of Christian commerce. The Knights of Rhodes, on their side, armed cruisers not only to give chase to the pirates, but to make reprisals on the Turkish merchantmen. and with increasing audacity they made descents on the coast and pillaged the richest ports of the Orient
For a great (if somewhat lengthy) read on the Teutonic Knights, get The Teutonic Knights by William Urban. Love it, provides lots of details, anecdotes, and other great stuff.
I agree that the papacy had little control over large orders - a lot of the Teutonic Knights later escapades involved legal battles with the Pope as the Order became more and more like a secular kingdom. After the battle of Tannenburg (1410) the Order was regulated to a second tier power, though it tried to reform itself and go back to its monastic roots. When the Reformation happened, the Order split several ways - some knights gave up monastic life and became land-holding lords, like the Junker families, while the parts of the Order that did not leave lost its military focus and became more like what it is today - a monastic order focused on charitable works.
I don't really know if the Teutonic Knights should be a specific faction or not - maybe just a set of units unique to some German states only trainable in Prussia and Pomerania and that area. This would reflect the increasing secularization of the Order, though it wouldn't do justice to the power the Order had in that region for a long time.
Hey Silver Rusher! Please remind Celtic Winter. I can't wait to get into the team!