Magánharc (fehde), bosszúállás és erőszak a Német Lovagrend államában
Feud (fehde), Vengeance and Violence in the State of the Teutonic Order

Summary/Abstract: There exist several sources which attest that the Order prohibited private war and vengeance, and in all cases which menaced to erupt into a major conflict reserved the right of jurisdiction for itself. On the other hand, the chronicles and charters do relate cases which can be identified as private wars despite the official ban put on the feud. Most commonly it was offences, quarrels about land or cases of disputed inheritance opposing local landlords and bishops or chapters which led to mutual recourse to arms and the consequent acts of violence. Sometimes it also happened that a landowner turned on account of a real or presumed injury against the Order itself, which represented the power of the state. The sources make frequent references to the armed retinues (familia) of individual lords, on which they could rely in case of an armed conflict. This practice must evidently have played an important role in the decision taken by the Order in 1408 and 1420 to prohibit all people from travelling in the country with an armed escort of more than ten retainers.

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