The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-03-14
HISTORY of
Iron Cross
Goes BACK
to CruSades

q HORTLY after the outbreak of the
pan-European war dispatches from
Berlin conveyed the information
that Kaiser Wilhelm had revived the
Order of the Iron Cross and was deco
rating certain officers and soldiers who
mad distinguished themselves on the
french frontier with the insignia 81 the
noble order. The militant crown prince
was one OF the first German officers ~
receive the coveted badge OF honor His
father, who hitherto had tried to hold
the crown princes warlike tendencies in
check, had deemed the sons activities
around Metz worthy of recognition
To many the revival meant nothing for
1t had never existed to their knowledge.
There is little written about it. Never
theless it is one of the oldest military
honor legions in existence.
Although IL is recorded that on March
10, 1913, Frederick William Ill founded
the Order of the Iron Cross, the origin
OF the legion dates back to the CrusadeS.
During the siege of Acre. in 1196. Bar
barossa's army of the Crusaders was az Il
disadvantage in comparison with the
Templars and the Hospitallers. as the .
English and French army orders were
called. The latter had well organized
corps for taking care of the wounded.
sick and dead. The Germans did not.
They fought without shelter medicine,
and with little food
To relieve the situation a company of
ship captains, headed by a certain Wal
pot Won Bassenheim, citizen of Bremen.
was organized to render such assistance
as they could to the fighting Teutons
They used canvas tents for hospitals and
went first under the name of knights
Hospitallers of Our Dear Lady of Mount
Zion" This cumbersome title was later
changed to the German Order of st.
Mary" or "Deutsche Ritter Won der
Marie-Orden," and finally abbreviated to
'Deutsches Ritterthum.
The chivalric order then bound its
members TO fidelity and fOrtitude by
sacred VOW. II became powerful through
rich requests until its main interests
were no longer in Palestine but in
Venice. Here its headquarters were
transferred in a. d. 1920. by Hermann
Won der Salza The order was in great
favor with the pope at the time.
Sixteen years later the Crusaders. 10
longer having to prosecute its message
in the direction of Palestine, turned their
attention to Prussia. Prussia invit
ing the attention OF the order by reason
of the fact that it was frantically anti
Christian. The bishop of Prussia was
only titular: he dared not live in Prus-
STA. He lived in Liefland, among the
Bremen trading settlers.
The titular bishop, worrying over the
anti-Christian state of Prussia, per-
suaded the order to come to Prussia and
convert the Prussians by force. The
work was carried out, the two races
interminsled, and Prussia became thor
oughly Christian.
Since the order had assumed the chiv-
airy of chivalric orders. symbolic en-
blem of a black cross was adopted fer
use on the white cloaks of the members.
The black was supposed to represent the
cross of iron. the metal which was rep
resentative of the grim age in which they
lived. After a while the order acquired
so much honor that the emperor allowed
the members of it TO add the imperial
eagle to their arms, and st. Louis granted
them the feur-de-lis.
There was also a superior decoration
of double size. called the grand cross.
This was reserved for officers of high
rank who had successfully carried out a
campaign. won a decisive battle, or con-
Quoted brave defense.
The insignia of the order as it now
exists is a cross in the shape of cross
pattee much like a Maltese cross or plus
sign, except that the arms OF the cross
become wider as they extend further.
The cross is made of iron with silver
edges and mountings. One side is en-
tirely plain. The other has on its upper
Iimb the initials "F. w." which stand
for Frederick William. Above the I'M
tials is the imperial crown. The center
of the cross bears oak leaves. the mean
ing of which seems to be lost. On the
bottom limb is the date of the founding
of the order, 1913.