The Knights of the Cross
Cover page of the 1900 print
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| Author | Henryk Sienkiewicz |
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| Original title | Krzyżacy |
| Country | Poland |
| Language | Polish |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Tygodnik Illustrowany (serial) Wł. Anczyc & Co. Press (first novel) |
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Publication date
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1900 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| OCLC | 751659 |
The Knights of the Cross or The Teutonic Knights (Polish: Krzyżacy) is a 1900 historical novel written by the eminent Polish Positivist writer and the 1905 Nobel laureate, Henryk Sienkiewicz. Its first English translation was published in the same year as the original.
The book was serialized by the magazine Tygodnik Illustrowany between 1897–1899 before its first complete printed edition appeared in 1900. The book was first translated into English by Jeremiah Curtin, a contemporary of Henryk Sienkiewicz.The Teutonic Knights had since been translated into 25 languages. It was the first book to be printed in Poland at the end of the Second World War in 1945, due to its relevance in the context of Nazi German destruction of Poland followed by mass population transfers. The book was made into a movie in 1960 by Aleksander Ford.
The novel was written by Sienkiewicz in 1900, when the Polish state—after being partitioned between Russian, Austrian and German empires at the end of the 18th century—did not exist, and the majority of Poles were living in the Russian occupation zone named Vistula Land, formerly Congress Poland. One of Sienkiewicz's goals in writing The Knights of the Cross was to encourage and strengthen Polish national confidence against the occupying powers. In order to circumvent the Russian censorship, he placed the plot in the Middle ages, around Prussia (region) and the State of the Teutonic Order.
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