A question on Teutonic Knights

[Basementboy]

Looking around the internet I've been getting conflicting information on the dress of the "Serving Brothers" of the order (that is, members of non-noble birth) I know that they wore grey while the nobles wore white, but I'm getting differing opinion on whether they wore a latin cross like the rest of the knights, or a tau cross, like the Half Brothers.
If anyone could clear this up that'd be greatly appreciated

[Manu Miniatures]

There is pretty awesome cycle of vids about  day to day life of CrossTeutons around Malbork in late XIII/early XIV century. Unfortunately only in polish and no subs:



Dudes in costumes are historians from Malbok Castle Museum. Costumes based on illuminations from "Apocalypse" by Heinrich von Hesler, writen in mid XIV c.

They talk about garments a lot, short summary:
- Sariants/Serving Brothers - grey mantles with full cross and (I asume) grey surcotes over armour,
- Half Brothers - cloths of "religius hue": nothing bright or fancy, usualy grey/brown/blue/green + "tau cross", they were mostly workers not fighters,
- Knight Brothers and Priest Brothers - habits of "religius hue" with black cross over chest. White mantles with black cross and white surcotes over armour were reserved for Knight Brothers only. A priest could be of a noble birth but he is not  a knight so he can't have white mantle. CrossTeutons that hold an office sometimes wore black habits to mark higher status of that person.

New WGA and Victrix medieval minis look extremly tempting, maybe I'll try dive deeper into Teutonic Order fluff, to hopefully,  prevent inresponsoble purchases

[Inkpaduta]

Pretty sure it was the Tau cross. That is how I have mine painted.

[Basementboy]

There is pretty awesome cycle of vids about  day to day life of CrossTeutons around Malbork in late XIII/early XIV century. Unfortunately only in polish and no subs:



Dudes in costumes are historians from Malbok Castle Museum. Costumes based on illuminations from "Apocalypse" by Heinrich von Hesler, writen in mid XIV c.

They talk about garments a lot, short summary:
- Sariants/Serving Brothers - grey mantles with full cross and (I asume) grey surcotes over armour,
- Half Brothers - cloths of "religius hue": nothing bright or fancy, usualy grey/brown/blue/green + "tau cross", they were mostly workers not fighters,
- Knight Brothers and Priest Brothers - habits of "religius hue" with black cross over chest. White mantles with black cross and white surcotes over armour were reserved for Knight Brothers only. A priest could be of a noble birth but he is not  a knight so he can't have white mantle. CrossTeutons that hold an office sometimes wore black habits to mark higher status of that person.

New WGA and Victrix medieval minis look extremly tempting, maybe I'll try dive deeper into Teutonic Order fluff, to hopefully,  prevent inresponsoble purchases

Thank you so much!!! I'd already gone ahead and painted them with the tau cross, but I'm very happy to have a source to learn from
And you're absolutely right, the new minis look fantastic.

[Basementboy]

There is pretty awesome cycle of vids about  day to day life of CrossTeutons around Malbork in late XIII/early XIV century. Unfortunately only in polish and no subs:



Dudes in costumes are historians from Malbok Castle Museum. Costumes based on illuminations from "Apocalypse" by Heinrich von Hesler, writen in mid XIV c.

They talk about garments a lot, short summary:
- Sariants/Serving Brothers - grey mantles with full cross and (I asume) grey surcotes over armour,
- Half Brothers - cloths of "religius hue": nothing bright or fancy, usualy grey/brown/blue/green + "tau cross", they were mostly workers not fighters,
- Knight Brothers and Priest Brothers - habits of "religius hue" with black cross over chest. White mantles with black cross and white surcotes over armour were reserved for Knight Brothers only. A priest could be of a noble birth but he is not  a knight so he can't have white mantle. CrossTeutons that hold an office sometimes wore black habits to mark higher status of that person.

New WGA and Victrix medieval minis look extremly tempting, maybe I'll try dive deeper into Teutonic Order fluff, to hopefully,  prevent inresponsoble purchases

Thank you so much!!! I'd already gone ahead and painted them with the tau cross, but I'm very happy to have a source to learn from
And you're absolutely right, the new minis look fantastic.

[Basementboy]

My reply posted twice for some reason, apologies for that

[redrob]

Nobody, other than the Brothers were allowed the black latin cross.
Diener were high level servants who were also expected to fight, they were not members of the order, but paid by the order.  They wore the Halbkreuz on their person and the arms of the order on their shields.
Halbkreuzbruder as their name suggests also wore the St Antony cross, but bore their own arms in battle

[Tonhel]

Knights = white surcoat/mantle black cross.
Sergeants =  Grey surcoat and black cross. No Tau shaped cross.

Sariant-Brothers
The Sariant-Brothers (“Serving Brothers”; German: Sariantbrüder) of the Teutonic Order, called Gray Cloaks (German: Graumäntler) by the color of their clothes, were recruited from commoners, but nonetheless were full members of the Teutonic Order. In wartime they performed the functions of sergeants, analogous to modern non commissioned officers, leading militia units from the lands belonging to the Order or mercenary units. They fought not only on foot, but also in mounted formation. It was the Sariant-Brothers who made up the bulk of the Order’s army.
According to The Rule and Statutes of the Teutonic Knights, in peacetime Sariant-Brothers occupied lower administrative positions than Knight-Brothers.
The military outfits of Sariant-Brothers were similar to those of Knight-Brothers, with the difference that their surcoats and cloaks were gray. The armament of Sariant-Brothers (swords, spears, daggers, battle axes, maces) was good, comfortable and of high quality, almost in no way inferior to those of Knight-Brothers.
Speaking about Sariant Brothers uniforms, the following should be noted.
There is a widespread mistaken idea that Sariant-Brothers of the Teutonic Order wore a Tau-shaped Cross on their gray surcoats and cloaks. In reality, those Sariant-Brothers, who, like Knight-Brothers, joined the Order along with all their property (movable and immovable) and took the same three monastic lifelong vows of poverty, obedience and chastity as Knight-Brothers, were full members of the Order (although not of noble birth) and therefore they rightfully wore a full Latin Cross on their clothes. They wore the same cross on their shields, which, unlike their clothes, were painted not in gray, but in white, like those of the Knight-Brothers. A Tau-cross was worn not by Sariant-Brothers, but by those who will be described below.
Half-Brothers
There was another, completely different, category of members of the Teutonic Order, the so-called Half-Brothers (German: dienende Halbbrüder; dienende Brüder). They were pious Christians who joined the Order along with all their property and took three monastic vows, but were not obliged to perform military service, but were involved in economic activity of the Order’s estates and trading stations: agriculture, cattle breeding, handicrafts, trade (for example, marketing of amber, fish, grain, livestock, etc.). They were just those who wore a Tau-cross on their clothes.
Half-Brothers had the right not to take abovementioned lifelong vows, but a temporary vow to serve the Order.
They were called to arms by the Order only in the most extreme cases, for example, in the case of a sudden attack by an enemy on the Order’s possessions in which these Half-Brothers were working, or in the case of an acute shortage of manpower (for example, after a serious defeat of the Order’s troops that had suffered heavy losses). At the usual time, Half-Brothers were freed from military service and were not listed in the Order’s forces.

[Basementboy]

Well there you are- looks like I have some repainting to do...