The Knights of the Cross is a 1900 historical novel written by Polish writer and Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz. The novel was written in a time when no Polish state existed, and Poles lived in areas controlled by the German Empire, Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary, in order to encourage Polish confidence against the Germans. It describes a story of a young poor nobleman Zbyszko of Bogdaniec, who is with his uncle Maćko of Bogdaniec returning from the war against the order of the Teutonic Knights, or Knights of the Cross, in Lithuania. In the tavern where they want to spend a night, he falls in love with a girl called Danusia, who is travelling with the court of the Duchess Anna. He promises her to bring her 3 trophies from the Teutonic Knights...