INVESTIGATIONS OF DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE CRUSADES: HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The Crusades have always provoked different reactions of the inhabitants of Europe. The participants of the crusades tried to achieve their own goals – redemption, to escape from a difficult life, opportunities for enrichment, approach to God, spreading political or ecclesiastical power etc. Despite the motives of the participants, which could be really opposite to each other, next generations perceived and reproduced these events differently. If the society of the Enlightenment condemned the Crusades as a manifestation of cruelty and religious fanaticism, the romance of the 19th century glorified the heroes of the movement for devotion, honor, nobility and feats. Scientific studies of the Crusades of the 1950s and 1960s formed the main views on the phenomenon. This was done thanks to a number of scientists – S. Ransiman, K. Setton, J. Riley-Smith etc. They have formed the basic principles of research and created main works that are relevant to our time. Subsequent generations of scholars have rethought a number of views on the history of the Crusades and revealed new aspects of previously unexplored issues. Views on the participation of "younger sons" in the campaigns, religious bigotry as the main factor of the movement, the bloody confrontation with Muslims as the basic principle of the existence of the Crusaders in Outremer were changed. Scientists such as F.Gabrieli, T.Madden, J.Phillips, M.Amin, A.Boas, N.Godgson, N.Christie looked at already known events from other points of view – through the eyes of locals in Outremer and Muslims, women, travellers etc. New studies of the Crusades in terms of race, gender, religion, denominations, symbols, etc. provide a better understanding of the events of the Crusades and shed light on the dark corners of the distant past.