26 Chrissis
level, crusading action in Frankish Greece was dependent on circumstances in
western Europe, where the recruits came from, while it was also influenced by
changing practices across all fronts. In this way, Romania became an integral
part of a European-wide historical phenomenon.
No history of medieval Greece under Frankish rule can be complete without
reference to the crusades, the same way that it would hardly be conceivable
to examine the Middle East or the Baltic in this period without taking into
consideration the relevant crusading activity. At the same time, examining the
developments in Romania provides a fuller understanding of the evolution
of Holy War at large. It is fascinating how the crusade was used against other
Christians in the area in the 13th century, before it was turned to their defence
in the later period. Yet, there are few detailed discussions and even fewer syn-
theses of the crusading activities in that part of the world.6
The first part of the present examination will outline the factual framework
and the major developments of crusading from the 13th to the 15th century.
This will be followed by a thematic exploration of the expeditions and of the
people who were involved in them. The chapter will then conclude with some
observations on the impact of the crusades on the Greek lands.
With regard to the sources, the first port of call should be the papal registers,
given the central role that the papacy had in the organisation and launching
of a crusade, as well as the significant number of documents surviving from
the papal chancery.7 However, caution should be exercised: it is often easy to
6 The magisterial work by Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1572, 4 vols.
(Philadelphia, 1976–84), covers the entire period and is invaluable for the narrative frame-
work with frequent references to crusading, but it does not offer a synoptic or thematic
examination of the subject. The only available overviews of crusading activity in Romania
in the later period are: Deno J. Geanakoplos, “Byzantium and the Crusades, 1261–1354 / 1354–
1453,” in A History of the Crusades, ed. Kenneth M. Setton, 6 vols. (Madison, Wisc., 1969–89),
3:27–68 and 69–103; and the relevant chapters in Norman Housley, The Later Crusades: From
Lyons to Alcazar, 1274–1580 (Oxford, 1992), pp. 49–117. Neither of them, however, covers the
first half of the 13th century. The succinct survey by Wright, “On the Margins,” encompasses
the entire period from the late 11th to the 15th century. The major works dealing with spe-
cific periods or aspects of crusading in Romania will be listed at the corresponding sections
below.
7 A large part of the 13th- and 14th-century papal registers has been published by the
Bibliothèque des Écoles Françaises d’Athènes et de Rome (henceforth befar); very useful is
also the collection of papal letters dealing with the East, in the series Pontificia Commissio
ad Redigendum Codicem Iuris Canonici Orientalis: Fontes, Series 3, ed. Theodosius T.
Haluscynkyj, Aloysius L. Tautu, et al., 15 vols. (Rome, 1935–90) (henceforth pc/cico), cover-
ing the period down to the mid-15th century. In citing these editions, volume numbers have
been omitted, since the letters are numbered consecutively even across multiple volumes.