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Byzantium and the Crusades Part I: The Real Rome

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It is easy to conceive of the crusades as a conflict between Latin Christian West and the Muslim Middle East, forgetting that between these two geographic/ religious groupings was the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire. Yet the latter both triggered the crusades and became a victim of them. In a four-part series, I look briefly at the complex role of Byzantium in the crusades, staring today with a look at the Byzantine perspective of the world on the eve of the crusades . Despite its near ubiquitous use, the term “Byzantine Empire” to describe the powerful state that at one time controlled the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, and North Africa is an anachronism. The term was not used until after the demise of this once great empire. During the roughly one thousand years of its existence (ca. 330 to 1453), the residents of the “Byzantine Empire” called themselves “Romans” and the “Byzantine” Emperors viewed themselves as the legitimate successors of the Roman Emperors. Emperor Constan
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Disaster on the Horns of Hattin - July 4, 1187

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The crushing defeat of the feudal army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by Saladin at the Battle of Hattin was one of the most significant disasters in medieval military history.  Christian casualties at the battle were so enormous that the defense of the rest of the Kingdom of Jerusalem became impossible. In consequence, the defeat at Hattin led directly to the loss of the entire kingdom including the city of Jerusalem itself. Today I provide a short analysis of the battle and its significance. Medieval Depiction of the Battle of Hattin, July 4, 1187 The importance of Hattin to contemporaries was not just the magnitude of the defeat, but the unexpectedness of it.   In retrospect, the Muslim victory seems inevitable. Muslim states had always surrounded the crusader kingdom (as they hem in Israel today) and the Muslim rulers had always been able to call on much larger military forces than their Christian opponents.   In the early years of Latin presence in the Holy Land, the divisions a
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