‘Loca Deserta’, ‘Silvae Condensae’ and ‘Abrupta Montium’: How Crusaders Viewed Nature in the Balkans
The Crusaders who followed Via militaris or Via Egnatia to the Holy Land traversed the vast and more or less unknown region of the Balkans, where they found themselves in an unfamiliar natural environment. This article explores the physical and psychological effects experienced by the Crusaders in t...
| Published in: | Religions |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
MDPI
2023
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| In: |
Religions
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| Further subjects: | B
Crusades
B perception of nature B medieval Balkans B human environmental interaction in the Middle Ages |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The Crusaders who followed Via militaris or Via Egnatia to the Holy Land traversed the vast and more or less unknown region of the Balkans, where they found themselves in an unfamiliar natural environment. This article explores the physical and psychological effects experienced by the Crusaders in this environment as recorded in their chronicles and accounts of pilgrimages. The purpose of this study is to investigate how nature affected the Crusaders and what they thought about it. When chroniclers write about nature in the Balkans, they emphasize its desolation, inaccessibility and remoteness from any established society and civilization. The portrayals of the wild and treacherous environment align with the stories about the Balkan people and their brutish customs, “barbarous” language, and way of life. Overall, these descriptions are based on the contrasting concepts of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’, ‘barbarism’ and ‘civilization’, ‘chaos’ and ‘order’, and so forth. |
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| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel14070830 |