A cruzada tardia: um programa de ação das ou para as ordens religioso-militares? = The late crusade: a program of action by or for religious-military orders?

Abstract

The concepts of crusade and religious and military order, although independent from each other, are deeply articulated, above all by the impact of the historical context in the Eastern Mediterranean along the transition between the 11th and 12th centuries, and by the action of Western authorities that created mechanisms that made possible a wide intervention to the East. The changes that took place in the 13th-15th centuries and, in particular, the submission of much of the area of the Eastern Roman Empire to Ottoman power, along with the economic crisis that affected much of Western Europe, reinforced the plan to maintain dominance over distant territories, under the tutelage of the late crusade. The plasticity of the crusade become surprising. This paper deals with the assumption of the late crusade following the failure of the Eastern Latin States, deeply connected to the primitive crusade, considering their mentors and their mobilizing objectives. The crusade and the religious and military orders were consequences of the intercession of certain Eastern circumstances and Western interests. Both were evolved side by side and both were instigated by external forces that considered them as the most efficient and best-adapted representatives to achieve wide goals.