THE CRUSADES IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF RUSSIAN EMPIRE

Abstract

The Crusades were scrutinised in Russian historiography when Panslavism came to the forefront and the original and detailed views about the Fourth Crusade were proven. Vasilyevskiy, Uspenkiy, Egorov, and several other Russian historians studied The Crusades, focusing on the reason of their occurence. As for the reason of crusades during the 11th century, Vasilyevskiy and Uspenkiy. states that Byzantine was subject to the severe Turkish raids both from the West and the East. Russian historians studied The Crusades from different perspectives by criticizing the old-fashinoed views of Western European researchers. Furthermore, by breaking the crusades from "God's dignity" aureole, they attempted to prove that the crusades were introduced in the scope of chivalry and imperialist aspirations as well as the desires of the kinds and princes of Western European countries.