Date of Graduation
2007
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
Committee Chair
Steven Zdatny
Abstract
Scholars have generally ignored the Crusades from the Byzantine perspective with the majority of scholarship focusing on the Western, and more recently, Arabic viewpoints. Western sources from the period such as the Gesta Francorum and the account of Fulcher of Chartres typically portray Alexius I, the Byzantine emperor during the First Crusade, as anti-Western. It is this study’s position that Alexius’s actions derived from a need to protect his people and empire rather than a desire to see the crusaders’ mission fail. By studying the Byzantine perspective, we gain a fuller understanding of the First Crusade and the Crusades as a whole begin to become more comprehensible.
Recommended Citation
Nelson, Laura M., "The Byzantine perspective of the First Crusade: A reexamination of alleged treachery and betrayal." (2007). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 11008.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/11008