A hadizsákmány felhasználása és hasznosulása a keresztes hadjáratok időszakában (1096–1291)

In popular culture, the period of medieval crusades to the Holy land is often portrayed as a symbolic phase of a larger struggle between european christianity and islam – a viewpoint which exists even nowadays. as a result, historical interest in these military undertakings has gained new momentum in recent years. The events between 1096 and 1291 abounded in intrigues, battles, sieges, raids, and various logistical challenges. The challenges of the time encouraged participants to make new technical innovations, thus providing rich research material for historians of the crusades. Within the research, however, the phenomenon of looting and the spoils of war have so far received less attention. This is somewhat surprising since while studying contemporary sources of the era, it seems clear that the importance of raiding and looting was enormous and played a primary role in motivating soldiers, financing armies in the field, and, more often, in the rapid moneymaking strategies of powers that were struggling financially. at the same time, this period provides rich source materials written by Western christian, arab, and Byzantine authors which allow us to address the following questions: 1) How was it possible to maintain the enthusiasm of a medieval army fighting far from their domestic homelands? 2) How could these operations be financed (even partially) from the war itself? 3) What happened to the various movable and immovable valuables, relics and religious artifacts, treasures, war materials, camp equipment, animals, and prisoners which fell into the hands of the victors? Who took possession of the plunder after the battles? did these materials receive a new purpose compared to their previous functions? The central theme of my paper is the use and reuse of spoils of war during the crusades. To answer the above questions, i have collected references to looting and spoils in contemporary sources, as well as some examples of artifacts and treasures that may have survived in collections, so that we can trace the subsequent path of these looted items. It is important to note that studying spoils of war as a phenomenon and the afterlife of these items offers several benefits for historical research. This offer insight not only into the logistics of campaigning, financing of the army, and the possibilities of becoming wealthy from war. Furthermore, it also provides an excellent and novel field of investigation for the increased symbolic significance of the valuables that fell into the hands of the winning parties due to the sharp religious differences between christians and Muslims, and thus for the utilization of these materials with a modified meaning.