Свидетелства за рицарски турнири във военната култура на Византия (XIV – XV век)
Evidence of Chivalric Tournaments in the Military Culture of The Byzantine Empire (14th–15th Centuries)

Summary/Abstract: In the age of the Crusades, Western Europe entered an era of upsurge, which became a prerequisite for a large-scale expansion to the East. The Byzantine Empire was also a field of this expansion. Its Orthodox population was directly confronted with the warfare, manners, and culture of the Western armies. Initially in the form of mercenaries and adventurers in the service of the empire, pilgrims and crusaders, and later as conquerors who organised their own Latin dominions in the southern borders of the Balkans, they brought some innovations that influenced the military culture of the local population. Over several centuries, a curious symbiosis between the local Byzantine traditions and those of the Latin West gradually emerged in the sphere of warfare and military culture. This is exemplified by the curious evidence of knightly tournaments and even the participation of Byzantine noble warriors alongside the Frankish knights in such war games organised on the territory of the Byzantine empire and its periphery during the 14th and 15th centuries.

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