Enemies or allies: the Paleologoi and the Nemanjić dynasties in the crusaders’ propaganda treatise Directorium ad passagium faciendum of Pseudo-Brocardus
Enemies or allies: the Paleologoi and the Nemanjić dynasties in the crusaders’ propaganda treatise Directorium ad passagium faciendum of Pseudo-Brocardus

Summary/Abstract: Directorium ad passagium faciendum of Pseudo-Brocardus is not a simple manual for the historical reconquest of the Holy Land to its devoted legitimate and rightful owners, a comprehensive martial strategy and detailed plan for leading a mighty crusade in the Orient, “fruit of more than twenty-four years of residence and of missionary labor in infidel lands”. The text reveals in a most fiery and ardent manner the basic antitheses and oppositions in the crusades propaganda which structure and extrapolate a huge historical, ideological and military battlefield, with two main enemy forces and antagonistic sides: Us – the faithful, the living embodiment of the only legitimate faith, authority and power, and Them – the infidels, the miscreants, the cursed blasphemers and occupiers of the Holy Land and power, over which they have no rights – neither according to the Divine Law, nor to the Human Law. The paper analyzes this morally, historically and legally sensitive treatise, which represents a significant piece of crusade propaganda, and illustrates the attempts to legitimize the pretensions of the Latin aristocracy to the rule of Constantinople. In this respect, its focus is on the Pseudo-Brocardus’ arguments, describing the local dynasties of Serbia and Byzantium as illegitimate rulers from theological, ideological and legal point of view.

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