Latins (Middle Ages)
Latin was a common demonym for supporters of the Latin Church or Western Christianity , especially in the Middle Ages . The term was used for Germanic , Italian and Slavic ethnic groups regardless of ethnicity . The term is to be understood as a distinction to followers of Orthodox churches and was used in the Byzantine Empire and further Eastern Christianity for all peoples who adhered to the Roman Catholic Church . In particular, since the Oriental Schism in 1054, the term had a negative connotation there.
The term was used in particular for:
- The traders from Venice , Genoa and other Italian maritime trading cities, who had established branches in Constantinople , for example , and represented a significant power factor there due to their economic strength - and thus became a constant target of pogroms by the local population.
- The crusaders and their principalities established in the eastern Mediterranean such as the Latin Empire in Constantinople and the crusader states in the Levant .
The Latins, especially in the Middle East , were alternatively and synonymously called Franks .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Gesta Francorum? - Ethnic terminology in the historiography of the Crusader States. In: Timo Kirschberger: First Crusade and Ethnogenesis. In novam formam commutatus - Ethnogenetic Processes in the Principality of Antioch and in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 3847004328 , Chapter 3, p. 75 ff.