CFP: Frankish Settlement in the East: Patterns, Evolution and Comparative Studies for Porto Conference

Recent decades have seen enormous advances in our understanding of the complex societies that became established in the East following the Latin conquests. As our knowledge of trade, rural settlement, shared spaces, and acculturation processes (among other aspects) deepened, scholarly discussion has come to differentiate between the Crusades as armed expeditions characterized by a distinct 'crusader spirituality' and life in the 'crusader states', which involved multifaceted spheres of contact between Latins, Eastern Christians and Muslims.

In line with the main themes of the conference, this session aims to explore distinctive patterns of the Frankish settlement in the East, in such diverse fields as economic and commercial activity, spatial distribution and patterns of settlement, urban and rural realities, cultural encounters and acculturation processes, artistic and architectural production, settlement by monks, nuns, and friars, who founded new religious houses or reinforced existing ones, and many more.

We encourage papers which examine the…