Lapina, Elizabeth (2009) St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki: Patron
Saint of Crusaders. Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies ,
40 (2). pp. 93-112. ISSN 0083-5897. |The full text of this
publication is not available from this repository. (Contact us
about this Publication)| The article examines the emergence of
St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki as a patron saint of crusaders,
focusing on the narratives of his intervention in the Battle of
Antioch (28 June 1098), one of the most important military
encounters of the First Crusade. The main argument is that the
inclusion of quintessentially Eastern saints such as Demetrius
in the narratives of the miracle served to solidify the claim of
Bohemond of Toranto to Antioch and to undermine those of the
Byzantine emperor Alexius. The article also traces several other
attempts to “appropriate” St. Demetrius, both in Western and in
Eastern Europe, from the ninth through the fifteenth century,
and attempts to explain them in the context of rivalry with
Byzantium. |Uncontrolled