Интеграционные процессы на Латинском Востоке в XI-XIV вв. (Киликийская Армения в контексте католической культурной зоны)

After the First Crusade against the Levant the Crusade States were created. The four states were: the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Armenian Principality of Cilicia founded before the Crusades in 1080 and granted the status of Kingdom in 1198 was not traditionally included in the Crusade States, i.e. the Outremer States (in French outré-mer signifies overseas, distant lands). However, the cultural expansion of the Crusade States, penetrating the borders of neighbouring Cilician Armenia was unavoidable and natural. The newly emerged military-political conditions in the Levant required the assimilation of novel cultural boundaries and shaping of different cultural dimensions. The new conditions of co-existence entailed expanding the boundaries of the existing cultural-national community as well as understanding of new cultural impulses. Many political, religious figures of Cilician Armenia were influenced by the western world of the “outremer” and the culture of “catholic zone”. Nevertheless, Hethoum of Corycus, the author of “Flor des Estoires de la terre d’Orient”, most vividly highlights the western impact in his works. In Jean Richard’s opinion, the author himself is a “symbol of connection” between the East and the West.