Prelude to a stronger involvement in the middle east: french attacks on beirut in the years 1403 and 1520
Abstract
The aim of this article is to explain the evolution of French Levant policy from crusade to diplomacy. Traditionally French policy towards the Levant was dominated by the hope of the Most Christian Kings to re-conquer the Holy Land from the “infidels” until the early sixteenth century. In the course of the sixteenth century this changed and a new approach of treating Muslim powers in the same way as Christian neighbours emerged. The reason why the latter concept became...