Abstrak

Kembali

throughout the second half of the seventeenth century, the mediterranean remained the pre-eminent arena for the projection of french power and prestige. a time of considerable change in the government’s mediterranean policies, this period also saw a sustained evolution in french attitudes towards the ottomans, resulting from intensified commercial, diplomatic and cultural contacts. yet older ideas persisted among certain sections of french society. in particular, many among the nobility continued to pursue a religious-chivalric model of their role in the mediterranean. during french expeditions against islamic adversaries in hungary, Crete and north africa in the 1660s, Louis XiV’s government attempted to capitalize on this by frequently invoking the language of holy war. this article offers an examination of the intersection of this ‘crusading’ rhetoric and the evolution of the french state, through the lens of these military engagements and those who were involved in them.