to overcome differences, continue a kind of Convivencia, and, as far as possible, reduce the potential for conflict. Here, encounters have been understood as adaptation, as inspiration and as loan from one culture to another.

Studies on Crusade history, on the other hand, have often focused on the violent side of encounters. One part has delved into practical aspects of warfare, another part into ideological aspects: the theology of indulgence and martyrdom, the creation of a literature illustrating the cruelty of the enemy and a history-writing stressing the unavoidable conflict between cultures.

In this volume, the authors aim to bring together these two very different approaches to understanding encounters in order to broaden both areas and to create a discussion among researchers from different disciplines.