ABSTRACT
Contemporary political experience inclines us to regard the area east of the River Elbe as essentially different from the rest of Europe or the West. Moreover, east-central Europe was the last frontier both for continental expansion of the West into the eastern plains and also for the defence of Europe from the emerging force of the Ottoman Empire. Such medieval ideals as European-Christian solidarity and Latin Christendom remained here politically forceful notions in contrast to western Europe, where the realities of cultural and economic homogeneity were becoming much more significant in delineating borders, loyalties and political action. The notion of crusade and the alternative idea of a European peace organization as pursued in 146264 by King George of Bohemia found considerable sympathy among the people east of the Rhine, while it was hardly taken seriously west of it.
