The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem

461 Pages·2013·44.851 MB·English

by  Claude Reignier Conder

THE LATIN KINGDOM OF
JERUSALEM
The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was the great lost realm of chivalry. Created by the
leaders of the First Crusade at the start of the lih century, it was a feudal state comprised
of Antioch, Edessa, Tripoli, Jerusalem, Jaffa, Ashqelon Krak, Montreal, Sidon and Galilee
that lasted for two hundred years, surrounded by the Muslims of Palestine and Syria. This
classic volume presents a picture of the curious social conditions that resulted from the
establishment of a feudal society amid Oriental surroundings, and traces the growth of
civilization and prosperity during the two centuries of Latin rule. The period is one of the
most interesting in history, and the results of Frank colonisation in Palestine were far
reaching and important. The kingdom's first ruler was Godfrey of Bouillon, the blameless
and comely knight, perfect prince of his age, who died young leaving the throne to his
brother Baldwin. For nearly a century the Latins in Syria enjoyed peace and prosperity
greater than that of most European lands during the same period. It was during this time
that the great churches and castles whose ruins are still to be seen were built. Intermarriage
with natives began to be common and even from the first the Norman princes took
Armenian wives. The knights and nobles spoke Norman-French mixed with Arabic and
wore magnificent clothes, the men in embroidered surcoats and gold collars glittering with
jewels, the ladies in samite and cloth of gold with pearls. The laws of chivalry obtained: to
be brave and true was not enough unless a man were also humble of heart, and courteous
to all, and pure of life, and kind and merciful. Knights and ladies went out to hawk and
hunt or to wander in gardens and orchards. Merchants came to them with rich stuffs;
jongleurs, troubadours musicians and readers of romances performed for them. And when
they dined, the fruits of Syria were followed by spices, preserves and flowers crystallised
in sugar. Among commoners, the many native populations ruled by the Franks - Greeks,
Russians, Turks, Tartars, Armenians, Jews, Arabs, Nubians, Copts and people from every
European nation - came together in peaceful intercourse and commerce. Condor describes
how this golden age came to an end. Jerusalem was captured by Saladin in 1187, leading
to the Third Crusade and Richard Coeur de Lion's recovery of the Syrian coast where the
last Frankish city, Acre, was overwhelmed by the Mamluk Sultan Khalil in 1291. The
Kingdom fell, but a valuable legacy remained. Frankish commerce and conquest had
enriched Italy and educated Europe through learning, trade, art and agriculture. The
foundation of the Renaissance was laid through the conquest of Syria, and the Reformation
was hastened by knowledge gained in the Holy Land. The Kingdom of Jerusalem lives on
at the heart of western culture, and in the pages of this stirring book.
THE AUTHOR
Claude Reignier Condor (1848-1910) was in charge of the Survey of Western Palestine,
the first survey of the southern Levant, on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund. He
spent many years in Palestine, spoke Arabic and was the author of several books on the
region.

THE
LATIN KINGDOM
OF JERUSALEM
BY
C.R.CONDER
~ ~~o~~~~n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published in 2005 by
Kegan Paul International
This edition first published in 20 II by
Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© Kegan Paul, 2005
Transferred to Digital Printing 20 II
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 10: 0-7103-1080-3 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-7103-1080-4 (hbk)
Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be
apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright
holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been
unable to trace.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE ... v.
CHAP, I.-PETER THE HERMIT I
" 11.-THB MARCH 1'0 ANTIOCH ... 28
" III.--THE FOUNDING OF THE KING DO)[ 55
,
IV.-THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM ... 75
" V.-THE Loss OF THE KINGDOM II9
" VI.-'l'HE FRANK LIFE IN PALESTINE 161
" VII.-THE NATIVE LIFE IN PALESTINE 215
VIII.-THE THIRD CRUSADE 251
~·
.,.
lX.-THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY FRANKS 294
" X.-ST. LoUIS 344
XI.-THE TARTARS 366
"
,
XII.-THE Loss OF ACRE ... 386
CONCLUSION 4'4
INDEX 429
B 2
MAPS.
MAP OF WESTERN PALESI'INE SHEWING 'IHE LATIN
FIEFS ••• At md
MAP OF SYRIA \VIT1i CRUSADING NAMES ABOUT 1180
A.D. At md
PREFACE.
THE sources on which we depend for history of the
time of the great Crusades, and which have been used
by Gibbon and Michaud, are well known and accessible.
They include the Chronicles of Foucher of Chartres,
who accompanied Robert of Normandy ( 1095-I 124 A.D.),
and of Raymond d'A giles, who was also present at the
conquest of Antioch, with that of Albert of Aix, and
the great history of William, Archbishop of Tyre, which
was begun in II 82 and closes in II 84.* These I have
read in the great collection of Bongar's Gesta Dei Per
Francos (Hanover, 161 1 ), which also includes the impor
tant description of later events by Jacques de Vi try,
Bishop of Acre, written about 1220 A.n.t The Moslem
accounts include Boha ed Din's life of his master
Saladin about 1200 A.D., and the later works of Kem~l
ed Din, Mejr cd Din, Abu el Feda, and Makrizi, with
El Edrizi's geography about 1 I 50 A.D. The full details
of King Richard's expedition are given in the contem
porary account of J eoffrey de Vinsauf, written about
I 200 A.D. ; and for the Crusade of St. Louis we have
J
oynville's Memoirs, the travels of Rubruquis, and Marco
* Continued by Ernoul, squire of Balian of Ibelin to 1228 A.D., and by
Bernard the Treasurer, who wrote in 1320 A.D.
t He brings down his history to 1218 A.D.
Vl PREFACE.
Polo, all full of vivid pictures of the age. The pilgrim
geographies now published by the Palestine Pilgrim
Texts Society are equally important, and well known ;
and even the later work of Marino Sanuto throws light
on many questions, while the travels of Benjamin of
Tudela explain the condition of the Jews in the East
about u6o A.D. I have not thought it necessary to
give exact citations in every case, where sources so well
known have been consulted.
The object of this volume is, however, not so much
to relate the history of Crusades, as to present a picture
of the curious social conditions which resulted from
the establishment of a feudal society amid Oriental
surroundings, and to trace the growth of civilisation.
and prosperity during the two centuries of Latin rule.
The period is one of the most interesting in history,
and the results of Frank colonisation in Palestine were
far-reaching and important.
A large amount of material also exists, which has not
as yet been utilised fully in treating these questions.*
French antiquaries-and especially Rey-have dili
gently collected the contemporary documents, which
relate to the tenure of land, and to the gifts and sales
to the Church and to the great Military Orders. Herr
Rohricht in Germany has, quite recently, reduced to
chronological order a list of 1,500 docume!lts, of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, which relate to the
* The Crusades, by Archer and Kingsford (1894), is a resume of the
chronicles, and contains little that is new. It cites no authorities, and
makes no use of the recent werks here mentioned.
PREFACE. vii
Kingdom of Jerusalem. The geography of the age was
only imperfectly understood before Palestine was sur·
veyed, and the Norman buildings-churches and castles ·
-have now been planned and photographed, and many
interesting inscriptions collected from them.* It thus
becomes possible to give a picture, both of the country
and af its populations, in the twelfth ana thirteenth cen·
turies, such as could not formerly be drawn; and, though
Rey has done much towards the study of social condi·
tions, the wealth of illustration found in the· works of
J eoffrey de Vinsauf,t J oynville, Rubruquis, and others,
has not as yet been fully utilised, nor arc the peaceful
relations between Franks and Orientals generally recog
nised. These circumstances may perhaps excuse the
present attempt to draw a picture of the Latitt Kingdom
of Jerusalem.
C. R. CONDER.
* The account of the Latin buildings within the limits of Palestine is
taken from the plans and descriptions which I prepared when in command
of the Survey of the country, when also I studied the medireval topography.
The details I have published in the Memoirs to the Survey {six volumes
quarto); but the map of the medireval topography I have since compiled
from the researches of Rey aJ;J.d Rohricht, with additions due to the new
topographical information. The map of Jerusalem which I compiled in
1883 for the Jerusalem Volume of the Memoirs is used in Archer's
Crtuades, p. I 19, as well as my notes on the Citez de Jkermalem. In his
Cnesade of Rickard 1 he adopts the results of my study of the march to
Jaffa, first published in 187 5·
t Sometimes attributed to Canon Richard, of Holy Trinity, London
(who wrote in prose and verse), on the eviuencP. of two passages quoted
hy a fourteenth century writer. One of the MSS., however, bears the name
of the real author. In the same way an attempt was once made to show
that Joynville's Memoir was not authentic.