The Population in the
Crusader Kingdoms was Predominantly Muslim
It is a well-known fact that the
crusader states suffered from an almost perpetual shortage of knights necessary
for their defense. It has been estimated that at no time could the four
crusader states muster more than 2,000 secular knights, i.e. knights that lived
in the Holy Land, held fiefs and owed feudal (knights) service to the Kings of
Jerusalem, directly or indirectly. Both
the founding of the powerful militant orders, the Knights Hospitaller and
Knights Templar, and the series of crusades can be traced back to this simple
fact. To defend the sacred places of
Christendom from militant Islam a stream of fighting men from the West was
required. Ten of thousands of fighting
men in Western Europe either dedicated their whole lives to the defense of the
Latin kingdoms by joining the military orders, or they “took the cross” and
came out temporarily on crusade for the same purpose.
The Seal of the Barons of Ibelin shows a Knight wearing the Crusader Cross
This suggests a tiny layer of
Christian ruling elite sitting upon an oppressed and alien population; an image
projected in almost all popular literature about the crusader kingdoms
today. The picture is, however, a
caricature that misrepresents reality.
The number of knights is a poor
measure of the number of Christians in the Holy Land for a number of reasons.
First, the knightly class is always a minority, even in a Christian country. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, no less than in
England or France at this time, the army was composed predominantly of foot-soldiers. Unique to the Holy Land, these foot-soldiers
were supplemented by mounted sergeants (i.e. light infantry). At the decisive battle of Hattin, the
Christian forces have been estimated by military historians at 15,000 men and
1,200 knights.
So where did those 15,000 foot
and light cavalry come from? There were
three primary sources, settlers and their offspring, pilgrims and crusaders. At
any one time, there were able-bodied pilgrims in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
willing to take up arms in the defense of the Holy Land. During crusades there
were even more. But by far the more
important element in the King of Jerusalem’s defensive forces were the large
numbers of Latin Christian settlers, who came out from Western Europe and
stayed permanently, like colonists in later centuries.
There is archeological evidence of entire, new villages, particularly in the southern part of the kingdom as well as settlement in existing cities such as Ceasarea and, of course, Jerusalem itself. These people might be peasants, but were more commonly freemen because serfs had to have the permission of their lords to leave their land. Most Western settlers, therefore, would have been craftsmen with enough means to finance the expensive pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the tradition of mobility not found among serfs or landed peasants. Once in the Holy Land, they started families, either with the wives they brought with them (and it was common for married couples to undertake a pilgrimage together and even more common for settlers to come as families), or with native women. In short, just as in the colonies of the 18th and 19th century, the number of residents descended from the early settlers increased year by year – while continuously being reinforced by new settlers.
There is archeological evidence of entire, new villages, particularly in the southern part of the kingdom as well as settlement in existing cities such as Ceasarea and, of course, Jerusalem itself. These people might be peasants, but were more commonly freemen because serfs had to have the permission of their lords to leave their land. Most Western settlers, therefore, would have been craftsmen with enough means to finance the expensive pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the tradition of mobility not found among serfs or landed peasants. Once in the Holy Land, they started families, either with the wives they brought with them (and it was common for married couples to undertake a pilgrimage together and even more common for settlers to come as families), or with native women. In short, just as in the colonies of the 18th and 19th century, the number of residents descended from the early settlers increased year by year – while continuously being reinforced by new settlers.
Another important source of
Christian manpower was the large and growing enclaves of Italian merchants in
all the ports of the Holy Land. Because
the crusader states were heavily dependent on supplies from the West and fleets
to support campaigns against coastal cities, the Italian city states were granted
wide-ranging privileges in all the crusaders states. The trade between Western
Europe and the fabled “East,” with its silks, spices, ivory, and perfumes etc – was
extremely lucrative, and the various Italian city states vied for dominance,
building up large and luxurious outposts in the various cities of the Levant.
But manpower is only half the
equation. For every Christian fighting
man in the crusader states there were women, children and clerics. The clerics are a particularly important
factor; the Holy Land naturally attracted exceptional numbers of clerical
pilgrims, and the rulers of the Christian states established and endowed Latin
churches, monasteries, convents and ecclesiastical institutions of all kinds.
It can therefore be assumed that 15,000 fighting men were drawn from a
population as a whole of three to four times that many or as many as 60,000
Latin Christians.
But these elements are also only
the tip of the iceberg. Forgotten in too many modern depictions of the crusader
kingdoms is the fact that the Muslims were themselves invaders, who conquered
Christian territories in the mid-seventh century. In the three and half
centuries after the Muslim conquest of the Holy Land many inhabitants undoubtedly
converted to Islam -- but very many did not.
In the County of Edessa and the Principality of Antioch, where Muslim rule was significantly shorter than in the territories of the Kingdom of Jerusalem proper, and the population in these northern crusader states was certainly predominantly Christian – Greek Orthodox and Armenian Christian. In the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, it is harder to guess what proportion of the population was Muslim, but it is absolutely certain that a large minority – if not a majority – of the inhabitants were still Christian. Since there was also still a significant Jewish population as well, the Muslims were thus almost certainly in the minority, albeit a large minority.
In the County of Edessa and the Principality of Antioch, where Muslim rule was significantly shorter than in the territories of the Kingdom of Jerusalem proper, and the population in these northern crusader states was certainly predominantly Christian – Greek Orthodox and Armenian Christian. In the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, it is harder to guess what proportion of the population was Muslim, but it is absolutely certain that a large minority – if not a majority – of the inhabitants were still Christian. Since there was also still a significant Jewish population as well, the Muslims were thus almost certainly in the minority, albeit a large minority.
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