It has been
estimated that roughly 50% of the Frankish population in the crusader kingdoms
was urban. That represents a much higher proportion than in Western Europe at this
time, and particularly in the post-Hattin era, the majority of noblemen were
dependent on non-agricultural income for their wealth. In short, the degree of
urbanization in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, particularly the 13th
century Kingdom, resembled the Italian city states more than the large western
kingdoms such as England and France. To understand the crusader kingdoms,
therefore, it is important to understand the urban economy.
The Medieval cities of the Holy Land had many covered markets similiar to these in
Acre (left) and Jerusalem (right).
The most
obvious source of wealth was the control of the key ports along the coast of
the Levant which meant the points at which the “riches of the Orient” were
transshipped for export to the increasingly prosperous population of the West.
It was in Beirut and Tyre, Acre and Caesarea, Jaffa and Ascalon that Damascus
steel and Indian spices, Ethiopian incense and Nubian gold, Persian carpets and
Chinese silk, African ivory and Egyptian papyrus were exported to the hungry
markets of Italy, and from there onward to the Holy Roman Empire, France,
Iberia and far off England and Scandinavia.
The port of Acre was the most important in the crusader states.
In addition to
these transshipped items, the crusader kingdoms themselves had a number of
export goods that were highly lucrative. While sugar was probably the most
important bulk commodity, the export of Holy Relics and souvenirs should not be
under-estimated. By some estimates, the population of Jerusalem doubled during
the summer pilgrimage (tourist) season, and all of those pilgrims wanted to
take some mementos home with them as well as gifts for family and friends, just
like modern tourists today.
All those
pilgrims also needed a place to stay and food to eat — and not just in
Jerusalem. The pilgrimage sites included not just obvious sites such as
Bethlehem and Nazareth, but also the site of every moment in Christ’s life as
recorded in the Gospels, and places associated with the Virgin Mary, Mary
Magdalene, and other saints. There was hardly a place in the entire Kingdom of
Jerusalem that could not lay claim to some biblical event of importance, and
devout pilgrims, who ventured so far at such cost and risk, generally stayed
until the fall sailing season, which meant spending roughly six months in the
Holy Land. In short, the pilgrimage “service industry” was in proportion to the
population of the time at least as important as tourism is to Israel today.
The Knights Hospitaller provided hostles, hospices and hospitals for the pilgrims. Above the Hospitaller compound in Acre.
Last but not
least, a large proportion of the Latin settlers were skilled craftsmen. Serfs
could not legally leave their villages and lands (and most probably didn’t want
to), so the pilgrims, whether armed and unarmed, were predominantly men of
higher status: craftsmen, guildsmen, or merchants. They brought their skills
with them, and established themselves in the cities and towns of the crusader
kingdoms, where they worked side-by-side with native craftsmen. Here some of
the most productive if most prosaic of inter-cultural exchanges took place in
the development of dying and cloth-making, leatherworking, gold and silver
workmanship, pottery, carpentry, masonry, glass-working, and all the countless
other skills essential to survival and a high contemporary standard of living.
Based on the
names of the streets alone, it is clear, for example, that Jerusalem had a high
concentration of furriers and tanners, but also gold and silver smiths. Pottery
from the region, glazed on the inside, is known to have been a particularly
popular practical ware, (an early version of Teflon), and that glass-makers and
glass-blowers were renowned. The massive construction projects undertaken
primarily in the mid-12th century, ensured work for carpenters,
masons and sculptors, and the remaining fragments of their work are testimony
to the high quality of their workmanship.
At the
high-end, Jerusalem also exported illustrated manuscripts from a scriptorium
established by the Canons of the Holy Sepulcher. Books produced in such a
sacred place had an added value beyond the high quality of the work, and
undoubtedly represented one of the luxury goods with the highest margins exported
from the crusader kingdoms — albeit, as with all truly valuable, custom made
objects, only in very small quantities.
The crusader
kingdom of Jerusalem, far from being a wasteland inhabited by barbarians, was a
highly cultured, economically dynamic powerhouse.
Learn more about crusader society at: Balian d'Ibelin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Principal sources:
·
Barber,
Malcolm, The Crusader States, Yale
University Press, 2012.
·
Hamilton,
Bernard, The Leper King and His Heirs:
Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University
Press, 2000.
·
Riley-Smith
(ed), The Atlas of the Crusades,
Facts on File, 1990.
·
Conder,
Claude Reignier, The Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem 1099 to 1291, The Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund,
1897.
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