Kingdom of Jerusalem
From Open Encyclopedia
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| Image:Crusaderstates.jpeg | |||||
| Official language | Latin, French, Italian, and other western languages; Greek and Arabic also widely spoken | ||||
| Capital | Jerusalem, later Acre | ||||
| Constitution | Various laws, so-called "Assizes of Jerusalem" | ||||
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 by the First Crusade. It was finally destroyed in 1291 with the fall of Acre.
Contents |
Foundation and early history
The First Crusade was preached at the Council of Clermont in 1095 by Pope Urban II, with the goal of assisting the Byzantine Empire against the invasions of the Seljuk Turks. Very soon, however, the capture, or recapture as the participants saw it, of the Holy Land became the main objective. The kingdom came into being with the capture of Jerusalem in July of 1099, the climax of the crusade. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine and one of the main leaders of the crusade, was chosen as the first king. He refused, however, to take this title, saying that no man should wear a crown where Christ had worn his crown of thorns; instead, he took the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri ("Defender of the Holy Sepulchre"). The foundation of the kingdom was secured with the defeat of Fatimid Egypt at the Battle of Ascalon one month later.
There was initially some uncertainty as to the nature of the kingdom. Some crusaders thought it should be ruled as a theocracy by the Pope, an idea the papal legate Daimbert of Pisa tried to impose in 1100. Godfrey may have supported this, and would have exchanged a theocratic kingdom in Jerusalem for a secular one in Cairo if he could conquer Egypt, but during his short reign the rudiments of a secular state were established against Daimbert's efforts. A Catholic church hierarchy was established, replacing local Eastern Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox authorities: a Latin Patriarch was set up in Jerusalem, and had numerous suffragan archbishops and bishops. Godfrey, however, died in 1100, and his brother and successor, Baldwin I, more definitely supported a secular monarchy in the western European style. Baldwin was not as scrupulous as his brother, and had himself crowned King of Jerusalem (though Daimbert, now Latin Patriarch, refused to crown him in Jerusalem itself, and the ceremony took place in Bethlehem).
Baldwin successfully expanded the Kingdom, capturing the port cities of Acre (1104), Beirut (1110), and Sidon (1111), while also exerting his suzerainty over the other Crusader states to the north - the County of Edessa (which he had founded), the Principality of Antioch, and, after Tripoli was captured in 1109, the County of Tripoli. He successfully defended against Muslim invasions, from the Fatimids at the numerous battles at Ramla and elsewhere in the southwest of the kingdom, and from Damascus and Mosul in the northeast in 1113. He also saw an increase in the numbers of Latin inhabitants, as the minor crusade of 1101 brought reinforcements to the kingdom. The Italian city-states of Venice, Pisa, and Genoa also began to play a role in the kingdom. Their fleets assisted in the capture of the ports, where they were given their own autonomous trading quarters. He also repopulated Jerusalem with native Christians, after his expedition across the Jordan in 1115. The kingdom would however never overcome its geographic isolation from Europe, nor push its borders east to create an easily defensible front. For almost its entire history the kingdom was confined to the narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River; land beyond this was subject to constant raiding and warfare. The kingdom's population centres could also easily be isolated from each other in the event of a major invasion, which eventually led to the kingdom's downfall in the 1180s.
Baldwin died without heirs in 1118, and was succeeded by his cousin, Baldwin of Le Bourg, Count of Edessa. Baldwin II was also an able ruler, and he too successfully defended against Fatimid and Seljuk invasions. During his reign the first military orders were established, and the boundaries of the kingdom continued to expand, with the city of Tyre captured in 1124. The influence of Jerusalem was further extended over Edessa and Antioch, where Baldwin II acted as regent when their own leaders were killed in battle, although Baldwin himself was defeated and imprisoned by the Seljuk Turks several times throughout his reign, leading to regency governments in Jerusalem as well. Baldwin's daughters were also married into the families of the Count of Tripoli and Prince of Antioch, while in Jerusalem his eldest daughter Melisende was his heir and succeeded him upon his death in 1131.
Life in the kingdom
Image:Jerusalemcrusades.jpeg The Latin population of the kingdom was always small; although a steady stream of settlers and new crusaders continually arrived, most of those who fought in the First Crusade simply went home. The Latins were little more than a superstrate over the native Muslim and Syrian population. But Jerusalem came to be known as Outremer, the French word for "overseas," and as new generations grew up in the kingdom, they also began to think of themselves as native easterners, rather than immigrants. Thus, in many senses, they behaved and thought more like "orientals" (Syrians) than like Western Europeans of their day. They often learned to speak Greek, Arabic, and other eastern languages, and married Greeks or Armenians: as the chronicler Fulcher of Chartres wrote, "we who were Occidentals now have been made Orientals".
Fulcher, a participant in the First Crusade, continued his chronicle up to 1127. Thereafter there is no eyewitness to events in Jerusalem until William of Tyre, archbishop of Tyre and chancellor of Jerusalem, who began writing around 1167 and died around 1184, although he includes much information about the First Crusade and the intervening years from the death of Fulcher to his own time. From the Muslim perspective, there is Usamah ibn Munqidh, a soldier and frequent ambassador from Damascus to Jerusalem and Egypt, whose memoirs, Kitab al i'tibar, include lively accounts of crusader society in the east. Other information can be gathered from travellers such as Benjamin of Tudela and Ibn Jubayr.
Demographics
The kingdom was essentially based on the feudal system of contemporary western Europe, but with many important differences. First of all, the kingdom was situated within a relatively small area, with little agricultural land. Since ancient times it had been an urban economy, unlike medieval Europe; in fact, although the nobility technically owned land, they preferred to live in Jerusalem or the other cities, closer to the royal court. As in Europe the nobles had their own vassals and were themselves vassals to the king. However, agricultural production was regulated by the Muslim equivalent of the feudal system (the iqta), and this system was not disrupted by the Crusaders. Although Muslims (as well as Jews and Eastern Christians) were persecuted somewhat in the cities (and were at first not allowed in Jerusalem at all), in rural areas they continued to live as they had before. The rais, the leader of a Muslim community, was a kind of vassal to whatever noble owned his land, but as the crusader nobles were absentee landlords the rais and their communities had a high degree of autonomy. They grew food for the Crusaders, but owed no military service as vassals would have in Europe; likewise, the Italian city-states owed nothing despite living in the port cities. As a result, crusader armies tended to be small, and drawn from the French families of the cities. The greatest problem for the crusaders was that although many soldiers and pilgrims came and went, for the most part they did not stay. This meant that a stable Western society could never be effectively built and that a minority of Westerners would be forced to govern a large and very foreign population of Arabs and Syrians, who could not be relied upon for manpower.
The problem of lack of manpower was solved to some extent by the creation of the military orders. The Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller were both formed in early years of the kingdom, and they often took the place of the nobles in the countryside. Although their headquarters were in Jerusalem, the knights themselves often lived in vast castles and bought land that the other nobles could no longer afford to keep. The military orders were under the direct control of the Pope, however, not the king; they were essentially autonomous and technically owed no military service, though in reality they participated in all the major battles.
In the 13th century, John of Ibelin drew up a list of fiefs and the number of knights owed by each; unfortunately this probably reflects the 13th-century kingdom, not the 12th, and gives no indication of the non-noble, non-Latin population.
Economy
The urban composition of the area, combined with the presence of the Italian merchants, led to the development of an economy that was much more commercial than it was agricultural. Palestine had always been a crossroads for trade; now, this trade extended to Europe as well. European goods, such as the woolen textiles of northern Europe, made their way to the Middle East and Asia, while Asian goods were transported back to Europe. Jerusalem was especially involved from the silk, cotton and spice trade; other items that first appeared in Europe through trade with crusader Jerusalem included oranges and sugar, the latter of which chronicler William of Tyre called "very necessary for the use and health of mankind." The Italian city-states made enormous profits from this trade, and it influenced their Renaissance in later centuries.
Jerusalem also collected money through tribute payments, first from the coastal cities which had not yet been captured, and later from other neighbouring states such as Damascus and Egypt, which the crusaders could not conquer directly. After Baldwin I extended his rule over Oultrejordain, Jerusalem also gained revenue from the taxation of Muslim caravans passing from Syria to Egypt or Arabia. The money economy of Jerusalem meant that their manpower problem could be partially solved by paying for mercenaries, an uncommon occurrence in medieval Europe. Mercenaries could be fellow European crusaders, or, perhaps more often, Muslim soldiers, including the famous Turcopoles.
Education
Jerusalem was the centre of education in the kingdom. There was a school in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the relative wealth of the merchant class meant that their children could be educated there along with the children of nobles - it is likely that William of Tyre was a classmate of future king Baldwin III. The basic skills of reading and writing Latin were taught at the school in the Holy Sepulchre, but higher education had to be undertaken at one of the universities in Europe; the development of a university was impossible in the culture of crusader Jerusalem, where learning the art of warfare was far more important than learning philosophy or theology. There were, however, a number of European-educated scholars in the kingdom, including William of Tyre and other canon lawyers; the study of the law, history, and other academic subjects was a beloved pastime of the royal family. Jerusalem also had an extensive library not only of medieval Latin works but also of Arabic literature, much of which was apparently captured from Usamah ibn Munqidh and his entourage during a raid in the 1150s. The Holy Sepulchre also contained the kingdom's scriptorium, where royal charters and other documents were produced.
Art and architecture
In Jerusalem itself the greatest architectural endeavour was the expansion of the the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in western Gothic style. This expansion consolidated all the separate shrines on the site into one building, and was completed by 1149. Outside of Jerusalem, castles and fortresses were the major focus of construction: Kerak and Montreal in Oultrejordain and Ibelin near Jaffa are among the numerous examples of crusader castles.
Crusader art was a mix of Western, Byzantine, and Islamic styles. Aside from church paintings and mosaics, the foremost example of crusader art is the Melisende Psalter, commissioned between 1135 and 1143 and now located in the British Library.
Government and legal system
Image:Tower of david jerusalem.jpg Immediately after the First Crusade, land was distributed to loyal vassals of Godfrey, forming numerous feudal lordships within the kingdom. This was continued by Godfrey's successors. The king was also assisted by a number of officers of state. Because the nobles tended to live in Jerusalem rather than on estates in the countryside, they had a larger influence on the king than they would have had in Europe. The nobles formed the haute cour (high court), one of the earliest forms of parliament that was also developing in western Europe. The court consisted of the bishops and the higher nobles, and was responsible for confirming the election of a new king (or a regent if necessary), collecting taxes, minting coins, allotting money to the king, and raising armies. The haute cour was the only judicial body for the nobles of the kingdom, hearing criminal cases such as murder, rape, and treason, and simpler feudal disputes such as recovery of slaves, sales and purchases of fiefs, and default of service. Punishments included forfeiture of land and exile, or in extreme cases death. The first laws of the kingdom were, according to tradition, established during Godfrey of Bouillon's short reign, but were more probably established by Baldwin II in 1120, although no written laws survive from earlier than the 13th century (the so-called Assizes of Jerusalem).
There were other, lesser courts for non-nobles and non-Latins; the Cour des Bourgeois provided justice for non-noble Latins, and special courts such as the Cour de la Fond and the Cour de la Mer existed for merchants in the coastal cities. Islamic courts continued to function, as did courts for eastern Christians, although for capital crimes they too would be tried in the Cour des Bourgeois (or even the Haute Cour if the crime was sufficiently severe).
The king was recognized as head of the Haute Cour, although he was legally only primus inter pares. The king and the royal court were normally located in Jerusalem, but the king just as often held court at Acre, Nablus, Tyre, or wherever else he happened to be. In Jerusalem, the royal family lived in the palace complex surrounding the Tower of David, or alternately on the Temple Mount, where the Knights Templar also had their headquarters.
Jerusalem in the mid-12th century
Image:Holy sepulchre exterior.jpg Baldwin II was succeded in 1131 by his daughter Melisende, who ruled jointly with her husband Fulk, the former Count of Anjou. During their reign Jerusalem exercised its greatest economic and artistic expansion. Fulk, a renowned military commander, was faced with a new and more dangerous enemy - the Atabeg Zengi of Mosul. Although Fulk held off Zengi throughout his reign, William of Tyre criticized Fulk for not securing the borders; the northern crusader states were also beginning to resent Jerusalem's suzerainty and fought back against Fulk. Fulk died in a hunting accident in 1143, and Zengi took advantage of his death by successfully conquering the County of Edessa in 1144. Queen Melisende, now regent for her elder son, Baldwin III, appointed a new constable, Manasses of Hierges, to head the army after Fulk's death, and a Second Crusade arrived by 1147.
Meeting in Acre in 1148, the crusading kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany decided to attack the friendly Emir of Damascus, with whom peace had been established during the reign of Fulk in order for both states to avoid the advances of Zengi and his son and successor Nur ad-Din. The western crusaders saw Damascus as an easy target, and young Baldwin III, perhaps eager to impress the famous European monarchs, agreed with their plan. This was in direct opposition to the advice of Queen Melisende and constable Manasses, as they and the other crusader states saw Aleppo as the main target that would allow for the recapture of Edessa. The crusade ended in defeat by 1148 with the disastrous Siege of Damascus.
Melisende continued to rule as regent long after Baldwin came of age, until her government was overthrown by Baldwin in 1153: the two agreed to split the kingdom in half, with Baldwin ruling from Acre in the north and Melisende ruling from Jerusalem in the south, but both knew that this situation was untenable. Baldwin soon invaded his mother's possessions, defeated Manasses, and besieged his mother in the Tower of David in Jerusalem. Melisende surrendered and retired as regent, leaving Baldwin the sole monarch, but Baldwin appointed her his regent and chief advisor the next year. Baldwin III then conquered Ascalon from the Fatimids, the last Egyptian outpost on the Palestinian coast. At the same time, however, the overall crusader situation became worse, as Nur ad-Din succeeded in taking Damascus and unifying Muslim Syria under his rule.
Baldwin III made the first direct alliance with the Byzantine Empire, marrying Theodora Comnena, a niece of emperor Manuel I Comnenus; Manuel also married Baldwin's cousin Maria. But Baldwin died childess in 1162, a year after his mother Melisende, and the kingdom passed to his brother Amalric I. Amalric's reign was characterized by competition with Nur ad-Din and his wily some-time subordinate Saladin over control of Egypt. Amalric's first expedition to Egypt came in 1163, and a long series of alliances and counter-alliances between Amalric, the viziers of Egypt, and Nur ad-Din led to four more invasions by 1169. The Egyptian campaigns were supported by Emperor Manuel, and Amalric married another niece of the emperor, Maria Comnena, although a full Byzantine-Crusader invasion was never implemented. Amalric ultimately failed in his bid to conquer Egypt. In the end, Nur ad-Din was victorious and Saladin established himself as Sultan of Egypt. The death of both Amalric and Nur ad-Din in 1174 ensured the dominance of Saladin, whose power soon spread over Nur ad-Din's Syrian possessions as well, completely surrounding the crusader kingdom.
Disaster and recovery
Image:Salah ad-Din Jusuf ibn Ajub.jpg Amalric was succeeded by his young son, Baldwin IV, who was discovered at a very young age to be a leper. During Baldwin's reign the kingdom began to collapse internally, as family and marriage alliances developed into two competing factions. One of these, the "court party", was centred around the royal family and was led by Baldwin IV's mother, Amalric's first wife Agnes of Courtenay, who had much influence over the reign of her leprous son. Agnes was supported by a number of relative newcomers to the kingdom, including Raynald of Chatillon, Guy of Lusignan, and Amalric of Lusignan, to whom she gave political patronage. Agnes was also supported by Heraclius, archbishop of Caesarea and later Patriarch. The second faction, the "nobles' party", was led by Count Raymond III, who tended to be supported by the long-established nobility of the kingdom, descendants of the original crusaders, such as the Ibelin family. As a leper, it was obvious that Baldwin would never produce an heir, so the focus of his succession passed to his sister Sibylla. Raymond of Tripoli, who served as regent at the beginning of Baldwin's reign, married Sibylla off to William of Montferrat, who impregnated her with the future Baldwin V and promptly died. Meanwhile the nobles' party gained a powerful ally in Baldwin IV's step-mother Maria, who married Balian of Ibelin.
Baldwin IV reached the age of majority in 1176, and despite his illness he no longer had any legal need for a regent. As king, he defeated Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard in 1177, giving Jerusalem a few year's respite from Saladin's continual attacks. By 1180 Baldwin's health was failing again, and Sibylla was married off for a second time, to Agnes' client Guy of Lusignan, who was also made regent of the kingdom. This was opposed by the nobles' party, who considered Guy incompetent and refused to follow him into battle. In 1183 Raymond and the nobles had Sibylla's son Baldwin V crowned as co-king; it was decided that when Baldwin IV died, his nephew would succeed him, passing over Sibylla and Guy entirely.
Baldwin IV died in 1185, and Baldwin V became king with Raymond as regent. The succession crisis had prompted a mission to the west to seek assistance: in 1184, Patriarch Heraclius travelled throughout the courts of Europe, but no help was forthcoming. The chronicler Ralph Niger reports that his enormous retinue and opulent dress offended the sensibilities of many westerners, who felt they were not befitting a patriarch; surely if the east was so wealthy, no help was needed from the west. Heraclius offered the kingship to both Philip II of France and Henry II of England; the latter, as a grandson of Fulk, was a first cousin of the royal family of Jerusalem, and had promised to go on crusade years before after the murder of Thomas Becket, but he preferred to remain at home to defend his own territories. According to Ralph Heraclius also offered the crown to any other prince he came across, but none were interested.
Baldwin V was a sickly child and he too died within a year. The kingdom passed to his mother Sibylla, on the condition that her marriage to Guy be annulled; she agreed, if only she could chose her own husband next time, and after being crowned, immediately chose to remarry Guy. The nobles' party had been outsmarted, and they attempted a coup, in order to place Baldwin IV and Sibylla's half-sister Isabella on the throne, with her husband Humphrey IV of Toron. Humphrey, however, did not want to cause a civil war, and defected to the royal faction. Disgusted, Raymond returned to Tripoli, and other nobles, such as Baldwin of Ibelin, also left the kingdom.
Loss of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade
Guy proved a disastrous ruler. His close ally Raynald of Chatillon, the lord of Oultrejourdain and of the fortress of Kerak, provoked Saladin into open war by attacking Muslim caravans and threatening to attack Mecca itself. To make matters worse, Raymond had allied with Saladin against Guy and had allowed a Muslim garrison to occupy his fief in Tiberias. Guy was on the verge of attacking Raymond before Balian of Ibelin and the nobles' party effected a reconciliation in 1187, and the two joined together to attack Saladin at Tiberias. However, Guy and Raymond could not agree on a proper plan of attack, and on July 4, 1187, the army of the Kingdom was utterly destroyed at the Battle of Hattin. Raynald was executed and Guy was imprisoned in Damascus. Over the next few months Saladin easily overran the entire Kingdom, save for the port of Tyre, which was ably defended by the newcomer Conrad of Montferrat.
The subsequent fall of Jerusalem in October shocked Europe, resulting in the Third Crusade, which arrived in 1189, led by Richard Lionheart and Philip Augustus (Frederick Barbarossa had died along the way). Due to the efforts of Richard, most of the coastal cities of Syria were recovered, especially Acre, although only after a lengthy siege during which Patriarch Heraclius, Queen Sibylla, and many others died in an epidemic. Guy of Lusignan, who had been refused entry to Tyre when Conrad was defending the city, now had no legal claim to the kingship, and the succession passed to Isabella. Conrad shrewdly argued that Isabella and Humphrey's marriage was illegal, as she had been only 11 years old at the time, and with the support of Philip and the French crusaders he was able to have the marriage annulled. Conrad then married her himself, but ruled the rump state only briefly before being murdered by the Hashshashin. Isabella was quickly re-married to Count Henry II of Champagne. Guy was compensated with the newfound Kingdom of Cyprus, after Richard had captured the island on the way to Acre.
Meanwhile, Richard and Philip quarrelled, and Philip returned home. Richard defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191 and the Battle of Jaffa in 1192, but could not recover Jerusalem or any of the inland territory of the kingdom. The crusade came to an end peacefully, with the Treaty of Ramla negotiated in 1192; Saladin allowed pilgrimages to be made to Jerusalem, allowing the crusaders to fulfill their vows, after which they all returned home. The native crusader barons set about rebuilding their kingdom from Acre and the other coastal cities.
The Kingdom of Acre
For the next hundred years, the Kingdom of Jerusalem clung to life as a tiny kingdom hugging the Syrian coastline. Its capital was moved to Acre and at best, it included only a couple of other significant cities (Beirut, Tyre), as well as suzerainty over Tripoli and Antioch. Saladin died in 1193, and his sons fought with each other as much as they did with the crusader kingdom. Henry of Champagne died accidentally in 1197 and Isabella married for a fourth time, to Amalric of Lusignan, Guy's brother. A Fourth Crusade was planned after the failure of the Third, but it resulted in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and the crusaders involved never arrived in the kingdom. Image:Al-Kamil Muhammad al-Malik and Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor.jpg Isabella and Amalric died in 1205 and again an underage girl, Isabella and Conrad's daughter Maria of Montferrat, became queen of Jerusalem. In 1210 Maria was married to an experienced sexagenarian knight, John of Brienne, who succeeded in keeping the tiny kingdom safe. Schemes were hatched to reconquer Jerusalem through Egypt, resulting in the failed Fifth Crusade against Damietta in 1217; King John took part in this, but the crusade was a failure. John travelled throughout Europe seeking assistance, and found support only from Emperor Frederick II, who then married John and Maria's daughter, Yolande. Frederick II led the Sixth Crusade in 1228, and claimed the kingship of Jerusalem by right of his wife, just as John had done (and could no longer do, Maria having died long before). The nobles of Outremer, led by the regent John of Ibelin, resented his attempts to impose Imperial authority over their kingdom, resulting in a number of military confrontations both on the mainland and on Cyprus. between the but he managed to recover Jerusalem by a treaty with the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Kamil (the Sixth Crusade). The recovery was short-lived - not enough territory had been ceded to make the city defensible, and in 1244 the city was reconquered by the Ayyubids. The Seventh Crusade under Louis IX of France was inspired by this, but it accomplished little save to replace the Ayyubids with the more powerful Mamluks as the Crusaders' main enemy in 1250.
For the period from 1229 to 1268, the monarch resided in Europe and usually had a larger realm to pursue or take care of. Kings of Jerusalem were represented by their baillis and regents. The title of King of Jerusalem was inherited by Conrad IV of Germany, son of Frederick II and Yolande, and later by his own son Conradin. With the death of Conradin the kingdom was inherited by King Hugh III of Cyprus. The territory descended into squabbling between the nobles of Cyprus and the mainland, between the remnant of the (now unified) County of Tripoli and Principality of Antioch, whose rulers also vied for influence in Acre, and especially between the Italian trading communities, whose quarrels erupted in the so-called "War of Saint Sabas" in Acre in 1257. After the Seventh Crusade, no organized effort from Europe ever arrived in the kingdom, although in 1277 Charles of Anjou bought the title of "King of Jerusalem" from a pretender to the throne. He never appeared in Acre but sent a representative, who, like Frederick II's representatives before him, was rejected by the nobles of Outremer.
In their later years, the Crusaders' hopes rested with the Mongols, who were thought to be sympathetic to Christianity. Although the Mongols invaded Syria on several occasions, they were repeatedly defeated by the Mamluks, most notably at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The Mamluks under Sultan Baibars took their revenge on the practically defenseless kingdom, taking its cities one by one until, in 1291, Acre, the last stronghold, was taken by the Sultan Khalil.
Thereafter, the Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist on the mainland, but the kings of Cyprus for many decades hatched plans to regain the Holy Land. For the next seven centuries, up to today, a veritable multitude of European monarchs have used the title of King of Jerusalem. See Kings of Jerusalem.
Arms of Kingdom of Jerusalem
The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which has gone through several different varieties of a cross Or (gold) on an argent (silver) field, is a famous violation of or exception to the rule of tincture in heraldry, which prohibits the placement of metal on metal or colour on colour. It is one of the earliest known coats of arms. The crosses are Greek crosses, one of the many Byzantine influences on the kingdom.
See also
- Crusade
- Kings of Jerusalem
- Kings of Jerusalem family tree
- Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
- Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
- Haute Cour of Jerusalem
- Assizes of Jerusalem
Sources
Primary sources
- Fulcher of Chartres, A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, 1095-1127, trans. Frances Rita Ryan. University of Tennessee Press, 1969.
- William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, trans. E.A. Babcock and A.C. Krey. Columbia University Press, 1943.
- Philip K. Hitti, trans., An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades; Memoirs of Usamah ibn-Munqidh (Kitab al i'tibar). New York, 1929
Secondary sources
- Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. Routledge, 2000.
- P.M. Holt, The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517. Longman, 1989.
- John L. La Monte, Feudal Monarchy in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1100-1291. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1932.
- Hans E. Mayer, The Crusades. Oxford University Press, 1965 (trans. John Gillingham, 1972).
- Joshua Prawer, The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem: European Colonialism in the Middle Ages. London, 1972.
- Joshua Prawer, Crusader Institutions. Oxford University Press, 1980.
- Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Feudal Nobility and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1174-1277. The Macmillan Press, 1973.
- Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading. University of Pennsylvania, 1991.
- Jonathan Riley-Smith, ed., The Oxford History of the Crusades. Oxford, 2002.
- Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades. Cambridge University Press, 1951-54.
- Kenneth Setton, ed., A History of the Crusades. Madison, 1969-1989 (available online).
- Jerusalem, Latin Kingdom of (1099-1291) - Article in the Catholic Encyclopedia
de:Königreich Jerusalem fr:Royaume de Jérusalem it:Regno di Gerusalemme fi:Jerusalemin kuningaskunta he: ממלכת ירושלים es:Reino de Jerusalén ja:エルサレム王国 nl:Koninkrijk Jeruzalem no:Kongeriket Jerusalem pl:Królestwo Jerozolimskie pt:Reino Latino de Jerusalém ru:Иерусалимское королевство
