Sub-titled 'Kingdoms at the Crossroads of Civilizations, 1100-1300', the Near East in the era of the Crusades was home to diverse populations of Orthodox and Latin Christians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Jews and Samaritans. It was the meeting-point for Arab, Turkish, Byzantine and Frankish culture, the latter itself a mixture of Western traditions adapted to circumstances in the crusader states by the Europeans who had settled in the Holy Land. While the Crusades became a synonym for brutality and bigotry, the crusader states represented a positive example of harmonious coexistence across two centuries. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines including archaeology, art history and medicine have shed light on diverse aspects and to date there is no single introductory source that provides a comprehensive overview of these unique states. This book aims to fill that gap covering the history, demography, state institutions, foreign policy, economy, art, architecture, and lifestyle of the people organised in two main parts - a chronological historical overview, and a topical discussion of key features. An additional chapter describes the rise and fall of the House of Ibelin to give the entire history a human race. Here is the reestablishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Cyprus, the Mongols and Mamluks, feudal superstructure, diplomatic affairs, agriculture and religious tourism, financial services and manufacturing, trade and technological and intellectual exchange, food, fashion, language, literacy, hospitals and social welfare. With useful chronology, 342pp with colour maps and photos and images.
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