Crusader States: Map & History

In 1098, Baldwin of Boulogne left the main Crusading army, which was travelling south towards Antioch and Jerusalem. He went first south into Cilicia, then east to Edessa, where he convinced its lord, Thoros, to adopt him as son and heir. He also married Thoros' daughter, Arda of Armenia, who eventually became the first queen of Jerusalem. Thoros was a Christian of Armenian origin but of Greek Orthodox religion and largely disliked by his Armenian Apostolic subjects, which led to his removal from power in March 1098. Different sources claim he was assassinated or abdicated, and it is debated whether Baldwin played a role in this. Nonetheless, Baldwin succeeded Thoros as ruler, taking the title of count (having been Count of Verdun as a vassal of his brother in Europe).

From Wikipedia: County of Edessa · History of Edessa: Founding (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Turbessel was firstly the lordship of Joscelin I when he was not yet the count of Edessa. It controlled the area west of the Euphrates, and held the border against Antioch. It then was a special holding of Courtenay counts of Edessa, and again became their seat after the loss of the city of Edessa. It was sold with the remaining parts of the county to the Byzantines just before it was conquered by Muslims. After the sale, the wife and family of Joscelin II moved with the proceeds to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, near Acre.

From Wikipedia: County of Edessa · Government: Lordship of Turbessel (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Baldwin II quickly became involved in the affairs of northern Assyria and Asia Minor. He helped secure the ransom of Bohemond I of Antioch from the Danishmends in 1103, and, with Antioch, attacked the Byzantine Empire in Cilicia in 1104.

From Wikipedia: County of Edessa · History of Edessa: Conflicts with Muslim neighbours (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Joscelin was gravely injured during a siege in 1131 and was succeeded by his son Joscelin II. By this time, Zengi had united Aleppo and Mosul and began to threaten Edessa.

From Wikipedia: County of Edessa · History of Edessa: Fall of the county (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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 "Turks and Arabs" and "to destroy this vile race from the lands of our friends." However, the main objective quickly became the control of the Holy Land. The Byzantines were frequently at war with the Seljuks and other Turkish dynasties for control of Anatolia and Syria. The Sunni Seljuks had formerly ruled the Seljuk Empire, but this empire had collapsed into several smaller states after the death of Malik-Shah I in 1092. Malik-Shah was succeeded in the Anatolian Sultanate of Rum by Kilij Arslan I, and in Syria by his brother Tutush I, who died in 1095.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Jerusalem · History: First Crusade and the foundation of the kingdom (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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 number and importance of the lordships varied throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and many cities were part of the royal domain. The king was assisted by a number of officers of state. The king and the royal court were normally located in Jerusalem, but due to the prohibition on Muslim inhabitants, the capital was small and underpopulated. The king just as often held court at Acre, Nablus, Tyre, or wherever else he happened to be. In Jerusalem, the royal family lived firstly on the Temple Mount, before the foundation of the Knights Templar, and later in the palace complex surrounding the Tower of David; there was another palace complex in Acre.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Jerusalem · Life in the early kingdom: Government and legal system (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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 in 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." In the countryside, wheat, barley, legumes, olives, grapes, and dates were grown.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Jerusalem · Life in the early kingdom: Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Nevertheless, Frederick sent an Imperial army in 1231, under Richard Filangieri, who occupied Beirut and Tyre, but was unable to gain control of Acre. John's supporters formed a commune in Acre, of which John himself was elected mayor in 1232. With the help of the Genoese merchants, the commune recaptured Beirut. John also attacked Tyre, but was defeated by Filangieri at the Battle of Casal Imbert in May 1232.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Jerusalem · History: War of the Lombards and the Barons' Crusade (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Jerusalem was the centre of education in the kingdom. There was a school in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the basic skills of reading and writing Latin were taught; 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. 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 warfare was far more important than philosophy or theology. Nonetheless, the nobility and general Frankish population were noted for their high literacy: lawyers and clerks were in abundance, and the study of law, history, and other academic subjects was a beloved pastime of the royal family and the nobility.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Jerusalem · Life in the early kingdom: Education (CC BY-SA 4.0)

John of Arsuf had died in 1258 and was replaced as bailli by Geoffrey of Sergines, Louis IX's lieutenant in Acre. Plaisance died in 1261, but as her son Hugh II was still underage, Cyprus passed to his cousin Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan, whose mother Isabella of Cyprus (Alice of Champagne and Hugh I of Cyprus' daughter and Hugh II's aunt) took over the regency in Acre. She appointed, as bailli, her husband Henry of Antioch (who was also Plaisance's uncle), but died in 1264. The regency in Acre was then claimed by Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan and his cousin Hugh of Brienne, and Hugh II died in 1267 before he reached the age of majority. Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan won the dispute and succeeded Hugh II on Cyprus as Hugh III. When Conradin was executed in Sicily in 1268, there was no other Hohenstaufen heir to succeed him, and Hugh III inherited the Kingdom of Jerusalem as well in 1269.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Jerusalem · History: Fall of Acre (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After the loss of all territory in the Levant in 1291, there were late attempts at further crusades, nominally proposing to recapture Jerusalem, but with the rise of the Ottoman Empire their character was more and more that of a desperate defensive war rarely reaching beyond the Balkans (Alexandrian Crusade, Smyrniote crusades). Henry IV of England made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1393–4, and he later vowed to lead a crusade to recapture the city, but he did not undertake such a campaign before his death in 1413. The Levant remained under Ottoman control from 1517 until the Partition of the Ottoman Empire in 1918.With the Fall of Ruad in 1302, the Kingdom of Jerusalem lost its final outpost on the Levantine coast, its possession closest to the Holy Land now being Cyprus.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Jerusalem · Legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bohemond started immediately after the victory against Kerbogha to secure and expand his principality. In August 1098 he crossed the Amanus Mountains to Cilicia to take control of the towns his nephew Tancred had captured in the previous summer. After the main crusade army left for Jerusalem in 1099, he took full control of Antioch as well as of the surrounding places such as Artah and the harbour of St. Symeon. Bohemond then attempted to take the harbour town of Latakia which was under Byzantine possession, but he had to leave after Raymond and the other crusading lords, who had in the meantime conquered Jerusalem, forced him to. In December 1099 Bohemond travelled to Jerusalem and had three priests consecrated as bishops for his principality.

From Wikipedia: Principality of Antioch · History: Early history (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The native population of the principality was rather diverse. A significant proportion were Miaphysite Armenians, who could be found in Antioch and other urban and rural areas. Based on the rich evidence available, it has even been proposed that they were the most numerous ethnic group. Also important were the so-called suriani, who actually comprised two Christian peoples: the Aramaic-speaking Syriacs (also called "Jacobites") and the Arabic-speaking Melkites. When the county of Edessa fell in 1144 and the region around Melitene became increasingly unsafe, many Jacobites sought refuge in the cities and town of the principality. This led among other things to the spread of the veneration of Mor Barsauma to whom a church was erected in 1156 by a couple of Frankish donors. The first prior was a monk of the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery with which the church maintained close ties.

From Wikipedia: Principality of Antioch · Non-Latin population (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1254 Bohemond VI married Sibylla of Armenia, ending the power struggle between the two states, although by this point Armenia was the more powerful of the two and Antioch was essentially a vassal state. Both were swept up by the conflict between the Mamluks and the Mongols. In 1260, under the influence of his father-in-law, the Armenian king Hetoum I, Bohemond VI submitted to the Mongols under Hülegü, making Antioch a tributary state of the Mongol Empire. Bohemond and Hetoum fought on the side of the Mongols during the conquests of Muslim Syria, taking together the city of Aleppo, and later Damascus.

From Wikipedia: Principality of Antioch · History: Fall of the Principality (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In religious matters, the counties of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were expected to follow the lead of the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. However, Count Pons had formed an alliance with Antioch, and acknowledged the Latin patriarch of Antioch. This was so even after a papal edict to the contrary.

From Wikipedia: County of Tripoli · Structure and devolution of power: Religion (CC BY-SA 4.0)

As a vassal of the kings of Jerusalem, Bertrand of Tripoli was drawn into war with the Seljuk Turks. In 1111, Mawdud, a Turkish military leader, campaigned against Antioch and Edessa. Count Bertrand of Tripoli and King Baldwin I of Jerusalem marched to defend the Christians in the north. In joining Prince Tancred of Galilee and Count Baldwin II of Edessa at the Battle of Shaizar, their defence of the kingdom was successful.

From Wikipedia: County of Tripoli · War with the Seljuk Empire (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Constant infighting, lack of resources, a series of poor harvests, changes to trade routes and the local economy and Muslim and Mongol military pressure led to the decline of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By the 1280s, the kingdom had been reduced to just the cities of Acre, Tyre and Beirut, and the County of Tripoli was the only other surviving Crusader state. Although the Mamluk government of Egypt had a treaty with the county, in March 1289, Tripoli negotiated an alliance with the Mongols. Sultan Qalawun of Egypt responded by attacking Tripoli. Despite desperate defense operations, the county fell and was merged with Qalawun's empire.

From Wikipedia: County of Tripoli · Fall to the Muslims (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The first duke of Athens (as well as of Thebes, at first) was Otto de la Roche, a minor Burgundian knight of the Fourth Crusade. Although he was known as the "Duke of Athens" from the foundation of the duchy in 1205, the title did not become official until 1260. Instead, Otto proclaimed himself "Lord of Athens" (in Latin Dominus Athenarum, in French Sire d'Athenes). The local Greeks called the dukes "Megas Kyris" (Greek: Μέγας Κύρης, "Great Lord"), from which the shortened form "Megaskyr", often used even by the Franks to refer to the Duke of Athens, is derived.

From Wikipedia: Duchy of Athens · History: Establishment of the Duchy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Duchy was held by the family of la Roche until 1308, when it passed to Walter V of Brienne. Walter hired the Catalan Company, a group of mercenaries founded by Roger de Flor, to fight against the Byzantine successor state of Epirus, but when he tried to dismiss and cheat them of their pay in 1311, they slew him and the bulk of the Frankish nobility at the Battle of Halmyros and took over the Duchy. Walter's son Walter VI of Brienne retained only the lordship of Argos and Nauplia, where his claims to the Duchy were still recognized.

From Wikipedia: Duchy of Athens · History: Catalan conquest (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1379 the Navarrese Company, in the service of the Latin emperor James of Baux, conquered Thebes and part of the Duchy of Neopatras. Meanwhile, the Catalan kept another part of Neopatras and Attica.

From Wikipedia: Duchy of Athens · History: Decline and fall (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Further duchies were projected in Asia Minor, at Nicaea (for Louis of Blois), Nicomedia (Thierry de Loos), Philadelphia (Stephen du Perche), and Neokastra. These duchies remained theoretical, due to the establishment of the Empire of Nicaea in the area. Nicaea itself was never occupied and Louis of Blois was killed in 1205. Thierry de Loos was captured by the Nicaeans in 1207 and, although released, left the Latin Empire two years later. After a brief Nicaean reconquest, Nicomedia returned to Latin control, but the ducatus Nichomedie remained part of the Imperial domain. Philadelphia never came under actual Latin control, although the Latin emperor Henry of Flanders laid claim to the region after defeating the local strongman, Theodore Mangaphas, in 1205.

From Wikipedia: Latin Empire · History: Origins (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Latins did not trust the professional Greek bureaucracy, and in the immediate aftermath of the conquest completely dismantled the Greek economic administration of the areas they controlled. The result was disastrous, disrupting all forms of production and trade. Almost from its inception the Latin Empire was sending requests back to the papacy for aid. For a few years, the major commodities it exported from the surrounding region of Thrace were wheat and furs; it also profited from Constantinople's strategic location on major trade routes. While the empire showed some moderate vitality while Henry of Flanders was alive, after his death in 1216 there was a major deficit in leadership. By the 1230s, Constantinople – even with its drastically reduced population – was facing a major shortage of basic foodstuffs.

From Wikipedia: Latin Empire · Organization and society: Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After Robert of Courtenay died in 1228, a new regency under John of Brienne was set up. After the disastrous Epirote defeat by the Bulgarians at the Battle of Klokotnitsa, the Epirote threat to the Latin Empire was removed, only to be replaced by Nicaea, which started acquiring territories in Greece. Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes of Nicaea concluded an alliance with Bulgaria, which in 1235 resulted in a joint campaign against the Latin Empire, and an unsuccessful siege of Constantinople the same year. In 1237, Baldwin II attained majority and took over the reins of a much-diminished state. The empire's precarious situation forced him to travel often to Western Europe seeking aid, but largely without success.

From Wikipedia: Latin Empire · History: Decline and fall (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Achaea was founded in 1205 by William of Champlitte and Geoffrey I of Villehardouin, who undertook to conquer the Peloponnese on behalf of Boniface of Montferrat, King of Thessalonica. With a force of no more than 100 knights and 500 foot soldiers, they took Achaea and Elis, and after defeating the local Greeks in the Battle of the Olive Grove of Koundouros, they became masters of the Morea. The victory was decisive, and after the battle, all resistance from the locals was limited to a few forts that continued to hold out. The fort of Araklovon in Elis was defended by Doxapatres Boutsaras and withstood the attacks until 1213, when the garrison finally surrendered. The fort of Monemvasia, and the castles of Argos, Nauplia and Corinth under Leo Sgouros held out until his suicide in 1208.

From Wikipedia: Principality of Achaea · Foundation (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Achaea was rather small, consisting of the Peloponnese peninsula (then known as the Morea), but it was fairly wealthy, exporting wine, raisins, wax, honey, oil and silk. The capital of the principality was originally at Andravida. It was bordered on the north by Epirus and the Duchy of Athens and surrounded by Venetian-held territories in the Aegean Sea, including the forts of Modon and Coron on the Peloponnese.

From Wikipedia: Principality of Achaea · Organization of the Principality: Territorial organization and feudal structure (CC BY-SA 4.0)

For this period the principality was under a violent succession dispute, which originated from the dispossessed Latin Emperor Baldwin II's gift of the overlordship of Achaea to Charles I of Sicily, in return for support in his attempt to reconquer the throne in Constantinople. This was an action which ignored the rights of the Villehardouin Princes of Achaea. The Angevin kings of Naples subsequently gave Achaea as their fief to a series of their own relatives who fought against Princess Margaret of Villehardouin and her heirs.

From Wikipedia: Principality of Achaea · The feudal conflict of the Morea (1307–1383) and last decades of the principality (CC BY-SA 4.0)