This volume brings together twenty studies relating to the history of the Latin principalities established in Palestine and Syria from their foundation in the course of the First Crusade up to their defeat by Saladin at the battle of Hattin in 1187. Half of the essays deal with the first three decades of the Frankish settlement, focusing on the monarchy of the kingdom of Jerusalem under Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin I and Baldwin II, and on the origins and prosopography of the Frankish nobility. Beyond this are longer-ranging studies devoted to sacred and secular aspects of the landscape and population of Palestine, including the settlement of the city of Jerusalem, the military use of the relic of the True Cross, and wider strategic considerations concerning the defence of the Holy Land. The final section considers how the Franks perceived and interacted with the Muslim and native Christian inhabitants of Syria, Palestine and neighbouring lands, with a particular emphasis on the evidence of the great chronicle of William of Tyre.
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