Crusader states

The Crusader states, c. 1100

Asia Minor and the Crusader states, c. 1140

The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor and the Holy Land (ancient and modern Israel and Palestine). They were eventually reconquered by Middle Eastern Islamic powers. The name has also been applied to other territorial gains (often small and short-lived) made by medieval Christendom against Muslim and pagan adversaries.

Facing Islam

While the Reconquista, the centuries long fight to reconquer the Iberian peninsula from the Arabo-Barbaresque Moors (who called it al-Andalus), fills all the criteria for crusades, it is not customary to call the resulting Catholic principalities there Crusader states.

The term is usually reserved for the more aggressive (and ultimately unsuccessful) crusades:

In the Levant

The first four Crusader states were created in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade:

• The first Crusader state, the County of Edessa, was founded in 1098 and lasted until 1144.
• The Principality of Antioch, founded in 1098, lasted until 1268.
• The County of Tripoli (the Lebanese city, not the Libyan capital), founded in 1104, with Tripoli itself conquered in 1109, lasted until 1288.
• The Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted until 1291, when the city of Acre fell. There were also many vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the four major lordships (seigneuries) being:
  • The Principality of Galilee
  • The County of Jaffa and Ascalon
  • The Lordship of Oultrejordain
  • The Lordship of Sidon

The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia had its origins before the Crusades, but was granted the status of a kingdom by Pope Innocent III and later became semi-westernized by the (French) Lusignan dynasty.

Cyprus

During the Third Crusade, Crusaders founded the Kingdom of Cyprus. Richard I of England conquered Cyprus on the way to Holy Land. The island was made into a kingdom and given to the displaced King of Jerusalem Guy of Lusignan in 1192. It lasted until 1489, when the last queen sold it to Venice.

In Greece

During the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire was conquered and divided into four states:

• The Latin Empire, in Constantinople, forcing the 'Greek' Byzantine emperor to reside in Nicaea
• The Kingdom of Thessalonica
• The Duchy of Athens
• The Principality of Achaea

• The Venetians also created the Duchy of the Archipelago (also known as the Duchy of Naxos) in the Aegean Sea in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. Thessalonica and the Latin Empire were reconquered by the Byzantines by 1261. Descendants of the Crusaders continued to rule in Athens and the Peloponnesus or Morea until the 15th century when the area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

• The military order of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John established itself on Rhodes (and several other Aegean islands; see below) in 1310, with regular influx of new blood, until the Ottomans finally drove them out (to Malta) in 1522.
  • the island of Kastellorizo (like Rhodes part of the Aegean Dodecannesos) was in 1309 taken by the Knights of St. John Hospitaller of Jerusalem, but fell under Egyptian (Ottoman) occupation 1440 until 1450, was then ruled by the Kingdom of Naples, and since 1635 under Venetian rule (as Castellorosso; still only Catholic states, not counting the Muslims), since 1686 again part of the Ottoman Empire, finally since 1821 - 1833 under Greek control during the Greek war of independence.
  • other neighbouring territories temporarily under the order were: the cities of Smyrna (now Izmir; 1344-1402), Attaleia (now Antalya; 1361-1373 and Halicarnassos (now Bodrum;1412-14..), all three in Anatolia; the Greek Isthmus city of Corinth (1397-1404)), the city of Salona (ancient Amphissa; 1407-1410) and the islands of Ikaria (1424-1521) and Kos (1215-1522), all now in Greece

Minor Mediterranean fiefs

Even though these are so small that they usually get forgotten there have been various other feudal entities (statehood is a rather blurred concept in European Feudalism) resulting from minor crusading against Islam in the Mediterranean, such as:

• Djerba and Tabarca, islands off the coast of present Tunisia

Today

The term is often applied to the State of Israel by prominent Muslim leaders in the Middle East. In doing so, they seek to create a historical lineage between Israel and the historic Christian states by depicting them as invading conquerors occupying Muslim lands. It is also suggested that, like the original crusader states, Israel is temporary and will be reconquered in the name of Islam. Zionism and Judaism are politically, religiously and sociologically separate from Christianity and often even considered opposed to Christianity, so this terminology must be considered as highlighting the origin of Israel in the actions of Western powers. While the historical Crusader states were motivated by Christian religious concerns, the modern Crusader state is a political construct inspired by Jewish religious tradition.

Facing paganism

In the Baltic region Baltic tribes in the Middle Ages at first remained staunchly heathen. The Popes however approved that several religious orders of Knights invade the regions of the pagan, Baltic-speaking tribe of the Old Prussians. The Livonian Order and the Teutonic Order subjugated the Old Prussians, the Lithuanians and other tribes inhabiting Estonia, Latvia and East Prussia. See the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights for a more detailed description.

See also

• List of Crusader castles

Sources and references

• Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)
• WorldStatesmen- see each present country

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