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"Mongol-Tatar invasion" - Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Jebe-noyon Subedei-boghur. Center. What good is higher than all on earth? The ruin of the land of Ryazan. The cavalry is heavy and light. Mongol conquests. Battle of the Kalka - May 31, 1223 Social structure. Novgorod land. Genghis Khan (1155? - August 1227). Mstislav Udaloy Mstislav Romanovich Mstislav Svyatoslavovich Daniil Romanovich.
"Battle of Kulikovo" - The result. Kulikovo battle. From September 19 to 21, 2009, a solemn event was held dedicated to the 629th anniversary of the victory at the Battle of Kulikovo. About 40 thousand people came to the celebration of the 629th anniversary on the Red Hill of the Kulikovo field. Morning of September 8, 1380. Battle map. They also created commemorative coins.
"Ivan Kalita" - Father Sergius blesses Dmitry Donskoy for the battle. After all, people from all over Russia aspired to Moscow - to a quiet life, to holy relics, to the center of Russian spirituality. Moscow automatically became the spiritual capital of all Russia. No wonder the prosperity of Moscow with such a ruler. In 1319, Yuri received a great reign and left for Novgorod, leaving Moscow in full control of Ivan.
"Russia and the Horde" - From the travel notes of Plano Carpini. ? Resistance or cooperation? city of Karakorum. Crusaders. Anti-Horde uprisings in Russia. Participation in hikes. + West. Justify your position. 1223 1237 1239 - 1240 1240 1242 Daniel of Galicia. Lesson plan. Mongolian empire. Golden Horde. Raids.
"Crusaders and Russia" - Russia is an enemy for Western Europe. The struggle of Russia with the invasion of the crusaders. 1238-40 Problem. Let's check! Batu undertook the second campaign against Russia in 1939-1242. Panic broke out among the Swedes. MOU Lyceum No. 2. Alexander, forgetting his insults, arrived in Novgorod. 1239-40 The Battle of the Neva in 1240. Regiments of the right and left hands were located on the flanks.
"Golden Horde" - Map of the offensive of the Tatar-Mongolian troops. The collapse of the Golden Horde. Trouble has come in Idil-country. Cities of the Golden Horde. Documents giving the right to public administration. The rebels restored the Bulgarian princes Bayan and Djikku. In 1236-1240 there was an uprising against foreign invaders. However, the population of the Middle Volga region did not immediately submit to the Mongol-Tatars.
In total there are 14 presentations in the topic
1. First Crusade.
1. Remember who ruled Palestine at the end of the 11th century. Whom did Christians consider non-Christians?
Palestine was under the rule of Muslims, it was they who were called infidels.
2. Why did the Crusades unite the interests of such different groups of people?
Because each of the groups pursued its own interests, but in general, everyone wanted new lands, power, castles and wealth.
The Pope sought to consolidate his position as head of Christendom. In addition, he was not averse to more restless knights leaving Europe and finding a use for their martial prowess away from it - for the good of the Church. The knights dreamed of new land holdings and castles, of wealth and glory. The princes and sovereigns, also gathered in Palestine, hoped to conquer new cities and countries for themselves. The merchants intended to acquire expensive oriental goods and get rich quickly on them. Commoners rushed to Jerusalem to get rid of their usual hardships - poverty and extortions of seniors. They wanted to start a new life in the Holy Land.
4. On the map (pp. 110 - 111), name the possessions of the crusaders in the Middle East and describe their location.
At the end of the 1st Crusade, four Christian states were founded in the Middle East: the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the County of Tripoli.
The crusader states completely covered the territory through which Europe traded with India and China at that time, without occupying any extra territory. Egypt was cut off from this trade. Delivery of goods to Europe in the most economical way from Baghdad, bypassing the crusader states, became impossible. Thus, the crusaders acquired a kind of monopoly in this kind of trade. Conditions were created for the development of new trade routes between Europe and, for example, China, such as the route along the Volga with transshipment into the rivers flowing into the Baltic, and the Volga-Don route.
2. Time for failure.
With the help of additional materials, tell us about one of the Crusades of the XI - XIII centuries. and their crowned members.
The Third Crusade is the third campaign of the crusaders in the Holy Land with the aim of expelling the infidels from it. It was organized by Pope Gregory VIII. The Third Crusade began in 1189 and ended four years later.
In response to the crusades, the Muslims declared a holy war - jihad, led by Saladin. In 1187, Saladin's vast army laid siege to the most sacred city in all of Palestine, Jerusalem. The city's garrison was small, and Saladin's army outnumbered it dozens of times. After a short siege, the crusaders surrendered and were allowed to leave the city peacefully. Jerusalem was again in the hands of the Muslims. The Catholic Church was embittered by the loss of the Holy City and announced the Third Crusade.
In total, four strongest monarchs of Western Europe took part in the Third Crusade against the infidels: the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the English king Richard the Lionheart, the Austrian Duke Leopold V and the French king Philip II Augustus.
There is information about the number of crusader troops. Sources say that initially the army of Richard the Lionheart consisted of about 8 thousand well-trained warriors. The army of the French king was not numerous - only 2 thousand soldiers. However, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa led a huge army of 100 thousand soldiers from all over the empire.
The German army was able to rectify the situation in the Holy Land. This army would be enough to completely rid her of the presence of Muslims. But a terrible event happened, the emperor drowned in the river, after which part of the soldiers returned to Europe, and only a small part of it reached the Holy Land, but their scarcity did not affect the outcome of the campaign.
The Christians tried to capture Acre for a long time, but they did not succeed, since the defense of the city was always strong, and siege weapons were needed to capture it, which the Crusaders could not afford so far due to the lack of building timber. In addition, earlier the Christians attacked Acre with only a few forces and never united in one army.
When European monarchs landed on the shores of Acre in 1191, the situation could change radically. But even here difficulties arose, enmity broke out between the French and English monarchs, the reason for it was both personal hostility and the situation with the capture of Cyprus. Richard captured Cyprus with his own hand and refused to share it with the French, since the treaty provided for the division of the occupied territories only by Muslims. For these reasons, the two armies could not unite.
But, despite this, Acre was still taken under siege. The crusaders did not allow Muslims to send provisions to the city, because of which the forces of the defenders were severely depleted. Under the threat of starvation, the garrison of Acre began to think about surrendering the city to the hands of the crusaders. And, finally, on July 12 of the same year, the Muslims surrendered the city. It was during the siege of Acre that the Teutonic Order was founded, which was first supposed to help the poor Germans.
After the capture of Acre, the disagreements between the monarchs intensified even more, everything came to the fact that the French monarch, along with the army, left Acre and went back to France. Thus, Richard the Lionheart was left alone with the huge army of Saladin.
After the capture of Acre, Richard, along with the army, moved to the Muslim city of Arfus. During the campaign, he was attacked by an army of Muslims. The infidels showered the crusaders with arrows. Then Richard built his units in such a way that the cavalry was located in the center, and infantry with large shields was built around it, a kind of “boxes” turned out. With the help of a similar battle formation, the crusaders moved forward, ignoring the Muslim archers. But now the Knights Hospitaller could not stand it and went on the attack, Richard managed to wait for the moment, and he ordered all the forces to go on a decisive attack, which ended in the victory of the crusaders.
After the victory, the crusader army moved towards Jerusalem. The Crusaders crossed the desert, after which they were severely exhausted. Approaching the city, the Crusaders had no strength left to lay siege to Jerusalem. Then Saladin suggested that the crusaders leave without a fight if they leave Jerusalem. Richard retreated to Acre and there he executed several thousand civilians of Arab origin, Saladin responded with the same coin.
The Third Crusade was drawing to a close. Richard did not want to go to Jerusalem again, but there was always an excuse to return to Acre. When the French monarch planned to take over the lands of England, then ruled by Richard's brother John, Richard made a truce with Saladin and decided to return to save his crown. In 1192 Richard left the Holy Land and the Third Crusade came to an end.
While returning home, Richard was captured by Leopold V and imprisoned for two years. Richard got out of captivity only after England paid a ransom of 23 tons of silver.
The Third Crusade ended in complete defeat for the Crusaders, although they initially managed to win several victories. Richard's victories, of course, did not bring any results. Jerusalem could not be returned to the possession of the Catholics, and Acre was surrendered after the departure of Richard. After the end of the crusade, only a narrow strip of the coast remained for the crusaders.
The campaign ended with the death of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Richard's power was undermined and all of England was threatened. Disagreements with France intensified, and Richard himself was captured, for which England ransomed him and thereby suffered losses in the economy. Richard.
The Muslims thus strengthened their positions in the Holy Land, and the personality of Saladin became a cult, after the victory over the crusaders, many Muslims joined him and were ready for a new invasion of the crusaders.
3. The fate of Byzantium.
Why, during the Fourth Crusade, did the knights sack Constantinople with no less cruelty than Jerusalem and other cities in the Muslim lands?
Because by this time there had already been a split in the Christian Church into Orthodox and Catholic. The Pope and the Byzantine Patriarch quarreled and cursed each other. As a result, the Crusaders began to treat the Byzantines as Gentiles, and therefore robbed and destroyed their cities, as cities in the lands of the Muslims.
4. Not only Palestine.
How did the Crusades in Central and Eastern Europe affect the development of this region?
Coming to the lands of Central and Eastern Europe, the crusaders founded their castles there and entered into a long and bloody struggle with the local population (Balts, Livs, Estonians, etc.), converting them from paganism to Christianity. As a result, by the XIII century. all these peoples became Christian.
5. In the land of St. James.
On the map (p. 237), name the stages of the Reconquista. When was the reconquest of land from the Moors slower, and when was it faster?
Stages of the Reconquista:
VIII - the end of the XI century
End of XI - beginning of XIII
End of XIII - end of XV
The most rapid reconquest went from the very beginning of the conquests until the end of the 11th century. During the 12th-13th centuries, approximately equal parts were recaptured.
6. The end of the era of the crusades.
What impact did the Crusades have on Europeans? What significance did they have for the Muslim world?
Thanks to the Crusades, Europeans got acquainted with new useful plants for them - buckwheat, watermelons, apricots, lemons. Oriental luxury, the ability to beautifully arrange their life struck Europeans no less than their rudeness and unpretentiousness - Muslims. Europeans who lived in the East got used to fine food, fine clothes, and comfortable dwellings. They even learned to visit the baths often, which was not at all characteristic of the knights before. All these new habits gradually penetrated into Europe. Finally, it was in translations into Arabic that European scholars first discovered the works of the great ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato.
Muslims, as a result of the Crusades, lost their former religious tolerance. Society became more rigid and conservative even in relation to such matters far from religion as science and art.
Questions at the end of the paragraph:
2. Calculate how many centuries and years the era of the Crusades lasted. What was the end of it?
The first crusade began in 1096, and they ended after the complete liberation of Asia from the Christians in 1291. So the crusades lasted about 3 centuries.
Questions for additional material.
Why do you think it was the knightly orders that were distinguished by their particularly high combat effectiveness?
Because the goal of the knightly orders was to protect not just a separate state, but all Christians, as well as to expand the influence of the church.
1. How does the pope describe the Holy Land?
The Pope calls the holy land the second paradise, the land that Jesus immortalized with his burial.
2. Whom does the pope mean by "peoples that do not know the Lord"? What does he promise to those who respond to his call? What significance did such a promise have for his contemporaries?
“Peoples that do not know Christ” are all non-Christians, in this case the pope means Muslims.
To all who respond to his call, the pope promises atonement for all sins. For his contemporaries, such a promise was of great importance, since it was about the salvation of the immortal soul of man.
1. Compare both descriptions. What do they have in common and how do they differ from each other?
Both stories tell about the capture of Constantinople and the enormous wealth that was stored there. But in the first case, the capture is spoken of as an act of piety and the legitimate conquest of enormous wealth, and in the second case, as the greatest tragedy, when Christian shrines were dishonored.
2. Why do two witnesses write about the same event in different ways?
Because one of them is a conqueror, and the second is a local resident who has been conquered.
In contact with
Ultimately, these lands were conquered by the Muslims.
The purpose of the crusade was proclaimed to be the fight against the infidels for the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem from under their power, and the first victim of the crusaders was the ruler of Christian Edessa Thoros, with the overthrow and murder of which the counties of Edessa were formed - the first state of the crusaders in the Middle East
Levant
Greece
During the 4th Crusade, the Byzantine Empire was partially conquered by the crusaders, who founded four states on its territory.
- Latin Empire
- Kingdom of Thessalonica
- Duchy of Athens
- Principality of Achaean
- Senoria Negroponte
In addition, the Venetians founded the Duchy of the Archipelago (or the Duchy of Naxos) on the islands of the Aegean Sea.
These states faced attacks from the Greek successor states of Byzantium.
Thessalonica and the Latin Empire were recaptured by the Greeks in 1261.
The heirs of the crusaders continued to rule in Athens and the Peloponnese until these lands were captured in the 15th century.
Mediterranean Sea
The spiritual and knightly order of the Hospitallers settled in 1310 on the island of Rhodes, and several other islands of the Aegean archipelago, in 1522 was expelled by the Ottoman Turks to Malta.
Prussia
However, the crusaders managed to create the most durable state not in Palestine, but in Eastern Europe.
In 1217, Pope Honorius III announced a campaign against the pagan Prussians, and in 1225 the Polish prince Konrad of Mazovia himself invited the knights of the Teutonic Order to help him in the fight against troubled neighbors.
During the XIII century. the order seized not only the lands of the Prussians, but also part of the lands of the recent Poles allies.
A theocratic Catholic state was created on this territory with its capital first in Marienburg (now Malbork in Poland), later in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia).
In the XV century. the decline of the order began. In 1410, he was defeated by the united Polish-Lithuanian army (which also included Russian squads from the Western Russian lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania).
Crusader states
Between 1098 and 1109 The Crusaders founded four states in the Eastern Mediterranean: County of Edessa (County of Edessa), Principality of Antioch (Principality of Antioch), Kingdom of Jerusalem and County of Tripoli.
The king of Jerusalem was considered the first among the rulers of the other Latin states, but in fact he did not have any advantages over the other three sovereigns. The rulers of Tripoli, Antioch and Edessa were de facto independent from the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By and large, they could not even be called his vassals, although they brought a vassal oath (homage) to the king. In reality, the king of Jerusalem was rather the nominal head of a confederation of crusader states: in their own countries, the princes of Antioch, the counts of Tripoli and Edessa had the same power as their “suzerain” had in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
In accordance with medieval orders, these feudal states were subdivided into smaller units of feudal possession - baronies; these latter, in turn, were divided into even smaller ones - knightly fiefs, or fiefs, and so on.
It was noteworthy that the situation was with the subjects of these rulers. Here is what the well-known Russian researcher Olga Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaya writes in her work “The Age of the Crusades”: “With the exception of a small number of acclimatized families, the population of Palestine was fluctuating and changeable. Until the end of the XII century. and partly in the thirteenth century. new inhabitants poured in here, carried away by religious inspiration, the desire to arrange their fate or a thirst for adventure. The reverse wave carried away the satisfied or the disillusioned to Europe. With the continuously renewing population, morals, concepts and habits were updated; those changes that took place on the soil of Europe were sucked into the eastern soil.
County of Edessa (Northwestern Mesopotamia). Before the advent of the crusaders, the Armenian principality of Edessa existed in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates. In 1031, Edessa became part of Byzantium, and in 1071, after the defeat of the Byzantine troops at Manzikert, Edessa was cut off from the territory of the empire by the Seljuks who invaded Asia Minor. At the same time, the Byzantine administration headed by the Duka remained in the city. The basis of the economy of Edessa was the caravan trade.
At the end of the XI century. Edessa ruled by a curopalate? Toros, was able to achieve autonomy. However, the position of the principality was extremely precarious, which required either a strong ally or a powerful patron. In this difficult time, the younger brother of Gottfried of Bouillon Balduin of Boulogne appears in the Euphrates with his knights. Matthew of Edessa in his "Chronography" describes these events as follows:
“A certain count named Baldwin came and with a hundred horsemen took the city called Tilbashar. Upon learning of this, the prince of the Romans Thoros, who was in the city of Edessa, was very happy. He turned to the count of the Franks in Tilbashar with an appeal to come to the aid against his enemies, for he was crowded by neighboring emirs. Count Baldwin came to Edessa with sixty horsemen. The city crowd came out to meet him and with great joy brought him into the city. All believers rejoiced. Kuropalat Toros entered into a great love and alliance with the count, gave him many gifts.
Thoros of Edessa, apparently under pressure from 12 ishkhans - representatives of the city elite, not only invites Baldwin to the city, but soon adopts him, sharing power with him.
Regarding further events, let us again give the floor to Matthew of Edessa:
“After Count Baldwin arrived in Edessa, treacherous and malicious people entered into an agreement with the count in order to kill Thoros the curopalate. This did not befit Thoros, who had shown so many good deeds [to the city], because thanks to his mind and wisdom, his skillful ingenuity and great courage, Edessa was delivered from the position of a tributary and servant of the greedy and cruel tribe of the Arabs. During these days, forty people entered into a Jewish conspiracy among themselves. At night they went to Count Baldwin, brother of Duke Gottfried, and involved [him] in their evil intentions and promised to give him Edessa. The latter approved their evil intention. They involved [in this matter] the Armenian prince Constantine, and on the fifth week of Great Lent, they raised the entire city crowd against Toros the curopalate. On Sunday they destroyed the houses of all his nobles, captured the upper fortress, on Monday they attacked the lower fortress, where [Thoros] was located, and gave him a fierce battle. Being in a hopeless situation, [Thoros] asked them to swear that they would not touch him, and promised to surrender the fortress, the city to them and retire with his wife to the city of Samosata. He gave them the holy crosses [monasteries] Varag and Makenots, on which the count in the Church of the Apostles swore that he would not touch him. He also swore by the name of angels, archangels, prophets, holy apostles, holy patriarchs, by the host of all martyrs; Thoros sent [the text] of this oath in writing to the count, who swore by all the saints, after which Thoros surrendered the fortress to him. Baldwin and all the nobles of the city entered the fortress. On Tuesday, the feast of the Holy Forty Martyrs, the townspeople brutally attacked [Thoros], with swords and clubs they threw him off the wall [of the fortress] into a huge crowd, which all as one attacked him, inflicted many blows on him with swords, killed him with a painful death. They have committed a great sin before God. Having tied his legs with a rope, they shamefully dragged him around the city square. On this day they became perjurers. And after that they gave Edessa to Baldwin."
In March 1098, Baldwin declared himself Count of Edessa and subjugated most of the cities and fortresses of Osroene?, thus creating the first of the four Latin states in the East. The county of Edessa had no access to the sea and bordered in the west on the Principality of Antioch and the Kingdom of Cilicia, in the north and south on the state of the Seljukids. The county was inhabited by Christian Armenians and Syrians, and Orthodox Greeks and Muslims were significantly inferior to them in terms of numbers. In 1100, after the death of Gottfried of Bouillon, the ruler of Edessa, Baldwin of Boulogne, inherited the title of ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Edessa passed to his cousin - Baldwin de Burk (Baldwin the Second). In total, five rulers and two regents managed to visit the throne of Edessa.
Joscelin III became the last count of Edessa. In 1144, taking advantage of the absence of Josselin, Zengi (the nickname of the famous Seljuk commander Emad ad-Din, 1084-1145) took the city after a month of siege. Not allowing the sack of Edessa, he gave the Latin churches to the Christians of the East. On September 15, 1146, Zengi was killed during the siege of the Syrian fortress, and in the same year, the Armenians and Europeans who remained in Edessa revolted. The city was taken by Nur ad-Din, the son of Zengi, the Armenians were expelled or killed, and the County of Edessa ceased to exist.
Principality of Antioch (Northern Syria). The crusader state, the second in time of occurrence, was located on the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and bordered on Edessa, Tripoli, the Cilician kingdom and the Seljukid state.
In October 1097, the "Pilgrims" laid siege to Antioch. Many Christians lived in the city - Armenians and Syrians. Antioch was one of the most powerful strongholds in the Mediterranean: the city was surrounded by a powerful wall with 450 towers, the length of which exceeded 10 kilometers. The thickness of the wall was such that four horses could easily ride on it. Inside, behind the wall, was the fortress itself, whose walls, more than 400 meters long, towered over the city.
The unsuccessful siege continued for seven months. Famine and strife settled among the crusaders: it was not possible to take Antioch with the help of military force alone. “While she was besieged by us,” one of the leaders of the First Crusade, Bohemond, Prince of Tarentum, informed Urban II in a letter dated September 11, 1098, “we suffered many disasters from battles [that took place] near the city with the Turks and pagans who attacked us often and in large numbers, so that we can hardly say that they themselves were rather besieged by those who were kept shut up in Antioch. In the end ... I, Bohemond, conspired with one Turk who betrayed this city to me.
As a result of the betrayal, Antioch was taken, robbed, and the non-Christian inhabitants were slaughtered. The despair of the Muslims was all the stronger because Antioch fell just two days before the arrival of the huge army of the Mosul emir Kerbogi, who went to the rescue.
After a short dispute between the leaders of the crusaders, the city was given into the possession of Bohemond. The second state of the crusaders was formed - the Principality of Antioch.
Before the crusaders had time to fortify themselves properly, on June 5, 1098, the second siege of Antioch began. The approaching Muslim army completely blocked the city. The position of the defenders became critical, famine began. And then, according to the chronicles, a miracle happened. Provençal Pierre Barthelemy said that he had a vision - to start excavations in the church of St. Peter. They believed him, began to dig, and soon, on June 14, 1098, they found a relic - a spear with which Jesus Christ was wounded, being crucified on the cross. The find inspired the crusaders. On June 28, the Frankish army made a victorious sortie from the fortress. The enemy was defeated, rich trophies were captured - the provisions of the army of Emir Kerbogi.
Crusaders at the found sacred relic - the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Artist Gustave Dore
Despite the stabilization of the situation, the position of the Principality of Antioch was difficult: from the east it was threatened by the Emirate of Aleppo, and in the north by Byzantium, which was trying to regain Antioch. The princes of Antioch repelled the Byzantines and occupied the lands beyond the Orontes River, and also imposed tribute on their neighbors - Aleppo, Shayzar, Hama and Homs. In 1118, they even imposed an unfavorable treaty on the emir of Aleppo, giving the Franks, in return for dues, the preferential right to escort and protect caravans with pilgrims coming from Aleppo to Mecca.
The history of the Principality of Antioch is a history of constant struggle for existence, a history of diplomatic compromises, dynastic unions, open struggle for the throne among heirs, armed confrontation with Byzantium and the Seljuks.
In the middle of the XIII century. conflict broke out over Syria between the Mamluks, who then ruled in Egypt, and the Mongols. The rulers of the Principality of Antioch made a bet on the Mongols, even entered into a vassal alliance with them and ... lost. The Principality of Antioch ceased to exist in 1268, capitulating to the troops of the Mamluk Sultan Baibars.
Kingdom of Jerusalem (Southern Syria and Palestine). Initially, the new state, in addition to Jerusalem, included only Jaffa and Bethlehem with districts, later it included Haifa, Caesarea, Acre, Sidon, Beirut, Tyre.
After the capture of the city by the crusaders and the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher, the nominal head of the First Crusade, Gottfried of Bouillon, was elected head of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. True, Gottfried flatly refused to be crowned, saying that he did not want to wear an earthly crown where Jesus Christ was crowned with a crown of thorns. Therefore, the first king of Jerusalem was only a de facto king, and de jure bore the title of "Defender of the Holy Sepulcher." However, this did not last long - Gottfried of Bouillon died a year after the capture of Jerusalem, and his younger brother and successor Baldwin of Boulogne (by that time already Baldwin of Edessa) took the title "King of Jerusalem".
Baldwin I, who by that time had already created the County of Edessa, did not disgrace his reputation and became king. He significantly expanded the territory, conquering the seaside cities of Acre, Beirut and Sidon, under him as a whole, all the features of this very atypical monarchy were formed.
Here is how the well-known Soviet researcher M. Zaborov describes its device:
“There were four large possessions in the Kingdom of Jerusalem: in the north of Palestine - the principality of Galilee (with a center in Tiberias), in the west - the lordship of Saida [Sidon], Caesarea and Beisan, as well as the county of Jaffa and Ascalon (it was conquered from Egypt in 1153 .), in the south - the lordship of Krak de Montreal and Saint-Abraham. The lords of these possessions were considered direct vassals of the crown. Each of them had his vassals in the person of smaller rulers who received their estates (fiefs) from them in hereditary holding: the vassal of the Count of Jaffa and Ascalon was the lord of Ramla, and so on.
The peculiarity of this vassal service was that, unlike Europe, the lord had the right to demand its implementation not for a limited number of days, but throughout the year - due to the fact that the kingdom waged, in fact, continuous wars, any knight should at any time be ready to march on the orders of the king.
However, this was not enough - another feature of the Latin states was the virtual absence of a Christian peasant population. Unlike European monarchies, whose economic and administrative basis was peasant villages, the newly formed crusader states were based on cities and fortresses, where the Europeans were concentrated. The peasant population was still almost exclusively Muslim, and life in rural areas changed little. And although the headman of the village - rais - was considered a subject of some knight who was granted this land, the ruler usually lived somewhere in the city, without interfering in anything. Muslim peasants paid taxes, supplied food, but for obvious reasons were exempted from military service. Numerous Italians who settled in coastal cities were not required to serve either.
Because of this, the Kingdom of Jerusalem experienced a chronic lack of military strength - the army of the kingdom, recruited from the Franks living in the cities, was always very small, and this deficit was not always covered by warriors from knightly orders and knights arriving from Europe. The kings of Jerusalem never had more than 600 mounted knights, and the changing composition of the crusaders, the constant strife among themselves of their leaders, made the defense of the Holy Land extremely difficult.
Due to the fact that most of the influential barons did not sit on their estates at all, but permanently resided in Jerusalem, their influence on the king was much stronger compared to Europe. The royal power was strongly limited by the "Supreme Assembly" - a council consisting of bishops and influential barons, which was one of the early forms of parliament. It was they who chose the king, decided questions about providing him with money, starting hostilities, and the like. In addition to the administrative, there were also legal restrictions - a code of laws called the "Jerusalem Assizes", a code of feudal law of the crusader states.
De facto, the king had to coordinate all his actions with the captives of the crown and had no right to make decisions without their sanction. Things came to the ridiculous - Baldwin I once had to cancel the order to clean up the streets of Jerusalem, because it was given without the consent of the barons.
In general, it is no coincidence that the French historian Maurice Grandcloud defined the political system of the Kingdom of Jerusalem as follows: “A kind of feudal republic headed by a king who existed only insofar as the feudal pyramid needed a top.”
Battle of Arsuf. Artist Gustave Dore
The most important role in the state of the crusaders was played by the church. Five archbishoprics and nine bishoprics were created in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The former possessions of the Orthodox Church of the Jerusalem and Antioch Patriarchates passed to them, in addition, the crusaders themselves founded many monasteries (the Zion Monastery, the Abbey of St. Mary in the Jehoshaphat Valley, and others). Church estates were exempt from taxes. In addition to the usual duties, church feudal lords collected "tithes" in their possessions. It is interesting that the archbishops and bishops, like the barons, had to put up military detachments by order of the king, and considerable ones: the kings demanded 500 soldiers from the Jerusalem patriarchs, 150 each from the archbishops of Nazareth, Tyre, and Caesarea.
After the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin? October 2, 1187 (Ascalon, Tiberias, Sidon, Beirut and some other points were lost by the crusaders even earlier) The Kingdom of Jerusalem actually ceases to exist. True, in 1191 the crusaders regained the port of Acre, which became the capital of the kingdom, but this narrow coastal strip from Tyre to Jaffa was all that was left of the once vast state. And exactly one hundred years later, in 1291, the Mamluks, led by Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil, captured Acre, and the remaining Christians were evacuated to Cyprus. This will be the end of the crusader states.
County of Tripoli (Western Syria). The neighbors bordering Tripoli were Antioch, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Seljuk state. In the east, the county was surrounded by mountains - the Ansaria and Lebanon ranges. The mountain range provided reliable protection, but from the side of Homs the county was completely open.
Tradition calls the founder of the county Raymond of Toulouse, who died during the siege of Tripoli in 1105, never having lived to receive real power over the city. The first really ruling Count of Tripoli was Count Cerdani Guillaume Jordan, nephew of Raymond of Toulouse. At the time when William Jordan declared himself the Count of Tripoli, the county consisted of the cities of Tortosa (Tartus) and Jebeil, and the city of Tripoli was in the hands of the Seljuks. And only in the summer of 1109 the Crusaders managed to take the city with the help of the King of Jerusalem Baldwin the First and the Genoese fleet. Both William Jordan and Raymond's eldest son, Bertrand, who joined the crusaders in 1108, took part in the assault. During the battle, William Jordan was wounded.
Meanwhile, Bertrand of Toulouse laid claim to his father's inheritance. The lawsuit was to be decided by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who proposed dividing the county into two parts. While the proceedings were going on, William Jordan died, and Bertrand of Toulouse became the sole ruler of Tripoli.
Squeezed between Antioch and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Tripoli was the smallest crusader possession in the Middle East and followed in the wake of the policy of one or another strong state, primarily the Principality of Antioch, depending on which the county was located for most of its history. Nevertheless, it fell last, having existed for a quarter of a century longer than its overlord.
The last ruler of the county of Tripoli was Lucia Tripoli, the second daughter of Bohemond VI. The county ceased to exist in 1289, having submitted to the Egyptian sultan Qalawun al-Alfi.
This text is an introductory piece.
The main goal of the crusades in the Middle East was the protection of the Holy Sepulcher, but the crusaders quickly forgot about their mission. Having captured Jerusalem, they founded a number of feudal states that existed there for almost two centuries ...
Protection or expansion?
During the First Crusade, 4 states arose one after another in the territory of the Levant - the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli.
The crusaders did not dare to move deep into the mainland, where they were threatened by the Seljuk Turks, and therefore the state new formations were mostly located in a narrow strip along the Mediterranean Sea. The establishment of new orders by European settlers was accompanied by massive oppression of the local population.
Despite all the assurances of peaceful intentions, the Crusaders could not resist the temptation to plunder the wealthy Middle Eastern cities. The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Qalanisi describes the actions of Raymond of Toulouse, who led his army to the coastal fortress of Jbeil (in antiquity, Byblos):
“They attacked her, besieged and went inside, giving the townspeople life. But as soon as the city was in their power, they acted insidiously, and, not keeping the promise to protect the city, which they had given earlier, they began to oppress the population, seize property and treasures, inflict insults and inflict reprisals.
Western conquerors oppressed not only Muslims, but also local Christians. If, under the rule of the Seljuks, the Christian population of the region could freely practice their religious rites, now they are faced with the intolerance of the Catholic Church.
A significant part of the Arab population was exterminated, and the survivors were forced to leave their homes. Those who did not manage to escape were sold into slavery. On the slave market, the cost of one slave was equal to one bezant, which was three times cheaper than what was given for a horse.
County of Edessa
The first and largest crusader state in the East was the county of Edessa. It existed from 1098 to 1146. Due to its lack of access to the sea, the county was the least populated. The number of inhabitants of the city of Edessa did not exceed 10,000 people, in the rest of the state, with the exception of the fortresses, there were practically no settlements.
On the eve of the arrival of the crusaders, the Principality of Edessa was going through difficult times, being the object of contention between the rulers of Aleppo, Antioch, Samosata and Hisn Kaifa. The principality, which did not have a strong army, needed a reliable defender. It was in the person of Baldwin of Flanders that the Armenian population of Edessa saw the future patron of the principality.
Under pressure from the council of Armenian ishkhans, the ruler of the principality Toros of Edessa adopts a knight in order to share power with him and ensure the security of the lands. However, he soon came to regret his choice.
The power-hungry Baldwin, with the support of all the same Ishkhans, staged a coup in the principality, and to Thoros, who had entrenched himself in the citadel, swearing on the holy relics, he promised an unimpeded escape to Melitene. The promises of the crusader were worthless, and the Armenian prince who trusted him was executed.
During its short history, the county of Edessa has experienced many events, including internal strife, difficult relations with Byzantium and neighboring Arab states. Ultimately, the weakened county fell under the onslaught of the troops of the Seljuk atabek Nur ad-Din Mahmud.
Principality of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch was located on the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea (today the territory of Syria). By the XIII century, the population of the principality reached 30,000 thousand people, which mainly included Orthodox Greeks and Armenians, there were few Muslim communities outside the city. Among the Europeans who settled in Antioch, for the most part were immigrants from Normandy and Italy.
The conquest of Antioch was given to the crusaders with sweat and blood. As one of the soldiers wrote to his wife: “during the whole winter they suffered for the sake of our Lord Christ from exorbitant frost and terrible downpours.” Then sickness and famine came to the crusader camp. Warriors had to eat horses and even, according to some reports, dead comrades. Only after 8 months of the siege, thanks to cunning, the city gates were opened for the conquerors.
The new rulers of Antioch pursued a rather aggressive policy of annexing neighboring territories to the principality. So for some time, Bohemond I managed to capture the Byzantine cities of Tarsus and Latakia. However, further expansion into the Byzantine lands ended for the crusaders in defeat and the humiliating Treaty of Devol (1108), according to which the Principality of Antioch recognized itself as a vassal of Byzantium.
Byzantine suzerainty over Antioch lasted until 1180. But after the death of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos, the alliance that defended the Antioch lands from the Muslims broke up.
However, thanks to the Italian fleet, Antioch protected its lands for some time and even repelled the attack of Saladin. However, in 1268 the crusaders were unable to oppose anything to the troops of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars.
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem dates back to the capture of the Holy City by the crusaders - in 1099. Formally, other crusader states in the East were also subordinate to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but in reality they had a sufficient degree of autonomy.
Nevertheless, Jerusalem became the center of Western civilization in the Middle East. With the Rearguard Crusade, a Latin patriarch appeared in Jerusalem, and the Italian city-states of Pisa, Venice, and Genoa established their monopoly on trade there.
In particular, the presence of Italian merchants, as well as the marginal lands of Palestine, radically changed the economy of the region - the emphasis shifted from agriculture to trade.
European feudal lords very quickly established their own rules in the kingdom. Local laws - "Jerusalem assizes", in particular, sharply limited the rights of the king. Without the "high chamber" - an assembly of large feudal lords - the king could not pass a single law. Moreover, in case of violation of the rights of any feudal lord, the "high chamber" could well "deny the king in service."
The capture of Jerusalem by Sultan Saladin in 1187 was a turning point in the history of the kingdom. Neither the Third Crusade nor the disagreements between the Muslim rulers of the city were able to regain the lost positions of the Europeans. When in 1244 Jerusalem fell to the onset of the Khorezmian troops, this was the end of Christian rule in the Middle East.
County of Tripoli
The last eastern state of the crusaders was the county of Tripoli, which existed from 1105 to 1289 (located on the territory of modern Lebanon). Its founder was Count Raymond of Toulouse. He did not hide that he was going to the Holy Land to get his own property there.
As a prudent politician, Raymond enlisted the support of Byzantium, thanks to which he received all kinds of assistance - food, building material, gold, workers. All this noticeably supported the zeal of the Provencals in creating their own state.
The end of the existence of the county of Tripoli in 1289 was put by the Egyptian sultan Kilaun al-Alfi.
