Chapter 6: The Population of the Land of Israel under Crusader Rule (1099 – 1260/1290) – Eastern-Christians Formed the Largest Ethno-Religious Group

Introduction

The Crusaders conquered the Land of Israel from the Fatimid dynasty in 1099, but this did not end the struggle between the Muslims and the Christians for control over the Holy Land. In fact, this struggle continued as long as the Crusaders ruled the land, their kingdom expanding and shrinking repeatedly. According to Sylvia Schein in her article The Land of Israel at the Time of the Crusaders, 1099-1291, the land was the “battleground on which incessant battles were fought between the Christian and the Islamic worlds”.

The Crusader army arrived from Beirut in the north and progressed along the coast to Caesarea, then turned towards Ramle. The residents of Jaffa, Ramle and Lydda fled for fear of the Crusaders, even though none of the cities along the coast from Beirut had been attacked yet. From Ramle the Crusader army marched on to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was taken in July 1099 and the Crusaders proceeded to massacre its Muslim and Jewish populations, robbing, pillaging, taking prisoners and enslaving them to serve the Frankish lords, or holding them for ransom. According to Arabic sources 70,000 people were killed.

The coastal cities were gradually taken after Jerusalem, so that the Crusader army remained connected to, supplied, and reinforced by its European bases. The Fatimid fought against the conquest of the coastal cities for ten years. Haifa, Arsouf, Caesarea and Acre were conquered in 1100 – 1110, while Ashkelon was only taken in 1153. Gaza, whose residents fled ahead of the Crusaders, was handed over to the Templar Order and resettled by the Crusaders.

The Crusaders met little resistance to their conquest of the internal areas, with Judea and Samaria taken first and then the Galilee.

The Crusaders’ Principality of the Galilee ruled over the Galilee, the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and all the area between it and Haifa. Tiberias was fortified and a fortress was built in Safed. Fortresses were built across the Galilee.

The Muslims never accepted their defeat, which was caused by divisions within their camp. They slowly recovered and began a Jihad. Their first offensive failed and the Crusader Kingdom remained strong. Their second offensive began in 1134 resulting in the Muslims conquering the Galilee up to Acre. That success, however, was temporary, and the Crusader Kingdom kept its early borders until 1187.

Saladin, a Kurd born in Tikkrit (Iraq), was brought up by his father, the governor of Beirut, for a military career. On a mission to protect Abbasside interests, he took over Egypt in 1177 and restored it to the Abbasside Caliphate. Saladin, however, was aiming higher, and in 1183-1185 he took over most of the area of modern-day Iraq. After unifying the lands of Islam under his rule, Saladin turned in 1177 towards the coastal cities of the Land of Israel, reaching as far as Ramle and Lydda, but in November 1177 he was defeated and his army destroyed in the battle near Gezer.

In the spring of 1179 Saladin attacked the Galilee and reached the bridge of Bnot-Yaakov where his army won a victory. In 1180-1182 the warring sides held a cease-fire, but in 1182 Saladin renewed his attacks and in 1182-1184 progressed from Trans-Jordan into the Galilee and the Valley of Jezreel. Another cease-fire was signed in 1185 and was supposed to last until 1189, but in 1187 Saladin breached the treaty and defeated the Crusaders in the battle of Hattin, west of Tiberias. Tiberias surrendered to Saladin’s army, Nazareth was conquered, Acre surrendered but its residents soon left. All the coastal cities surrendered, and Jerusalem was conquered on October 9th, 1187. Most of the Christians fled the city, leaving behind approximately 15,000 Eastern-Christians. Saladin destroyed the coastal cities and all the cities from Beit Daggan to Jerusalem, bringing the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem to its end, although a few Crusader enclaves resisted until 1192.

Another battle took place in 1191 between Saladin’s forces and the Crusaders near Arsouf, which ended in Crusader victory. The Crusaders re-established control over the coast from Jaffa to Tyre and made Acre their capital. In September 1192 both sides signed a three-year treaty. The Second Crusader Kingdom now lay along the coast, with an enclave around Ramle and Lydda. Jerusalem remained in the hands of the Muslims. Saladin died in 1192.

Saladin’s successors, the Ayoubs, inherited the areas Saladin ruled in the Land of Israel, including Judaea, Samaria, the Galilee, and Trans-Jordan. They and the Crusaders fought and ceased fire repeatedly until 1260.

The Crusader Kingdom of Acre made several attempts to retake the areas lost to Saladin. In 1226 the Crusaders reconquered Jerusalem; in 1241 the Galilee was handed back to them in a treaty; and another treaty was signed in 1243 which restored Crusader rule over most of the land. Between 1244 and 1247, however, renewed fighting ended in the Crusaders’ defeat.

The Crusader Kingdom was destroyed finally in 1260 by the Mamluks (Sunni Muslims of Turkmen origin), although its last bastion, Acre, held until 1291.

The administration of the Crusaders' Kingdom west of the Jordan River was divided into several parts:
The King's Domain
The Principality of the Galilee - included the Galilee, the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and all the area between it and Haifa. Tiberias was fortified and a fortress was built in Safed. Fortresses were built across the Galilee.
The Principality of Jaffa and Ashkelon – included the southern coast.
Autonomy to Military Orders in certain areas.

The Status of the Non-Frankish Population in the Land of Israel during the Crusader Period

During the Crusader occupation, the population of the Land of Israel was diverse and heterogeneous. Society in the Crusader Kingdom was divided into conquerors, and the conquered: the conqueror Franks and the conquered native population. The non-Frankish population – Eastern Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Samaritans – were the conquered and were required to pay a poll tax, the successor of the Muslim Jizya tax levied on the non-Muslim Dhimmi (the “protected”). The non-Frankish population was legally of inferior status, but the various religious communities enjoyed a certain communal autonomy and a relative freedom of worship.

The Eastern Orthodox Christians did not have a special status, and the Eastern Orthodox Church had to accept the seniority of the Latin Church. Other Christian sects were also brought under the authority of the Latin Church.

Muslims enjoyed an undisturbed freedom of worship in the rural region, but in cities inhabited by Christians they were allowed to worship only in private, while their mosques were converted to churches. This included the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, which became the Lord’s Temple, and the Al Aqsa Mosque which became Solomon’s Temple. Mosques in Caesarea, Jaffa, and Ashkelon were also converted into churches.

The population was divided into several socio-economic classes:

The Crusaders imported the European feudal system with minor changes. The land was divided into estates which were given to knights, monasteries, and fortresses. The nobility was comprised of the land owners, the military orders, and the heads of the Latin Church, all Franks in origin.

The burghers – city dwellers – were Franks (who enjoyed the highest status), Eastern Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Jerusalem, however, was populated by Christians only; Jews and Muslims were forbidden to live in it. At the beginning, the Crusaders got rid of the urban Muslim population (those who did not flee were exiled or massacred) and of most of the urban Jewish population, but as Crusader rule became more established, some returned.

Cities were of various sizes: Acre’s population numbered 40,000, Ashkelon’s 10,000, Jerusalem’s 20,000, and other cities’ population ranged from 2000 to 5000.

The largest part of the population was comprised of serfs -- Muslims and Eastern Orthodox Christians. According to Dr. Schein there were approximately 700 villages in the Land of Israel during the Crusader period, compared with more than 2000 during the Byzantine period (Prof Joshua Prawer holds that the number was greater by several hundreds). Large villages had a population of several thousands, medium villages had 70-80 inhabitants, and small villages were populated by 10-20 or 20-40 people. The landlords lived in the cities. A village was run by the Raees, the head of the village, and villagers paid the poll tax, the land tax of 1/3 of their crops, and various taxes for fruit trees, vines, and bee hives, as well as the angaria – tax in the form of forced labour.

Villages were spread along the coastal plane close to the ports, in Judea and Samaria, and in the Galilee.

Prisoners of war and people from cities that resisted and were defeated were taken into slavery, serving the Frankish lords.

According to Dr. Schein, the Franks did not engage in missionary work. They did not try to convert the population into Christianity nor did they try to westernize it by imposing the Western-European culture and life-style. The main motive for this was economical: Landlords did not wish their serfs and slaves to convert, because according to the law they would have to set them free. Some Franciscan and Dominican monks did carry out missionary work. Prof. Emanuel Sivan, Prof. Benjamin Z. Kedar, and Dr. Sylvia Schein determined that some Muslims converted to Christianity, but in the absence of data either in the Latin or Arabic sources, it is difficult to estimate the extent of conversion. Although the Frankish rulers did not impose conversion to Christianity on the population, in the larger cities mosques were converted into churches.

Population Composition during the Crusader Period

Eastern Christian Orthodox formed the largest section of the population.

Researchers of the Arabic-Muslim Period (see Chapter 4 in this series) concluded that throughout the Arab-Muslim occupation of the Land of Israel, the largest section of the population was comprised of Eastern Orthodox Christians who descended from the Greeks and Aramaic-Syrians and veterans of the Roman army who immigrated into the country during the Hellenist and Roman-Byzantine periods, and were converted to Christianity during the Byzantine period. This conclusion is supported by Muslim historians and geographers such as Muhammed son of Abdallah Al Ma’afari of Seville and Ibn Al Arabi, a historian from Andalusia. They toured the country in 1095 and 1093-1095 respectively, and wrote that Eastern Christians formed the majority of the population. The Christian pilgrim Borchard, who toured the Land of Israel in 1280, also reported that most of the population was Eastern Orthodox Christian.

Contrary to the historians of the Arabic- Muslim Period, historians of the Crusader period are divided over whether Christians or Muslims were the majority in the Land of Israel during the Crusader period:
Prof. Joshua Prawer, Dr. Sylvia Schein, and Meron Benvenisti believe the Muslims were the majority.
Prof Benjamin Zeev Kedar and Prof Ronni Ellenblum believe that the Eastern Orthodox Christians formed the largest section of the population:

Prof. Prawer, in his book History of the Crusader Kingdom, estimates that under Crusader rule in the 1180s, there were 100,000 to 120,000 Franks (i.e., Catholic Crusaders), while the rural population numbered 250,000 and was comprised of Muslims and Eastern Orthodox Christians. Prof. Prawer writes that “the rural population was not entirely Muslim. Certain regions were still densely populated by Syrian-Christians” (pp. 459-465), but “the majority were Muslim by faith” (p. 404). The urban population was mostly Christian. There were few Muslims in the cities following the massacres and emigration, by choice or by force (p. 462). Non-Franks were about 75% of the total country’s population, which numbered about 470,000.

In The Crusaders in the Holy Land, Meron Benvenisti estimated that at the time of the Crusader conquest, the population numbered 500,000 and 75%-80% were Muslim. According to this estimate the Muslim population numbered 375,000 – 400,000, while the Eastern Orthodox Christians numbered 100,000 – 125,000 or less, accounting for the Jewish and Samaritan minorities. Benvenisti estimated that the Franks numbered 140,000 and 10,000 – 20,000 of them lived in villages. However, unlike Prof Prawer, Benvenisti does not provide historical sources to support his estimate.

Dr. Sylvia Schein (in The Land of Israel at the Time of the Crusaders, 1099-1291) estimates the population of the Land of Israel at 400,000 during the Crusader period, Franks forming only 25% of them (p. 197). She agrees that Muslims formed the majority during that time (p. 274; p. 287) but does not provide any evidence.

Based on the numbers proposed by Prof. Prawer and Meron Benvenisti, and assuming that Muslims formed the largest ethno-religious group, then they numbered 200,000 – 250,000, the Eastern Orthodox Christians numbered 100,000 – 150,000, and no data is given for the numbers of Jews and Samaritans. The population total was 470,000.

As was mentioned above, Prof. Benjamin Zeev Kedar and Prof. Ronni Ellenblum believe that the Eastern Orthodox Christians formed the largest section of the population:

Prof. Kedar and Prof. Ellenblum published their research in the 1990s, while Prof Prawer published his in the 1960s. Kedar and Ellenblum refer to work by researchers of the Muslim period who concluded that the Eastern Orthodox Christians formed the largest section of the population during the Arabic-Muslim period. Building on this conclusion, as well as on the fact that the Muslim population declined on the eve of the Crusader conquest and shortly after due to massacres, exile, and flight, as well as on archaeological surveys, they state that during the Crusader period the Eastern Orthodox Christians continued to be the majority of the country’s population. An article by Prof. Emanuel Sivan (see below) on the Muslim refugee problem following the Crusader conquest points in that direction as well.

In his article The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant (1990) Prof. Kedar writes that modern scholars agree on the following population estimates for the Crusader period (pp. 148-150): Non-Franks numbered 300,000 – 360,000: 250,000 rural Muslims and Eastern Christians and 100,000 urban Muslims and Eastern Christians. The Franks numbered 100,000 – 120,000. No data is given for Jews and Samaritans. Kedar cited a Christian source, the chronicler Aronnel, suggesting that rural Muslims numbered 150,000 and therefore the rural Eastern Christians numbered 100,000, but Kedar questions his reliability. Aronnel in 1160 and Ibn Jubair in 1184 attest that most of the Muslim population was rural, and so it is possible that out of a population of 100,000 urban non-Franks the majority were Eastern Orthodox Christians.
The conclusion is that the Eastern Orthodox Christians were the majority but the question remains as to by how much greater their numbers were compared to the Muslims. Kedar states that “at present, research cannot determine how many Muslims remained under Frankish rule” (1990, p.148).

Prof. Kedar believes that Muslims formed the majority in certain parts of the country while Eastern Christians were the majority in others, yet concludes that “the statement that under the Frankish rule the rural Eastern Christian majority was replaced by a Muslim majority is unreasonable”. He refers to Prof. Moshe Gil (A History of Palestine, 634-1099, vol. 1, p. 142) who determined that Eastern Christians formed the majority during the Arab-Muslim period, based on the writings of the Andalusian historian Ibn Al Arabi and the Christian pilgrim Borchard.

In another study, Franks, Muslims and Oriental Christians in the Latin Levant, Kedar reviews scholars’ efforts to estimate more precisely the size of the Muslim population in the Land of Israel under Crusader rule (pp. 129-153). Some scholars tried to calculate the size of an average Muslim family at that time, but few sources exist to support such calculation. Kedar concludes that “we cannot yet reach an agreement on the size of a Muslim family under Frankish rule” (p. 152) and therefore it is not possible to give a precise estimate of the Muslim population at that time.

Prof. Emanuel Sivan’s study, Refugees from Syria and the Land of Israel at the time of the Crusades, supports the proposition that Eastern Orthodox Christians were the majority. Sivan determined that as a result of the Crusader conquest, Muslims fled from the country, creating a refugee problem. This undoubtedly reduced the number of the country’s Muslims, although the Muslim sources Sivan cites do not give the refugees’ numbers.

Dr. Schein (The Land of Israel at the Time of the Crusaders, 1099-1291) also notes the Muslim flight from the country. Scholars agree that the Muslim flight was spurred by huge massacres carried out by the Crusaders in the Muslim population.

Prof. Ronnie Ellenblum’s study, Frankish Rural Settlements in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1998), concludes that the Eastern Orthodox Christians formed the majority of the population, and his research indicates that they numbered significantly more than the Muslims. Prof. Ellenblum refers to non-Jewish sources, archaeological surveys, and excavations carried out by the Israeli Antiquities Authority. He believes there is not enough data to determine the size of different sections of the population and their ratios. He researched the ethno-religious composition of the population during the Crusader period and concluded that the Eastern Christians formed the largest group.

Ellenblum began his discussion by examining the ethno-religious composition of the population during the Byzantine period. His first premise is that the various ethno-religious communities in the country lived separately and that during the Byzantine period the land was divided into Eastern Chrisitan, Jewish, Samaritan, and Muslim areas. Ellenblum suggests that this was the case during the Crusader period as well. As the Arabic-Muslim period lies between the Byzantine and Crusader periods, it is reasonable to assume that the same situation existed in it as well. Prof. Kedar and Dr. Schein agree that the rural regions were geographically divided along ethnic lines, and where cities had mixed population, the various groups lived in separate quarters. The Franks never mixed with the locals.

Ellenblum’s second premise, based on the convention among scholars specializing in the subject, is that a clear distinction must be made between the processes of regional Arabization(Arabic settlement) and Islamization, and the process of personal Islamization of the local population – Christians, Jews, and Samaritans – during the Arab-Muslim occupation. The process of conversion to Islam was much slower than the process of their acculturation.

Settlement Distribution during the Crusader Period

Prof. Kedar (Jews and Samaritans in the Kingdom of Jerusalem) and Prof. Ellenblum (Frankish Rural Settlements in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem) charted the country’s settlements during the Crusader period (1099-1260).

The largest group – the Eastern Orthodox Christian – was concentrated in several areas: the western Galilee, the coastal plane, around Jerusalem, and the south of Judea. There was also a Christian enclave in the eastern Galilee in places holy to Christianity.

Muslims were mostly concentrated in the Samaria mountain, in Nablus and its environs. There were a few Muslim enclaves in the western and eastern Galilee, and the south was the Bedouins’ wandering area.

Jews were mostly concentrated in the eastern Galilee and in certain cities inland and along the coast.

Samaritans lived in Samaria and in the coastal cities.

The population composition did not change much since the Arab-Muslim period, with the Eastern Christians forming the largest section.

It is believed that this settlement distribution reflects the country’s division along ethno-religious lines, including small enclaves of different ethno-religious groups. This regional ethno-religious division began in Byzantine times with the increase in efforts to convert the population to Christianity. Prof Ellenblum’s research presents important information regarding the settlement distribution in the country’s various regions from the Byzantine period (4th – 7th centuries), through the Arab-Muslim period (7th – 11th centuries), to the Crusader period (12th – 13th centuries).

In contrast to the deserted areas where Bedouins took over and imposed their customs and life-style, the local more established communities did not undergo rapid Islamization. According to Ellenblum, up until the 11th century (the last century of the Arab-Muslim occupation), there was no policy to forcefully convert the established population to Islam, and most of the population was Eastern Christian on the eve of the Crusader conquest.

Scholars distinguish between Islamization of individuals – a slow and lengthy process – and the Islamization and Arabization of areas through settlement of Bedouin tribes who filled the vacuum created when the local population left under their pressure.

The process of Islamization of the local population was slow, gaining momentum as a result of political and social events. The important factors included the high rate of special taxes levied on non-muslims, the various restrictions (on employment and other areas), and the attacks by Muslim mob.

Ellenblum’s study indicate that the regional Islamization and Arabization process refers to areas deserted by the local population under pressure of devastating invasions by nomad Bedouin tribes. In these regions, according to Elleblum, the Bedouins had gradually gone from a nomadic life-style to permanent settlement; in other words, Islamization in these regions refers to permanent settlement of Muslim Arabs rather than the conversion of the local population.

Most scholars agree that from the beginning of Arabic occupation in the 7th century and until the early 11th century, there were not many cases of forced conversion to Islam since that was forbidden by Islamic law, and thus the Islamization process had not been complete by the end of the Arab-Muslim period. Jews and Christians were not persecuted by the Arab-Muslim rule, except during the time of the Caliph Al Hakim, who ordered the demolition of churches and synagogues and forced the local population to convert to Islam or leave the country. These decrees were announced in 1002/3 or 1012. Jews were forced to convert, but returned to Judaism when the decree was soon annulled. During the Crusader period there were still 35 Jewish settlements in the Galilee and several more in other parts of the country (see Chapter 4).

The Franks

One of the main factors contributing to the collapse of the Crusader Kingdom was the lack of man power. The Crusader conquest did not result in massive immigration of Catholic Christians from Europe into the Land of Israel, leaving the Franks an occupying minority.

Frankish settlements were of various types: Fortresses manned by garrisons, monasteries populated by monks, towns populated partly by Franks, and villages with a mixed population, including Franks. Most of the Franks lived in the cities, particularly along the coast, but also in Tiberias, Safed, Tzipori and Nazareth in the Galilee, in Jerusalem, in Ramle-Lydda, Nablus, and Bethlehem.

Some 10,000 to 20,000 Franks lived in villages. Frankish villages were built in Akhziv, Al Kubeiba, El Birra, Dabouriya, St Gilles, Beit Guvrin, Beit Nouva, and Beit Tzourik. Franks lived also in the towns of Kakoun, Kalanswa, Deir El Balah, Sebastia, Jennin, Lajoun and Tibnin.

According to Meron Benvenisti in his book The Crusaders in the Holy Land, the Franks lived in some 80 settlements, which were about 15% of the total 700 settlements of the Crusader period. According to Prof. Prawer, the total number was larger by several hundreds.

As the Crusader army was comprised of men, and few European women accompanied the warriors, the Franks married local women who converted to Christianity.

The Eastern Orthodox Christian Population

Muslims, quoted above, attest to the majority Eastern Christians held of the country’s population. According to the Christian pilgrim Borchard, who toured the country in 1280, the Syrians (the Eastern Orthodox Christians) were the largest section of the country’s population, but large numbers of Christian Armenians, Persians, Maronites, Abyssinians, and others, were present as well. Indeed, contrary to the Muslim population which fled, was massacred or exiled, the Eastern Orthodox Christian population remained in its place. These Eastern Christians were of Syrian and Greek origin, descended from immigrants who settled in the country during the Hellenist period and converted to Christianity during the Byzantine period, and Roman veterans settled by Rome. Most of the Greek-descended population fled on the eve of the Arabic-Muslim conquest, so that the Eastern Christian population during the Crusader period was mostly of Syrian (a mix of Aramaeans and Phoenicians) descent. This population had undergone a process of Arabization (cultural acculturation) during the Arab-Muslim occupation, but remained mostly Christian. Its intellectual elite had fled ahead of the Crusader conquerors.

The Eastern Orthodox Christians belonged to the Greek-Orthodox Church. They prayed and worshipped in Greek but conducted their daily affairs in Arabic.

The Eastern Christian population lived in cities and villages. The villagers became serfs in the Frankish feudal estates, while the city-dwellers remained free although they did not have the status of burghers. Eastern Christians were the majority of city population beside a Frankish minority. Prof. Prawer determined that following the massacres, exile and flight of Muslims, no Muslim population remained in the cities.

During the Crusader period, the western Galilee had been populated mostly by Eastern Christians (i.e., Greeks, Phoenicians, and Hellenist Syrians who converted to Christianity during the Byzantine period), pilgrims from Byzantium and Europe, and Franks (i.e., Christian settlers from Europe). The western Galilee was divided into feudal estates; for example, the area bounded by Peki’in in the north-east, Sejour in the south-east, and Deir El Assad in the south-west was the feudal estate of Henricus Bubalus, son of a knight from Champagne.

In the eastern Galilee, Christians had settled during the Byzantine period in separate neighborhoods of several towns in the lower Galilee, in Tiberias, Kfar Qana, and Dabouriya and Nazareth(holy places for Christianity). The Jewish community of Nazareth was eliminated by the Byzantines on the eve of the Arab-Muslim conquest. There is lack of evidence as to the fate of the Nazareth’s Byzantine-Christian through the Muslim occupation. Nazareth changed hands during the wars between Muslims and Crusaders, but it became Christian again in 1100, and Crusaders began to settle in it in 1108. The crusaders reconstructed the ruined churches and Christians from Europe joined the Eastern – Christian population.

The region north of Jerusalem, i.e., southern Samaria, was mostly Christian. An archaeological survey found 267 settlements there. Christian-Byzantine settlements in the south of Samaria remained as they were. The Crusaders settled only in Christian settlements.

The area surrounding Jerusalem was also populated by Christians. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Beit Guvrin had a Christian population majority. The Franks turned Jerusalem into a Christian city and encouraged the settlement of Eastern Orthodox Christians in it to replace the Muslims who had fled or were massacred.

Ramle, Lydda, and the coastal cities also had a Christian majority. The coastal cities had been Christian during the Arab-Muslim occupation as well, and the Crusaders welcomed Eastern Christian settlement in the coastal cities to replace whatever Muslim population had fled or died.

(While the Islamization process of the Christian population in the Land of Israel had not been complete during the Arab-Muslim period, it continued during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. As a result of persecution and discrimination, the Christian population continued to shrink. This process, which was usually irrevocable, gained momentum when the Muslim communities became stronger and more organized.)

The Arabic-Muslim Population

Muslims were the second largest section in the population of the Land of Israel. According to Prof. Kedar, however, “at the present stage of research it is not possible to determine how many Muslims remained under Frankish rule following the massacres and flight from the Land of Israel” (in The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant, p.148). The Frankish chronicler Aranol tells of a proposal made by the King of Armenia to the King of Jerusalem in 1160, to send 30,000 Armenians with their families to settle the country in place of the missing Muslim population. Prof. Kedar writes that, if the proposal set one Armenian for one Muslim farmer, then we may conclude there were 30,000 Muslim farmers in the country. If an average family had five persons, then the rural Muslim population would have numbered 150,000 persons. Kedar, however, doubts the reliability of this story.

In 1099, on the eve of the Crusader conquest, the Muslim population in the Land of Israel was concentrated in two main places: The Negev, the Arava, and northern Samaria. Muslim enclaves existed in the area of Tiberias, Ramle, and Mt Hebron. The coastal cities and inland the population was mixed and the Muslims were the minority (see Chapter 4). The Muslim elite left before the Crusaders arrived.

Few sources exist to tell of Muslim life under Crusader rule. The little that is available indicates that Muslims’ fate was determined by the manner in which Crusaders took control of Muslim settlements: in those that resisted and were conquered, Muslims were taken prisoners and enslaved and others were massacred; in cities that surrendered, the population was left unharmed and was given the choice to stay or leave. Most chose to leave.

The Muslims were mostly Suni, with a Shiite population in the north. The Muslim population was made up of four groups: Slaves, serfs in Frankish estates, city dwellers, and nomad Bedouins.

Muslim Slaves

Slaves were prisoners of war and residents of cities that had not surrendered. It seems there were many of them in the country although their precise number is unknown. Four hundred slaves lived in the Templar fortress in Safed. Three years after the Crusader conquest, 4000 Muslim slaves were liberated in Acre, and in Jerusalem 5000 were set free. According to Kedar, these slaves may have been released for ransom or exchanged for Frankish prisoners (p. 153).

Muslim Serfs

Farmers who had worked the lands of their Muslim owners became serfs when the estates were taken by the Franks, who established the European feudal system in the country, including serfdom. According to Ibn Jabbar who toured the country in 1148, the Muslim villagers under Crusader rule fared better than those in the Muslim countries.

Benvenisti states that the rural Muslim population included remnants of the older population who had converted to Islam and became assimilated with the occupying Arabs. His opinion, however, is contested by experts in the history of the Arab-Muslim period who hold that mass conversion into Islam did not take place and that the Muslims were Arabs who settled in the Land of Israel (see Chapter 4).

Urban Muslims

Most of the cities inland surrendered to the Crusaders and their population was given the choice to stay or leave. Some Muslims stayed but most chose to leave. Muslims remained in Tiberias, Nazareth, and Bethlehem, while masses fled from Ramle before the Crusader conquest.

According to Amad Al Din, Saladin’s secretary, Muslims were the majority in certain inland cities, but the Muslims in Jerusalem were massacred and those who survived fled or were enslaved. Thereafter, Muslims were forbidden to settle in Jerusalem. Most of Nablus’ Muslim population fled.

Conquest of the coastal cities was accompanied by massacres of their Muslim population. About 4000 Muslims were massacred in Acre and their property looted. In Caesarea many Muslim men were massacred and their women sold into slavery; whoever survived fled. Massacres were carried out also in Haifa, which had stubbornly resisted the Crusaders. Most of the Muslim population of Jaffa fled before the Crusaders arrived. Arsouf and Ashkelon surrendered and their Muslim population chose to leave.

Dr.Schein determined that between 1099 and 1109 no Muslims remained in the coastal cities. In 1109 the Crusaders changed their policy as they realized that the absence of population meant the absence of revenues, and so some local population was allowed to settle. From the second or third quarters of the 12th century Muslims were allowed to settle in the coastal cities, but the majority of the urban population was Eastern Christian. Non-Franks living in the cities paid a municipal tax in addition to the poll tax.

The Bedouins

Bedouin and Turkmen tribes wandered in the area between Gaza and Egypt (in the south of the Land of Israel), throughout Trans-Jordan, and in the Banias area (the Golan). Agreements they signed with the Crusaders allowed them to graze in the Crusader Kingdom in return for the payment of a poll tax.

Prof. Prawer described the composition of the nomadic population, Arab and Turkmen Bedouins, during the Crusader period:

The tribes Taalbe, Garim, and Banu Buheed wandered along the Egyptian border.
The Garim and Qudhaa tribes, related to the Banu Tay tribe, wandered between Gaza and Hebron.
The tribes of Banu Xalid, Banu Haubar, and Banu Kinana wandered in the south of the Land of Israel.
The tribes Banu Saadir and Al- lid wandered on the roads from Egypt to Syria.
The tribes Banu Auqaaba, Banu Zuhr, and Banu Auf wandered in the Trans-Jordan.
The Banu Rabiaa tribe, which was part of the Banu Tay tribe, wandered in the region between the Trans-Jordan and the Horran. Before the Crusader conquest parts of this tribe settled in the area of Ramle, but following the conquest they moved north.
Nomads wandered through the country’s north as well.
The population around Nablus was semi-nomadic.
The tribe Banu Amala resided in the Galilee but left when the Crusaders conquered the area.

Of these tribes, the Banu Tai tribe was famous during the Arab-Muslim period for its raids into populated regions and for taking over parts of the country for a short time.

According to Mordekhai Aviam and Israel Finkerstein’s archaeological surveys, at the beginning of the Arab-Muslim period, nomad Bedouin tribes began entering the Samaria area deserted by the Samaritans . According to Crusader sources, there were still Bedouin tribes wandering in Samaria during the Crusader period in the 12th century. The Bedouins lived outside the Samaritan villages.

Prof. Ellenblum refers to a study by Abraham Poliak who researched the Islamization process in the area. Poliak concluded that the Islamization of the region did not result from the conversion of the local, established population but from the gradual transition of the nomadic Bedouins to permanent settlement, a process which, to a great extent, was completed during the Crusader period.

Of the 62 settlements that existed in Samaria during the Crusader period and even during the Mamluk period (1260-1516), 39 had not existed during the Byzantine period. Surveys show that these new settlements were not built on top older ones (no Byzantine ostraca were found) and that their settlement patterns were different.

Ellenblum describes three stages of Bedouin settlement process:

In the first stage, the site was deserted by its established population.
In the second stage, nomadic tribes entered the area, maintaining their nomad life style.
In the third stage, the nomads went through a transition to permanent settlement.

This process started early in the Arab-Muslim period. Historical sources document the Islamization process of the area which began in the Arab-Muslim period and continued until the early 12th century. The whole population of northern Samaria was Muslim, not through conversion but descending from Muslims who had settled there.

Saladin’s soldiers settled in Kaukab Abul Hija, south-west of Yodfat, and Najidat (in the lower Galilee) after his victory in the Battle of Hattin in 1187.

The historian Emanuel Sivan researched the refugee problem created by the Crusades in his study Refugees from Syria and the Land of Israel during the Crusades. He concluded that most of the refugees, who fled from the Land of Israel on the eve of the Crusader conquest, during the war and the occupation, and thereafter, were Muslim. This supports Ellenblum’s proposition that Eastern Orthodox Christians were the majority of the country’s population rather than the Muslims.

Sivan distinguishes three refugee groups:

The first included Muslim survivors of the massacres carried out by the Crusaders in cities that refused to surrender and fought to the bitter end, such as Caesarea in 1101.

The second group came from cities that had surrendered and whose Muslim population was given the choice to stay or leave. The majority chose to leave – Sivan determined that the largest refugee group was made up of Muslims who chose exile over life under Christian rule, as, for example, the Muslims from Arsouf in 1101.

The third group was made up of Muslims who fled their homes for fear of the Crusader conquerors. The city Ramle, for example, was completely deserted by its population.

Sivan discusses in detail the “Nablus Affair”: Muslim villages south-east of Nablus were hostile towards the Crusaders, and in the middle of the 12th century the population of 8 small villages fled, in small groups, to Damascus in 1156. They left because of the harsh rule of the Frankish governor, who levied a poll tax 4 times greater than the tax paid in other parts of the country, had offended their religious feelings and particularly their religious leaders, and introduced extreme capital punishments into the legal system.

Most of the refugees settled near Damascus and Aleppo, some moved to Iraq and Jezeera. Unfortunately, Sivan’s sources do not mention numbers, so it is impossible to estimate the extent of the Muslim refugee problem, although it is apparent that it was not negligible.

Based on Arabic-Muslim sources, Sivan concluded that a small number of Muslim refugees returned to the country after Saladin won the battle at Hattin and took over a large part of the country in 1187. His conclusion is based on the fact that the Jihad movement, which began at the beginning of the 12th century in Damascus and Aleppo, was not started by refugees from the Land of Israel but by local leaders. Although later on refugees, particularly from the area of Nablus, joined the movement, they were not the dominant group. Arabic sources mention that Saladin restored lands to returning refugees, based on documents they brought with them, formal property registrars, or witnesses’ testimonies.

In his article Converts to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Benjamin Zeev Kedar brought to light testimonies of Muslim conversion to Christianity under Crusader rule. Emanuel Sivan also wrote about Muslims who converted to Christianity. The testimonies are from Christian and Muslim sources and from official documents such as contracts and wills. Conversion to Christianity took place mostly among the Muslim lower classes and the slaves.

The Crusaders enslaved the population of cities that did not surrender, but Christian law demanded that slaves who converted to Christianity be set free. Correspondence between the Pope and senior religious officials of the Latin Church in the Crusader Kingdom (from the years 1193, 1201, 1237/8, and 1264) shows that the Frankish feudal lords were reluctant to free slaves for economic reasons and therefore discouraged missionary activity in their communities.

Following his victory in the battle near Bnot Yaakov bridge in 1179, Saladin executed prisoners he had taken, who were found to be Muslims who had converted to Christianity and served in the Crusader army.

The Jewish Population

Introduction

Researchers specializing in the Roman and Byzantine periods have determined that as a result of Roman and Byzantine policies, the Jewish population in the Land of Israel declined dramatically. During the Hasmonaean period, between 3-million and 4-million people lived in the country and 75 % of them were Jews (David Moshe Har, The Country’s Appearance and Settlement: Regions and Populations, p. 109). Under the Byzantine Christian rule the Jewish population numbered only 150,000 – 200,000, and consisted 10% of the total population. This means that between the year 63 BCE and the 6th century CE, the Jewish population decreased by 2.5 million (Michael Avi-Yona, “During Roman and Byzantine Times”, p. 25. See Chapter 1).

On the eve of the Arabic conquest, the Byzantines massacred the Jewish population in revenge of their assistance to the Persians, who occupied the Land of Israel between 618CE and 628CE. In addition to the massacre, trials were brought against Jews accusing them of destroying churches and murdering Christians during the Persian rule. Many Jews, therefore, fled abroad. No data exists on the number of Jews who were massacred, executed, or who fled, but it is reasonable to estimate their population at the time of the Arabic conquest at less than 150,000 (Michael Avi-Yona, “During Roman and Byzantine Times”, pp. 221-240).

Prof.Zeev Rubin, in his study The Spread of Christianity in the Land of Israel (Zvi Barras et al., Eds., The Land of Israel from the Destruction of the Second Temple to the Muslim Conquest, vol. I, 1982, pp. 251-336), examines the conversion efforts during the Byzantine period and concludes that despite coercion, destruction of synagogues, and massacres, Jews did not convert to Christianity in their masses, and only a few individuals did. Thus, at the time of the Muslim conquest there were Jews living in the country, but their numbers were significantly lower. Dr. Schein agrees that the number of Jews decreased on the eve of the Arabic- Muslim conquest.

During the Arabic-Muslim occupation, the number of Jews continued to decline because of the economic and security conditions. The Seljuk conquest in 1070 caused a further decline in the urban communities and particularly in Ramle and Jerusalem. The Yeshiva “Geon Yaakov” moved to Tyre and from there to Damascus. In the Galilee, however, about 30 Jewish rural settlements from the Second Temple period, still survived.

Under Crusaders Occupation

During the Crusader period, the urban Jewish population suffered again, and according to Prof. Prawer, Jews were massacred along with the Muslims. Once the Crusader rule stabilized, however, Jews began returning to the country in the 12th and 13th centuries, bringing about a certain increase in the Jewish population (exact numbers are unknown).

As a result of Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel, “the Jewish community was rehabilitated during the 12th century, and particularly during the 13th” (Prawer, History of the Jews in the Crusader Kingdom, p. 13). These immigrants included Jews from North Africa (the Maghreb), Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Spain, France, Italy, and Germany. Immigration from Europe was made possible when the maritime connection with the Land of Israel was renewed, and was motivated in part by persecution in the countries of origin, although religious-messianic factors played a part as well.

The first wave of immigration began at the end of the 12th century and was described by Yehuda El Harizi, who noted that the immigrants’ countries of origin were North Africa, Egypt, France, and possibly Yemen. The second wave began in 1204 and continued throughout the 13th century. One of its prominent figures was Rabbi Yehiel of Paris who immigrated 1259 with 300 of his students (some say he died en route and his son was the one who arrived with the students). Another figure was Rabbi Meir of Rotenberg, who arrived with a group of Jews who fled the Emperor’s decrees in 1286. Ramban, Rabbi Moshe Ben Nahman, immigrated to Israel after escaping from Spain where he was sentenced to jail following the Barcelona Debate with Pablo de Christiani (a Jew who converted to Christianity).

Two other prominent figures are known, from the Jewish community in Spain. The family of the Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, whose writings have become invaluable assets of the Jewish culture) was forced to flee Spain, arriving in Egypt in 1168 after a short stay in Israel. The poet Rabbi Yehuda Ha Levi left Spain in 1140. A long standing debate over whether he reached the Land of Israel or died in Egypt seems to be settled with the recent discovery of a document from the Cairo Genizah, which confirms that he reached the Land of Israel and died there. Tradition holds that he was run over by a mounted horseman while praying at the Western Wall.

In theory, the Jews’ status was the same as other non-Franks. Scholars are divided over whether the new Crusader rulers renewed the anti-Jewish Roman and Byzantine legislation. Dr. Sylvia Schein believes they did (p. 336), while Prof. Prawer is of the opinion that the anti-Jewish decisions of the 3rd and 4th Lateran Councils were not enforced in the Crusader Kingdom. There were no discriminating dress laws, Jews were not required to wear the yellow patch, and they were free to worship according to their rules, although they suffered from hostility (Prawer, History of the Jews in the Crusader Kingdom, pp. 119-122). The Jewish court of justice was allowed to judge Jews on matters concerning Jews alone.

Change in the composition of the Jewish community

Up to the first Crusade (1099), the Jewish population in the Land of Israel had continuous genealogical links to the Jews of the Second Temple period. From the 12th and 13th centuries, waves of Jewish immigration from Western Europe (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), North Africa, the Middle East, and Byzantium, changed the composition of the urban Jewish population. Until the 11th century, Jews immigrating to the country came from the East, but, in a process that began in the 12th century and gained momentum in the 13th century, the number of European Jews outweighed that of Jews from the East. Where, in the past, immigrants coming from east of the Land of Israel influenced the character of the Jewish community, during the Crusader period the European immigrants’ influence became greater. This is apparent in the Jewish sources of the period, which before were written in Arabic (using Hebrew letters) and, following the European immigration, were written in Hebrew, the language common to all the Jewish communities.

The Community Organization

The Jews in the Land of Israel continued to be part of organized communities, although the leadership, the Yeshiva of the Land of Israel, moved to Tyre and from there to Damascus, leaving the Jews without spiritual leadership. In the 13th century, following the immigration from Europe, Acre became the Jewish spiritual centre in the Land of Israel.

The Easter Galilee

Unlike other regions in the country where the Crusaders massacred the Jews, the Galilee did not resist their conquest and therefore the Jewish population was spared. Jewish and Latin sources tell that during the 12th and 13th centuries the population in the eastern Galilee continued to fear for life and property because of Bedouin raids and robberies by Muslim highwaymen supported by Damascus. The Crusader army struggled to cope with the constant threat of the Bedouins.

The Galilee was also the arena for struggles between the Crusaders and the Muslims. To deal with this situation, the Crusaders fortified Tiberias, built fortresses in Safed and in Kassar-Hounin (today’s Margaliyot) and another fortress, the Montfort, near Maalot (Arye Graboys, The Galilee at the Time of the Crusades). Safed, and the whole Galilee, changed hands several times in the struggle between the Muslims and the Crusaders for control over the country, particularly after Saladin took over Syria and Egypt and began his efforts to conquer the Land of Israel. After the Battle of Hattin in July 1187, the Galilee was in Saladin’s hands, but in 1192 the western Galilee was retaken by the Crusaders. Their efforts to regain control in the eastern Galilee failed. The fortress in Safed was destroyed in 1219, and in 1239 a treaty signed with the Muslims gave the eastern Galilee back to the Crusaders. A Latin source, dated to the mid-13th century, states that the fortress in Safed was rebuilt in 1240 and was given to the Knights of the Templar Order. The treaty and the reconstructed fortress brought about a temporary improvement in security, until the battle near Eyn Harod in 1261 and the Mamluk conquest. The Druze began settling in the central Galilee and the Golan in the 13th century.

Despite all this, the eastern Galilee continued to be the main region of Jewish settlement, with a few Christian enclaves that existed in sites holy to Christianity since Byzantine times, and Muslim enclaves created by Bedouins and Druze who settled in sites that had been destroyed or deserted. The Frankish Christians did not settle in the eastern Galilee and preferred the western Galilee that was populated by Christians. The eastern Galilee was included in the Galilee Principality, whose lands were distributed among the Crusader nobility.

The number of Jewish settlements in the Galilee decreased from 204 in 66CE to 46 in 135CE (after Bar Kokhba’s revolt was crushed). Following Bar Kokhba’s revolt Jewish refugees from Judea arrived in the Galilee and settled in existing and deserted towns and villages. Synagogue buildings from the 3rd century CE show the gradual recovery of the Jewish population in the Galilee.

Based on Mordekhai Aviam’s archaeological surveys in the Galilee, Ellenblum determined that during the 5th and 6th centuries, under Byzantine occupation, the eastern Galilee was Jewish while the western Galilee was Eastern Orthodox Christian. The Jewish population lived in 58 settlements, 32 (or 54%) of which were large settlements on more than 2.5 acres, 21 (or 36%) were medium in size (1.5 – 2.5 acres), 2 settlements (or 4%) had up to 1.5 acres, and 3 settlements (or 5%) were of unknown size. Since according to the Jewish sources only 46 settlements survived the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135CE, we may conclude that over time the number of settlements increased by 12. The number of settlements that survived the Byzantine massacre of the Jewish population on the eve of the Muslim conquest is unknown, although we know of settlements that were destroyed or deserted.

Prof. Ellenblum found that it is possible to distinguish between settlements continuously populated with the same cultural group, and those settled by a new population of a different culture. Thus it is possible to tell which settlements remained Jewish and which were deserted and then settled by Bedouins and Druze. Demographic and cultural differences are notable also between the eastern Galilee, which was mostly Jewish, and the western Galilee which was mostly Eastern Christian.

Prof. Ellenblum determined that the fact that the number of large and medium settlements in the eastern Galilee (altogether 90%) was higher than those in the western Galilee (17% large and 49% medium, totaling 66%) was the result of differences in the style of settlement between Jews and Christians. The western Galilee had isolated farms, isolated estates, and monasteries which were mostly small agrarian units, whereas the eastern Galilee had community settlements.

Ellenblum believes that these differences had cultural and historical origins, and were structured as a result of the two populations’ different values, community relationships, and manners of worship. Jews could not live far from their community because they had to be within walking distance of their synagogue in order to observe the ban on traveling on the Sabbath. They also needed a minimum of 10 men for prayer (minyan), ritual baths, Kosher food, Jewish burial etc., and such religious services were possible only in a large settlement. The Jewish population had fewer means than the Christians, whose monasteries received support from the Church, and whose farm-owners and estate-owners were wealthy and well connected to the Christian-Byzantine government. Larger settlements allowed the distribution of the costs of irrigation systems, terraces (for farming hilly areas), flour mills, etc. over a larger number of Jewish residents, making them affordable to more people.

The Cairo Genizah (a collection of Jewish mediaeval documents and letters from the Land of Israel and the Diaspora) contains documents from the 10th and 11th centuries which mention settlements from the eastern Galilee: Biriya, Gush Halav, Dalton, Dan Fortress, Tiberias, Kfar Hananya, Kfar Mandi, Akhbara, Tzipori, and Safed, and Acre (in the western Galilee), populated by Jews. Most were Jewish settlements while a few had a mixed population. This list is necessarily incomplete, as it was extracted from letters. Jewish settlements are mentioned also in travelers’ writings, but they too may not have visited all the existing settlements of that time.

Other 13th century sources, including the Cairo Genizah and archaeological surveys, tell of the existence of the villages and towns of El Alawiya, Biriya, Biram, Gush Halav, Dalton, Kfar Hakook, Kfar Kanna, Kfar Hananya, Kfar Navrata, Kfar Amika, Kfar Tanhoum, Meyron, Eyn Zeitim, Alma, Peki’in, and Keissama. According to Arye Graboys in The Galilee during the Crusader Period, Jewish settlements included also Iyo, Poron, and Casal Robert (near Kfar Kanna). Jews lived also in Kfar Yassif, Iblin, Acre, Shaab, and Shefaram. This incomplete list includes 25 settlements.

From Byzantine times to the Crusader period, the number of Jewish settlements declined from 58 to 35. According to Ellenblum, the cause for the decline in number of settlements and population was the demographic crisis in the eastern Galilee at the beginning of the Arab-Muslim period. The eastern Galilee went through a process of partial nomadization and invasion by Bedouin tribes who pushed the Jewish population out of its settlements and then settled on these deserted sites themselves. The Jews, who were not protected by the Muslim rulers, were forced to leave. Graboys also notes that Arabs from the conquering army settled in the Galilee. Muslims from Syria, Iraq, and Iran were settled in the Galilee by the Umayyad rulers (634-750). Prof Moshe Sharon, however, argues in his article The Bedouins and the Land of Israel under Islamic Rule, that during the Umayyad rule (at the beginning of the Muslim occupation) Arabic settlement in the country was insignificantly small. It is known that Bedouins who had settled in the Galilee, left during the Crusader occupation.

During the Crusader period, 18 of the 32 large towns and villages, and 17 of the 21 medium ones in the eastern Galilee, remained (there had been no small settlements). The nomadization process ceased only after the construction of the Templar fortress in Safed. According to a Latin source, this fortress restored order and security to the area and promoted the transition of Bedouins to permanent settlement. The new settlements, which were usually established on the ruins of deserted ones, attracted immigrants from the region. The population of the eastern Galilee gradually became mixed – Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. These ethno-religious groups usually resided in separate settlements, and in settlements where the population was mixed, they lived in separate neighborhoods.

A report by Jewish travelers gives some information on the number of Jews living in settlements in the Galilee. Benjamin of Tudela, who toured the country in 1170, tells in his book “Benjamin’s Travels” about 14 Jewish settlements across the country, most of them in the Galilee. He estimated the number of Jews in the entire country at no more than 1300. Rabbi Shimeon son of Rabbi Shimshon from France, who toured the country in 1210, tells of 200 Jews in Acre, 50 in Tiberias and Kfar Alma, and 80 in Biram, Safed, Kfar Amikta, and Navrata. He met 20 Jews each in Meyron, Keissama, and Gush Halav.

Tiberias and Safed were the two urban centres in the Galilee: Tiberias became capital of the Crusader Galilee Principality but often changed hands between the Crusaders and Saladin. Benjamin of Tudela met 50 Jews in Tiberias. In the 13th century Tiberias became famous for its baths and scholars. Towards the end of the 13th century Tiberias lost its status to Safed, but Jews continued to live in it.

A small community in the 11th and 12th centuries, Safed took over from Tiberias at the end of the 13th century. Safed too suffered from the changes in government and in 1219 was demolished by the Ayoubs. Just prior to this, in 1216/18 it was visited by Yehuda El Harizi who tells of a Yeshiva there. After conquering Safed in 1240/43, the Crusaders built a fortress in it.

In their books, travelers spoke of Jews and quoted demographic data, but the question remains whether they quoted the number of men only or the entire Jewish population in a given place. Some travelers spoke of families. If the population of a given place was 80 families rather than 80 Jews, then this would be a large village with some 400 people, which would fit better with the archaeological findings that show that most of the Jewish settlements were large for their time.

In summary, Ellenblum proposes that the Islamization of the Galilee was the result of Bedouin and Muslim migrants’ settlement rather than the conversion of the Jewish population, although it is not impossible that individual conversions took place. Archaeological finds show that 23 of the 58 Jewish settlements of the Byzantine period were deserted under Bedouin pressure, probably during the Arab-Muslim occupation, but 35 survived to the Crusaders occupation.

Jews in Urban Centers

Rumours of pogroms the Crusaders carried out on their way to the Levant in the Jewish population of Germany and France, evoked deep concerns in the urban Jewish population in the Land of Israel. During the Crusader conquest Jews fled from certain cities while others were massacred or taken prisoners. Later on, as the situation stabilized and the trade links with Europe (which had been severed during the Muslim occupation) were renewed, Jews began to immigrate from the Middle East, Byzantium, Germany, France, and Spain, and Jewish settlement in the cities was renewed.

The Jews of Jaffa and Ramle fled with the Muslims ahead of the Crusaders.

The Jews of Jerusalem collaborated with the Muslims in defending the city against the Crusaders, and paid a high price for that. When the resistance was broken, the Crusaders set fire to a synagogue in which the Jews from one of the two Jewish neighborhoods were sheltering, burning them alive. Many other Jews, hiding in the Temple Mount along with the Muslims, were massacred while a few were taken prisoners. These Jewish prisoners were redeemed by Jewish communities in Ashkelon, Egypt, and Italy. Most of the Jews redeemed by the community in Ashkelon were sent to Egypt, a few dying on the way. Those who remained in Ashkelon lived in poverty. A few of the prisoners were held to ransom for too high a price, and converted to Christianity to be freed from slavery. The Crusaders banned Jewish settlement in Jerusalem and settled Eastern Orthodox Christians from the Trans-Jordan in the former Jewish neighborhoods.

When Saladin conquered Jerusalem, he invited Jews back and the Jewish community in Jerusalem was renewed. They were joined by Jews from Ashkelon, North Africa, France, and England, creating three communities in Jerusalem between 1191 and 1211: An Ashkeloni community, a Mughrabi (from the Maghreb, North Africa) community, and an Ashkenazi community (from France and England). Jerusalem changed hands again several times and the Jews were allowed to settle in it and banned from it repeatedly.

Ramban (Rabbi Moshe Ben Nachman from Spain) visited Jerusalem in 1267 and found there about 300 Eastern Christians. At the end of the 13th century the Jewish community in Jerusalem was renewed.

The Jews of Haifa collaborated with the Muslims in defending the city. Many died in the massacres following the city’s conquest in 1101. Those who survived were taken prisoners and were redeemed by the Jewish communities in Syria. Haifa remained without any Jews.

As mentioned above, the Jews of Jaffa fled ahead of the Crusaders. Benjamin of Tudela met one Jewish man there in 1174.

In Caesarea, Benjamin of Tudela met some 200 Jews and some 200 Samaritans.

There were no Jews living in Arsouf at the time of the Crusader conquest (based on population lists in Meron Benvenisti’s book, The Crusaders in the Holy Land, p. 27).

The Jewish population in Acre grew in the 13th century following the immigration of Rabbi Yehiel of Paris (or his son Jacob, according to Dr. Shine who holds that the Rabbi died en route to the Land of Israel) and his students. The Jewish population of Acre in the 13th century was mixed, including Jews who had immigrated from France, Germany, England, Venice, Crete, various places in Israel, from the East, and especially from Egypt. Ramban also settled there and so did, temporarily, Rabbi David (grandson of Rambam). Acre became the spiritual centre for the Jews of the Land of Israel.

Despite Ashkelon’s surrender in 1153, its population was robbed and massacred. The continuity of Jewish presence in the city was not broken despite the fact that many chose to leave for Egypt. In 1174, Benjamin of Tudela found in Ashkelon 200 Jews, 300 Samaritans, and 40 Karaites out of a population of 10,000, mostly Franks and Eastern Christians.

A small Jewish population remained during the Crusader period in the inland cities of Behtlehem, Beit Guvrin, Beit Nouva, Latroun, Ramle, Lydda, and Hebron.

The Samaritan Population

Ellenblum refers to archaeological surveys conducted in Samaria, and to studies which show a decline in Samaritan population in northern Samaria during the Byzantine period.

In Roman times, a large Samaritan population lived in Samaria. These were descendents of peoples displaced by the Assyrians and settled in the area of the northern Kingdom of Israel after its defeat in the 8th century BCE (the Assyrians’ policy was to displace conquered peoples to prevent their uprising). The upper classes of the Kingdom of Israel were exiled to Assyria (today’s Iraq) while populations from there were transferred to Samaria. They adopted parts of the Jewish religion, but were not recognized as Jews and were not accepted to the Jewish community by the Jews returning from Babylon following Cyrus’ declaration in 538BCE. This created centuries-long tension between the two.

The archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, who conducted the surveys in Samaria, discovered that the number of settled sites declined drastically in the late Byzantine period. Finkelstein linked the emptying of northern Samaria of its population with the Byzantines’ nearly complete annihilation of the Samaritan community. Ellenblum supports this conclusion.
It is important to note that the area in southern Samaria, which was populated by Byzantine Christians, remained populated, and a large number of its settlements continued to exist throughout the Arabic and Crusader periods.

The Samaritans were persecuted by the Byzantines because of their refusal to accept Christianity. Scholars estimate that in the 4th and 5th centuries some 1.2 million Samaritans lived in the region between Syria and Egypt. Persecution and restrictive edicts caused the Samaritans to rebel against the Byzantines several times – in 484, 529, and 566. These rebellions were crushed, the Temple on Mt. Grizim was demolished, and the Samaritan population was massacred by the Byzantine army. Twenty thousand casualties were reported in the revolt of 529, but the Samaritans claim 100,000 to 120,000 were massacred. According to the Samaritan source, tens of thousands died, were sold into slavery, or fled during the uprisings. The Samaritans were outlawed, and their numbers declined by hundreds of thousands until they were nearly completely annihilated. This situation continued until just before the Arabic occupation in the early 7th century, and was the cause for the widespread ruin and the flight of the population (see Chapter 4).

It is estimated that on the eve of the Arabic conquest there were 200,000 Samaritans living in the Land of Israel. At the time of conquest, the Arabs massacred Samaritans, but later on their relations improved.

Following their conquest, the Crusaders massacred Samaritans in Nablus and in cities along the coast, forcing many to convert to Christianity. A Samaritan source tells of Muslim raids on Nablus in 1115 – 1137, killing Samaritans and capturing 500 Samaritan men, women, and children who were sold as slaves in Damascus. Benjamin of Tudela reports in 1170, 1000 Samaritans in Nablus, 200 in Caesarea, and 300 in Ashkelon. An anonymous Latin source dating from 1168 (quoted by Kedar in his article Jews and Samaritans in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem) contradicts this, claiming that only 300 Samaritans were living in the Land of Israel at the time.

When Saladin’s soldiers took over Nablus in 1184, they massacred the Samaritan population, sold some of the survivors as slaves, and forcibly converted those who remained into Islam. When the Seljuks conquered Ramle, they too massacred its Samaritan population.

Yehuda El Harizi, who toured the country in 1217, estimated that in Nablus there were fewer than 1000 Samaritans. Their decline was the result of the Muslim raid on Nablus in 1184. A Crusader document and a Samaritan source from 1166/67 attest the existence of Samaritan villages around Nablus, naming one Hirbet Assafa. Torah books were also known to have been written by Samaritans during the Crusader period.

The Samaritan community continued to decline, numbering 2,000 in the 12th century (according to an article published by Bar Illan University’s Centre of Jewish Studies) or 200,000 according to other sources).

Summary

During the Byzantine period (4th to 7th centuries), Eastern Orthodox Christians were the majority of the Land of Israel’s population, with Jewish and Samaritan minorities. The country’s population declined during the Arabic occupation, but exact numbers are not known. In total, there was a significant decline in population, from 1.500,000 - 2.000,000 during the Byzantine the period, to less than 500,000 during the Crusader period.

The Eastern Christians continued to be the majority during the Arab-Muslim period, and, joined by Franks, were still the majority during the Crusader period: There were 100,000 to 120,000 Franks, and the Eastern Orthodox Christians numbered approximately 200,000 to 250,000. No data exist for the number of Jews and Samaritans – the Samaritan population declined while the Jewish population declined and then increased, but both communities remained small.

The Arabic-Muslim population declined during the Crusader period as a result of massacres and flight from the country. They numbered 100,000 to 150,000 at most, and many were nomadic Bedouins.

During the Crusader period, the country was sparsely populated compared to the 3-4 million people living here in the Hasmonaean period (1st century BCE).

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