HHMI Newsgroup Archives
From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 23:23:34 +0000
Subject: Study of Jerusalem - Lesson #9
>From sglick at INTERNET
sglick@iea.org.il
To: IEA 101-50 iea at INTERNET
iea@netvision.net.il
Subject: 9: Jerusalem
************************************************************************
INGEBORG RENNERT CENTER FOR JERUSALEM STUDIES
BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY 14 April 1997
RAMAT-GAN, ISRAEL
Internet Educational Activities <iea@netvision.net.il>
************************************************************************
David Eisenstadt
Jerusalem: Life Throughout the Ages in a Holy City
9/12 Jerusalem in the Crusader Period
In 1095 Pope Urban II called on Latin Christendom to rescue Jerusalem and the
Holy Land from its infidel rulers. This was to lead to masses of people to
set out across Europe on a series of barbaric military campaigns known as the
Crusades.
The Crusaders first saw Jerusalem from the summit of Nebi Samuel, 9 kilometers
west of the city, on the morning of 7 June 1099. Raymond dAguilers wrote
that they fell to the ground and wept in joy.
The Crusader Conquest of Jerusalem 1099 or Dont go anywhere without a ladder!
Within the city a large Fatimid Egyptian force was awaiting their approach.
The Egyptian army was well trained and had carefully stocked the city with
arms and provisions in anticipation of a protracted siege. Jerusalems most
topographically vulnerable northern fortifications were strengthened. In the
surrounding countryside the defending Moslem army had poisoned cisterns and
conducted a scorched earth policy in order to deny the advancing Crusaders
vital supplies. In order to avoid possible betrayal from within The citys
Fatimid rulers expelled its Christian population prior to the Crusaders
arrival.
The Crusaders came with an even more formidable force of 40,000 men.
Surveying the citys topography, they realized that the deep gorges to the
east, south, making the northern wall the only feasible angle of attack. In
preparation for their attack sectors of the wall were divided between the
various armies within the Crusader force: The Flemish army was to assault St.
Stephens (today Damascus) Gate; the Provencal army was assigned to the
citadel; and Tancred was to attack at Goliaths Tower (northwest corner).
Five days after arriving at Nebi Samuel, they launched a head on assault
against the citys northern fortifications. Fanatical enthusiasm propelled the
Crusaders forward despite heavy losses against boiling oil, but ultimately
they were forced to retreat because of equipment problems; they had only one
ladder - not quite the way to capture a walled city.
The Crusaders found themselves poorly prepared to besiege the city.
Jerusalems defenders had devastated the surrounding region, even poisoning
water sources so that the Crusaders be unable to conduct a protracted siege.
This included burning forests to deny them lumber for making war machines
necessary for attacking a walled city. This set back was short-term. A
Genovese fleet arrived in Jaffa and a Crusader delegation persuaded them to
break up their ships in order to supply the essential material for prosecuting
the siege. The Genovese ships carpenters fashioned three mobile armor plated
towers with drawbridge-like ramps.
On 14 July 1099 a three pronged assault, using the towers was launched against
Jerusalem. Towers were directed to Goliaths Tower, Mount Zion and the
northeast corner of the city wall. After two days of intense fighting the
Crusaders successfully mounted Jerusalems northeastern and northwestern
towers. As the knights filed over the towers the citys defenses collapsed
and the Egyptian soldiers sought refuge on the Temple Mount and in the
citadel. The Moslem soldiers in the citadel surrendered in return for safe
passage to Ashkelon. They were the only people to escape Jerusalem alive.
Massacre of Jews and Moslems
The Crusaders savagely murdered the Jewish and Moslem inhabitants of
Jerusalem. The dimensions of the massacre were so horrific that rivers of
blood=B6 flowed through the streets and even covered the horses hooves. William
of Tyre described the victorious Crusaders dripping with blood from head to
foot, an ominous sight which bought terror to all who met them=B6. The Jewish
community was locked in the central synagogue and burnt alive. The few
thousand survivors, out of a population of 40,000, were sold as slaves at the
city gates. When they finished murdering thousands of innocent people the
Crusaders gathered at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to give thanks.
The conquest of the city completed, the Crusaders selected Godrey de Bouillon
as the citys ruler. He received the title Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre=B6
and established Jerusalem as the capital of the country - The Crusader
Kingdom of Jerusalem=B6. This was the first time in over one thousand years
that Jerusalem functioned as the countrys capital. The city underwent
several major transformations as a result of the conquest, especially in terms
of population, major edifices and economy, in addition to the change in
political leadership.
The Population of Crusader Jerusalem
Initially the city suffered from major depopulation. Its Jewish and Moslem
residents, who had accounted for most of the citys populace on the eve of the
Crusader invasion, were murdered or sold into slavery. Following the massacre
a decree was issued forbidding Jews and Moslems to reside in Jerusalem. While
the Crusader army numbered, according to Benvenisti 40,000 people very few
actually settled in Jerusalem after its conquest. In fact the citys new,
mostly European residents were unable to fill a single quarter and
concentrated their settlement around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the
citadel. Recognizing this problem the citys rulers issued a series of
financial incentives in order to attract new residents.
As new residents arrived in Jerusalem the city began to develop ethnic spatial
divisions. Assyrian Christians settled in the area of the former Jewish
Quarter (then the northeast corner of the city) which retained the name
Juiverie. The majority of the citys other residence were Europeans, mostly
French, which also served as the official language. As a result several
neighborhoods developed as linguistic enclaves: The area between the Temple
Mount and Mt. Zion was settled by German speaking knights of the Hospitaller
Order (later Teutonic). A Spanish neighborhood developed near todays
Damascus Gate. There was a Provencal enclave near Zion Gate. The Hungarians
established a hospice north of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In addition
to these West European enclaves, there were several settlements of Eastern
Christians. The Armenians formed a neighborhood of their own around the
Church of St. James (still there today and part of the current Armenian
Quarter). There was a considerable Coptic settlement in the northeastern
corner of the city. The Greek Orthodox community was located mostly opposite
the citadel, after most of its churches were confiscated by their Latin
rivals. The Georgian community was concentrated around the Monastery of the
Cross, several kilometers west of the city.
Walls and Gates
The walls of Jerusalem survived the Crusader invasion with relatively little
damage and deviate only slightly from the lines of the contemporary Old
Citys Turkish walls. Their own experience in capturing the city led the
Crusaders to bolster its northern fortifications, as well as those on Mt.
Zion. Deeper fosses were hewn in these sections to compensate for topographic
weaknesses. Jerusalems walls underwent large scale repair work on two
occasions during the Crusader period, in 1116 and again in 1177.
The Citadel remained the citys primary bastion. It was expanded southwards
and separated from the rest of the city by a deep moat. The
military/political value of this structure was so great that it became the
object of contention between various Crusader factions and place of refuge for
Jerusalems population in times of distress. Adjoining the Citadel to the
south was the royal palace of the Crusader kings.
St. Stephens Gate (Damascus Gate today) and Davids (Jaffa) Gate, next to the
Citadel, were the citys main entrances. There were three gates in the
southern wall: The Zion Gate at the southern end of Jerusalems main
thoroughfare and just east of the present day gate bearing the same name was
the most important of the three.. The Beaucare Gate, close to the citys
southwest corner, was named for the Provencal Crusaders who penetrated the
ramparts nearby. The third gate in the south wall was called the Tanners
Gate and was named such because of its proximity to local tanneries. It was
close to todays Dung Gate and its archaeological remains may have been
discovered just two years ago. (It is uncertain whether these latter two were
full-fledged=B6 gates or mere posterns.) The eastern wall had two gates: The
Jehosaphat Gate (today Lions Gate) opened onto the Valley of Jehosaphat. This
gate also led into the citys main east-west thoroughfare. The Golden Gate on
Temple Mount was opened only once a year for the benefit of a religious
procession. In addition to these gates, there were several posterns (private
or minor gates) around the city, including one at the southern end of the
Temple Mount and another at the royal palace in the west. In the north was
the Postern of St. Lazarus, named after the adjoining Lepers Quarter - the
Order of the Lepers of St. Lazarus.
Economic Life and Markets
Improved security restored the rural population of the surrounding region
and with it Jerusalems agricultural backbone. Increased pilgrim traffic
greatly improved the local economy, which became dependent on providing goods
and services to visitors. Economic life was further bolstered by a wave of
construction, especially of churches and monasteries. Jerusalems rulers
tried to attract important maritime communes to the city with grants of
special privileges. These attempts proved unsuccessful as the merchants of
Pisa, Venice, Genoa and Marseilles were only interested in cities on the great
international trade routes.
Jerusalems markets were, primarily, divided specialty. The citys central
marketplace consisted of three parallel covered streets, largely intact to
this day (Suq el Attarim, Suq el Lakhamin and Suq el Bikurim). The central
street was known as Malcuisinat specialized in boiled meats and roasts. This
market was constructed by Queen Milicent in 1152. Some of the arches in this
street still bear inscriptions denoting ownership in the Crusader period: The
initials SA means the Church of St. Anna; T is for Templar. Its merchants
were a mixture of Assyrians and Franks. On the parallel Covered Street=B6
(east) were mostly Latin textile merchants, while the western of the three
streets - the Spice Market - was a fresh food market.
On either end of these streets were money changers; the Assyrian exchange to
the north and Latins exchange to south. There were several wholesale markets
in the city: East of Davids (Jaffa) Gate was a grain market and adjacent to
it (north), perish the thought, a pig market. On David Street (Suq El Bazaar)
was a large covered poultry market (today a vegetable market). The cattle
market was concentrated on the southeastern corner of the city, as were the
allied professions of butchers and tanners. Hence the name of the nearby
Tanners Gate.
Churches
Jerusalems importance as a pilgrimage center for the entire Christian world
led to the establishment of numerous churches, especially on sites which
became associated with events in the life of Jesus, Mary or other figures from
the New Testament. The most important of these churches developed a
geographic pattern associated with events in the last week of Jesus life.
This pattern of distribution extended from El Azariya (Bethany) in the
southeast to the crest of the Mount of Olives; then descended the western
slope and traversed the Kidron Valley and entered the city through the
Jehosaphats (Lions) Gate. From this point it wound its way west along the
Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In fact the present=B6 route
of the Via Dolorosa dates to this period. Most of the Crusader churches were
built on the ruins of earlier Byzantine churches and monasteries.
Two particularly fine examples of Crusader buildins are the Romanesque Tomb
of the Virgin Mary, in the Kidron Valley, and the the Church of St. Anne,
near Lions Gate. In the former are the tombs of several Crusader kings
including Queen Milicent. Both churches are accessible and open to the
general public.
The most religiously important Crusader church was the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre and most of the present structure dates to this period. Here
Crusader architects sought to restore several badly damaged Byzantine churches
and include within a single unified structure. These demands produced a
massive building, which lacks architectural clarity and harmony. The building
was completed in 1149.
Military Orders
An important feature of the social and political organization of Crusader
Jerusalem were military orders=B6. These were monastic (or semi-monastic)
orders of knights, which formed small colonies or neighborhoods within the
city. Beyond their military roles, each of these orders devoted itself to
another area of specialization, the most prominent being caring for the sick.
The largest of these orders was the Hospitallers, who created an extensive
network of buildings including a large hospital, living quarters for medical
staff, a pharmacy and several churches. The Teutonic Knights were a small
break-away=B6 order from the Hospitallers. They specialized in providing
medical care for German speaking pilgrims (the Hospitallers were a
French-speaking order and German patients suffered as a result of
communication problems).
The ruins of their church and hospice today serves as an archeological in the
Jewish Quarter, adjacent to the steps which lead to the Western Wall.The Order
of St. Lazarus specialized in caring for Lepers, while the the Templars with
their center on the Temple Mount protected pilgrims travelling to various holy
sites.
Jews in Crusader Jerusalem
The Crusaders forbid Jews and Moslems to live in Jerusalem, claiming it
defiled the sanctity of the city. In the 12th century Rabbi Benjamin of
Tudella visited the city and reported that there were three Jewish residents,
who worked as dyers. A Jewish community, however, was not renewed until the
early Mamluke period, circa 1270.
Return to
Newsgroup Archives Main Page
Return to our Main Webpage
�2011
Hebraic Heritage Ministries International. Designed by
Web Design by JB.