The Crusader States
by Malcolm Barber
Yale University Press, 2012
A recent addition to the
body of crusade historiography is this new work by Malcolm Barber on the
principalities that formed around the Frankish nobility during and following
the events of the First Crusade. Barber
utilizes a chronological history of the crusader states that spans the period
of 1095-1192, roughly ending with the failure of the Third Crusade, to explain
the nature of these brief but dynamic European ventures in the east.
Rather than appearing to be another academic
work covering the same ground of the events and people of the crusades, Barber’s
thesis focuses on the distinct culture that emerged as western individuals
sought to incorporate themselves into the territories they had won. While demonstrating many examples of Latin
activity within the city structures, Barber does not give much of the cultural comparison
he promises in the introduction.
Antioch, Tripoli, and Edessa all receive relatively little attention in
this area as compared to Jerusalem. From
the latter the reader is introduced to the military and economic contributions
of the Italian city states in conjunction with the port cities under control of
the Latin kings. Further, the beginnings
of educational facilities culminating in highly skilled works produced from the
scriptorium of the Holy Sepulcher in the late 1120’s, are suggestive of
cultural vibrancy. However, Barber fails
to show the ordinary people of the day to day running of the kingdom. Hints of prosperity come forth, but there is
almost nothing specific about the freemen or burgesses of any of the crusader
states. Contributions by the military
orders are shorn of their predictable positive and negative connotations, and
featured only as powerful interested parties in the conflict with the slowly growing
Islamic coalition against the Latins.
Where Barber really contributes new
material, is rather in the way in which he maintains a solid focus upon the
life and death of the principalities themselves. His reader can walk away from this work knowing
the specific founding and dismantling of each crusade conquest, except that of
Antioch, which he leaves off at the obsequious meeting of Bohemond III before
Saladin in 1192. Incidentally, Barber’s
insights into the personality of Saladin is more complete than any other
character in the narrative and provides a refreshingly balance perspective. An attempt at explaining the short life of
the Second Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was perhaps a bit much to ask of this
work. Barber keeps focused on his subject,
and provides a much needed commentary on the often volatile and violent short
history of the crusader states whose very existence required the very best of
the high middle ages, and many of its resources.
John Lowe (J. Sharp)
