Crusader Archaeology In 1099 the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem. For several hundred years, large areas in the Eastern Mediterranean were under Latin rule. This unique volume describes the fascinating story of an invading society transplanting itself into completely new surroundings, providing comprehensive coverage of all aspects of life in the area they occupied. Crusader Archaeology draws together recently excavated material from Israel, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan to examine what life was like for the Crusaders in their new territory, and how they were influenced by the local population. Chapters discuss urban and rural settlements, surveying agriculture, industry, military, church, public and private architecture, arts and crafts, leisure pursuits, death and burial, and building techniques. This highly illustrated volume creates an intriguing portrait of the period, which will make fascinating reading for all those interested in the Middle Ages, and particularly in the Crusaders. Adrian J.Boas is Lecturer in medieval archaeology at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and at Haifa University. He has directed excavations at a Crusader village and a number of castles in Israel. Crusader Archaeology The Material Culture of the Latin East Adrian J.Boas London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1999 Adrian J.Boas All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-98466-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-17361-2 (Print Edition) For my wife Yochi, and sons Jonathan, Amir and Daniel Contents List of illustrations viii Preface and acknowledgements xii A note on the use of place-names xv Abbreviations xvi Chronology xviii 1 Background: the Crusades and Outremer 1 Geography and climate 6 The native population 6 The Frankish settlers 7 The Italians 8 Frankish administration and institutions 8 The Church 10 The military orders 10 2 The city and urban life 11 Major cities 12 Coastal towns 41 Inland towns 52 3 The rural landscape 58 Land ownership and the rural population in the kingdom of Jerusalem 58 Taxes and tithes 59 Monopolies 59 The structure of the native casalia and the status of the local peasants 60 The Frankish villani and the planned villages 61 vi Manor houses and farmhouses 66 Agriculture and rural industry 72 4 The defence of the Latin East 88 Typology of the Crusader castle 90 How the Franks built their castles 115 Siege warfare 116 5 Frankish ecclesiastical architecture 119 Introduction 119 Typology 120 6 Crafts and minor arts 139 Ceramics 139 Glass 146 Metalwork 151 Stone vessels and objects 160 Inscriptions and heraldry 162 Wood 162 Games 164 Arms and armour 166 Greek fire 175 Textiles 175 Leather working 178 Ivory carvings 178 Objects of bone and mother-of-pearl 179 Crusader coins 179 Crusader seals 184 7 The fine arts 188 Figurative sculpture 188 Non-figurative ornamentation 193 Wall painting 199 vii Mosaics 205 Manuscript illumination 207 Icons 209 8 Building techniques and materials 211 Mortar and plaster 211 Wood 162 Stone 212 Construction 215 9 Burials 220 Burial customs 220 Anthropological research 220 Cemeteries 221 Tombs 222 Postscript 231 Bibliography 232 Index 249 Illustrations Maps 1 The Latin East 2 2 The kingdom of Cyprus 3 Figures 2.1 Plan of twelfth-century Jerusalem 13 2.2 Copy of a twelfth-century map of Jerusalem 15 2.3 Jerusalem: isometric drawing of the Crusader bastion at Damascus 19 Gate 2.4 Jerusalem: plan of the Hospitallers’ Quarter 22 2.5 Copy of a medieval map of thirteenth-century Akko by Marino 32 Sanudo 2.6 Akko: the Hospitallers’ Quarter 39 2.7 Plan of Arsuf (Apollonia) 42 2.8 Plan of Caesarea 45 2.9 Plan of Tartus (Tortosa) 51 3.1 Planned Frankish villages. 1. Khirbat al-Kurum; 2. Khirbat al- 62 Qubeiba 3.2 Khirbat al-Kurum: isometric reconstruction of a house 66 3.3 Frankish manor houses: 1. Aqua Bella; 2. Burj Bardawil 69 3.4 Khirbat al-Lawza: reconstruction of the farmhouse 71 4.1 Comparative chart of Crusader castles 91 4.2 Plan of ‘Atlit Castle and faubourg 108 5.1 Plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 121 5.2 Comparative chart of Crusader churches 123 5.3 Monasteries. 1. Belmont; 2. Bethany 136 6.1 Local and imported ceramics of the Crusader period 140 6.2 Tools and metal objects from Vadum Jacob 160 6.3 Arrowheads and mace from Vadum Jacob 171 ix Plates 2.1 Jerusalem: the Tower of David 17 2.2 Jerusalem: medieval Zion Gate 20 2.3 Inscription of a cook 25 2.4 Jerusalem: ‘SCA ANNA’ inscribed on the shops of ‘Malquissinat’ 26 market 2.5 Jerusalem: covered market street on the Cardo 27 2.6 Jerusalem: the western entrance to the medieval Cotton Market 28 2.7 Akko viewed from the Tower of Flies 32 2.8 Akko: excavations in the Hospitallers’ Quarter 33 2.9 Akko: ground-floor vaults of a communal house in the Pisan Quarter 36 2.10 Akko: the first-floor hall in a house in the Genoese Quarter 37 2.11 Akko: a covered street in the Genoese Quarter 38 2.12 Caesarea: an arched street and house 47 2.13 Famagusta: an arched street and house 48 2.14 Nicosia: a medieval house near the cathedral of St Sophia 55 3.1 Khirbat al-Kurum, a house with an undercroft 64 3.2 A house at Wadi al-Harimiya 65 3.3 Khirbat al-Kurum: a fireplace 67 3.4 Khirbat al-Lawza: remains of the farm 70 3.5 Aqua Bella: courtyard and chapel 73 3.6 Har Hozevim: ovens in the main building 76 3.7 Khirbat al-Kurum: a grape-treading vat in a house 77 3.8 Khirbat al-Harimiya: millstones of an oil press 78 3.9 Kolossi: the sugar refinery 80 3.10 Kouklia: the sugar refinery 81 3.11 Vadum Jacob: a horse killed on 30 August 1179 in the Ayyubid 82 attack 3:12 Har Hozevim farmhouse: a chicken coop 83 3.13 Vadum Jacob: a sickle 85 4.1 Chastel Blanc from the west 94 4.2 Beit She’an: the Frankish keep 96 4.3 Saone: keep and fortifications in the south-east 97 4.4 Belvoir Castle: the inner ward 104 4.5 Saranda Kolones Castle 106 4.6 Crac des Chevaliers from the south-west 109 4.7 Margat Castle (at Marqab) viewed from the south 111 5.1 South facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 124 5.2 The Church of St Anne, Jerusalem 129 5.3 West face of the cathedral of St Nicholas, Famagusta 131 5.4 Interior of the cathedral of St Nicholas, Famagusta 132 5.5 Al-Baina (Dair al-Asad) 137 x 5.6 Bellapais Abbey in northern Cyprus 138 6.1 Local and imported glazed ceramics 141 6.2 Handmade geometric painted jug 143 6.3 Port St Symeon Ware and Proto Maiolica from ‘Atlit 146 6.4 A prunted beaker from Beit She’an 149 6.5 The iron grille from the Templum Domini in the Islamic Museum, 152 Jerusalem 6.6 Medieval candelabra from Jerusalem 153 6.7 Pricket candlesticks 154 6.8 Bells of a carillon from Bethlehem 156 6.9 Lead ampullae, processional cross and croisiers 157 6.10 A twelfth-century sundial from Vadum Jacob 161 6.11 A gargoyle found in Ascalon 163 6.12 Inscription of Bishop Baldwin Lambert from the south wall of St 164 Nicholas, Famagusta 6.13 Game boards of marelles (Nine Men’s Morris) from ‘Atlit Castle 165 6.14 Hauberk in St Anne’s Convent 167 6.15 Detail of the hauberk in St Anne’s Convent 168 6.16 Mace from Vadum Jacob 171 6.17 Horseshoe, spur and arrowheads from Yoqne’am and painted arrow 173 shafts from Montfort Castle 6.18 Medieval textiles from the Coral Island and Cave 38 at Qarantal 177 6.19 Crusader coins 180 7.1 Capital from Nazareth 190 7.2 Capital with two bearded heads from Nazareth 191 7.3 Torso from Nazareth 192 7.4 Gilded bronze crucifix 194 7.5 Painted wooden crucifix 195 7.6 Carved frieze from the Tomb of the Virgin Mary in Jehoshaphat 196 7.7 Detail from the facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 197 7.8 Details from the facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 198 7.9 Details from the southern portal of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 199 7.10 Wheel window, possibly from the Church of St Gilles, Jerusalem, 200 rebuilt into a fountain 7.11 Fresco of an angel from Gethsemane 203 7.12 Mosaic from the Chapel of Golgotha, in the Church of the Holy 206 Sepulchre 8.1 Frankish stonework: diagonal tooling 214 8.2 Frankish stonework: masons’ marks 215 8.3 Rib-vaulting in Crac des Chevaliers 217 8.4 Moulded arch on the door of St Anne’s Church, Jerusalem 218 9.1 Transenna of the tomb of the Virgin Mary in Jehoshaphat 224 9.2 Tombstone of Johannes of Valencinus 226 xi 9.3 Sarcophagus in the burial ground of the canons of the Holy Sepulchre 228 in Mamilla, Jerusalem 9.4 The charnel-house at Hakeldama, Jerusalem 229 Preface and acknowledgements There are few historical topics more intriguing than that of a foreign society transplanted into completely new surroundings.