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"The city of Jerusalem is located in a mountainous region which is devoid of trees, streams and springs, excepting only the pool of Siloam, which is a bowshot from the city. Sometimes it has enough water, and sometimes a deficiency due to a slight drainage."9
It is not by accident that Fulcher began his description of Jerusalem with a survey of its water supply, rather than its fabled holy sites. A siege in mid June was all but enough to break the Crusaders' spirit: it was certainly a contributing factor in the mind wrenching bloodshed that followed the breaching of the walls.
Soon, wide ranging expeditions were being mounted to discover the surrounds of Jerusalem. One party went to Ascalon. Another went to bathe in the river Jordan and to collect palm branches near Jericho.
After this, most began to prepare to journey home to Europe once more, including the armies of Robert of Normandy and Robert of Flanders, who went by ship to Constantinople. Within a few months, the whole kingdom was capable only of fielding an army of a mere 300 knights, whereas at the height of the pilgrimage the cavalry had been numbered in tens of thousands. For the rest of its brief history, the new kingdom was to be plagued by a shortage of settlers and workers, whether European or native.
The degree to which the Franks were absorbed into Eastern life is a matter of debate. Despite the claims of Fulcher, modern observers such as Runciman are more circumspect. It was the latter's conclusion that the contributions of the Crusades to western Europe were disappointingly small. This he attributed to a lack of intellectual interaction between the locals and the invaders because financial difficulties and wars prevented the intstitution of real centres of study where native learning could be assimilated. Intellectual life remained the life of Europe: local science and medicine were held in suspicion by the newcomers.10
It is certain the Islamic natives of the region took virtually no intellectual interest in the Christian invaders, at least if evidence from translation of manuscripts (almost non-existent) is concerned. The Christians of the West and North had very little either mental or material culture that the people of Islam wanted.
The one exception was human flesh: the Moslems were allowed to use slaves, but not people of their own faith.
The Christians were not allowed to keep slaves, but they could trade in them.
An amicable arrangement had been met long since whereby a thriving trade in humanity was possible. Thousands of people originating in France and Italy were sold in Spanish markets by their fellow Christians. Most, however, came from the Slavic lands, to such an extent that eventually the word Slav and slave became interchangeable.
So successful was this symbiotic relationship that it was allowed to continue by the Moslems both during and long after the struggle for the Holy Land.11
It is likely, therefore, that when we read about slaves in the hands of Moslems - particularly witches engaged in various kinds of sorcery - they are in fact Christian women sold by their fellows.
It may be overstating the situation a little, however, to deny a lively cultural interchange between the newcomers and their reluctant hosts.
Rather, it may be that the settlement of Outremer was a reflection of the universal experience of European colonisation of new worlds.
The Europeans, whether in Africa, Asia, America or Australia, have tended to attempt to transplant the culture of "Home" into the new settlements, ordinarily looking down on the local civilization.
Thus, in Australia, the Europeans built mansions that were redolent of the home countries. The settlers then continued a lifestyle consciously imitating the behaviour of the gentry in the old country.
But the mansions soon had verandahs built on them, the most visible sign of a concession to the climate of a new land, and in clothing, diet and habits were many other signs of the beginnings of a compromise on the part of the settlers. Subtle changes were wrought in the colonisers and the lands they colonised.
This was also the case in Outremer early in the twelfth century. Frankish women still spoke their mother tongue, but into it was introduced a plethora of new words - sugar, cotton, orange, damascene, mascara - all hinting at the subtle transformations that were being wrought in the psyches of the Franks by their new home.
A BURNING LAND HUNGER
For many of the great people who arrived at the end of the eleventh century there was a burning land hunger that meant they could not stop in the Holy City. Through their eagerness to put down roots wherever land was available, the Franks opened themselves to the influence of their new home.
Thus, Raymond of Toulouse with his wife Elvira of Leon and Castile immediately after the taking of Jerusalem went north to Laodicea on the lookout for a kingdom for themselves. There, Raymond broke up a siege of the Greek inhabitants of the city being carried out by Bohemond and the Bishop of Pisa. Peace established, Elvira remained behind in Laodicea while Raymond pressed on to visit Constantinople once more to seek the aid of the Emperor in his land grab.
Others who remained scattered throughout Outremer also began to build a way of life in the midst of overwhelming difficulties.
Not only were they cut off and surrounded by implacable enemies, but they found themselves in a mostly arid land that was as foreign to them as the Americas were to prove to their spiritual descendants, the Conquistadores.
Several main types of settlement have been identified as occurring in the next few years.
There were, for example, isolated fortresses on the frontiers with Arab lands, usually inhabited by men only, and consisting of a simple European style stone tower of no great size occupying a naturally defensible site, such as Montreal. These often grew into much larger fortifications, of which the most famous is the Kerak de Chevaliers, attracting a more diverse residential population, as well as local settlements near the protecting walls of the fortress.
As well, there were fortresses built on sites less important strategically, and with few natural defences, which were built partly for the purposes of colonising waste lands. An example of this is Ramleh. This was an agricultural site with an additional religious significance, supposedly being the burial place of St George. Around the existing fortress
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