Kingdom of Jerusalem: How Saladin and the Mamluks Ended Crusader Rule

A long time ago, during the late 11th century, a group of European knights set out on a dangerous journey to take back the city of Jerusalem. The year was 1095, and Pope Urban II had called for what would become the First Crusade. The Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, had asked for help against Muslim forces, and many people in Christian Europe saw this as their chance to reclaim the Holy Land. Against all odds, the Crusaders were successful. They fought through enemy territory, capturing Nicaea, Antioch, and finally, on July 15, 1099, they took control of Jerusalem. Many warriors returned home, but some decided to stay and build a new kingdom.

From the beginning, the Crusaders struggled to keep control. They didn’t fully trust the Byzantine Empire and felt that Emperor Alexios hadn’t helped them enough. To manage the land they had taken, they divided it into four states: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the County of Tripoli, and the Principality of Antioch. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was the strongest, ruling over cities like Acre, Tyre, and Nablus. The island of Cyprus also became an important base for Christian ships. In theory, the king of Jerusalem could call on the other Crusader states for help, but they often didn’t listen.

The Crusaders relied on special groups of knights to protect their kingdom. Two of the most famous were the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller. These warrior monks lived by strict rules and were some of the best fighters in the region. They defended castles, guarded roads, and protected Christian pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. However, they often acted on their own and didn’t always follow the king’s orders, which led to problems.

The first leader of Jerusalem was Godfrey of Bouillon. He refused to call himself king, choosing instead the title "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre." His successor, Baldwin I, officially became the first king. However, running the kingdom was not easy. Many Crusader nobles had taken land for themselves and didn’t like following orders. These nobles were supposed to provide knights for the king’s army, but they sometimes refused if they thought it would hurt their own power. Despite all the political struggles, the kingdom attracted many people from Europe, mostly from France. It wasn’t just knights—traders, blacksmiths, bakers, and builders all came, bringing their families and trying to create a new life. The locals called all these newcomers "Franks," no matter where they were from. Over time, the settlers built villages, churches, and markets, and Jerusalem’s population grew from about 20,000 in 1099 to around 30,000 by the late 1100s.

At first, the Crusaders and the local population didn’t get along. Muslims and Jews were not treated equally—Muslims were not even allowed to live in Jerusalem. However, over time, the Crusaders realized they needed to compromise. Some Christian groups, like the Armenians, were allowed to live in peace, and Muslims still made up the majority of the population. Daily life was complicated because the Crusaders spoke Old French, while the locals spoke Arabic, Greek, and other languages. However, trade helped bring people together. The Crusaders adopted some Middle Eastern customs, like different styles of clothing, new foods, and even better hygiene practices. Merchants from Italy, Byzantium, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula came to trade in cities like Acre, which became one of the biggest economic centers of the region. The kingdom’s economy relied on farming and trade. They grew wheat, barley, olives, and grapes for wine. Sugar became a valuable export, with most of Europe’s sugar coming from Crusader territories during the 1100s and 1200s.

The Crusaders were constantly at war. The Second Crusade was launched to take back Edessa, which had fallen to the Muslim leader Zangi, but it failed. Zangi’s successor, Nur ad-Din, continued to attack the Crusaders, even taking parts of Antioch in 1149. Then came Saladin, the powerful ruler of Egypt and Syria. In 1187, he crushed the Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin and took Jerusalem. The Third Crusade, led by famous leaders like Richard the Lionheart, managed to recapture Acre in 1191, but they couldn’t take back Jerusalem. Other Crusades were just as unsuccessful. The Fourth Crusade got sidetracked and ended up attacking Constantinople instead of fighting Muslims. The Fifth Crusade failed in Egypt. The Sixth Crusade briefly regained Jerusalem through a treaty, but in 1244, a group called the Khwarismians, allied with the Ayyubids, attacked the city and defeated the Crusaders again. From that point on, the Crusaders were never able to fully recover.

New dangers appeared, including the Mongols, who raided some cities. But the biggest threat came from the Mamluks, former slave soldiers who had taken control of Egypt. Their leader, Baibars, was a brilliant military strategist. He first defeated the Mongols and then turned his army against the Crusaders. One by one, the Crusader strongholds fell—Antioch in 1268 and finally Acre in 1291. With the fall of Acre, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was officially over. The last Crusaders fled to the island of Cyprus, marking the end of their rule in the Holy Land.