Crusader Colonialism: Statecraft, Society, and Struggle in the Latin Levant, 1098–1131

This thesis analyzes how the crusader states established during and after the First Crusade were colonial entities. Examining the crusaders’ policy toward the conquered, cross-cultural interaction between peoples, and the development of a Latin identity, it argues that the Latin Christian crusaders transplanted their government and religion by force upon the Levantine peoples. These peoples, Eastern Christians and Muslims both, were excluded and segregated from the Latin conquerors, and in both the political and social sphere the Latins reigned supreme even if some positive inter-Christian relations occurred on the margins.