And All Nations Shall Gather To It - Volume I: The Abode of Peace

[ALF0N53]

I'd say some West African polity could land in South America instead.

 

[Skallagrim]

Without Italian help the Iberians wouldn't have been nearly as able to explore as they did; the impetus would instead lie with the polities of the North Sea, the very end of long Italian trade networks. And I doubt North America could spark wider interest like Mesoamerica did, so itd be pretty slowgoing.

Describing the polities of the North Sea as "the very end of long Italian trade networks" seems a bit weird to me. it gives far too much focus/credit to the Italians, and far too little to those Northern countries. The idea that Northern European countries can only have ambitions pertaining to North America is also rather strange. By that logic, a British presence in India is outright unthinkable, as is a Dutch presence in South Africa. In reality, which areas a country colonised in OTL was mainly decided by which rival colonisers were active in the region. Northern Europeans had few colonies in Mesoamerica simply because Spain got there first.

I agree that Crusader Egypt (provided that trade passage through the Red Sea can be secured!) would give Europeans access to the Eastern trade directly, thus removing the need to invest in seeking out a 'Western route'. You say that such Western ventures could be delayed perhaps by centuries, however, and I'd say it would be a few decades at most. The "how big is the globe" controversy was still being debated, but an accurate measurement was already possible. At some point, people are going to realise there simply has to be a big unexplored part of the world out West. Northern Europeans, essentially re-discovering Vinland, would make quite some sense. After that, all it takes is one expedition down the North American coast, and people will realise that the climate is better for settling/agriculture a bit further South.

I'd expect English and Dutch dominance over the South-East of North America (because tobacco and cotton), over the Caribbean (because sugar) and over Mesoamerica (because gold). Brazil would also be of interest. France would be interested as well, but (having a Mediterranean coast) would be less committed. Scandinavian colonialism in the North American North-East? (Beaver pelts can be a source of great income, too, and Britain and the Netherlands would presumably be far less interested in that region if they could get their hands on more Southern lands instead.) Potentially you could even see a German colony or two-- maybe set up under the auspices of the Hansa or a similar trade league.

 

[IamtheEmps]

I think one thing that people arent mentioning in any discussion of New World Colonisation is the issue of Red Sea Piracy. I would think that if Egypt was seized by the Christians, the most likely result would be Egyptians fleeing into North Africa, and intensifying the Barbary Slave Raids, however they may have the issue long term of where to sell. But equally its quite likely that the Egyptians would flee across to the Dead Sea, and as the Arabians would have no qualms raiding Christians its quite possible that the seizure of Egypt might actually prevent the trade routes from being very profitable, as their would be the issue of piracy and tribute. You would likely see a similar issue in the Persian Gulf, where the Turks dont want to Trade with the Christians, due to the Crusaders.

 

[cmakk1012]

I think one thing that people arent mentioning in any discussion of New World Colonisation is the issue of Red Sea Piracy. I would think that if Egypt was seized by the Christians, the most likely result would be Egyptians fleeing into North Africa, and intensifying the Barbary Slave Raids, however they may have the issue long term of where to sell. But equally its quite likely that the Egyptians would flee across to the Dead Sea, and as the Arabians would have no qualms raiding Christians its quite possible that the seizure of Egypt might actually prevent the trade routes from being very profitable, as their would be the issue of piracy and tribute. You would likely see a similar issue in the Persian Gulf, where the Turks dont want to Trade with the Christians, due to the Crusaders.

That would just prompt the Kingdom of Egypt in turn to build up a Red Sea fleet and attempt to combat the piracy, along with attacking pirate dens much as occurred in North Africa IOTL. Socotra may become an important contested place, along with cities in Yemen and Oman.

 

[St. Just]

Describing the polities of the North Sea as "the very end of long Italian trade networks" seems a bit weird to me. it gives far too much focus/credit to the Italians, and far too little to those Northern countries. The idea that Northern European countries can only have ambitions pertaining to North America is also rather strange. By that logic, a British presence in India is outright unthinkable, as is a Dutch presence in South Africa. In reality, which areas a country colonised in OTL was mainly decided by which rival colonisers were active in the region. Northern Europeans had few colonies in Mesoamerica simply because Spain got there first.

I agree that Crusader Egypt (provided that trade passage through the Red Sea can be secured!) would give Europeans access to the Eastern trade directly, thus removing the need to invest in seeking out a 'Western route'. You say that such Western ventures could be delayed perhaps by centuries, however, and I'd say it would be a few decades at most. The "how big is the globe" controversy was still being debated, but an accurate measurement was already possible. At some point, people are going to realise there simply has to be a big unexplored part of the world out West. Northern Europeans, essentially re-discovering Vinland, would make quite some sense. After that, all it takes is one expedition down the North American coast, and people will realise that the climate is better for settling/agriculture a bit further South.

I'd expect English and Dutch dominance over the South-East of North America (because tobacco and cotton), over the Caribbean (because sugar) and over Mesoamerica (because gold). Brazil would also be of interest. France would be interested as well, but (having a Mediterranean coast) would be less committed. Scandinavian colonialism in the North American North-East? (Beaver pelts can be a source of great income, too, and Britain and the Netherlands would presumably be far less interested in that region if they could get their hands on more Southern lands instead.) Potentially you could even see a German colony or two-- maybe set up under the auspices of the Hansa or a similar trade league.

The North Sea absolutely had native maritime trade networks and polities interested in maritime trade -- I was referencing more the fact that Antwerp et. al were generally the wealthy terminus for the Genoa-Portugal network in the OTL 15th century. I also didn't intend to suggest that the North Sea polities would only be interested in North America, but they'd probably discover the North American continent first, as opposed to Columbus (who left from Cadiz and thusly ended up in the Caribbean) or the Portuguese (who discovered Brasil as part of their own much more informed journeys down the West African coast).

I don't know why people would necessarily realize that there is something else out there; the Roman fear of going past Gibraltar may have died away, but with Christian contact with India its not like there would be the same "maybe we can reach India by going west who knows" theories, or at least not at the same strength they had for people like Columbus. Of all the OTL exploration routes, I'd actually expect the West African route to be the first one taken *if* there is some Christian knowledge about Mali and its very wealthy gold mines, and the idea that you can reach India by going around Africa. Even with that, however, the basic economic impetus doesn't exist here; exploration required royal patronage due to its high costs and very big risks, and given the OTL ties between the Italian merchants and the Iberian kingdoms, I don't know if any of them would find it worthwhile to take those risks vis-a-vis just taking trade with the Italians.

In any case, this is all faraway TL-wise, so we'll just have to see how our good author plays it out.

 

[Youngmarshall]

The North Sea absolutely had native maritime trade networks and polities interested in maritime trade -- I was referencing more the fact that Antwerp et. al were generally the wealthy terminus for the Genoa-Portugal network in the OTL 15th century. I also didn't intend to suggest that the North Sea polities would only be interested in North America, but they'd probably discover the North American continent first, as opposed to Columbus (who left from Cadiz and thusly ended up in the Caribbean) or the Portuguese (who discovered Brasil as part of their own much more informed journeys down the West African coast).

I don't know why people would necessarily realize that there is something else out there; the Roman fear of going past Gibraltar may have died away, but with Christian contact with India its not like there would be the same "maybe we can reach India by going west who knows" theories, or at least not at the same strength they had for people like Columbus. Of all the OTL exploration routes, I'd actually expect the West African route to be the first one taken *if* there is some Christian knowledge about Mali and its very wealthy gold mines, and the idea that you can reach India by going around Africa. Even with that, however, the basic economic impetus doesn't exist here; exploration required royal patronage due to its high costs and very big risks, and given the OTL ties between the Italian merchants and the Iberian kingdoms, I don't know if any of them would find it worthwhile to take those risks vis-a-vis just taking trade with the Italians.

In any case, this is all faraway TL-wise, so we'll just have to see how our good author plays it out.

The OTL economic motive was to find a second route because the italians had trade with the middle east sewed up and the iberians wanted to skip out the middleman.

It's entirely possibly that even with a christian egypt, venice will still have that monopoly and so the same motives will exist.

 

[IamtheEmps]

That would just prompt the Kingdom of Egypt in turn to build up a Red Sea fleet and attempt to combat the piracy, along with attacking pirate dens much as occurred in North Africa IOTL. Socotra may become an important contested place, along with cities in Yemen and Oman.

Thing is that is quite hard, seeing as there are few Red Sea Ports that the Crusaders will have access to, 2 of which are very remote, and only one easily accessible. The Logistics are quite hard, and also even OTL the Christian Kingdoms had hard times with the Barbary Pirates, which I think the Yemeni, Omani, and Hejazi will be equivalent to. I am not saying that they wont have access to the Indian Ocean just that this access will be comparably less than the Egyptians had.

 

[cmakk1012]

Thing is that is quite hard, seeing as there are few Red Sea Ports that the Crusaders will have access to, 2 of which are very remote, and only one easily accessible. The Logistics are quite hard, and also even OTL the Christian Kingdoms had hard times with the Barbary Pirates, which I think the Yemeni, Omani, and Hejazi will be equivalent to. I am not saying that they wont have access to the Indian Ocean just that this access will be comparably less than the Egyptians had.

Yeah, Egypt would absolutely struggle. I agree that the South Arabians would hold the advantage at sea as well, but at least they’d have a fighting chance.

It may well prompt a push by Egypt into the Horn of Africa, in order to have closer bases from which to sail to India.

 

[Archangel]

The OTL economic motive was to find a second route because the italians had trade with the middle east sewed up and the iberians wanted to skip out the middleman.

It's entirely possibly that even with a christian egypt, venice will still have that monopoly and so the same motives will exist.

I agree. There will be economic reasons for Portugal to explore a way to reach India.

 

[jocay]

Even so there's always the likelihood that someone learns about the "secret fishing grounds" that Basque fishermen go to and decides to see what's there.

 

[Marquis]

With all this Blood and Iron, the question is...

Dreadnoughts or Battlecruisers.
Domestic or Imported.

 

[ALF0N53]

I think one thing that people arent mentioning in any discussion of New World Colonisation is the issue of Red Sea Piracy. I would think that if Egypt was seized by the Christians, the most likely result would be Egyptians fleeing into North Africa, and intensifying the Barbary Slave Raids, however they may have the issue long term of where to sell. But equally its quite likely that the Egyptians would flee across to the Dead Sea, and as the Arabians would have no qualms raiding Christians its quite possible that the seizure of Egypt might actually prevent the trade routes from being very profitable, as their would be the issue of piracy and tribute. You would likely see a similar issue in the Persian Gulf, where the Turks dont want to Trade with the Christians, due to the Crusaders.

This is pretty much a given. And this is where the maritime republics come in.

 

[Some Bloke]

Did Sigemar fight with a War Hammer?

 

[galileo-034]

Sorry if I couldn't keep track with all suggestion over the conquest of Egypt, but I mind that from the first joint Latin-Rhoman expedition that would take a few key entry points (Pelusium, Damietta and Alexandria), the conquest of Egypt would go in waves.
I mean that even though capturing Cairo in the earnest could be possible, holding it against resurging Egyptian powers that would rise from the ashes of the Fatimid caliphate would be very hard if not unlikely to last.

From a strictly military point of view, Jerusalem needs first to ensure control of the Sinai route from Gaza to Pelusium, but also the main ports of the delta such as Damietta and Alexandria.
Then, and I think it will be quite a major tactical thought shift from the previous Crusaders' ways of warrying, is the necessity to bolster their riverine capacities. Of note, though I've not found yet precise dates as to when they disappeared, I believe the Nile had much more branches not yet silted in this time, notably the Pelusiac branch.
As I understand it, the Latins are primarily waging their wars on large masses of continuous lands (aside of the Orontes river, they didn't had to deal with strategical waterways in their realms). As they were reliant on assistance from Italian maritime republics and Rhomaioi for naval support, they will be even more reliant on them than before, less they develop an independent riverine arm which I doubt.
In this optical, the control of the delta ports is crucial also as to provide a base for launching expeditions up the Nile river. If the riverine capacity doesn't follow, every crusader army would be at risk of being caught at a river crossing or garrisons being isolated and mopped up by rebels controlling the surrounding waterways, any gains made to be undone as soon as troops go home to Palestine or Italy, or whatever scenario can be imagined (and Murphy's law being, if that's possible, I mind it will happen, and give the Latins a very hard time, and to us readers, good stories to read ).

 

[galileo-034]

To continue on the political consequence of this tactical situation, I think as has been said in other posts that logically, you'll end up at best with client states being carved up from Egypt.
Latin ruled states seem to me yet unfeasible due to lack of settlers and the priority given to Palestine and Syria in terms of development. So I don't see Latin settlers there before at least the mid 13th century. Egypt only matters as long as it's about neutering it as a threat on Palestine's rear, so I'll say Jerusalem will be content to let Constantinople and the Italian maritime republics running the country through proxies once the conquest, allowing it to focus on Syrian matters and prepare against any threat from Mesopotamia; though you'd probably see it intervening against any resurgent Islamic power that Italian republics and Rhomaioi couldn't have dealt on their own.

So, to speak of butterflying completely the Latin massacre, I'd agree that things wouldn't go so far as they did IOTL as the Byzantine empire would be way stronger and less prone to such nationalist outburst without disasters to ignite them, but I think we're still going to end up with significant tensions growing and a rift appearing.
The border incident in Syria was quickly defused, and that was because of the lot of goodwill still existing, but that will last only as long as Constantinople and Jerusalem don't have conflicting interests, and Egypt is a ground very fertile in would be incidents between Byzantines and Italian-aligned Latins.
Egypt is a country too rich and strategically too important (with its trade routes to India through the Red Sea) to see everyone quietly sitting at the same table and be content with its part of the Egyptian cake, and that's not meant to be particularly Constantinople vs a united Italian camp, but everyone against everyone, Pisa, Genoa, Venice, Ancona, Ragusa, even Amalfi and Gaete if they make it, and possibly also Marseille, given how they went after each other through various OTL wars.
And given Constantinople's diplomatic traditions and more even-handed reputation, not to mention its military weight and historical presence, I would see Byzantine influence outmatching that of Italians, leading to conflicts with these maritime republics over boundaries of their respective spheres. We could also well see an active double game by the Rhomaioi to actively undermine Italians' and Latin influence to progressively take over the whole. You just need the right Manuel-esque basileus (to say, once back on their feet, it's hard not to think the Byzantines won't have their imperial ambitions returning as well).
From this point, if Jerusalem intervenes, it would have to chose its side between Rhomaioi and the Italian maritime republics. Doing nothing, that means Jerusalem being caught north and south between Byzantine lands and therefore practically surrounded by a "friend", but while supporting actively the Italians could allow to keep Egypt out of Byzantine control, but that means getting a new enemy to beware of in the north, a decision I guess depends on whether or not there is still a threatening Islamic state in Iraq that Jerusalem can't deal on its own (Jerusalem can't antagonize Constantinople as long as it need its support to deter or help against any invasion from Mesopotamia, but once that's no longer a problem...)

 

[Ricard (i.e. Rdffigueira)]

Considering the quantity of posts about the subject of Crusader Egypt, I won't be able for the time being to address all of them individually, but I'll take the main topics of the discussion so that I can show broadly what I have in mind. Again, these are things somewhat far into the TL, so we'll likely see some changes.

1) The conquest of Egypt - the military takeover of Egypt will be a faît accompli in this TL, as discussed very often, it is essential to ensure the long-term survival of the alt-KOJ. If the events of the conquest will unravel in a plausible way or not, we'll discuss in the future when we get there. Likely it will happen in a Crusade dedicated solely to it, thus involving a series of European "powers", but the role of the "Byzantines", even if sometimes more accessory, won't be neglected. How and when, we'll see later.

2) The Christian regime - Alexandria will likely be granted a very special position in this new regime, and will become even more cosmopolitan by the new influxes and presence of Italians, Greeks, French, and so forth. On the other hand Fustat/Cairo likely will lose its status as capital, for the same reason the Arabs chose it to be their capital: it is not located in the coast, while the Latins will probably want a port-city. If Alexandria is not available, Damietta is a strong contender, especially because it is geographically closer to Palestine (not that it makes that much of a difference in relation to Cairo and Alexandria, I know).

• The Crusader regime will certainly be based in the Delta and Lower Egypt regions. They will conquer the Nile as far south as they might reach (in the course of years, it won't be a blitzkrieg). The suggestion about having the Nubians going north and barring a Crusader southward expansion is a very good one, and I'll adopt; again, the "how and when" will be detailed later.
• Copts and other non-Catholic Christian denominations will play a large role, in economy, administration and politics. Muslims will be surely demoted to second-class citizens, but won't be marginalized, and the Latin regime will be tolerant as a rule. The Crusaders will be keen to exploit factionalism (Sunni x Shiites, Berbers and Turks, etc.) to weaken any potential opposition.
• Religious details are really stuff I can't address right now, I need to study it better to place the pieces in the right places; postponed.

3) The Red Sea - as difficult as it may be, the Crusaders will try to obtain a Red Sea access by Egypt (especially considering they control the Sinai by now). Commerce from India and farther Asia is a must to any sensible ruler that rules in Egypt; likely we'll see Christian explorers going to India from the recently conquered Egypt, with all that Prester John debacle. Piracy will become a very serious concern, but this per se won't serve as an impediment to Crusader entrepreneurial adventures in the Indian Ocean.

4) The role of "Byzantium" and relations with the Crusaders - it is almost certain, as many keen readers already predicted, that the political and economic relevance of Egypt will likely create some uneasiness between the hitherto allies. That's not to mean that they will go to war and annihilate one another, but circumstances will become increasingly difficult as "Byzantium" will only but slowly make efforts to accommodate this increasingly powerful Crusader State. But, again, this will depend more on the butterflies and specific circumstances. A new "Byzantine" dynasty or another Emperor might deal with the Crusaders in a different way than Alexios and John II are used to, but as long as the threat of the Islamic powers in the Near East loom against both of them, they will be friends of convenience.

5) Alternate "Age of Discoveries" - this is something I also am not too comfortable getting in depth now. The subject is extremely complex, and literally world-changing. The butterflies are immense. In any case, I do think that the "easier" way to access the Asian commerce will delay the westward explorations, at least in the way it happened. I tend to agree that an exploration spearheaded by the polities of the North Sea will be more interesting just for the sake of world-building, than simply copying and pasting the developments of OTL. In any case, I suppose the Europeans, as the seafaring technology develop, will be more interested in circumnavigating Africa before going to the Americas (it has been tried by Hanno the Navigator; by the Vivaldi Brothers, and will happen similarly, even if there is the Mediterranean "access" through Egypt, even if only for the sake of exploration). Then, it is possible that by the "sea currents" shenanigans, one of these guys gets to my homeland Brazil, and then we go. In any case, this subject is not very relevant to the TL right now, so I won't delve in it too much.

Anyways, you guys are very welcome to discuss there themes, and will always be. I know that the best and most interesting part of the TL is exploring the different possible outcomes for the scenario the POD creates, but, for the time being, I admit I feel somewhat reticent about discussing it in too many details, because it greatly increases the scope of the TL, and I believe that as the events unravel, we'll see it occur in a more natural way.

EDIT: I've read all the posts so far, and am writing the suggestions for later use. I hope you don't feel bad that I didn't go to answer each one; I'm not forgetting about them

 

[Ricard (i.e. Rdffigueira)]

1. Pilgrimage to the Holy Land​

After Bohemond’s reign, we can find sparse and vague references in the collection of sources of the period regarding the gradual growth of pilgrimage currents from Europe to western Asia. Until the early 12th Century, these movements were usually sporadic and disorganized, commonly undertaken by noblemen or merchants able to afford the prohibitive costs of the voyage to the Orient, we now begin to see more organized and dedicated pilgrimage expeditions in collective and dedicated organisms.

One historical landmark that evidenced this trend was the bull issued by Pope Callixtus II in 1124, named Nunc Greges Christi inuenit (“Now that the Flock of God has found [its home…]”), one that exhorted the Catholic dioceses, as well as abbeys and convents, to bestow patronage and financial support to the groups of pilgrims that lack resources to do it on their own. This trend, indeed, would be observed more commonly in the western Mediterranean region - notably Provence and Languedoc, where the wealthy Cluniac Order enthusiastically adopted this policy - but also in Francia proper, and in southern Germany. This system will grow in sophistication, and soon enough we'll see the creation of financial funds and proto-banking institutions to support pilgrimage and Crusading enterprises.

These movements would be collectively known as Pellegrinatione Francigena, and the individual groups commonly referred as “Francigenani”, after the Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage route running from northern Francia all the way to Rome. In Italy, the name “Ultramarinani” would become more popular to refer to the same sociological phenomenon.

Map of the Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage route that serve a fundamental role in the Crusadist Era​

After the First Crusade, Rome ceased to be the final destination of the European pilgrimage routes, and, in fact, transformed into an important stopping point in the route that would continue all the way to Brindisi; from there onwards, the Francigenani would go by sea either directly to Jerusalem or simply across the Adriatic and from there overland through the imperial territory

In its genesis, the Francigenani corporations become more popular in Francia and in England. By the late 13th Century, we already see enterprises of this kind departing from Germany, Bohemia and Hungary, and as far as Poland. The enthusiastic adhesion of the Hungarians, in particular, can likely be explained by the fact that their monarchs soon realized the economic and cultural potential of preserving a route dedicated to pilgrimage. As soon as the reign of King Bela III of Hungary [III. Béla Árpad], we see the consolidation of the so-called Via Pannonica or Hungara, one going overland, connecting the Poland and Ruthenia into the Rhōmaîon Empire, and from there onwards to Asia.

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By the early 13th Century, Europe as whole was experiencing the peak of an unprecedented economic and demographic growth due to the revival of transcontinental commerce and the gradual decline of the insular feudal productive models. In this context, we see that the Francigenani movements become increasingly well organized and structured, now that religious pilgrimage to the Outremer becomes more popular and accessible. Some peculiarities can by identified:

• Their organization increases, in the course of decades, along various entrepreneurial models. Instead of forming randomly, by ad hoc parties, we see many cases in which interested groups form permanently-established corporations or companies (similar to guilds), receiving even a perfunctory legal protection as a “fellowship” (that is, a group of persons united not by kinship, but rather by fraternity). More commonly, they are presided by an ecclesiastic authority, but it was not unheard of to see bishops leading these enterprises. In some places, such as Lombardy and the Rhineland, where the commune system favored the establishment of extensive juridical relationships between the different cities and regions, these “corporazioni” were bound by a contract or a base-set of rules, that would regulate the voyages through various generations. It would come to the point, in later phases, that entire bureaucratic apparatuses would be created to allow for these expeditions to function, from transportation and storage of goods, record-keeping, fund-raising, materiel accounting, financial banking, communication networks, and so forth, these being particularly developed and intricate in northern and central Italy, as well as in Hungary and in Germany.
• In some places, it becomes common to see seasonal fund-raising projects, usually sponsored by the parishes, to outfit a fellowship of Francigenani, who will then undertake the pilgrimage as proxies of those who for some reason cannot travel, but will be "represented" in the enterprise. Thus, one household or group of families can pay shares to furnish clothing, food and mount for their "brothers" going to Outremer. This model will be increasingly replicated to outfit Crusades and other religiously-dedicated expeditions.

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It is noteworthy that one of the earliest trials of “public fraud” involves the case of Markward Elfuls, a prosperous citizen of Speyer, who, in his capacity as a Francigenani treasurer, was accused by the Bishop of that city of embezzling an amount of the funds dedicated to finance the pilgrimages.​

• The Ultramarine companies founded rendezvous points with the intent of reaching to various different communities. In Francia, initially the most popular gathering places were Clermont and Rheims, until the House of Burgundy arose as the most avid sponsors of these companies, investing in Besançon to the point that it would become famously known as the “Doorway to Italy”, as a prestigious commercial hub dedicated to housing pilgrims. In England, Canterbury was established early as one of spot of these, and its growth would allow it to rival London and Winchester. In Germany, the prime spots were Regensburg in Bavaria and Worms in Rhineland. Some cities, such as Milan became such strong magnets of demographic influxes that they actually “distorted” the original pathway of the Via Francigena – considering that it actually went by the way of Vercelli to Pavia. Venice, in particular, avid to channel the important economic influx of these migratory trends, contracted with some cities of the Po Valley would "direct" at least one third of arriving pilgrims to their port, and from there the promise voyage across the Mediterranean would begin in earnest. Sources attest that it was not an uncommon sight in Modena, for example, among of these "partner cities" of Venice, outdoors and propaganda posters announcing "especial" prices for transport ships going from Venice... aggressive commercial tactics that greatly frustrated the competing republics such as Pisa and Naples, also interested in exploiting this increasingly lucrative enterprises.
• Even if nowadays some artists and media like to portray the Ultramarinani as persons from a very humble or even miserable background - the so-called “Pauperi” motive that many paintings and mosaics adopt, commonly depicted barefoot and with ragged clothes, likely conflating the Later Pilgrimage movements with the earlier Peoples’ Crusades -, we have clear evidence that the pilgrims from the 13th Century onwards were rarely poor, but rather from what could be called a “proto-middle-class”. It involved free yeomen (from herders to woolcombers), craftsmen of all sorts (armorers, tailors, cooks, masons, carpenters, weavers, and so forth), merchants, physicians and many others. A common Francigenani company wouldn't be so different from a merchant caravan. In Francia and England, they usually came from the land-bonded peasantry, while in Italy and in the German Rhineland, they were mostly from the fledgling urban centers.
• The fellowships were usually serviced by soldiers and volunteers, most commonly mercenaries, but it was not rare for a feudal lord to demonstrate his support to a pilgrimage by borrowing his own knightly retinue to guard the pilgrims. It is no wonder that the growth of the Francigenani movements coincided with the appearance of various mercenary companies, like William the Patrician’s Lakenhalen, a Flemish company who sold itself for the highest bidder in the markets of Bruges, and the Milites Posnani [the Knights of Poznań], who were actually Germans, and not Poles.

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“Lakenhal” is a Dutch term that denominated the cloth halls, located in the center of urban markets where merchants traded stalls for the sale, particularly, of cloth but also of leather, wax, salt, and exotic imports such as silks and spices.​

Painting (c. 1300) depicting a fellowship of pilgrims travelling to the Orient. The depiction is not supposed to represent realistically a scene, but rather the archetypes of these multi-composed groups
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Much like the Crusades themselves, the popularity of the Ultramarinani movements, especially during its apogee in the middle to late 13th and through the early 14th Century, was not only influenced by the social and cultural structures of Feudal Europe, but also influenced them. In some places, the feudal lords either discouraged or simply remained apathetic to these trends; in others, such as in Scotland, in Burgundy and in Bavaria, we find active and institutionalized support from the upper echelons of the feudal society. Oddly enough, we see even pilgrimage be enforced to non-serf subjects: (Example A) in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, minor criminal offenders were liable to "forced penitence" as early as the 1150s | (Example B) in Aragon from the 1220s onwards, it became possible for a minor infraction to be "compensated" by a (semi-voluntary) penitence voyage to Santiago of Compostela, while other felonies permitted compulsory pilgrimage to Jerusalem | (Example 3) in Saxony, during the reign of Duke Berthold III of Andechs (1233-1252), a parallel judiciary circuit was created to deal solely with causes related to pilgrimage litigation, from civil lawsuits to criminal ones. To this day, the town square of Lünenburg, in northern Germany, has a building named Hierosolimmishgericht ["The Court of Jerusalem"].

Another important factor that we must consider is the fundamental role played by the Sword Fraternities, notably the Templarians, as their consistent network of fortifications and communications extending from the border of Egypt to Armenia created a safe zone to the pilgrimage routes across the Levantine coast after the 13th Century, and they would as far as creating their own fleet (in the 1190s) to transport pilgrims from Italy. Even non militarized orders, such as the Hospitallarians, worked an essential support structure of hostels along the Via Francigena and the Via Pannonica – explaining the disproportionate political influence that the Order of St. John would gain in Hungary in the later centuries – with an overlay of pioneer banking and financial models, being one of the first entities in Europe, alongside with the Collegium Mediolanensis [i.e. an early banking institution in Milan], to issue bills of exchange, thus facilitating long-distance travels, because pilgrims now did not need to voyage carrying physical money.

2. Immigration to the Outremer​

Not long after the death of Prince Robert of Jerusalem, the Archbishop of the realm, Gerard of Amalfi, would voyage himself to his homeland of Italy, and remain there for some years. He met with Pope Callixtus II in Rome to report the situation back in the Outremer, speaking for various hours to the Roman Curia about the tribulations and sufferings of the faithful soldiers of Christ, ever surrounded by the swords of the infidels. By that year, the very few voices that opposed the idea of the Crusades – that is, a sponsored holy war – had all but silenced in the wake of the various successes of the Latin magnates, who had defeated army after army of the Saracens, and even expanded the realm in an effort to bring the heretic natives of Syria back into communion with Rome. Thus, Pope Callixtus II and his cardinals were ever eager and enthusiastic to propagate another Crusade, seeing it as the ultimate demonstration of temporal power of the Holy See, and were amused by the suggestion of a certain Spanish cardinal that the Holy Father himself should lead another exalted march to the Orient.

However, unlike the energetic Urban II, Callixtus II was a more introspective and passive man, who thought it was beneath the dignity of his office to preach to the masses, and instead ordered the assembling of an itinerant committee to travel through Italy to summon another Crusade. To be fair, one must have in mind that the Pope was ever concerned with issues closer to home, notably the Investiture Controversy; only two years before, a concordat had been signed with the [Holy] Roman Emperor, Henry V [Heinrich V Salian] in the see of Worms, but there was no guarantee that peace would last, even as much as the agreement had been confirmed in the First Council of the Lateran (1123). There remained some bad blood with the distant, but ever ambitious, Emperors in Germany, and it was one of the Pope’s counselors, Jacob of Siena [Giacomo da Siena], that advised Archbishop Gerard to not venture into Germany proper.

Through the course of three years, Gerard traveled across Italy, visiting important cities such as Florence and Arezzo, Ancona and Ravenna, Parma and Milan, and then to places in the northeast such as Friuli and Aquileia, and from there onwards to Burgundy, before returning and going to Rimini, where the voyaged back to the Outremer by sea. His efforts were not wholly unsuccessful, as some Lombard noblemen took the cross, as did a thousand citizens of Ravenna – famously called the “Fanteria de La Madonna” [lit. The Infantry of St. Mary], but to our days there is still some academic hesitation in denominating the expeditions of 1130 and 1131 a full-fledged Crusade. The "official" Second Crusade was yet to happen, then, so it became more common to refer to this one simply as the "Istrian Crusade" or "Crusade of the Rectors", because two of its distinguished leaders were the Podestati of Treviso and Verona, and its leader was Ezzelo I da Romano. It did reach the extent, however, of the First Crusade, with only a few Burgundian noblemen joining from beyond Italy, and none from the Empire.

One remarkable detail of the Archbishop’s travels in these years is that they appealed not only to soldiers, but to individuals and families interested in starting their lives anew as citizens of the “Earthly Kingdom of God”. In other words, Gerard sought colonists to populate Palestine with Catholic Italians, something that can be demonstrated by the fact that his speeches addressed the common people, such as parish villagers and the proletarians of the Lombard metropolises. This propaganda worked, to some extent, especially considering that his descriptions of the distant and unknown Orient were taken verbatim from Biblical passages, those that depicted “Canaan” as the land of manna and honey, but, in that period, the structures that we described above allowing for the transition of dozens to hundreds of individuals from Europe to Asia were yet to be developed.

*****​

The most significant episode of macro-historical importance, however, was not actually the Lombard Crusade, but actually the establishment of the Michielian Pact, in 1130, a political alliance between the Latin Principality of Jerusalem and the Republics of Venice and of Amalfi, one of the longest-lasting treaties in Outremerian history; thus named in honor of the then ruling Doge of Venice, Domenico Michiel.

Its scope would be, later, expanded to include the Republic of Ancona (1139), of Zara (1142) and of Messina (1159), and, by the 13th Century, it would be more commonly called the League of the Saint Mark [La Lega de San Marco], an alliance of commercial and military interests involving Jerusalem, whose hegemony over the eastern Mediterranean would become almost absolute throughout the 13th to 15th Centuries, rivaling even Constantinople. The Latin Principality for centuries would remain dependent on the sea-power of the League to sustain its own influence in the Mediterranean, a mutually beneficial compact, indeed.

Painting (c. 1400s) depicting the Cathedral of St. Mark, a Venetian landmark. The Most Serene Republic of Venice saw the beginning of its golden age in the early Crusadist period, and played a fundamental role in the international relations of the Crusader State in the Near East.​

By the terms of the Michielian Pact, the Venetian citizens were granted the rights to their own church, street, square, baths, market, scales, mill and oven in determinate cities of the Outremer (initially Caesarea, Tyre and Tortosa, but in some decades, it would comprise almost all of the port-cities of the East, as well as a later presence in Latin Damascus).

In exchange, Venice would, in a period of at least twenty years, bring groups of 2.000 able-bodied men and women, not counting children, every three years, with the intent of colonizing the Holy Land with “peoples loyal to Christ and the Holy Church”. These migrations would be, in many cases, voluntary, but, on others, compulsory, akin to a form of indentured servitude. To be fair, the Republic will sometimes breach the contract by bringing fewer than sufficient colonists, but compensates by bringing one or another company of battle-readied mercenaries – and the Princes of Jerusalem would always prefer to have a handful of soldiers now than some thousands of civilians later.

Now, once the social, institutional and economic structures of western Europe begin to strengthen these migratory patterns, due to overpopulation, decline of rigid feudal structures, climate change, religious revivalism, military adventurism, and so forth, we can attest significant immigration waves to the Outremer, notably from Italy and southern Germany. As an example, we have extant records from as early as the 1160s telling us about families from the communes of Friuli and Trentino that formed associations dedicated to establishing settlements in the Holy Land; many of their Italian properties were bequeathed to the local churches and monasteries to obtain money, thus indicating their intention of restarting their lives anew in the Orient.

The apogee of these movements will occur later, between the 1180s and 1270s. By analyzing contemporary documents, chronicles and onomastics, we can conclude the occurrence of a veritable “boom” of Italian immigration. By their surnames and toponymic references, in many cases we can infer from whence they came, and it is fairly easy to identify the main foci of emigration as being the northeastern regions of the peninsula, that is, Verona, Friuli and Padua, as well as Carinthia and some from Umbria, obviously due to the Venetian soft political influence in the region, but there are curious indications of some groups coming from the trans-alpine region of Swabia and of Austria [Österreich].

As the Venetian hegemony over the Adriatic expanded, in confederation with Zara and Ragusa, their increasingly frequent incursions into the weakened islands of Dalmatia – whose nominal belonging to the Crown of Croatia rarely resulted in genuine political control, as the native Dalmatians were insular and their clan-like allegiances and independent-mind made them terrible subjects and vassals, but impressive mercenaries and pirates. It happened, then, that we can see from the 1210s onwards some Dalmatian, and even Bosnian captives brought supposedly as serfs, but actually as slaves to serve the Republic of Venice, and hundreds of them were shipped to the Outremer, in an effort to break up families and clans, weakening their resistance. Some Palestinian graves dating from the 1250s already attest that significant communities of Slavs, likely Croatians, had been formed in places such as Nablus and in Bechan [Beit She'an].

Even today scholars try to guess the figures that this Mediterranean exodus might have produced, with the more conservative estimates point that about 50.000 to 100.000 individuals, and as high as a million (likely exaggerated), from varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Guessing number, as always, is a difficult task, not made easier by the fact that many records refer to "how many households" became established, making the appuration of individual numbers a wild guess. Obviously, even if the main concern of the Crusader State was about consolidating the backbone of their armies among Latin colonists, one must never forget that the land needed other types of professionals and specialists, from armourers to carpenters, and from seamstresses to vintners to effectively “colonize” the Palestinian and Syrian interior.

 

[Nuclear Consensus]

I'm not quite sure if I understood correctly, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but did the Crusades just create the tourism industry?

 

[Cryostorm]

I'm not quite sure if I understood correctly, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but did the Crusades just create the tourism industry?

No, pilgrimages were big even before the Crusades and did get bigger as time went on to at least the seventeenth century but they were usually relatively short distance. A successful Kingdom of Jerusalem, and stronger Rhomaion, would definitely give more compelling destinations that require much more planning and organization so it looks like it sped up the process by a good century or two.

 

[hitcho11]

Lovely. I'm really enjoying the cultural updates.