Any good "surviving Crusader States" TLs?

Anything you can think of that would spare them from such a fate, if those circumstances arise? They're not really well located enough to be a good buffer state against anything a power in the Byzantine/Ottoman postion would be interested in having a buffer state against.

What about an Egypt that never loose the spice market? Let's assume that such an egyptian power could hold places in Indian Ocean and managing to keep all the Red Sea for its private use, forbidding the access of Eastern Africa to Ottomans or Byzantines?

I think it could be something worth of consideration, and worth of having a buffer-state between it and another country.
 
What about an Egypt that never loose the spice market? Let's assume that such an egyptian power could hold places in Indian Ocean and managing to keep all the Red Sea for its private use, forbidding the access of Eastern Africa to Ottomans or Byzantines?

I think it could be something worth of consideration, and worth of having a buffer-state between it and another country.

But would the Byzantines (I'm going to use that for whatever power is in the region, unless someone has a better term?) prefer a buffer state between it and Egypt to conquering/vassalizing Egypt?

You have a point though.
 
But would the Byzantines (I'm going to use that for whatever power is in the region, unless someone has a better term?) prefer a buffer state between it and Egypt to conquering/vassalizing Egypt?

You have a point though.

If the Egypt is such a commercial and naval power, i think that it would have some allies. Mainly Italian cities (that were extremely tied to Egypt for their Mediterranean trade), and why not a traditional enemy of Constantinople such as Persia?

Conquering Egypt would mean to be likely blockaded in Aegean Sea, and to have its army forced to use the coastal way trough Syria for Constantinople. Not impossible, but not really the easiest solution.
 
If the Egypt is such a commercial and naval power, i think that it would have some allies. Mainly Italian cities (that were extremely tied to Egypt for their Mediterranean trade), and why not a traditional enemy of Constantinople such as Persia?

Conquering Egypt would mean to be likely blockaded in Aegean Sea, and to have its army forced to use the coastal way trough Syria for Constantinople. Not impossible, but not really the easiest solution.

Would the Italian cities mind who controls Egypt, as long as they can trade there?

But yeah, there are possibilities here.
 
Would the Italian cities mind who controls Egypt, as long as they can trade there?

But yeah, there are possibilities here.

I would say yes : war is not good for business, and a conquered land is less able to allow foreign merchants to just pass trough. Furthermore, a real Italian trade would have necessitous many agreements and investments with Egyptians elites and not only a conquest could have made them obsolete.

Not talking about Constantinople probably favoring someone else to the trade : THEM by example, instead of Italian rivals (everyone in the Balkans have interest to hold Italian interests)
 
What about the Crusader states in the Balkans and Mediterranean? Cyprus, Rhodes, the Duchy of Athens or even the Latin Empire? Granted they would probably become more Hellenised over time, but couldn't they plausibly survive longer. Dealing with the Ottomans would be the major barrier, but they could plausibly survive and serve as a focal point for increased interest the the Levant via Anatolia.
 
I would say it's more hard : the massive part of the Crusaders wanted Jerusalem, at least in the First and Third one. Even if their leaders would have been content with the lands you quoted (admitting that the Byzantine Empire would be weak enough to allow it), i doubt their armies would easily agreeing with that and any opportunist or ambitious great noble would use that to lead the continuing Crusade to his own benefit.
 
What about the Crusader states in the Balkans and Mediterranean? Cyprus, Rhodes, the Duchy of Athens or even the Latin Empire? Granted they would probably become more Hellenised over time, but couldn't they plausibly survive longer. Dealing with the Ottomans would be the major barrier, but they could plausibly survive and serve as a focal point for increased interest the the Levant via Anatolia.

Of all of those, Cyprus is probably the easiest, as IIRC things went well for them until the Venetians stole it from the Lusignans. :mad: All we need is to give the (Greek Orthodox) Church of Cyprus a bit more breathing room than OTL early on.
 
What was roughly the proportion of christians in Palestine, Syria and Egypt circa 1000 A.D ?

Well, as i said...I don't find any precise statistic for that. You have a majority of Muslims in cities with an important Christian minority and a clear majority of Christians in the countryside.

The process of mass conversion began in the beggining of XI century, and at the end (the era of crusades) the Islamic population is more important critically in the cities, and if the Christian are still the main population in countryside the Muslims represent a important minority (depending of who you read, it could be around 1/3 or 2/5)
 
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