Development of the Crusader States?

Say that the Crusades are a success and several Christian Kingdoms are set up from Egypt to the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Also, the Mongols never attack Perisa, so places such as Baghdad and Samarkand are never sacked and thus there is much less pressure on the Muslims from the East.

My question is, with this situation, how would the Crusader States develop? Would they eventually be absorbed into their Arab neighbours or would they be able to hold onto their independence? Would they eventually be a rapprochement with the Arabs surrounding them or would an air of hostility remain?

What do you think?
 
If they stay out of holy cities and managed to show their tolerance (a rare feat for medieval christians) their "only" threat would come from raids and the occasional expansionists
The proper ingredient needed to keep the peace a little longer, I think, is by providing them a common enemy.. Pgans anyone?
 
If the crusaders take Egypt, then they're in a very strong position. Its possible that the whole area could remain under Western control, and gradually convert to Catholicism.
If they stay out of holy cities and managed to show their tolerance (a rare feat for medieval christians) their "only" threat would come from raids and the occasional expansionists
Indeed. Tolerance is going to be important, since the Christians will be in a minority for quite a while.
An interesting effect of this POD is that crusader ownership of Egypt would open up the Indies trade to the Italian merchant states (primarily Venice, Genoa and Pisa). The motivation behind the Age of Exploration is removed. The Indies would also be opened up to missionaries- there is a strong possibility that Christianity would become much more widespread in Asia than in OTL.
 
The trouble is the crusaders generally tended not to be the most accepting of folk. If they conquered Egypt rather than working with the copts (a much bigger part of the Egyptian population back then) they would probally start annoying them by insisting they follow the proper catholic rights.
 
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