So I’m not an expert on this time period, but let me sketch out a very rough scenario. Say that for the first century or so after the conclusion of the First Crusade, the Latin rulers of the Crusader states get a series of lucky breaks. The County of Edessa never falls to the Zengids, and further incursions by the Western Christians capture Damascus and Egypt. However, they don’t overextend themselves with efforts to conquer Mesopotamia, Arabia or Persia, instead focusing on consolidating their rule in the Levant and Egypt. After a few centuries pass with no Muslim power ever seriously reversing “Frankish” gains in the Levant (perhaps due to their own troubles facing this timeline’s version of the Mongol conquests), and with Anatolia firmly under the control of the Byzantines and/or Armenians, “Outremer” comes in time to be considered a relatively secure part of the Western Christian world, rather than a frontier region. Sure, there may be bouts of turbulence and upheaval and infighting, but nothing that ever brings Muslim rule back to the area or displaces the new Franco-Norman-Italian ruling class.
My ultimate question is, what is Levantine society liable to look like in such a scenario by this timeline’s 1500s and 1600s? How do relations with the local Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others develop? To what degree would they ever become assimilated? I imagine the rulers will try to entice settlers from Western Europe to come in, but would they ever be particularly successful in that regard?
My ultimate question is, what is Levantine society liable to look like in such a scenario by this timeline’s 1500s and 1600s? How do relations with the local Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others develop? To what degree would they ever become assimilated? I imagine the rulers will try to entice settlers from Western Europe to come in, but would they ever be particularly successful in that regard?
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