Franks in Syria The treatment of the subjugated Muslim population differed among the various Frankish lords. The earliest of the crusaders, who settled down in Syria and Palestine, were generally more tolerant of the Muslim population than those who came later. In his memoirs, Usama ibn Munqidh, a twelfth-century Syrian Muslim, has something interesting to say about his new neighbours: ‘Among the Franks there are some who have settled down in this country and associated with Muslims. These are better than the newcomers, but they are exceptions to the rule, and no inference can be drawn from them.
Here is an example. Once I sent a man to Antioch on business. At that time, Chief Theodore Sophianos [an eastern Christian] was there, and he and I were friends. He was then all powerful in Antioch.
One day he said to my man, ‘‘One of my Frankish friends has invited me. Come with me and see how they live.’’ My man told me: “So I went with him, and we came to the house of one of the old knights, those who had come with the first Frankish expedition. He had already retired from state and military service, and had a property in Antioch from which he lived. He produced a fine table, with food both tasty and cleanly served.
He saw that I was reluctant to eat, and said: “Eat to your heart’s content, for I do not eat Frankish food. I have Egyptian women cooks and eat nothing but what they prepare, nor does swine flesh ever enter my house.” So I ate, but with some caution, and we took our leave. Later I was walking through the market, when suddenly a Frankish woman caught hold of me and began jabbering in their language, and I could not understand what she was saying. A crowd of Franks collected against me, and I was sure that my end had come.
Then, suddenly, that same knight appeared and saw me, and came up to that woman, and asked her: “What do you want of this Muslim?” She replied: “He killed my brother Hurso.” This Hurso was a knight of Afamiya who had been killed by someone from the army of Hama. Then the knight shouted at her and said, “This man is a burjasi [bourgeois, that is, a merchant]. He does not fight or go to war.” And he shouted at the crowd and they dispersed; then he took my hand and went away. So the effect of that meal that I had was to save me from death.” ’ – Kitab al-Itibar .
A Crusader castle in Syria. Built during the crusades ( ), it was an important base to attack Arab controlled areas. The towers and aqueducts were built by the Mamluk sultan, Baybars, when he captured it in .