Are there any people today in Lebanon, Syria, or Israel who are descendants of the crusaders?
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Only loosely, afaik
In Syria and Lebanon there are still Armenians who formed the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia, that was Crusade-era if not strictly a Crusader state.
In Syria and Lebanon there are still Armenians who formed the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia, that was Crusade-era if not strictly a Crusader state.
there is an isolated group in the Caucasus (either Georgia or Armenia) that allegedly descend from Crusaders - I need to double check that, probably just a legend.
There are two groups of christian Assyrians, one claims to be the descendents of crusaders.
In Kerak a small highland city in Jordan are the remains of a castel going back to the crusades. The city which lays at the top of a ridge leading down to the Deadsea depression has a significant arab christian population. I would not be surprised when the one or the other family had not a forefather who came into the region as a crusader.
The same might be true for some of the inhabitants of the coastal cities in Lebanon or Syria. They have also a certain amount of christian inhabitants. But it is maybe overhasty to bring them all together with the crusades. During the Byzantin Empire the majority of the population (at least in the cities) had been Christian. This probably did not change much under the Ummajades and the following arab dynasties. The changes in the field of the population's religious consistency must have been a slow process and in a country like Egypt or in the Maghreb region the majority did not change (my guess) before the european late medivial period.
Another factor to consider is the mobility of people in a territory, whose lines of communication are more or less under the control of a central authority. Such a situation existed in the Osman Empire. So not every group living in a certain area today might have really their stay there for many centuries even if it alleges that. They might estabilished themselves under the rule of the Sultan, may came from Istanbul doing business with the locals or took even the long road from Russia like the Chazars, which are muslim and live now for a bit more than a century in their pretty villages around Amman.
The same might be true for some of the inhabitants of the coastal cities in Lebanon or Syria. They have also a certain amount of christian inhabitants. But it is maybe overhasty to bring them all together with the crusades. During the Byzantin Empire the majority of the population (at least in the cities) had been Christian. This probably did not change much under the Ummajades and the following arab dynasties. The changes in the field of the population's religious consistency must have been a slow process and in a country like Egypt or in the Maghreb region the majority did not change (my guess) before the european late medivial period.
Another factor to consider is the mobility of people in a territory, whose lines of communication are more or less under the control of a central authority. Such a situation existed in the Osman Empire. So not every group living in a certain area today might have really their stay there for many centuries even if it alleges that. They might estabilished themselves under the rule of the Sultan, may came from Istanbul doing business with the locals or took even the long road from Russia like the Chazars, which are muslim and live now for a bit more than a century in their pretty villages around Amman.
Last edited: