Chapter Eleven. Non-Frankish Housing In The Latin East

Abstract

Muslims and Eastern Christians made up a fair portion of the population in many cities and the vast majority of the rural population throughout the Latin states, one have little information regarding the nature of their settlements and houses. There is no way of identifying the houses of the non-Frankish population in the cities, where one have at present no knowledge of the divisions between neighbourhoods and populations. However it is possible, by examining the historical sources, architecture and small finds, to identify villages in Frankish-held territory that had non-Frankish population. By examining three examples of such sites the author draws some basic conclusions. Three villages (Horvat Bet Zeneta, Khirbat Kakul, Horvat Shari) are perhaps typical of the non-Frankish rural settlements. Their lack of regularity in layout is the salient characteristic when comparing them to Frankish village houses, but one can also record comparative lack of regularity in their construction.Keywords: Horvat Bet Zeneta; Horvat Shari; Khirbat Kakul; Latin states; non-Frankish housing