It is significant that Raymond of St Gilles led the first contingent to set off southwards again. He may well have decided that there was more to be gained by showing devotion to the ideals of the crusade than delaying any further in a fruitless pursuit of power in Antioch. The armies marched quickly down the seacoast of Palestine, avoiding prolonged sieges and accepting money from local Muslim rulers to leave them, for the moment, in peace. By the beginning of June, the crusader army was encamped outside Jerusalem and after a short siege, the city fell on 15 July 1099 amidst scenes of slaughter of its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants.

Jerusalem was now in Christian hands; but what was to become of the crusaders? Many, including such nobles as Hugh of Vermandois, brother of the king of France, Robert of Normandy, and Robert of Flanders clearly considered their vows had been fulfilled and set off for home taking with them many of the most experienced soldiers who had managed to survive the long march. But for others, settlement in the Holy Land and the enjoyment of a status which had been denied them in the west proved more attractive. But how should the new state be organized? Unlike Spain or southern Italy, where Muslim and Greek expertise in administration could be put to use, there was no question of allowing any Muslim participation in government in the Holy Land. Indeed, all those who were not either Latin Christians or the Syrian and Armenian Christians who were allied to them, were considered as potential enemies. The kingdom of Jerusalem and its associated states of Edessa, Antioch, and Tripoli were, in fact, the precursors of later colonial territories. The customs, values, and outlook of the conquerors were imposed on the indigenous populations. The fact that their new homeland was always referred to in the west as Outremer ('the land overseas') indicates that for many contemporaries, the crusader states in Palestine, though increasingly subject to oriental influences, were still considered to be an extension of western society and the structures created in the east give an interesting perspective on what they considered proper forms of government.

Kingship might have seemed one of the most obvious, but

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