The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance by Christopher MacEvitt (review)

REVIEWS 298 The principle contribution of this general study, however, is to provide a clear synthesis of the complex, aggregate, and flexible nature of the Byzantine economy. By including recent archaeological evidence and recently published studies of material culture, The Byzantine Economy identifies many ways to show the various elements which make up this branch of history. In its conclusion , The Byzantine Economy presents its subject as ideally suited for comparison to the medieval west, but in general the work itself excels as an accessible general guide to the subject for those not yet versed in its complexity. EDWARD MCCORMICK SCHOOLMAN, History, UCLA Christopher MacEvitt, The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2008) 272 pp. The Crusades are usually portrayed as an epic clash between Christianity and Islam. Lost in this overly simplistic depiction is the fact that there was already a significant Christian presence in Syria and Palestine on the eve of the First Crusade. In fact, when Pope Urban II proclaimed the crusade one of the justifications he presented was to aid eastern Christians against the Muslims. While most historians (and perhaps many medieval contemporaries) have seen “eastern Christians” as primarily referring to the Byzantine Empire, the crusader contact with various Christian groups in the Levant was actually much more substantial. In The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance , Christopher MacEvitt examines the frequently neglected relationship between the western and eastern Christians in the Latin East. When the dust of the First Crusade had settled, one of the many changes that had resulted in the region was an intersection of the western Christianity of the new crusader lords (commonly referred to as the Franks) and the eastern Christianity of those they ruled. Previous scholars have resorted to two competing paradigms to describe the relations between these groups. The first is a more integrationist model, one favored by nineteenth and early twentieth-century French historians, which sees the interaction between western and eastern Christians in Palestine and Syria as fairly collaborative. The opposing school argues for the exact opposite, claiming that the Franks had minimal interaction and interest in those they conquered and created a type of medieval apartheid. Rejecting both the integrated and the segregated models, he argues for a new paradigm—a middle path—in characterizing the interaction between European and native Christians. In this regard, his approach is clearly following in the footsteps of the Israeli historian Ronnie Ellenblum, who has argued for a more nuanced understanding of the interactions between the Franks and the various subject groups (Muslim, Christian, and Jewish) in Outremer (Ronnie Ellenblum, Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1998]). MacEvitt proposes the new paradigm of “rough tolerance” which he says more accurately reflects the complex relationship between the different Christian groups. Rough tolerance consists of three main ingredients: silence, permeability, and localization. Being a ruling minority , the Franks were keen to avoid static categorizations. While MacEvitt acknowledges that boundaries did exist, they were flexible ones which permitted and even encouraged various interactions. REVIEWS 299 The county of Edessa, one of the four crusader states established in the East, is presented as an excellent illustration of rough tolerance. When Baldwin of Boulogne seized control of the city of Edessa during the First Crusade he emphasized continuity, not novelty, in his rule. Baldwin of Bourcq, a kinsman, succeeded Baldwin of Boulogne as ruler of Edessa when the latter became king of Jerusalem in 1100. The relations between the two Baldwins and the local Armenian aristocracy were mixed. Both men married members of elite Armenian families. Their rule tended to be much more secure within the city than in the rest of the county where it could be quite tenuous at times. Baldwin of Bourcq replaced some of the local Christian lords who resisted his authority with his relatives. However, these more aggressive policies did not undermine his position in Edessa as indicated by the continuing loyalty of his subjects even while he was a prisoner of the Muslims. Rough tolerance is not limited only to the county of Edessa. In chapters four and five...