The Vassal Class in the Era of the Crusades

Abstract

     The Crusader project attracted many residents of Western Europe from all social classes, including kings, princes, knights and peasants, through religious and worldly temptations. This caused large numbers of crusaders to come in the form of crusader entities separated from each other, including Germans, French, English and Norwegians. And they entered into a frantic competition for control of land as well as financial gain. The Crusader feudalism began to play its role in the Islamic East, as it is in the West, which was based on land to obtain material gains. This was the case with Godfrey, King of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, who began to distribute the occupied Islamic lands on a small scale among the nobility and subordinate princes due to the lack of clarity of the vision of the Crusader loyalty in the Levant. Therefore, according to this policy, the subordinate princes class and their active role in the course of the Crusades against the Islamic armies appeared prominently in the era of the Crusades and their active role in the course of the events of the Crusades against the Islamic armies due to the policy of the feudal system in the Islamic East based on in-kind and monetary donations in exchange for what the subordinate prince provides for the military duty towards his feudal master in all the Crusader Emirates in exchange for protecting the feudal lord for them. Therefore, the study is to show the role of this class militarily and economically in the era of the Crusades.