Page 70 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

56 Historical Review

Fig. 61
Crusader burial in a typical
position, hands crossed over
chest

besieged to retreat to a second line of defense – probably to the high area of the
ancient temple platform, which was also the site of the beautiful Friday mosque.
The city residents retreated to the mosque and begged for mercy, to no avail. They
suffered a horrendous massacre, including burning of the corpses and their being
hacked into pieces with the aim of finding gold that had been swallowed or hidden
in the women’s private parts. The booty, silver and gold, jewelry, clothing, and
spices, was tremendous – evidence of the great wealth of the city dwellers. Two-
thirds of it went to King Baldwin and the Franks; one-third went to the leaders of
the Italians, and 8,000 Genoese sailors, who had come in a fleet of 26 warships and
6 other vessels. The Genoese loot also included a hexagonal glass goblet identified
as the Holy Chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper. They took it in a kind of
victory parade to their city and until now it is on display in the treasury of the
Cathedral of San Lorenzo, their patron. The mosque was turned into a cathedral
and dedicated to St. Peter. A Latin patriarch was appointed to the city.

The conquered, fortified city was essentially emptied of its inhabitants. The
Muslim residents who were not slaughtered escaped to Acre and Tyre. No large
Muslim community remained in the city. The change in the city’s demographic
composition is quite discernible in the southern cemetery. While skeletons from the
Muslim period that preceded the conquest were interred with the head facing west
and the face directed southward, during the Crusader period they were positioned
supine with their faces facing upward. In some of them the hands rest at the sides of
the body, while in others the hands are crossed on the chest (Fig. 61).

A smaller church in the city was dedicated to Saint Lorenzo, the patron of the
Genoese. A small guard force was left in the city, led by Harpin of Bourges; in time
of need it joined in the Crusader battles in different and distant zones. The area
was susceptible to raids by Muslims but as time went on the security situation in the
agricultural areas also improved.

The Christian community in the city, including native-born Christians, gradually
increased. Among the westerners were Italians from Genoa and Pisa, French from
northeast France, and Flemish, and they constituted the majority in Caesarea.
The merchants and those who ran their households were Italians. There were no
southern Europeans or Normans in the city.

The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem was divided by King Baldwin I into
independent feudal seigneuries passed down through inheritance. The seigneury of
Caesarea and its area, located between those of Haifa and Arsuf, was handed over