The Economy

Economically, the Latin East was a site of great complexity and apparent contradictions. As William Edwards explains in this week's podcast, the Franks had access to global trade routes and their principalities were sites for the production of sugar, olive oil, and wine. The crusader states were also characterized by their reliance on expensive imported goods. In many ways, the whole Levantine economy was dominated by the interests of the Italian maritime republics who operated communes within the ports of the Latin East, but the Kingdom also had an additional source of revenue: pilgrims.