Chapter Twelve. Urban Neighbourhoods And Streets

Neighbourhoods in Frankish cities could be organised according to the ethnic origin of the citizens, their association with a particular organisation, their profession or their social status and financial position. In Jerusalem the Latin Christians, mostly of French origin, were spread over much of the city but among them, in the north-west Patriarchs quarter for example, were also scattered small communities of Copts, Greek Orthodox and others as well as the Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St. John. If one considers what would be included among the principal components that made up a neighbourhood in a Frankish town, basing ourselves on the written sources, medieval maps and archaeological finds, author draws a reasonably detailed picture of a neighbourhood in a Crusader town. Streets in the towns and villages in the Latin East were fairly straight to be quite narrow.Keywords: covered streets; Frankish cities; Jerusalem; urban neighbourhoods