Crusader states

The Crusader states were the territories created by Western Europeans who arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The Levant

The first four Crusader states were created in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade:

• The County of Edessa
• The Principality of Antioch
• The Kingdom of Jerusalem
• The County of Tripoli

The first Crusader state, the County of Edessa, was founded in 1098. The Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted until 1291, when the city of Acre fell; there were also many vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Cyprus

During the Third Crusade, Crusaders founded the Kingdom of Cyprus. Richard I of England conquered Cyprus on the way to Holy Land, and the island came to be ruled by descendants of the displaced kings of Jerusalem until 1489.

Greece

During the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire was conquered and divided into four states:

• The Latin Empire
• The Kingdom of Thessalonica
• The Duchy of Athens
• The Principality of Achaea

The Venetians also created the Duchy of the Archipelago in the Aegean Sea in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. Thessalonica and the Latin Empire were reconquered by the Byzantines by 1261. Descendants of the Crusaders continued to rule in Athens and the Peloponnesus or Morea until the 15th century when the area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

Prussia

During the Northern Crusades, a Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights was founded in Prussia to combat pagan tribes.

Israel

Israel is sometimes described as a Crusader state, usually by those opposed to its existence and/or policies. Objective scholars usually do not refer to it as such. See also Tenth Crusade.