CHAPTER VI
THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM
NINETEEN languages were spoken in the first Crusading army,
but as the greatest number of the settlers spoke Norman French
that language became the official language of the victors,
though other languages lingered for many years. The
Franks were great builders and erected many churches
throughout Syria, but their most remarkable constructions
were the fortresses, inspired by Arabian models and showing
a trace of Byzantine influence, which they raised at strategic
points. In 1115 Baldwin I built Kenik de Montreal, which
controlled the caravan routes between Damascus, the principal
market of the East, and Mecca, and his example was followed
by later Kings of Jerusalem and the princes and barons, so
that ultimately the Latin possessions were girdled by a circle
of fortresses. In conjunction with these fortresses, some of
which had a garrison of a thousand, a series of watch towers
was erected. A garrison of a few men in these towers was
sufficient to give warning to the parent fortress of any Moslem
activities. Where the towers were within sight of the
fortresses, signalling was usually by hand during the day and
by beacon during the night, but the Franks also used carrier
pigeons to convey information, having learned this method
of communication from the Moslems at the end of the
eleventh century.
From the middle of the twelfth century, the Temple and
the Hospital began to acquire fortresses and towers, some-
times by purchase, sometimes by gift, and practically all of
them were in the possession of the military Orders before the
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