CHRISTENDOM AND ISLAM 2OI
of the Christians (and than it was to be for nearly six centuries
after their expulsion) 5 and it had a flourishing trade with
most of the kingdoms of Europe. Had such a prize been in
the hands of a Moslem prince, other Moslem princes would
have longed to seize it and would have struggled to take
Palestine from their fellow-religionists quite as vigorously as
they struggled to wrest it from the Christians.
Between the great Crusades, and sometimes during the
expeditions from the West, Jerusalem lacked an adequate
army. Its forces were much too weak to make any lasting
progress against Islam. The kingdom made a number of
conquests in the first fifty years after its establishment 5 but
the Latins were not then fighting a united Islam. Its wars
were against independent Moslem princes, and these princes
were often opposed by their own subjects or faced with
aggression from neighbouring Moslem rulers. Even so,
however, the Franks were highly fortunate in their early
campaigns. Compared with the hosts which Islam could, and
later did, put in the field, the Latin army was trifling in size.
The man-power of the Franks was insufficient even to provide
for the defence of the fortresses and castles. At some periods
not more than thirty men could be spared to garrison places
built for at least two hundred. The strongest battlements
were useless without a reasonable quota of defenders.
The legacy of the Second Crusade and most of the later
Crusades was increased bitterness among the Saracens. After
two generations Islam tended to take the Franks in Palestine
for granted, but new expeditions from Europe aroused enmity
among the Moslems towards all Christians. The settlers
in the Holy Land were in themselves comparatively harm-
less, but the Crusaders from the West aimed at crushing all
Islam, at taking Bagdad or Cairo. In self-defence, the
Moslems were forced to unite against the newcomers from
Europe, though even when most threatened Islam was never
quite free from civil war j and such alliances did not always