Brian+Morris+Sources+and+Annotations

=The Taxes of the Kingdom of Jerusalem= This source provides the tax policies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem under the Latin Kings. It shows the development of European style government structures in the Near East during the time of the Crusades. It also shows the interaction of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem with the trade routes the traverse the Lavante. The tax information illuminates the types of commerce taking place in Jerusalem during the Crusades. This source was produced to codify the tax laws that provided some of the funding for the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The codifying of tax codes provided the Kingdom of Jerusalem with an accurate way to collect the taxes due from the population and provides valuable insight into how the crusaders valued certain goods.

Roland Falkner, "Taxes of the Kingdom of Jerusalem", pp. 19-23, in "Statistical Documents of the Middle Ages ", //Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History//, Vol 3:2, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, [n.d.] 189?), 1-23 From "The Medieval Sourcebook' at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/taxesjlem.html

=The Dictionary of the Middle Ages Volume 4= This source is an encyclopedia entry containing a concise history of the Crusades from both the Christian West and the Muslim East. It was Edited by Joseph Strayer first published in1989 but contains many contributors to the final product. This source is useful as a point of reference to understand the persons involved in the Crusades. The Dictionary lays out the different aspects of the Crusades in several parts beginning with the cultural aspects of the Crusades. From there the dictionary breaks down the crusades into its component pieces by Crusader wave; the first through the fourth then till 1272. The next section of the dictionary contains a brief summary of the political situation during the crusades in the Latin Kingdoms and back in Europe. The authors use names, dates, and places the actions took place. Also the authors sites well known historians of the crusades including Jonathan Riley-Smith and Marshall Baldwin. The editor of the dictionary compiled these facts to give an accurate but quick glimpse of the underlying facts pertaining to the Crusades.


 * Source citation**: Vol. 4, in //Dictionary of the Middle Ages//, edited by Joseph R. Strayer, 14-62. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989. Obtained from the Lovejoy Library on the campus of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.