8 THE IMPACT OF THE CRUSADES ON RURAL SOCIETY AND RELIGIOUS ENDOWMENTS: THE CASE OF l'v fEDI EV AL SYRIA (BflAD AL-SHAlvf) Y£HOSHUA lmroduction My purpose is twofold: 1) to outline the impact of the Crusades on southern Syria ( Bi/ad al-Sham) focusing on rural institutions. 2) To highlight one of the steps which were taken by the Ayyubid and Mamluk rulers (sulfans ) in order to emphasize the importance of Bi/ad al-Sham as an Islamic Holy Land, namely their use of properties which supported Latin churches and monasteries before they were expelled. It will be argued that the Islamic governments found it most conven- ient to adopt the administrative arrangements which were implemented by the Latin rulers. Currently my working thesis is that village life, farrning methods, production routine, land tenure and taxation were shaped by two main forces: The first was the ecology, i.e. climate and geography. Cultivation methods and crops were the consequences of a long period of adaptation by the farrners to the winter rains, dry and hot sum- mer months and the lack of irrigation.' All the known historical facts indicate that the natural environment prevailing during the l 2th- l 4th centuries did not undergo marked chang es. The second for ce which affected the fate of the peasantry during the period under study were the policies of the successive regimes: Fatimids, Seljuqs, Crusaders, Ayyubids and Mamluks. Since the social institutions of the rural communities in Bi/ad at-Sham well suited the local natural conditions, successive regimes did not trouble to interfere in the lives of the peasants. ' Josua Prawer, Th Uilin Kingdom ef ]trUSalem: European Colonialism in 1"' Middle Ages. (London , 1972 ), pp. 358 - 36.S.