Poulains

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Poulain (of French. Poulain = foals ; lat. Pullani , dt. Also Pullanen ) referred to a population group in the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades .

origin

The Poulain differed from the "Frankish" upper class ( "Franks" were all Europeans in the Crusader states of the Levant called by the Muslims) mainly due to their origin. Although the upper class also adopted the lifestyle of the local population, they did not mix with the local population or the nobility. There were only 1000 barons and knights in the Holy Land during the entire time of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The number of their relatives who moved from Europe (old people, women, children, etc.) could hardly have exceeded 1000 people. Only the ruling families, as well as smaller aristocratic families in the county of Edessa and the principality of Antioch, married into the local Orthodox Armenian and Greek nobility. The Franconian upper class remained, with a few exceptions, of purely European origin. But the crusades were not only fought by knights. There were sergeants (or "sergents" freeholders , who were committed to the service). After the success of the First Crusade, they settled on the estates of the new landlords. They had no noble origins that they had to be considerate of and married local Christian women (mostly of the Greek Orthodox faith), sometimes also baptized Saracen women.

Way of life

Around 1150 an independent population had developed from these "mixed race relationships": the Poulains. It went down in the local population. They spoke the language of their fathers, French (in such mixed-race relationships the man was almost always European) or Occitan, and the languages ​​of their mothers, Arabic, Armenian or Greek. By 1180 there were maybe 5,000 to 6,000 sergeants. The Turkopolies also emerged from such relationships . Although they had Franconian parents, they came from cohabiting , i.e. illegitimate relationships. The Turkopolans therefore spoke the language of their mothers. They formed units of the light cavalry , raised after the Byzantine model. Then there were the "Sodeers": mercenaries who also claimed to be Franks. In the end, the descendants of “pure” European immigrants are also named for the poulains (comparable to the Creoles of South America). The poulains adopted the ways of life (e.g. baths, food, etc.) and languages ​​of the native population. They lived mostly in the cities and earned their livelihood with trade and handicraft, occasionally as farmers.

role

The poulains were the pillars of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. They were the military base because the Muslims and Jews were not used for military service. Besides the Italians ( Genoese , Venetians and Pisans ), who even had their own quarters in the port cities, they were the economic mainstay of the country.

literature

  • Steven Runciman: History of the Crusades. CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39960-6 , p. 595 ff.
  • Krijnie Ciggaar: Cultural Identities in Antioch (969-1268). Integration and Disintegration. In: Michael Borgolte, Bernd Schneidmüller (Hrsg.): Hybrid cultures in medieval Europe. Lectures and workshops at an international spring school. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 3-05-004695-3 , p. 105 (115 ff.).