The Debate on Twelfth-Century Frankish Feudalism: Additional Evidence from William of Tyre's Chronicon

In 1994 Susan Reynolds published a book in which she argued against many of the basic conceptions of historians relating to the term "feudalism." In the first issue of Crusades she tried to apply her ideas to the twelfth-century Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. ¹ In that same issue an article by Peter Edbury appeared that may be considered a response to Reynolds's arguments. ² Both historians have used evidence taken from William of Tyre's Chronicon to prove their cases. In this article I intend to show that using additional evidence from the Chronicon can shed further light on feudalism in the Latin East in the twelfth century. ³