ABSTRACT
The crusader occupation of Acre in 1104 generated political, social, economic and cultural developments that altered the urban texture of the city and the composition of its population, as well as the nature and dynamics of its everyday life. Shortly after its conquest Acre became the main port of the Frankish Levant, as well as the main destination of merchants and immigrants and the exclusive one of crusaders and pilgrims in the region until its fall to the Muslims in 1291, except for four years of Muslim occupation. In 1191 the city returned to Frankish rule and replaced Jerusalem as the political and ecclesiastical centre of the Latin Kingdom. It absorbed displaced institutions and individuals, as well as new immigrants, and reached the peak of its urban, demographic and economic growth within the following century. This is the period upon which the present paper focuses.
