ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author attempts to draw up a balance sheet of the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem, or the Kingdom of Acre, that existed between 1191 and 1291. He proposes to divide the history of the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem into two sub-periods: 1191 to 1244, and 1244 to 1291, with the final fall of Jerusalem and the defeat at La Forbie, both in 1244, marking the watershed between the two sub-periods. In Jerusalem, the Latin ecclesiastical buildings constitute just 55 percent of the total, in Acre 88 percent. Evidently, the capital of the Second Kingdom was of a considerably more Occidental character than the capital of the First Kingdom. The author turns to the issues of demography, commerce, and holy places, which have received little attention in these historical works, although occasionally one encounters some perceptive observations on them.
