ABSTRACT
Although the Franks attempted to create a coherent system of bishoprics throughout the areas they governed, no parallel attempt was made to produce a uniform network of Latin parishes. Bishoprics formed part of the Prankish pattern of government, whereas parishes reflected the Prankish pattern of settlement, which was very uneven. The Franks were a ruling minority: Benvenisti has estimated that at the height of their power in the twelfth century there were about 140,000 Franks in the kingdom of Jerusalem, who formed about a fifth of the entire population.1 Statistics for the northern states are less easy to determine, but it is probable that the proportion of Franks in Tripoli and Antioch was comparable, but that they were less numerous in the county of Edessa.2 Of course, all these settlers did not arrive with the first crusade, but came to Syria gradually in the course of the twelfth century, and the Latin parish system grew accordingly.
