ABSTRACT
As a region of central importance to Christianity, Islam and Judaism there was an inherent richness and variety to religious life in the Levant. From the late eleventh century, the Frankish settlers, the hierarchy and institutions of the Catholic Church, and a huge seasonal influx of western pilgrims, imposed themselves on to this complex web. People of other denominations and faiths continued to live in, and to visit, the Holy Land, but obviously the number and influence of the westerners were far greater than before the First Crusade. This chapter will demonstrate how the Franks established and maintained the Latin Church in the Levant and, by highlighting the popularity of pilgrimage and the role of relics such as the True Cross, it will reveal some key aspects of religious life in the Frankish East.
