structural:scholar_edition, quality:corruption, stylistic:tone, information:extraction, information:highlighting
Society

Modern research indicates that Jews, Muslims and local Christian populations were less integrated than previously thought. Christians lived around Jerusalem and in an arc stretching from Jericho and the Jordan River to Hebron in the south. Comparisons of archaeological evidence of Byzantine churches built prior to the Muslim conquest and 16th century Ottoman census records shows some Greek Orthodox communities disappeared before the crusades, but most continued during and for centuries after. Maronites were concentrated in Tripoli; Jacobites in Antioch and Edessa. Armenians were concentrated in the north, but communities existed in all major towns. Central areas had a predominantly Sunni Muslim population, but Shi'ite communities existed in Galilee. Muslim Druze lived in the mountains of Tripoli. Jews lived in coastal towns and some Galilean towns and in the holy cities Jerusalem, Safed, Hebron and Tiberias.. Little research has been done on Islamic conversion, but the available evidence led Ellenblum to believe that around Nablus and Jerusalem Christians remained a majority.

Most of the indigenous population were peasants living off the land. Charters from the early 12th century show evidence of the donation of local villeins (free serfs) to nobles and religious institutions. This may have been a method of denoting the revenues from these villeins or land where the boundaries were unclear. These are described as villanus, surianus for Christians or sarracenus for Muslims. The term servus was reserved for the many urban domestic slaves the Franks held. The use of villanus is thought to reflect the higher status that villagers or serfs held in the near East; indigenous men were considered to have servile land tenures rather than lacking personal freedom. Villeins' status differed from Western serfs as they could marry outside their lords' domain, were not obliged to perform unpaid labour, could hold land and inherit property. However, Franks needed to maintain productivity, so the villagers were tied to the land. Charters show landholders agreeing to return any villeins from other landholders they found on their property. Peasants were required to pay the lord one quarter to a half of crop yields. The Muslim pilgrim Ibn Jubayr reported there was a poll tax of one dinar and five qirat per head and a tax on produce from trees. 13th century charters indicate this increased after the loss of the first kingdom to redress the Franks' lost income. Historian Christopher MacEvitt cites these as reasons that the term "indentured peasant" is a more accurate description for the villagers in the Latin East than serf.

Linguistic differences remained a key differentiator between the Franks' lords and the local population. The Franks typically spoke Old French and wrote in Latin. While some learnt Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Syriac and Hebrew, this was unusual. Society was politically and legally stratified. Ethnically based communities were self-governing with relations between communities controlled by the Franks. Research has focused on the role of the ruʾasāʾ, Arabic for leader, chief or mayor. Riley-Smith divided these into the urban freemen and rural workers tied to the land; ruʾasāʾ administered the Frankish estates, governed the native communities, and were often respected local landowners. If communities were segregated, as indicated by the written evidence and identified by Riley-Smith and Prawer, inter-communal conflict was avoided and interaction between the landed and the peasants limited. McEvitt identifies possible tension between competing groups. According to the 13th century jurists, in the towns the Rais presided over the Cour des Syriens and there is other evidence they led local troops occasionally. The courts of the indigenous communities administered civil disputes and minor criminality. The Frankish cour des bourgeois —courts of the burgesses, which is the name given to non-noble Franks, dealt with more serious offences and cases involving Franks. The level of assimilation is difficult to identify, as there is little material evidence. The archaeology is culturally exclusive and written evidence indicates deep religious divisions. Some historians assume the states' heterogeneity eroded formal apartheid. The key differentiator in status and economic position was between urban and rural dwellers. Indigenous Christians could gain higher status and acquire wealth through commerce and industry in towns, but few Muslims lived in urban areas except those in servitude.

Frankish royalty reflected the region's diversity. Queen Melisende was part Armenian and married Fulk from Anjou. Their son Amalric married a Frank from the Levant before marrying a Byzantine Greek. The nobility's use of Jewish, Syrian, and Muslim physicians appalled William of Tyre. Antioch became a centre of cultural interchange through Greek- and Arabic-speaking Christians. The indigenous peoples showed the Frankish nobility traditional deference and in return Franks adopted their dress, food, housing, and military techniques. However, Frankish society was not a cultural melting pot. Inter-communal relations were shallow, identities separate, and the other communities considered alien.