Wine Production in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
December 2021 | Vol. 9.12
By Elisabeth Yehuda
Although the Crusades (1095-1291 CE) were first and foremost military undertakings, they prepared the ground for a time of cultural exchange between two very distinct ways of living, the European one and that of the indigenous population of the southern Levant. European immigrants to the Holy Land had to adjust and compromise on their habits, traditions and preferences that also reached the culinary level. Wine making in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem is no exception.
The European settlers arrived in a region where an age-long decline of urban centers and rural settlements attributed to economic, political and climatic changes had reached a nadir, carrying with it the abandonment of the land and probably also of agricultural installations, such as winepresses. Grapevines were still cultivated, but for purposes such as raisins, table grapes and grape-honey, and only Christian communities, for example in the area of Judea, were allowed to produce wine.
The establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem brought with it the need to provide wine for a growing Christian population. This led to renewal and intensification of viticulture in the first half of the twelfth century CE, and several areas became centres of Frankish vine growing: Judea, Samaria, Galilee, the Mediterranean coast and Transjordan.
Map of the Holy Land showing sites of wine production.
The Franks likely considered grapes more prestigious commodities, leading in some cases to the expansion of grape cultivation at the expense of other crops such as grain. Viticulture was also attractive enough to provide an incentive for military orders (Hospitallers and Templars) to take part in the defence and rehabilitation of newly conquered and frontier areas such as Ascalon and Jaffa.
Once vines were planted, all aspects of wine production were carefully controlled: skilled workers were employed to care for the vines, and negligence of the vineyards was penalized. The military orders appointed brethren to supervise and guard their vineyards, and transport of the harvested grapes to the winepress was under the surveillance of officials. Secular and ecclesiastical lords such as the Crown or the military orders had key roles in promoting the finished product, wine which could be sold in the markets of cities, towns and villages.
Concerning the installations used in wine production, wine presses, the Franks departed from the European method of pressing grapes in wooden vats. The Franks constructed wine presses similar to the simple and traditional Roman-Byzantine winepress using stone and mortar and utilising existing rock surfaces. The layout usually consisted of a treading floor and a collecting vat. The treading floor was rectangular and plastered, either level with the floor or surrounded by walls that gave it some depth. Its floor sloped towards the collecting vat, which was sunk into the floor, and a pipe made of stone, ceramic or lead at the base of the slope connected the two elements. In order to meet the increasing demand, the Franks also made use of antique winepresses, either simply reused them, or by adding auxiliary presses for grapes.
Wine pressing in a barrel (courtesy of The Hague Royal Library KW 76 F 13 fol. 009v).
Frankish winepress in Emmaus Qubeibeh (redrawn by Lisa Yehuda).
But despite its Levantine setting, the location of Frankish winepresses reflected European preferences. All new Frankish winepresses were erected under the roofs of domestic buildings either in Frankish settlements or within the inner fortifications of a castle or manor. This indoor location has been explained as a European tradition of accommodating the rainy vintage season. An additional interpretation could be a concern for safety given the fragile state of security in the Latin Kingdom.
Winepress in the Hospitaller castle of Belmont. From R.P. Harper and D. Pringle (eds.), 2000. Belmont Castle: The Excavation of the Crusader Stronghold in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. British Academy Monographs in Archaeology 10. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The location of the Frankish winepresses also provides valuable information about Frankish agrarian organization. In the case of Frankish castles and manor houses it attests to an effort to keep wine making under close supervision by the lords, providing them with full control over the production process and the products. In Frankish settlements the winepresses were within the private areas of the dwellings. The process of wine production, from grape pressing to wine storage, was under the immediate control of the tenants, who probably kept some wine for their own use. The landowners in turn exercised their prerogative to dictate the type of crop to be cultivated and provided their subjects with the necessary equipment, in this case winepresses, in their dwellings. The rent paid to the landlord was a proportion of the crop, often 50%.
Winepresses (marked in grey) in the dwellings of the Frankish settlement of Emmaus-Qubeibeh.
Two very different types of storage containers appear in the historical and archaeological evidence: storage jars made of pottery and wooden barrels. The former were the traditional and most common type of vessels used for storing wine in the Levant in antiquity. Since storage jars are a frequent find in archaeological excavations of Crusader-period sites, it seems that the Crusaders adopted them on arrival in the East. In the Latin Kingdom, ‘jars’ are also the most common containers used to specify the quantity of wine due as rent, tithes or donations. Wooden barrels, which were the predominant containers for storing, transporting and measuring wine in medieval central Europe, were introduced into the Levant with the arrival of traditional European crafts and techniques. Although archaeological proof is meager, due to the perishability of wood, there is evidence for wine storage in barrels in the Frankish settlement of Bethany.
Storage jar from Apollonia-Arsuf (courtesy of the Apollonia-Arsuf Excavation Project).
An abbey cellarer testing his wine (courtesy of British Library MS Sloane 2435, fol. 44v).
During the existence of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem viticulture played a significant role in consolidating territory, establishing Frankish control in the countryside, and developing the Frankish economy. As in other fields such as art and architecture, the Franks created an amalgam of Levantine and European traditions. They adopted the prevailing Levantine type of winepress but modified it to suit their specific needs. They combined the Levantine tradition of storing wine in ceramic jars with the European use of wooden barrels, and an adherence to European tradition can be seen in the methods of seigniorial control and taxation common in Frankish rural settlements.
With the fall of Acre in 1291 CE the Frankish presence in the Holy Land came to an end, but viticulture did not return to its condition prior to the Crusades. Not only the Christian and Jewish population of the Holy Land, but also the elite of the Ayyubid dynasty and the Mamluk sultanate consumed wine. Although it collided with Quranic regulations, winemaking continued. Nowadays monasteries such as the Cremisan monastery in Beth Jala or the Monastery of Silence in Latrun produce wine whose grapes grow on terraces built more than 700 years ago by the Franks, most likely for the same purpose.
How to cite this article:
Yehuda, E. 2021. “Wine Production in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.” The Ancient Near East Today 9.12. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/wine-production-latin-jerusalem/.
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