Medieval Jerusalem

Jerusalem in the Middle Ages was a major Byzantine metropolis from the 4th century CE before the advent of the early Islamic period. In the 7th century Jerusalem became the regional capital of Jund Filastin under successive caliphates. In the later Islamic period experienced a period of further contested ownership, war and decline. Muslim rule was interrupted for 200 years by the Crusades and the establishment of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem. At the tail end of the Medieval period, the city was ceded to the Ottomans in 1517, who maintained control until the arrival of the British in 1917.

Under the rule of the Fatimid caliphate beginning in the late 10th century, the population dropped from about 200,000 to less than half by the time of the Christian conquest in 1099. Many of the remaining inhabitants were massacred by the Crusaders in the Siege of Jerusalem. Under the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the population grew, but less than 2,000 remained after the Khwarezmi Turks took the city in 1244.

Jerusalem remained a backwater under the Ayyubids, Mameluks and Ottomans, and would not again exceed a population of 10,000 until the 16th century.