What does the Seal of Amalric tell us about the Crusades?
This seal shows how the First Crusade established the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem. This crusader kingdom altered the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. The crusaders drove out many of the inhabitants in 1099 (see this page) and aggravated the divide between individuals of different ethnicities and religions. The crusader kingdom of Jerusalem also changed the architectural makeup of the city, at least in some cases.
On the back of the seal, one of the city monuments represented is the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine that the crusaders repurposed as a Latin church and called the Templum Domini (“Temple of the Lord”). Inside the newly created church, an altar made for St. Nicholas and a painting of Christ were put in place. Furthermore, iron lattices were constructed around the structure. Jerusalem was shaped by the crusaders, as it witnessed on this seal.
