Cistercians in the medieval Holy Land - a slow and limited start

In the West the development of the Cistercian organisation preceeded that of, and often coincided with, the Knights Templar. What was the case in the Holy Land?

The population of the Holy Land during the Crusading period

It is often thought that the crusaders in the different crusader states in the Holy Land were a tiny Christian elite ruling over predominantly Muslim populations. The facts are different. 

11th Century Cluniac promotion of pilgrimage to the Holy Land

In 910 count William I of Aquitaine founded the abbey of Cluny, and in a few decades Cluny became the center of a vast ecclesiastical nexus, closely controlled by the mother-house, which itself owed obedience to the papacy alone. The Cluniacs took an interest in pilgrimage, and soon organized the journey to the Spanish shrines.

Depictions of the Military Orders’ Martyrs in the Holy Land

"The military religious orders were founded to fight on behalf of their fellow Christians, in defence of pilgrims and Christian territory. They fought alongside and supported the crusaders in the Holy Land. (...)  In an era in which warriors who died fighting non-Christians were increasingly depicted as martyrs, it is not surprising that writers of the 1120s and 1130s associated the first knight-brothers with martyrdom. But as the Franks of the Holy Land met with division and defeat, how far did this imagery continue? Did outsiders continue to depict the brothers of the military orders in this way?

Templar castles in 12th century Outremer - police and taxing stations

Conspiracy theorists would have it that the Knights Templar, especially in their early decades, did not do much more than excavating under the Temple Mountain, finding all kinds of esoteric items, and bringing those to Europe. Is this reality or did the Templars have practical tasks?

Christian worship in the 13th and 14th century post-crusade Muslim Holy Land

The expulsion of the Crusaders from the Holy Land in 1291 did not end Arab relations with Western European Christians. Western monks, most notably the Franciscans, continued to live among the Muslims in the Holy Land. The nature of the relations of the Franciscans with the Mamluks serves as an interesting counterpoint to earlier Arab views on the Military Orders.