Editing Samaritans (section)

=== Crusader period ===
During the [[Crusades]], the [[Franks]] took over Nablus, where the majority of Samaritans lived.{{sfn|Kedar|1989|p=85}}{{efn|[[Benjamin of Tudela]], who passed through the region in 1170, said that the Samaritan population was more numerous than that of the Jews (1,200) and estimated there were 1,000 Samaritans in Nablus, 200 in Caesarea and 300 in Ascalon, not mentioning those in Acre and [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]]. He also counted 400 in [[Damascus]] {{harv|Kedar|1989|p=84}}.}} Massacres took place in Samaritan maritime communities in [[Apollonia–Arsuf|Arsuf]], [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] and perhaps [[Ashkelon|Ascalon]].{{sfn|Kedar|1989|p=83}} During the initial [[Razzia (military)|razzia]] in Nablus the invading Franks destroyed Samaritan buildings and sometime later tore down their [[mikveh|ritual bath]] and synagogue on Mt. Gerizim.{{sfn|Kedar|1989|p=83}} Christians bearing crosses successfully pleaded for a calm transition.{{sfn|Kedar|1989|pp=82–83}} The calamities that befell them during the Frankish reign came from Muslims such as the commander of the Dasmascene army, Bazwȃdj, who raided Nablus in 1137 and abducted 500 Samaritan men, women and children back to Damascus.{{sfn|Kedar|1989|p=91}}