Jerusalem under Crusader Control

by frosty_humperdink

So I'm curious and wikipedia has been of some help but has only sparked a thirst for more knowledge. These questions specifically pertain to the Kingdom of Jerusalem under Crusader rule as opposed to a titular Kingdom of Jersualem on Cyprus.

From what I've read it seems that up until the 1800s Jerusalem as a city was really just the Old City with its walls (built by Sulemein the Magnificent I believe?). Is this true?
What locations were key places of the Kingdom's government? I've read that the Tower of David served as the royal palace but then I also read that the Mosque was converted to a palace at some point. What were the royal palaces or government buildings?
Jaffa is mentioned as one of the primary ports during this time but Acre is also mentioned. Which one would've been the greater of the two?
I've read that the Kings of Jerusalem had coronations in Tyre but was this always the case or only near the end of their rule in the region?
Is there a particular reason that Jerusalem remained, from what I've read, a small backwater city up until the mid to late 1800s?

Thanks in advance!

While I find the Kingdom of Jerusalem fascinating, my knowledge of its day to day operation is sadly lacking. If you really want to learn more, though, you should get Malcolm Barber's The Crusader States. I haven't read it, but Barber is a major scholar of the Crusades and his book is high on my 'to-read' list. I'm currently reading his New Knighthood, and it's really dense, so I wouldn't be surprised of the Crusader States is a pretty heavy read.

I can provide some brief answers to these questions, but unfortunately I don't have a vast depth of knowledge on the subject and I'm tight on time for the next while so I can't do the research required to give you a top notch answer.

I can't comment post-medieval, but for the Crusading era Jerusalem was pretty much just the walled city. There would have been communities near the city (Bethlehem for example was particularly important, for obvious reasons). The Levant at this time was not particularly safe, there were a lot of bandits and frequent Muslim raids into Christian territory, so cities pretty much had to be walled and living outside of those walls was a risky proposition. Which isn't to say that no one did it, its just sprawling suburbs were not a feature of most of these cities.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was mostly governed from Jerusalem (shocker) but the actual locations of government moved around. The Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque were both used as early government buildings, and briefly the residence of King Baldwin, before they were moved to the Tower of David. The Knights Templar continued to operate out of the Temple Mount, though. I'm not sure on where specifically in Jerusalem much of the administration would have been based, though.
Jaffa was the primary port for Jerusalem, Acre was a major port for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, basically. Jaffa was the closest major port to the city of Jerusalem, although the road between them was still very dangerous, but Acre was a much bigger port in general and so took in more ships and supplies. Acre was a bigger city with the bigger port but its greater distance from Jerusalem meant that pilgrims going directly to Jerusalem would likely head for Jaffa. A lot of traffic would likely have gone through both cities, though.
I'm only really familiar with the early coronations (Baldwin I and II) which were both in Jerusalem. I don't think there were coronations in Tyre until after Saladin re-took Jerusalem, but I'm not 100% sure on that because I'm less familiar with that period.
I have no idea really. Sorry.