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dangermousieI am dying to find a good book dealing with the Crusader Kingdoms (KoH inspired me). I have found and started reading James Reston's "Warriors of God." It is excellent, but it deals largely with the Third Crusade, and rather sparingly with the events beforehand. It does mention that in RL, Saladdin's surrender terms included a demand for each Christian man/woman/child to pay a certain amount or be sold into slavery, and that when even after various exemptions, payments, etc, 8000 people still remained, Balian (and the Patriarch who is rather more complex than in the movie) offered himself as a hostage to Saladdin in exchange for letting those people go free, but Saladdin refused saying that 2 for 8000 were a poor bargain. I am very very impressed.
I have also found really interesting entries in the Wikipedia about the Real Balian, who actually sounds like quite a hero. See above and see here. He was also Balwin IV's stepfather by marriage, having married Balwin's widowed step-mom.. Also: Real Sybilla: here; Real Baldwin IV: here; Real Guy, who ended up being the ruler of Cyprus as detailed here; and a Real Baldwin of Ibelin, Balian's elder brother. It seems that the filmmakers were inspired to do a Sybilla-Balian subplot based on him, as Sybilla and Baldwin seemed to have had a relationship.. Oh, and an interesting life of Balian's stepdaughter, Isabella
Now I need a good book about the time period. Anyone?
ETA: I am going to try to find a cheap copy (it is $70+ on amazon, eeek!) of "The Leper King and his Heirs : Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem" by Bernard Hamilton, as it sounds quite fascinating (and Balwin sounds like quite a guy). Any others?
ETA 2: Christianity Today has an article on the real Balian here. While I don't agree with their conclusions about the principles and morals of the thing, it does have interesting bits. One, Balian's real speech to Saladdin:
Know O Sultan, that there are very many of us in this city, God alone knows how many. At the moment we are fighting half-heartedly in the hope of saving our lives, hoping to be spared by you as you have spared others; this is because of our horror of death and our love of life. But if we see that death is inevitable, then by God we shall kill our children and our wives, burn our possessions, so as not to leave you with a dinar or a drachma or a single man or woman to enslave. When this is done, we shall pull down the Sanctuary of the Rock (today's Dome of the Rock) and the Masjid al-Aqsa and the other sacred places, slaughtering the Muslim prisoners we hold—5,000 of them—and killing every horse and animal we possess. Then we shall come out to fight you like men fighting for their lives, when each man, before he falls dead, kills his equals; we shall die with honor, or win a noble victory.
The article also says that in an effort to avert poor Christians being enslaved, Balian paid out of his own purse Saladin's price for many who could not afford it (and as Reston's book points out, after all that offered to be a hostage for the rest). I got to say, it always makes me feel good to know that really good people existed in history and are not just filmmakers and authors trying to look on the sunny side of life.
Though something tells me the real Balian would hunt down Ridley Scott for making him, a true blue-blood, into an illegitimate blacksmith.
I have also found really interesting entries in the Wikipedia about the Real Balian, who actually sounds like quite a hero. See above and see here. He was also Balwin IV's stepfather by marriage, having married Balwin's widowed step-mom.. Also: Real Sybilla: here; Real Baldwin IV: here; Real Guy, who ended up being the ruler of Cyprus as detailed here; and a Real Baldwin of Ibelin, Balian's elder brother. It seems that the filmmakers were inspired to do a Sybilla-Balian subplot based on him, as Sybilla and Baldwin seemed to have had a relationship.. Oh, and an interesting life of Balian's stepdaughter, Isabella
Now I need a good book about the time period. Anyone?
ETA: I am going to try to find a cheap copy (it is $70+ on amazon, eeek!) of "The Leper King and his Heirs : Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem" by Bernard Hamilton, as it sounds quite fascinating (and Balwin sounds like quite a guy). Any others?
ETA 2: Christianity Today has an article on the real Balian here. While I don't agree with their conclusions about the principles and morals of the thing, it does have interesting bits. One, Balian's real speech to Saladdin:
Know O Sultan, that there are very many of us in this city, God alone knows how many. At the moment we are fighting half-heartedly in the hope of saving our lives, hoping to be spared by you as you have spared others; this is because of our horror of death and our love of life. But if we see that death is inevitable, then by God we shall kill our children and our wives, burn our possessions, so as not to leave you with a dinar or a drachma or a single man or woman to enslave. When this is done, we shall pull down the Sanctuary of the Rock (today's Dome of the Rock) and the Masjid al-Aqsa and the other sacred places, slaughtering the Muslim prisoners we hold—5,000 of them—and killing every horse and animal we possess. Then we shall come out to fight you like men fighting for their lives, when each man, before he falls dead, kills his equals; we shall die with honor, or win a noble victory.
The article also says that in an effort to avert poor Christians being enslaved, Balian paid out of his own purse Saladin's price for many who could not afford it (and as Reston's book points out, after all that offered to be a hostage for the rest). I got to say, it always makes me feel good to know that really good people existed in history and are not just filmmakers and authors trying to look on the sunny side of life.
Though something tells me the real Balian would hunt down Ridley Scott for making him, a true blue-blood, into an illegitimate blacksmith.
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no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 09:34 pm (UTC)http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/NG7AHELMLNXL/ref=cm_bg_lm/103-5280764-1807801
no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 09:44 pm (UTC)The one novel I read dealing with the crusades was Deus Lo Vold by W.S. Davis, turn of centruly novelist. It was years ago, but I am tempted to dig out my copy. I've also read Judith Tarr's fantasy duology, but I didn't care for it one bit.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 09:56 pm (UTC)John of Ibelin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Conquest of Jerusalem And The Third Crusade
The Kingdom of Cyprus and The Crusades 1191-1374
links unfortunately go to the German abebooks.de who cater in second hand and discontinued publications but hopefully you can find the books in second hand bookshops. These books are partly academic, we used them at university.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-14 01:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-14 04:05 am (UTC)