A new historical novel about the unusual life of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, the leper crusader king who--despite ascending to the throne at only 13, his early death at 24 and his debilitating disease--performed great and heroic deeds in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.Susan Peek...
For those alert to signs hidden in the fabric of the world, the Roman Empire’s collapse in the west was announced by a series of omens. In Antioch, dogs howled like wolves, night-birds let out hideous shrieks and people muttered that the emperor should be burned alive. In Thrace, a...
Thus, when Amalric died in 1173, leaving the royal power to Baldwin IV, “the Leprous”, a child of thirteen, the kingdom of Jerusalem was threatened on all sides. At the same time two factions, led respectively by Guy de Lusignan, brother-in-law of the king, and Raymond, Count ...
It was, in turn, sold along with the surrounding houses, gardens and vineyards to Count Jocelyn III, uncle of Baldwin IV in 1179 under the name Castellum Novo. A sizable Byzantine church adjacent to the castle was also part of the property. It all fell to the Muslim conqueror Saladin in ...
Jerusalem. Crusading activity against the Byzantines petered out by the 1330s, when the Turks gradually emerged as the greatest threat in the Aegean against both Latins and Greeks. Nevertheless, elements of crusading aggression against Byzantium persisted to the end of the empire, hindering ...
Similarly, the Order of the Knights Templar was formed in 1120 under the patronage of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Warmund.HolylandsSubsequently, the knights of these orders actively participated in the Crusades till the end of the crusades. The Knights Templar ...
during which the Popes lorded it over the Emperors. From Bulgaria to Ireland and from Norway to Sicily and Jerusalem the Pope was supreme. Gregory VII obliged the Emperor Henry IV to come in penitence to him at Canossa and to await forgiveness for three days and nights in the courtyard of...
five armies 12 antioch 12 the peasants crusade 12 jerusalem 13 the latin kingdoms 13 jihad 14 thesecondcrusade 14 nur al din 15 saladin 15 thethirdcrusade 16 the northern crusades 17 richard the lionheart 17 trouble in jerusalem 17 thefourthcrusade 18 hijacked by the doge 18 the sack of con...
In June 1245, a year after the final loss ofJerusalem, PopeInnocent IVopened a greatecclesiasticalcouncil at Lyons. Although urgent appeals for help had come from the East, it is unlikely that the Crusade was uppermost in the pope’s mind, for a combination of crises confronted the church:...
in northwestern Spain; andJerusalem, with theHoly SepulchreofJesus Christ’s entombment. Pilgrimage, which had always been considered an act of devotion, had also come to be regarded as a more formal expiation for serious sin, even occasionally prescribed as a penance for the sinner by his conf...