May 5th, 2005

I've been reading about the crusades since I was around 10 or 11 and have been fascinated about the wars between knights and the saracens. I've been very much disappointed with the latest hollywood flick "Kingdom of Heaven". There were many history inaccuracies in the movie. First, there were survivors in the Battle of Hattin- the alleged battle in the movie where the Crusader armies were defeated. Around 3,000 knights in the battle escaped and others like the King Guy Lusignan were ransomed in return for several cities like Gaza to the hands of Saladin and his Turks. In fact Saladin had not just 200,000 men in his control- there were many Muslims then in Turkey who joined the war. A big question in the movie- is this if Orlando Bloom was indeed a knight- what order was he? It was clear he wasn't a Templar- and neither was he a Hospitaller. Of what order was he? I find it strange in the movie to see a mere blacksmith defeating knights who have been knights since childhood. If you would read the book "Age of Chivalry" and "Life in the Manor" the pages who later became knights had rough childhood riding a horse without a stirrup, wielding big swords at age 12 and carrying large shields at age 15- only to be defeated by a blacksmith whose training was for a week or less? Maybe if the movie is "Ang Panday" no offense to the late FPJ. But when a movie is unbelievable- it sucks.  There was indeed a Balian in the history books and his role is a negotiator- he was also in the battle of Hattin and was among those who escaped- leading to the belief that he connived or was a collaborator to Saladin's cause. There was no truth that Saladin was incensed of his sister's murder- in fact during the attack of Richard Lionheart he even proposed to Lionheart that his brother marry Richard's sister and Richard's brother marry his sisters as a sign of chivalry.

Nowhere in the movie that Conrad was mentioned- he's the guy who beat the Muslims in Acre and Tyre after the fall of Jerusalem. The Battle of Hattin did not end in defeat just because of the heat- these soldiers have been marching in the desert for months already- a big contribution to the defeat is the retreat made by the footsoldiers leaving the horsemen to their deaths.


The king Guy Lusignan was indeed captured along with his vassals but he was later ransomed by the French. He was backed by the Templars but his army does not consist mostly of Templars. There is no truth that the Templars did not associate with the Muslims- in fact later the Templars were burned for heresy- for knowledge they got in digging at the ruins of the Temple. The film was correct that Reynald was killed- but there was already a threat before made by Saladin that he would have Reynald killed for his attacks on the caravans. Reynald wasn't attacking the caravans because they were Muslim but for the goods these people carry. There was then a black market in Europe where silk from Asia, spices from the East and women and slaves were sold. There was also another Baldwin, Baldwin V, who first succeeded Baldwin IV (the leper) before Guy Lusignan became king.

Lusignan after the fall of Jerusalem became the king of Cyprus- and he ruled that place with Crown Princess Sybilla the sister of Baldwin- so the alleged romance of a  Balian who has been horribly and heavily fictionalized and Sybilla is just a concoction made by the director to spice things up. But for me, it would have been better if Balian's consort in the movie is related to Saladin- which would be the reason why he knew how the Muslims moved their armies.

Another big misconception is to consider the kingdom only Jerusalem- the kingdom included Gaza, Acre, Jaffa, Tyre and other towns. Jerusalem was not referred to as the Kingdom of Heaven but the Eternal City.

Another misconcepcion was that Jerusalem was surrendered after Balian made threats to destroy the relics in it and to have several Saracens killed for the death of each Christian soldier. In the chronicles of historians this took place

"Salah al-Din turned to Balian and asked: "Why are you proposing to surrender the city? We have already captured it!"

Saladin allowed the surrender because Balian raised money in payment of the citizens of the city. Moreover a lot of the people in the city have already turned sides to Saladin and not to the Crusaders whom they see as Latins. They see the Muslims as their brethren. The Eastern Orthodox church at its Patriarch have already allied themselves to Saladin since Constantinople regarded Saladin as an ally.

And Sybilla's hair cut? Hmmm...this note appears in the Medieval History....

The Latin women in the city placed tubs in front of Mount Calvary and filled them with cold water, then took their young daughters, stripped them naked, and placed them in the water up to their necks. They cut their hair and burned it in the hope of averting their shame..(They not only cut their hair dudes, they were nude. Errr....FHM Jerusalem anyone???)...

On the whole- I give the movie a C in history- should've been a D though. There should have been more discussion on Tiberia's statement that he thought he was fighting for God when in fact it was all just land and riches...which is what the Middle East really was about....gold, spices, silk, slaves, gold, women not necessarily in that order....


  Salaam alaikum my brothers (pbuh).....
The GLA will rise again!!! hehehehe!!!!!