The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Latin Kingdom, was a Crusader state that was established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 until the fall of Acre in 1291. Its history is divided into two periods with a brief interruption in its existence, beginning with its collapse after the siege of Jerusalem in 1187 and its restoration after the Third Crusade in 1192.
Frederick II was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of emperor Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Queen Constance of Sicily of the Hauteville dynasty.
The Children's Crusade was a failed popular crusade by European Christians to establish a second Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Holy Land, said to have taken place in 1212. Although it is called the Children's Crusade, it never received the papal approval from Pope Innocent III to be an actual Crusade. The traditional narrative is likely conflated from a mix of factual and mythical events, which include the preaching of visions by a French boy and a German boy, an intention to peacefully convert Muslims in the Holy Land to Christianity, bands of children marching to Italy, and children being sold into slavery in Tunis. The crusaders of the real events on which the story is based left areas of Germany, led by Nicholas of Cologne, and Northern France, led by Stephen of Cloyes.
John of Brienne, also known as John I, was King of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 and Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1229 to 1237. He was the youngest son of Erard II of Brienne, a wealthy nobleman in Champagne. John, originally destined for an ecclesiastical career, became a knight and owned small estates in Champagne around 1200. After the death of his brother, Walter III, he ruled the County of Brienne on behalf of his minor nephew Walter IV.
Conrad of Montferrat was a nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem by virtue of his marriage to Isabella I of Jerusalem from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death. He was also the eighth Marquess of Montferrat from 1191.
Isabella II, sometimes erroneously called Yolanda, was a princess of French origin, the daughter of Maria, the queen-regnant of Jerusalem, and her husband, John of Brienne. She was reigning Queen of Jerusalem from 1212 until her death in 1228. By marriage to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Isabella also became Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Sicily and Germany.
Isabella I was reigning Queen of Jerusalem from 1190 to her death in 1205. She was the daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his second wife Maria Comnena, a Byzantine princess. Her half-brother, Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, engaged her to Humphrey IV of Toron. Her mother's second husband, Balian of Ibelin, and his stepfather, Raynald of Châtillon, were influential members of the two baronial parties. The marriage of Isabella and Humphrey was celebrated in Kerak Castle in autumn 1183. Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, laid siege to the fortress during the wedding, but Baldwin IV forced him to lift the siege.
Gates to Paradise is a 1968 film by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. The film is set in medieval France and is based on a novel by Polish writer Jerzy Andrzejewski (1960) that seeks to expose the motives behind youthful religious zeal. It was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.
Maria of Montferrat (1192–1212) was the queen of Jerusalem from 1205 until her death. Her parents were Isabella I and her second husband, Conrad of Montferrat. Maria succeeded her mother under the regency of her half-uncle John of Ibelin. After him the kingdom was ruled on Maria's behalf by her husband, John of Brienne, whom she married in 1210. She died giving birth to her successor, Isabella II.
Janus was King of Cyprus and titular King of Armenian Cilicia and Jerusalem from 1398 to 1432.
James I was the youngest son of King Hugh IV of Cyprus and by 1369 held the title "Constable of Jerusalem." When his nephew Peter II died in 1382, he became King of Cyprus. James was also crowned King of Jerusalem in 1389 and assumed the title of King of Armenia in 1393, which was formally given to him in 1396.
Qalāwūn aṣ-Ṣāliḥī was the seventh Bahri Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, he ruled from 1279 to 1290. He was called al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn. After having risen in power in the Mamluk court and elite circles, Qalawun eventually held the title of "the victorious king" and gained de facto authority over the sultanate. The current sultan, Barakah was exiled and rumored to have been poisoned by Qalawun. He would then wage war against the Crusaders, capturing lands held by the County of Tripoli, and later totally defeating them in 1289. Acre, a major Crusader stronghold was besieged by Qalawun but would only be taken by his son al-Ashraf Khalil as the former died before the siege was won in 1291. His son Khalil succeeded him as sultan.
Crusade in Jeans (1973) is a children's novel written by Thea Beckman. It contains a fictional account of the Children's Crusade of 1212, as witnessed by Rudolf Hefting, a boy from the 20th century. The original Dutch title is Kruistocht in spijkerbroek. A film version was released in 2006.
The House of Lusignan was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries during the Middle Ages. It also had great influence in England and France.
The siege of Jerusalem lasted from 20 September to 2 October 1187, when Balian of Ibelin surrendered the city to Saladin. Earlier that summer, Saladin had defeated the kingdom's army and conquered several cities. Balian was charged with organizing a defense. The city was full of refugees but had few soldiers. Despite this fact the defenders managed to repulse several attempts by Saladin's army to take the city by storm. Balian bargained with Saladin to buy safe passage for many, and the city was peacefully surrendered with limited bloodshed. Though Jerusalem fell, it was not the end of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as the capital shifted first to Tyre and later to Acre after the Third Crusade. Latin Christians responded in 1189 by launching the Third Crusade led by Richard the Lionheart, Philip Augustus, and Frederick Barbarossa separately. In Jerusalem, Saladin restored Muslim holy sites and generally showed tolerance towards Christians; he allowed Orthodox and Eastern Christian pilgrims to visit the holy sites freely—though Frankish pilgrims were required to pay a fee for entry. The control of Christian affairs in the city was handed over to the patriarch of Constantinople.
Theodora Beckmann, better known by her pen name Thea Beckman, was a Dutch author of children's books.
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to reconquer Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. Crusading declined rapidly after the 15th century.
Kim-Lian van der Meij is a Dutch musical actress, presenter and a singer-songwriter.
Timo Descamps is a Belgian actor and singer best known for his former roles on the soap operas Spring and Familie. In 2007, Descamps released his first music single, "Phonecall", which rose to 36 on the Ultratop 50. In 2010, it was announced that Descamps would be co-starring in the film Judas Kiss, playing the character of Shane Lyons.
Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen was the queen consort of Cyprus and titular queen consort of Armenia as the wife of King James I of Cyprus. She was styled Queen of Cyprus from 1382 to 1398; although at the time of his ascension to the Cypriot throne, she and James were imprisoned in Genoa after they had been captured by the Genoese on the island of Rhodes. Almost all of Helvis 11 children were born to her while she was held prisoner. In 1385, after negotiations and many ruinous concessions to the Genoese, they were released and James was crowned king. In 1393, she became Queen of Armenia.
