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Kingdom of Heaven (2005) (last updated May 8, 2005)
Kingdom of Heaven is based on real-life events surrounding Saladin's retaking of Jerusalem in 1187, though the movie compresses real-life events into a period shorter than the roughly eight years in which the real-life events occurred. The story in particular of Balian as defender of Jerusalem is indeed based on historical accounts, though aspects of his life and his involvement have been changed. For one thing, the story of how Balian came to defend Jerusalem, at least by some accounts, is arguably more dramatic than even what the movie showed.
To begin with, it is worth putting this movie into some context. The Crusades generally refer to the efforts by Christians to claim Jerusalem and the Holy Land roughly through the 11th , 12th and 13th centuries. Pope Urban II called for the first crusade in 1095 when the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire requested some mercenaries from the West; the Crusades quickly took on a far greater life of their own. Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in July 1099 and slaughtered an estimated 40,000 Muslims in two days; this is the event that Balian wants to avoid a repeat of when rallying his forces at the movie's end. Crusaders then established themselves in the region.
By the 1180s, Kurdish commander Shirkuh, better known by his title Salah ad-Din (Righteousness of the Faith) and by the Westernized version Saladin, had organized the Muslims into an army that threatened the continuing stability of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Crusaders divided into rough camps of those who favored co-existence with the Muslims (such as Balian) and those who favored holy war (such as Reynald). This is where the movie begins.
The following table examines particular aspects of the movie in comparison to historical accounts.
| Movie
| Real-Life
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| Balian comes to Jerusalem from France sometime after 1184 and becomes baron, succeeding his father, Godfrey of Ibelin.
| There was a Balian of Ibelin (sometimes known as Barisan the Younger) who was known as the defender of Jerusalem. However, this Balian was in Jerusalem for at least a decade before the battle in which Saladin retook Jerusalem, not the relatively shorter period of time (two to three years) seen in the movie, was part of a powerful family that had held land for many years, was even married to the second wife of the late King Amalric, and participated in the ceremonies installing Baldwin IV's immediate successor as king. One Arab writer even referred to Balian as "almost equal in rank to the King."
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| Baldwin IV is the king of Jerusalem and suffers from leprosy.
| Baldwin IV (1161-1185) was crowned king in 1174 at the age of 13, following the death of his father, King Amalric. According to the account of his childhood tutor, Baldwin IV showed symptoms of leprosy (loss of sensation in his right arm) as a child but was not diagnosed until after he had become king. As noted below, Baldwin IV actually arranged for the kingdom to go to his young nephew after his death, but Baldwin V died shortly after about a year, allowing for Guy to lead a coup and become king.
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| Sibylla is the wife of Guy of Lusignan, making him a possible heir to the throne. Sibylla also considers marrying Balian.
| As elder sister to King Baldwin IV, Sibylla was at the center of marriage politics in Jerusalem. Her father, King Amalric, perhaps concerned about the signs that her brother may have leprosy, initially sought to marry Sibyl when she was still a child to Count Stephen of Sancerre, who refused. She then married William of Montferrat, who died in 1177, just months before the birth of their only son (who would become Baldwin IV's successor). She was then betrothed to Hugh of Burgundy to form another political alliance, and ultimately married Guy of Lusignan in 1180.
In terms of a possible romance with Balian, the movie effectively combines Balian with his brother, Baldwin of Ibelin, who reportedly did seek Sibylla's hand in marriage but apparently was rejected in favor of Guy. Rather than courting Sibylla, Balian actually married Maria Comnena, the second wife of Sibylla's late father, in 1177 and thus became the stepfather of Sibylla's half-sister and possessed one of the largest feudal estates.
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| Reynald leads an attack on a caravan of pilgrims, breaching the truce. Baldwin IV avoids war with Saladin by promising to punish Reynald.
| Baldwin IV, the leper king, and Saladin reached a truce in 1180 that was to last for two years. During this time, Reynald, who came to the area around 1147 and who had been captured during one raid and held prisoner by Muslims for almost twenty years, did lead several provocative attacks in violation of the truce, including an attack on a caravan (as seen in the movie) and an attempted attack on the Muslim holy city of Mecca (not seen in the movie). Baldwin IV had limited power over Reynald and could not effectively punish him. Saladin's forces responded to Reynald's actions by invading Galilee, but Guy of Lusignan, who was then acting as regent given Baldwin IV's illness, waited Saladin's armies out, avoiding a battle.
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| Guy becomes king after the death of Baldwin IV, the leper king, and allows Reynald to provoke Muslims with more raids.
| Guy's rise to power was somewhat more complicated. First, Guy served as Baldwin IV's regent in 1181 because of Baldwin IV's illness, and Guy actually did listen to the advice of Baldwin of Ibelin and his brother Balian and thus avoided one battle with Saladin in 1181. Guy lost standing with his fellow hawks for this, and he was then replaced as regent.
Guy did become king after Baldwin IV's death, but not immediately and not directly. Baldwin IV had appointed his young nephew, Baldwin IV, who was Sibylla's daughter by a prior marriage, to the throne shortly before his own death (Balian of Ibelin participated in the installation ceremonies, a move seen by some as designed to show that Guy was disfavored). Baldwin V died after about a year as king, and Guy then led a coup that resulted in his assuming the throne.
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| After Reynald's attack on another caravan, Guy rejects Balian's counsel and leads his forces into a disastrous battle at Hittin.
| Once Guy was king, Reynald did break the truce again, leading a raid on a caravan which contained Saladin's sister. This act provoked Saladin, who mobilized his armies for war. Saladin invaded Galilee and took the city of Tiberias, setting a trap for the crusaders.
Guy considered advice from both hawks and doves, but ultimately decided to march towards Tiberias to confront Saladin's army, perhaps mindful of the political setback he had suffered when he had not attacked in a similar situation in 1181. The crusaders suffered dehydration and exhaustion en route, and then faced a fresh and ready Muslim army in the battle of Hittin, which the crusaders lost decisively.
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| After the battle of Hittin, Saladin kills Reynald but takes Guy as a prisoner of war.
| The scene depicting the execution of Reynald largely follows an account given by Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, who was Saladin's secretary. According to this account, Saladin met with Guy and Reynald, reproached Reynald for breaking his oaths, and then gave Guy an ice-filled goblet; Arab tradition holds that a prisoner who is offered food or drink must be spared. After Saladin noted that he had not given Reynald such a goblet, Saladin went riding, returned to his pavilion, summoned Guy and Reynald, and then killed Reynald. Saladin then assured Guy that Reynald had been killed for his deeds and that Guy would not be. Saladin kept Guy a captive and released him in 1188, months after the retaking of Jerusalem.
While this story arguably depicts Saladin in a positive light, Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani also reported that Saladin ordered and observed the execution of about a hundred prisoners, "his face joyful." Some have argued that this incident violated provisions in the Koran about the treatment of prisoners and that this incident does mar Saladin's largely positive reputation in the West.
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| Balian does not take part in the disastrous battle, and instead fortifies Jerusalem and defends it long enough that he can secure the safe exodus of Christians from the city.
| Balian did take part in the battle of Hittin and was one of the last to escape. He then returned to Jerusalem seeking only to retrieve his wife and children who were there in the city. Balian asked Saladin's permission to enter Jerusalem, which Saladin granted on the condition that Balian stay just one night to accomplish his purpose.
Once Balian entered the city, however, people there begged him to stay and lead them. Balian went back to Saladin and explained his situation, and Saladin excused Balian from his promise to leave Jerusalem and even allowed Balian's family safe passage out of the city.
Fighting then began and continued for several days. Then, according to Arab writers' accounts, Balian approached Saladin for negotiations and asked for amnesty in return for surrender. According to Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani's account, Saladin refused the offer, saying:
| "Neither amnesty nor mercy for you! Our only desire is to inflict perpetual subjection upon you; tomorrow will make us your masters by main force. We shall kill and capture you wholesale, spill men's blood and reduce the poor and the women to slavery." |
Balian then responded, in part, according to Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani's account:
| "If we must despair of your mercy and fear your power and lose all hope of your magnanimity, and if we are sure that there is no escape or way out, no peace or safety, no grace or generosity, then we shall seek death, and shall fight like men who sell their lives dearly … No one will be wounded before he has first wounded ten men himself, no one will shake hands with death before he has been seen to stave off destruction with open hands. We shall burn the houses and pull down the Dome, and leave to you the shame of reducing us to slavery." |
Saladin called a council meeting and then reached terms with Balian. Under the treaty, Muslims would possess Jerusalem, there would be no slaughter as had happened the last time the city was conquered in 1099, and Christians would be allowed to leave in peace if they were able to pay a ransom, which Saladin waived for many people.
Saladin restored Jerusalem as a Muslim city and excluded Franks from re-entering the city, but he did allow Jews and non-Frank Christians into the city.
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| Balian returns to France along with Sibylla, and he refuses to take part in a new crusade led by King Richard of England to take back Jerusalem.
| Sibyl was allowed to leave Jerusalem and was reunited with her husband, Guy, who was released by Saladin in 1188. Guy then led a siege against the city of Acre, which lasted two years. Sibyl died during this siege.
Balian died around 1193. His wife, Maria Comnena (originally the second wife of King Almaric, who was the father to Baldwin IV and Sibyl by his first wife), died in 1217.
King Richard of England, who left for the crusades shortly after being crowned in September 1189, arrived in the area in 1191. He then joined the fighting and reached a stalemate with Saladin. In 1192, the two signed a five-year treaty under which Christians and Muslims would co-exist in Jerusalem and Palestine, though Saladin's forces retained control of the city. Saladin himself died in 1193.
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Two examples from recent years highlight the continuing relevance of the Crusades to modern times.
For example, just days after the September 11 attacks, many Muslims were upset when President George W. Bush referred to the war on terrorism as a "crusade" which was "going to take a while" (transcript on-line here). White House spokesman Ari Fleischer quickly clarified that Bush used the word in its traditional English sense without any "intended consequences for anybody, Muslim or otherwise, other than to say that is a broad cause that he is calling on America and the nations around the world to join" (transcript on-line here).
On the other hand, Iraq leader Saddam Hussein deliberately invoked the Crusades by referring to himself on the eve of the Gulf War in 1991 as a modern-day Saladin, a reference not lost on Muslim audiences. Notably, Saladin himself was a Kurd, an ethnic minority that Hussein had oppressed.
Sources: Karen Armstrong, Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World (Anchor Books, 2001). Francesco Gabrieli (translator and editor), Arab Historians of the Crusades, translated by E.J. Costello (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969). Bernard Hamilton, The Leper King and His Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge University Press 2000). Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, translated by Jon Rothschild (Al Saqi Books, 1984). H. E. Mayer, "Carving Up Crusaders: The Early Ibelins and Ramlas," in B.Z. Kedar, H. E. Mayer, and R.C. Smail (editors), Outremer: Studies in the History of the Crusading Kingdom of Jerusalem presented to Joshua Prawer (Yaz Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute, 1982). James Reston, Jr., Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade (Doubleday, 2001).
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