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DEFENDING THE CITY OF GOD
Kirkus Reviews (Print)
April 1, 2014, Tuesday
A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem
NONFICTION
The author of The Real History Behind the Templars (2007) chronicles
how the first two crusades helped establish the face of the Middle
East. Pope Urban II's First Crusade brought a minor lord of France,
Baldwin of le Bourq, to the Holy Land, and he married an Armenian
noblewoman. It was their daughters, Melisende and Alice, who ended
up ruling Jerusalem and Antioch-but it was far from a foregone
conclusion. As Newman (Death Before Compline: Short Stories, 2012,
etc.) writes, "[i]t would have been a brave prophet who would have
dared to predict that Melisende would become queen of anything." The
author provides solid insight into the violent history of an area
alternately claimed by Turks, Armenians, Jews, Franks (as the crusaders
were called), and Shia and Sunni Muslims. Newman builds her story on
the few sources available-e.g., the writings of Fulcher of Chartres
and Ibn al-Qalanisi, both of which are decidedly skewed-and that
difficulty impedes the flow of the narrative as it necessarily jumps
from kingdom to kingdom. The author follows the daughters of Baldwin
as their husbands are chosen: Melisende's husband, Fulk of Anjou,
was grandfather to Henry II of England, and he was to be a co-ruler
and defender of her kingdom.
Alice's husband, Bohemond, died in battle, leaving her to defend and
eventually rule Antioch. Raymond of Poitiers was brought in to be
husband to Alice's daughter, Constance, and he became uncle to Eleanor
of Aquitaine, soon to arrive as part of the disastrous Second Crusade.
"The damage done by the failed Second Crusade," writes the author,
"led to the rise of the emir Saladin and the fall of the city of
Jerusalem to him twenty years after Melisende's death." A brief,
useful history of the conquerors who came from East and West to build
a series of states that continue the fight to this day
Publication Date: 2014-04-29 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Stage:
Adult ISBN: 978-1-137-27865-4 Price: $28.00 Author: Newman, Sharan
Kirkus Reviews (Print)
April 1, 2014, Tuesday
A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem
NONFICTION
The author of The Real History Behind the Templars (2007) chronicles
how the first two crusades helped establish the face of the Middle
East. Pope Urban II's First Crusade brought a minor lord of France,
Baldwin of le Bourq, to the Holy Land, and he married an Armenian
noblewoman. It was their daughters, Melisende and Alice, who ended
up ruling Jerusalem and Antioch-but it was far from a foregone
conclusion. As Newman (Death Before Compline: Short Stories, 2012,
etc.) writes, "[i]t would have been a brave prophet who would have
dared to predict that Melisende would become queen of anything." The
author provides solid insight into the violent history of an area
alternately claimed by Turks, Armenians, Jews, Franks (as the crusaders
were called), and Shia and Sunni Muslims. Newman builds her story on
the few sources available-e.g., the writings of Fulcher of Chartres
and Ibn al-Qalanisi, both of which are decidedly skewed-and that
difficulty impedes the flow of the narrative as it necessarily jumps
from kingdom to kingdom. The author follows the daughters of Baldwin
as their husbands are chosen: Melisende's husband, Fulk of Anjou,
was grandfather to Henry II of England, and he was to be a co-ruler
and defender of her kingdom.
Alice's husband, Bohemond, died in battle, leaving her to defend and
eventually rule Antioch. Raymond of Poitiers was brought in to be
husband to Alice's daughter, Constance, and he became uncle to Eleanor
of Aquitaine, soon to arrive as part of the disastrous Second Crusade.
"The damage done by the failed Second Crusade," writes the author,
"led to the rise of the emir Saladin and the fall of the city of
Jerusalem to him twenty years after Melisende's death." A brief,
useful history of the conquerors who came from East and West to build
a series of states that continue the fight to this day
Publication Date: 2014-04-29 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Stage:
Adult ISBN: 978-1-137-27865-4 Price: $28.00 Author: Newman, Sharan