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January 04, 2006
Kingdom of Heaven
I watched Kingom of Heaven over the Christmas break, and it was exactly as the critics said - a frustrating mix of action and plodding. It was also fairly incoherent and the romance was ridiculous.
Always interested in how these things relate to history, I did some Wikipedia lookups on the main characters and the plot. The historical timeline is almost perfect. Warning - if you haven't seen the movie, and don't know the history, the following (below the fold) would be considered spoilers.
- The King (Baldwin IV) did defeat Saladin at age 16
- Balian was lord of Ibelin
- Baldwin IV did have leprosy
- Sibylla was Baldwin's sister
- She was married to Guy du Lusignan
- Raynald du Chatillon provoked Saladin by harrassing trade routes and capturing Saladin's sister.
- Guy du Lusignan lost to Saladin at the Battle of Hattin (But Balian was there, and fled). Raynald du Chatillon was captured and beheaded by Saladin.
- Balian did organize the defenses of Jerusalem during the Seige of Jerusalem. He did knight a bunch of men to help with the defenses. Saladin was fairly merciful about letting the Christians flee in peace.
Other than that, everything else is wrong.
Posted by jb at January 4, 2006 08:43 AM
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