Tag: Crusades
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The legend of Prester John
In 1187, the army of Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, recaptured Jerusalem for the Muslim world by defeating the Christian Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin in Galilee. Under the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II, the Crusaders briefly retook Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade (1228–1229), but the trend was irreversible, and by 1244…
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Charles VIII: The king who bumped his head
Charles VIII was proclaimed king of France in 1470 at the age of thirteen and is remembered in history chiefly for invading Italy to assert his claim to the throne of Naples. He set in motion, by this invasion, a process that left Italy languishing under foreign domination for more than 300 years. During his…
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The remarkable Baldwin IV: Leper and king of Jerusalem
John TurnerAintree, Liverpool, United Kingdom The young King Baldwin Medieval teen king, precocious politician, and successful battlefield commander, Baldwin IV not only surmounted disabling neurological impairment but challenged the stigma of leprosy, remarkably continuing to rule until his premature death aged twenty-three. His coronation as sixth king of Jerusalem at age thirteen coincided with the…