[edit] Plot and characters
King Baldwin IV of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (1174-1185) was indeed a leper, and his sister Sibylla was indeed married to Guy Lu Xi'an (Guy de Lusignan). Since Baldwin IV fell out with Guy before his death, Guy did not immediately succeed Baldwin on the throne. In fact, in 1183, Baldwin crowned Sibylla's five-year-old son with her ex-husband William of Montferrat as Baldwin V (Baldwin of Montferrat) as Crown Prince. The little boy later reigned as an independent king for only one year before dying of a critical illness at the age of nine in 1186. After their son's death, Sibylla and Guy, who was in love at the time, began defending the city and later became king. The actual coronation was even more dramatic than the one in the movie: Sibylla had been forced into a divorce before becoming queen to ensure the queen would be allowed to choose her own royal consort. After Reverend Heraclius (namely not mentioned in the film) crowned Sibyl, Sibyl chose Guy and crowned him king. Meanwhile, Raymond III of Tripoli (the Tiberias in the film) tried to stage a coup with Berrion to support his half-sister Princess Isabella to become queen, but later because of Isabella's husband Humphrey IV of Toron betrayed them and swore allegiance to Guy and failed.
Ramon of Tripoli was a cousin of Amalric I of Jerusalem, one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom, and sometimes served as regent. He once claimed his kingship, but since he had no descendants, he turned to the Ibelin family, which he was associated with. He frequently clashed with Guy and Reynard, and Guy rose to prominence by marrying the heiress of the kingdom because of his affection for the king. Guy and Leonard were indeed harassing Saladin's caravan at the time, but Leonard's capture of Saladin's sister was based on a misunderstanding of two facts: after Leonard attacked a caravan, Saladin wanted to To ensure that the next caravan with his sister in it was not harassed, the alert was strengthened, so his sister was not harmed later.
Discord within the kingdom gives Saladin an opportunity to carry out his plan to achieve his long-term goal of retaking Jerusalem. The army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was devastated at the Battle of Hattin, in part because of a power struggle within the kingdom. The battle itself is not detailed in the film, but its outcome is described. Guy and Reynard were captured alive. According to al-Safadi in al-Wafi bi'l-wafayat, the sultan promised that he would not give any more to Renard, so Renard later drank the drink given to Guy. Being executed for drinking is perhaps the most historically true part of the film. Guy was initially imprisoned and later released, and even after Sibylla and their daughters both died of illness at the siege of Acre in 1190, Guy still tried to get back on the throne, but in In the election of 1192, he was defeated by Conrad of Montferrat. King Richard I of England, Guy's sole supporter, sold his Cypriot nobility to Guy, who died in Cyprus around 1194.
There is indeed a "Haute Cour" in history, similar to a medieval parliament. Here, Tiberias and Guy in the film argue over whether to go to war or not, with King Baldwin IV in front of him making the final verdict.
The film mentions the battle of Montgisard in which Baldwin IV defeated Saladin at the age of 16 in 1177, after which Saladin narrowly escaped. However, in actual history, the battle was not entirely attributed to Baldwin IV's personal command, and Rayner and the Templars also participated in it.
The image of the two major knighthood forces in the film, the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar, is quite close to history. These knightly organizations were so-called military monasteries, whose members obeyed the requirements of abstinence, and in principle only accepted the Pope's instructions and ignored the king of Jerusalem, and were indeed keen to attack Saladin and Muslims, especially the Templars. Neither Guy nor Reynard were actually Templars at the time, both in the movie were wearing Templar robes, but historically they were secular nobles with wives and families.
The historical real Belion was a close ally of Tiberias, a true gentleman and one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom, not a blacksmith. His father, Barisan (the original name of Berian, derived from the French "Balian"), was the founder of the Eastern (probably Italian) Ibelin family. Berian and Sibylla were in fact united in the defense of Jerusalem, and there was no love between the two. In fact, Berian married Sibylla's stepmother, Maria Comnena, the widow of Amalric I. "Old French Continuation of William of Tyre" (Chronicle of Ernoul) chronicles Sibylla's fascination with Baldwin of Ibelin, Berian's older brother, a widower twice her age. But this account is full of doubts, instead it seems that Tiberias' father wanted his son to marry Sibylla to strengthen his political clique. However, the legend seems to be far less interesting than the love Sibylla and Berian created in the movie.
The account of the siege of Jerusalem is based on documents of the time and the Old French Continuation of William of Tyre, which was partly written by an official in Berrian. Saladin attacked Jerusalem for about a month, and could indeed knock down part of the wall. In the movie Berrian knighted anyone who could take up a sword, but history tells us that he knighted only some burgesses. The exact number varies widely depending on historical documents, but it may have been fewer than 100 people, when in fact the city was home to tens of thousands of male residents and refugees. Berian had privately negotiated with Saladin to abandon the city of Jerusalem after threatening to destroy every building and kill every Muslim who entered. In the film, both Princess Sibylla and Bishop Heraclius' roles in defense are reduced, turning Heraclius into a cowardly coward. Saladin allowed Berrion and his family to leave safely, and Berrion returned to Jerusalem, but the last remaining knight of Hardin's horns returned to Jerusalem and became the only sustenance for the people. The people hoped that Berian would stay and guard, and five days later Saladin gathered the army to prepare for the killing of Jerusalem. In the end, Jerusalem was captured. Berian came forward and asked Saladin to negotiate with Saladin. The massacre of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099 made Saladin Can not accept. Unable to get the other party to negotiate, Berian used his scheming to force Saladin. He threatened that if he did not spare the people in the city, they would kill the Muslim captives in their hands and destroy the Dome of the Rock. Saladin accepted the negotiation but demanded that everyone To pay the ransom (10 gold coins for men, 5 for women, 1 for children), nearly 3,000 people became slaves because they could not pay the ransom. Of course, Berian himself paid ransoms for many people, but Saladin simply avoided this form in the end, and the process was simplified in the movie to improve the dramatic effect.
The "rare truce" mentioned at the end of the film is actually a peace negotiation with the help of Berrian, which is also the end of the Third Crusade. The film transforms this ending, turning Charles I's mediation by Berrian into his own prior visit. Berrian was not from France, and of course he would not return there with Sybil. After the siege of Acre, Sibylla and her two daughters died of fever in the camp after Conrad of Montferrat denied them access to the remaining stronghold of Tyre in Lebanon.
On the other hand, Berian and Richard's relationship was not actually friendly at all, as Berian supported Conrad and Richard supported Guy in the subsequent elections. Berrian and Maria arranged for their daughter Isabella to forcibly divorce Humphrey of Toron so that Isabella could marry Conrad. Ambroise, who wrote a poetic account of the Crusaders, called Berrian "more hypocritical than a clown" and that he "should be hunted by dogs". The anonymous author of "Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi" calls Berrion a member of the "Council of Extreme Evil", describes him as a brutal, impetuous, perfidious man, and accuses him of taking bribes from Conrad.
Therefore, the Berrian in the movie does not exist in reality. The historical Berian and Maria Comnena have offspring. Due to their close relationship with Sibylla's half-sister and her successor, Queen Isabella (not in the film), the Ibelin family became involved in the kingdom of Jerusalem and Cyprus in the 13th century Sri Lanka's most powerful noble. The Lord of Beirut, the son of Maria and Berrian, in particular, became the dominant force in the entire Christian area during the first 30 years of the 13th century.
The film's historical correctness was consulted by Professor Hamid Dabashi and was later analyzed in the History Channel's History vs. Hollywood series. The film was also part of the DVD release of the film, along with an episode of the Kingdom of Heaven, Movie Real.
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