The Fall of Jerusalem

The Fall of Jerusalem

October 2 marks the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem in 1187.  Jerusalem had been captured by the Crusader forces in 1099 at the culmination of the First Crusade.

For those of you who saw the movie Kingdom of Heaven, well, lets just saw the script writers did not feel themselves bound by the historic record.  Balian’s wife and children were notably absent, as was the fact that Balian not only fought at the Battle of Hattin but was as well captured.  Also, the city wall fell not at a gate and not from trebuchet bombardment, but rather from being undermined.  As near as I can tell Balian never visited France.  And he should have been in his mid to late 40’s at the time of the fall of Jerusalem.