The main sources that tell us about her and what she's doing as the queen of jerusalem are the charters. Thet's got a few of them that exist from fulcon mellisons, rain and anything else in the sorces. We also have quite a few letters s, at least four letters that survive from abbot bernard of clevo an,. one of the foremost churchmen of his age. And he writes at least letters to her. Some of them are quite simple. Here are some pilgrims i would like you to take care of. But two others were written at quite crucial points within her reign. One just after the death of her husband, fulk of
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most powerful woman in the Crusader states in the century after the First Crusade. Melisende (1105-61) was born and raised after the mainly Frankish crusaders had taken Jerusalem from the Fatimids, and her father was King of Jerusalem. She was married to Fulk from Anjou, on the understanding they would rule together, and for 30 years she vied with him and then their son as they struggled to consolidate their Frankish state in the Holy Land.
The image above is of the coronation of Fulk with Melisende, from Livre d'Eracles, Guillaume de Tyr (1130?-1186)
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France
With
Natasha Hodgson
Senior Lecturer in Medieval History and Director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Nottingham Trent University
Katherine Lewis
Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield
and
Danielle Park
Visiting Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson