There is an islamic influence there in terms of the geometric patterns that are being used. The images that are chosen are all from the new testament, but they're very byzantine in how they're acted. There's quite a lot of lances n thrust through different individuals. And the back cover is a crusader king who possibly is modelled after folk. We think the artist is basil, because on one of the images it's signedn the third saying, basil. Do we never sertin it was melisons? I really enjoyed recording the podcast, and i hope you enjoy listening to it. Just search for don't tell me the score.
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