When crusaders came, did they set out to create a kingdom or what? They imported western forms of jurisdiction and custom from their own areasin in France. The chief man in each of these areas, ar king, prince and count, he has a load of vassals underneath him who hold land,. And they also perform a very important role advising him. How was jerusalem organi how big was it? For a start, what sort of place was it? Originally it was literally just the city of jerusalem. But then during the reign of baldwin the first, who was the first king of jer Jerusalem, the territory really expand.
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