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    Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem
    Unavailable
    Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem
    Unavailable
    Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem
    Ebook384 pages6 hours

    Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem

    By Sharan Newman

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Jerusalem sits at the crossroads of three continents and has been continuously invaded for millennia. Yet, in the middle of one of the region's most violent eras, the Crusades, an amazing multicultural world was forming. Templar knights, Muslim peasants, Turkish caliphs, Jewish merchants, and the native Christians, along with the children of the first crusaders, blended cultures while struggling to survive in a land constantly at war. Defending the City of God explores this fascinating and forgotten world, and how a group of sisters, daughters of the King of Jerusalem, whose supporters included Grand Masters of the Templars and Armenian clerics, held together the fragile treaties, understandings, and marriages that allowed for relative peace among the many different factions. As the crusaders fought to maintain their conquests, these relationships quickly unraveled, and the religious and cultural diversity was lost as hardline factions took over. Weaving together the political intrigues and dynastic battles that transformed the Near East with an evocative portrait of medieval Jerusalem, this is an astonishing look at a forgotten side of the first Crusades.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 29, 2014
    ISBN9781137437839
    Unavailable
    Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem
    Author

    Sharan Newman

    Sharan Newman is a medieval historian and author. She took her Master’s degree in Medieval Literature at Michigan State University and then did her doctoral work at the University of California at Santa Barbara in Medieval Studies, specializing in twelfth-century France. She is a member of the Medieval Academy and the Medieval Association of the Pacific. Rather than teach, Newman chose to use her education to write novels set in the Middle Ages, including three Arthurian fantasies and more than half a dozen mysteries set in twelfth-century France, featuring Catherine LeVendeur, a one-time student of Heloise at the Paraclete; her husband, Edgar, an Anglo-Scot; and Solomon, a Jewish merchant of Paris. The books focus on the life of the bourgeoisie and minor nobility and also the uneasy relations between Christians and Jews at that time. They also incorporate events of the twelfth-century such as the Second Crusade and the rise of the Cathars. The Catherine Levendeur mysteries have been nominated for many awards. Sharan won the Macavity Award for best first mystery for Death Comes As Epiphany, the Herodotus Award for best historical mystery for Cursed in the Blood, and The Witch in the Well won the Bruce Alexander award for best historical mystery. Her mystery The Shanghai Tunnel is set in Portland in 1868. Newman has also written non-fiction books, including The Real History Behind the Da Vince Code and The Real History Behind the Templars. Newman lives on a mountainside in Oregon.

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    Reviews for Defending the City of God

    3.5/5

    25 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Newman has written a fascinating book about medieval history, the crusades, religion, royalty. I loved this look at the Middle East. I had no idea how complex the society was. I always kind of pictured it as Muslim, Jew, Christian. But that is only where it starts. And in the middle of it all was Queen Melisende, hereditary ruler of Jerusalem, born of mixed heritage, eyewitness to the commerce and occasional violence that defined the age. Great read.
    • 3/5
      Defending The City of God adds much to my knowledge of Near East History as well as the Crusades. To serious students of such material this book is a must. Now, I don't know if I was misled by the marketing promo or if it was just me, but this did not meet my expectations. The idea that this story is told through the life of the Queen of Jerusalem, Melisende, is only partially true. Advertised as a story of her life, it falls short. As you complete the book there is much you don't know about her. So I just can't wrap myself around the whole thing. This is history of Jerusalem and the Crusades. It does not in anyway portray 'the Queen of Jerusalem" in such a powerful position say as Cleopatra. Some where the lines got blurred. It is not a competent biography. Neither does her story "weave together the political intrigues and dynastic battles that transformed the Near East", as promised.But don't get hung up on this, as did I. If you hunger for more serious information on the Near East and the Crusades this my prove to help satisfy your appetite. Just don't read the hype.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this book, though not as much as I expected. Initially, I looked forward to reading it because I I knew nothing about Melisende -- indeed, had never heard of her -- before reading this book. I have read many books, both fiction and nonfiction, on the royal families of England and France through the centuries, so it was interesting to see where the life of Melisende (or contemporaries of hers) intersected with other stories of the time that I do know -- such as Louis & Eleanor of France arriving with the Crusades. I was also intrigued to realize the connection between Melisende's husband, Fulk, and the founding of England's Plantagenet ruling family. I had just a shred of a memory that I might have read as sentence or two somewhere about Geoffrey Plantagenet's father going to Jerusalem, but it obviously had never made much of an impression on me. (I really do wish I had known of Melisende many years ago when I had the opportunity to visit Israel, and specifically, Jerusalem, as I might have been able to connect some of the sites with her history during our travels in the country.) After all that, however, I must admit the enjoyment did not live up to my anticipation. Some of the reviews printed on the jacket referred to the "suspense" and "full account" of this medieval queen, and the summary promises to "weave together the political intrigues and dynastic battles that transformed the Near East." I don't really feel that the book delivered on any of those claims, sadly. There was certainly plenty of mention of battles and political conniving, but Melisende rarely figured into any of it (at least in the way it was presented by the author), unless it came to mention of her name on a charter that was involved. I never felt the suspense, and the account felt far less than "full" in accounting for her life. That said, I must give the author credit for her extensive footnotes and bibliography. It is not for lack of study that the book felt that it did not live up to my expectations.I can usually keep up with the numerous players and locations within a history without it affecting the pace of my progress through the story, but I had trouble reading straight through this book. I normally would have finished a book of this length in a day or two, but I put it down many times, came back and reread portions before moving ahead again, only to put it down somewhat frustrated again. There were SO many unfamiliar names in this book, which is not unexpected given the region of the world in which it takes place. However, in addition to not knowing how to pronounce many of the names, there were many cases of strange names cropping up and then disappearing for many pages before they reentered the story -- and the same name was often repeated through different generations of a family, so I really struggled to keep everyone straight. It would have been nice to have a map, as well, to give a visual grounding for all the cities that were mentioned. (Since some of them no longer exist, a modern map is not much help.) And most of all, I felt that there was not nearly as much of Melisende's story as the summary led me to hope. I understand very well that there are many documents which did not survive, and that there was a different view of women in ruling positions during her lifetime, such that many things we would hope to have known just were not deemed important enough to record. I believe I have learned something from reading this book, but I must preface that admission by saying that I feel there was much more speculation of what "might have happened" in numerous instances than there was factual evidence of the real Melisende. In that light, I find it hard to view this as a biography at all, and almost not even worthy to be considered a non-fiction work. I would love to know more about her, so perhaps this book is a best viewed as a good springboard for helping you to determine the level of your interest, as continuing the quest for more knowledge surely will involve more than a quick trip to the local library.
    • 4/5
      I am happy that this author attempts to give women the credit they deserve in the early formation of Christianity.Recommend reading for any student of history, particularly Christian history.
    • 4/5
      What interested me about this book was not just the history of Melisende the queen but more rather where she came from, the Crusader County of Edessa. The majority of histories of the Crusades do not cover Edessa in any detail and usually just with the comment that it was the first Crusader state to fall. This book however goes into much more detail so we can better understand how Melisende became who she was thus providing an perspective not often seen.
    • 4/5
      Sharan Newman has written an intriguing biography of Melisende, who was Queen of Jerusalem in the early 12th century. But did she reign or did she rule? That's a question that has divided historians and scholars ever since. Ms. Newman definitely believes the latter, but her case is not totally convincing -- and not at all due to her research, the ample footnotes testify to her scholarship, citing both Latin and Arabic sources. It's just that, over 900 years, a lot of material has been lost. But just a little too often for my own taste, Ms. Newman writes, "Melisende did 'x'," "Melisende certainly did 'y'" when, in fact, we really don't know. I appreciate that there has to be a certain amount of conjecture, educated guesses if you will writing a biography of an individual who lived 9 centuries ago. Ms. Newman writes comfortably in a personal style, nor she meek in expressing her own beliefs into her text; and, at times, three's a certain pithy wittiness as well, reminiscent of another wonderful historian, Barbara Tuchman. I found "Queen of Jerusalem" to be interesting and informative. Even given my caveat of Ms. Newman's assurances that certain events occurred when there isn't always documented evidence, I don't hesitate to recommend this book to the LT community as an engaging and informative read.
    • 3/5
      I was excited to read this book because I was curious about Melisandre, and wanted to learn more about her. Unfortunately, when I finished the book I still felt as though I knew little about her. A lot of the book was not about Melisandre as there are a lack of sources about her. This lack, made definite statements impossible for much of what the author wanted to say about her. Consequently, there was a lot of assumptions and guesswork in this book. I appreciate that the author was clear about their guesswork, but I do not think the material was there for the book they were trying to write. Perhaps a historical fiction book would have worked better.I also thought the material could have been presented in a clearer way. The biography included a lot of information about Melisandre's family. I think only around half of the book was directly focused on her. This made the book seem very cluttered, and made it difficult to follow at some points.There was a lot of information about the crusades, so people who like reading about the crusades might find it more interesting.
    • 3/5
      Sharan Newman has based her highly speculative book on a great deal of passion and research. As a former student of history, I find the extrapolation of what might have happened to be more suitable for a historical novel. As it is, this is the story of Queen Melisende in her seat of power in Jerusalem. She is a ruler about whom there is little factual information known. The details of the crusades and the politics and ethnicities involved were highly informative. It's an enjoyable read nonetheless, reminiscent of the Orlando Bloom movie "Kingdom of Heaven."
    • 4/5
      This book covers the period of the crusades that encompasses the reign of Queen Melisende and her father. It's a fascinating real-life Game of Thrones kind of story, and you will find it surprising just how interwoven the society around the Crusades became. It's not always about Infidels vs. Islam, there are far more complexities to it, even instances of Europeans and local populations working together. I have not spent a great deal of time reading about this period in history, but I did find myself wanting to understand and learn more once I was done.The author spends a good deal of time exposing the role women played in this time period, showing how they were not always as subjugated the way modern society thinks. Queen Melisende being a prime example: she was the first woman ruler of Jerusalem, and the first to inherit the role (most Jerusalem kings were elected), as well as showing her prowess at the art holding the throne. She even beat her own husband at the game, not allowing him to rule solely on his own, requiring her to be part of all the decisions made. Throughout the book the author does her best to bring a new perspective to events, even challenging some of the standards taught about the characters on this historic stage. I enjoyed hearing her take on things as it gives an opportunity to reexamine what evidence still exists.The book is written in an easy prose that is not dry, like so many history books, but flowed well enough to keep my pace moving through the pages. And the book isn't terrible large, making it something that didn't drag on forever. I highly recommend this book and the fresh look at this particular period of the 1st Crusade to anyone who has an interest in this moment from our history.
    • 4/5
      I have read quite a bit on the crusades, but Sharan Newman's book draws much deserved attention to Queen Melisende, who is often overlooked by history. Sharan Newman's depictions of the leaders of the times I found quite effective and brought them to life. Overall I found this book very informative and would recommend it to anyone that is interested in this era and the Crusades in particular.
    • 4/5
      Let me preface this review by stating that, while I enjoy reading crusades era fiction and non-fiction, I am by no means an expert in the field. I am of two minds about his book. While all of it is well written there were parts that I felt dragged often getting bogged down by the introduction of individuals who have a tangential relationship to the author's main focus. However, this was counterbalanced by the very interesting narrative surrounding Melisende, the queen of Jerusalem. It was in these sections, which I suspect that due to a limited number of primary sources focusing on women in this era were all to brief, where the narrative flew by and I really felt the author's passion for her subject. My only issue with those sections probably relates back to the relative lack of sources when it comes to non-warfare. The results of this lack of sources means a fair amount of speculation as to the motives of individuals and sometimes even their actual actions. While the author does a good job pointing out when she is speculating as to both motives and actions, and she credibly explains most of her theories there were some where either she made a blanket statement without support (these were few and far between) or where I didn't find the author's conclusions strongly compelling. All of that said, I really did enjoy reading this book and wish it could have been a little bit longer. It exposed me to a period of the crusades that I knew little about and it specifically introduced me to several of the women who ruled, often in their own name, the crusader kingdoms. I would recommend this book for anybody interested in this era of history.
    • 4/5
      Defending the City of God A Medieval Queen the First Crusades and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem, by Sharan NewmanThink of “the crusades” and you immediate imagine blades clashing, sworn oaths and the ultimate belief in acting on God’s will and procuring a permanent place in Heaven. But that’s only one side of the terribly convoluted conflict that took place time after time in the middle east. Newman reminds us that it wasn’t always black and white. That there were cross-cultural lives caught in the cross-fire and quite often working just fine together, depending on who was currently in charge of any faction. It would appear that during the first crusade, many would be happy to live, work and intermarry together without the need to agree on one all-omnipotent higher power.As usual, greed, family bonds and ethnic differences quickly fell into play and no one king ruled the holy land. There were, many kings, queens, cousins, popes and interlopers on all sides that had their own ideas and prejudices to overcome. It was quite lovely to read of strong female participants that fought with gender limited resources to better those of their subjects. Quite often with one foot in several camps, so you would hope they had a better understanding of those permanent religious divides we have come to take for granted. It doesn’t have to be. And as Newman points out, it quite often was a land and time of opportunity, prosperity and racial blindness - depending on the cooler heads of state. And how often were they removed? It is a time I would like to visit, but not a place I would ever feel safe to linger. So I appreciate all the colorful information.