Kingdom of Heaven: What Really Happened…

Much of the story of the Hollywood epic ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ is about the
character of Balian of Ibelin, played by Orlando Bloom. In real life he didn’t
start out as a French peasant. Balian was from birth a noblemen destined to be
a Knight. His family was well known in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Reynald of Châtillon was a nasty piece of work in

real life. He kept raiding innocent Muslim pilgrims,
killing whoever got in his way. Things got worse
once the Christian King, Baldwin IV, died of
leprosy in March 1185 and Guy of Lusignan was
crowned King.

Reynald of Châtillon’s raids soon made Saladin go

into war. The final straw for Saladin was when his own sister was captured
during one raid.

In July 1187, King Guy and his Knights took the

field against Saladin at Hattin. The Christian
army was really unprepared for battle - they
didn’t even have enough water! Saladin’s forces
destroyed the Christian army and captured King
Guy. Saladin got revenge on Reynald of Châtillon
and killed him with his own hand.

It is at this point that Balian enters the story. Captured by Saladin at Hattin,
he was freed to return to Jerusalem to look after his family.

Over the next four days Saladin marched to Jerusalem. When he got there he
battered the city walls and defenses. Eventually it became clear that the city
would fall and Balian negotiated surrender terms with the Muslim leader which
allowed the Crusaders to peacefully leave the city.