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

by Sharan Newman

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Biography, Middle East, Christianity, Medieval

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 4, 2014

About the author

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 ten 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.

For these books, Newman has done research at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France Méridionale et Espagne at the University of Toulouse and the Institute for Jewish History at the University of Trier, as well as many departmental archives.

The Catherine Levendeur mysteries have been nominated for many awards. Sharan won the Macavity Award for best first mystery for Death Comes As Epiphany and the Herodotus Award for best historical mystery of 1998 for Cursed in the Blood. The most recent book in the series The Witch in the Well won the Bruce Alexander award for best Historical mystery of 2004.

Just for a change, her next mystery, The Shanghai Tunnel is set in Portland in 1868.

The Shanghai Tunnel allowed Sharan Newman to explore the history of the city she grew up in. She found that the history she had been taught in school had been seriously whitewashed. Doing research in the city archives as well as the collections at Reed College and the Oregon Historical society was exciting and eye-opening. Many of the “founding fathers” of Portland turn out to have been unscrupulous financiers. Chinese workers were subject to discrimination and there was an active red light district.

On the other hand, Portland in the post-Civil War period also saw some amazingly liberal movements. Women’s rights were an important issue as was religious toleration. Even at that early date, preserving the natural environment was hotly debated.

This is the world in which Emily Stratton, the widow of a Portland merchant and the daughter of missionaries to China, finds herself.

Newman has written a non-fiction book, The Real History Behind the Da Vince Code Berkley 2005. It is in encyclopedia format and gives information on various topics mentioned in Dan Brown’s novel. Following on that she has just completed the Real History Behind the Templars published by Berkley in September of 2007.

She lives on a mountainside in Oregon.

(Text taken from: http://www.sharannewman.com/bio.html )

Reviews

[Timothy Finucane · Rating 4 out of 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.

[Chrisl · Rating 3 out of 5]

... enhanced/refined my Crusades perspective ... useful background reading for books by Penman and Shipway.
Falls the Shadow
The Paladin

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate the wealth of first-hand citations used to piece together the tumultuous period leading up to and covering the 1st and 2nd Crusades. Besides enlightening me on aspects known about Melisenda's life and that of her relatives, it also imspired me to learn that women were in the forefront of power positions as bestowed by right of inheritance. Also appreciate how Ms. Newman involves the reader about the sometimes shortage of 'real time' historical detail as if in a soliloquy. Later historians are noted to have depicted Queen Melisenda and the corresponding 'world view' differently, but I choose this version. Well worth a re-read with available pictures of places/people noted.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 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.

[Cindie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could not decide on 2 or 3 stars. Really 2 and a half. The story was very interesting. Actually there were many stories here and Melisende did not get nearly 50% of the facetime, if you will. When the author's voice came through, it was thoughtful and often amusing. I wish there had been more of that. I am guessing she is a good speaker -- and she certainly would have a lot of research to impart. I felt the narrative, such as it was, was way too bogged down in seemingly endless facts, details and tangential storylines.

[Leanda Lisle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sharan Newman began Defending the City of God as a biography of Melesinde, the first hereditary Queen of Jerusalem, but expanded it to include the lives of her parents, siblings, in laws, more distant relatives, their enemies and the ‘many diverse peoples who lived in the Near East’. It’s a complex story and one that in Newman’s hands left me as baffled as a six year old in a sex education lesson. What on earth is going on?

It seems Melesinde, was born around 1105 in the city of Edessa, (in what is modern day Turkey). She was the daughter of a French crusader king, Baldwin the Burp, I mean, of Le Bourq, who ruled the city, and an Armenian noblewoman whose father was killed by Muslims and eaten by dogs. Much happens in Edessa. Baldwin is captured and ransomed, armies trample the city, there is famine and Baldwin and a cousin called Jocelyn, have ‘a major falling out’. Then in 1114 there is an earthquake.

A chronicler describes how ‘the plains and mountains resounded like the clanging of bronze, shaking and moving too and fro, like trees struck by a high wind’. Such writing is to be appreciated like rain in the dessert, for we soon back with wearisome prose of our guide, ‘this is the world that Melesinde and her sisters were born into’ and ‘it wasn’t an idyllic world by any means’.

Baldwin, perhaps hoping for better things, travels to Jerusalem to celebrate Easter in 1118. ‘At this point the story …gets a bit murky’, we are warned: Baldwin is somehow elected king of Jerusalem, and he has many challenges to face. There are no more earthquakes, but Jerusalem is impoverished by war and neglect and suffers an invasion of mice and locusts. This is assumed to be a result of the sins of the people, so new laws are enacted to raise moral standards and assuage God’s wrath: theft and fraternizing with Saracens are covered, but the most ferocious punishment is reserved for sodomisers, who are to be burned alive. Happily this helps clear up the mouse problem.

Later Baldwin manages to get himself held for ransom again, and the youngest of his now four daughters, Yvette, is given in part exchange for his return. Once freed Baldwin destroys several villages around near Damascus, and with the booty buys Yvette back. Aged fourteen, and a prisoner of ten years, she enters a nunnery, a probable victim of rape. It really wasn’t an idyllic world and not only for sodomisers and those eaten by dogs.

For reasons I never grasped, Baldwin is regent of Antioch, as well as King of Jerusalem, but in 1126 ‘the mysterious rightful heir Bohemond II’, arrives in the city. There he and Baldwin ‘had a little chat’ possibly including ‘a few good words on being good to the king’s little girl’, for he is promptly married to Baldwin’s second daughter Alice. Baldwin is waiting for someone extra special for Melesinde and three years later he at last finds her a suitable consort: Fulk, Count of Anjou, who comes from a line of ‘tough fighting men who stood for no nonsense’.

In no time Melesinde and the red haired Fulk have a ‘baby Baldwin’. We are invited to imagine Melesinde’s life: she ‘might have ridden a donkey’ it ‘would have been incumbent’ on her ‘to attend Mass’. More interestingly, she is already being described as her father’s heir. We are not given here any discussion or explanation of the theological as well as practical objections to female rule. Instead Newman speculates Melesinde ‘may also have been making lists of things to do once she became Queen’.

The dying Baldwin at last bequeaths his kingdom jointly to his daughter, Fulk and ‘baby Baldwin’. It is ‘a time of radical change throughout the land’ (who actually writes ‘the land’ outside the realm of fairy tales?), and a power struggle begins between Melesinde and her husband, who believes that, as a man, he should rule and she should obey. He accuses her of an affair with her second cousin Hugh, but this is unlikely because the ‘rules about incest were strict’. In any event poor old Hugh is murdered. Melesinde blames Fulk and responds with fury, putting Fulk’s friends at court in fear of their lives. Despite his ancestors’ disinclination to ‘put up with any nonsense’, this is sufficiently disturbing for Fulk to agree to rule jointly with Melesinde, which he does until he dies in a hunting accident in 1143.

‘Baby Baldwin’ becomes king aged thirteen, but the powerful Melesinde continues to rule. As such she looks out for her sister Yvette, for whom she founds a new convent, and a third sister, Hodierna, who has a miserable marriage to Raymond of Tripoli. In 1152 Hodierna leaves her husband and she is on the road to Jerusalem with Melesinde when they learn that Raymond has been assassinated. No one suggests Hodierna was involved, but you can’t help but wonder about the ruthless Melesinde. ‘Baby Baldwin’ is seventeen before he manages to wrest power from his mother, inviting her to a joint coronation, and then sneakily getting crowned on his own.

Melesinde eventually dies in Yvette’s convent, her rule remembered by one chronicler as having been ‘wise and judicious’. No idea why. I have been mainly bored, occasionally appalled, and left horribly confused.
An edited version of this review was published in 2014 in the Literary Review magazine.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

Think 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

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really interesting story, but my goodness, this book is complex and difficult to follow. I don't think I've ever read a book with so many names of people, regions, cities, different religions and sects, titles etc thrown at me, in different languages as well. Is it, for example, really necessary to tell the reader what the Assassins were called in both Arabic and Turkish? There's so much information, so many details, it's all so confusing and difficult to digest. I gave it three stars for the depth of research and because Melisende's story is one that really interests me, but now I feel like I need to go to Wikipedia to figure out what the heck was going on.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult book to read because (a) while it's supposed to be about Melisende she is not the focus of the book and (b) the sheer number number of names and places and people that share the same name make it difficult to read a big batch without getting terribly confused. It still held my interest though for genealogical information (Melisende's husband Fulk is an ancestor) so I hope to use the book to update some genealogical information

[Jerry Peace · Rating 3 out of 5]

As all books about any of the Crusades demand, what in the hell have we Christians done to the life of Jesus? And what do we continue to do?

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for background info for Honours History thesis.

[Frank Pacosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very complicated book to read because the times it depicts is extremely complicated. THe author does as good a job as possible keeping all the disparate story lines moving forward. The reward for the reader who hangs in there is a much deeper appreciation for life 1000 years ago in the Levant.

The turmoil then reflects the tensions that exist not only between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but most of the turmoil in our world. Whoever said we live in a stressful world could not imagine the hardships the people of these times live.

I for the first time understand the the arrangements of a feudal society. The Lords lived for conflict, dominance, and suzerainty. Nobility seems more like an occasional trait than a social norm.

The horrors perpetrated by all sides gives little hope that there will be change in our current times.

While there was precious little hard information the author did a good job of drawing the background and then trying to fill in probable glimpses of Melisende's amazing life as well as that of her sisters. That these women did as much as they did is a credit to the power of women everywhere.

So read this book by all means. Hang in there with the complicated intermingling of the characters and you will be rewarded.

[Carla Hostetter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I hoped for an historical novel at which Newman excels and instead got a scholarly work, interesting, complicated, but not what I thought it would be. So little is known about Melisende that most of her life is sheer speculation. She dedicated shrines here, gave money there.I am sure Newman must have been appalled by this cover as no Christian woman in Medieval times and especially ruling over Arabs as well would have been seen in public with her arms and head uncovered ala an Egyptian goddess. Anyhow, she plays a very small role in the book which is dominated by the feats of the Christian knights who conquered the Holy Lands and their descendants born in the country. Women, usually marriage pawns, rarely had much say in their lives. Newman does what she can to portray the feminine viewpoint of the times. The book does bring home the fact that the Middle East has always been a place of conflict for many ethnic groups and religions and isn't likely to change.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The First Crusades, as depicted in this book, reads like a real-life Game of
Thrones. Originally intending to write a biography of the first queen of Jerusalem,
the author expanded the book when, during the course of her research, civil war
broke out in Syria. Attempting to draw parallels between the past and present,
the author gives a detailed picture of the convoluted politics of the time with its
many players, diverse cultures, and ever-changing factions.

With an eye toward reclaiming rightful spots in history for women rulers whom
historians have rendered nearly invisible, Newman thoroughly plunders the
available though scanty evidence. Consequently, there is more speculation than
one usually finds in a history book.

If you are new to this topic, you may find the level of detail daunting. If you are a
history buff interested in this period, this is a must-read.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, very interesting read, I knew nothing about the Franks living in the Holy City during such a chaotic time. I knew that the crusaders came and set up stations, but this is a look into the kingdoms themselves and their ruling families. The writing style was more like a paper than a book, but it was fascinating to read this information and learn about a group of people overlooked by history that changed the future.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 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.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish the author had another book follow up on the children and grandchildren of Melisende until the fall of the Christian European kingdom of Jerusalem. As this book was so well-written and engaging, I would be interested in reading her perspective on that historical time period.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat dull recounting of the early history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. A few illustrations which are printed in the text, making them murky.

[Jessica Del Fino]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12760495

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Behind every great women there's a great women.