Defending the Crusader Kingdoms

 By the mid-thirteenth century, the House of Ibelin, had many branches and through marriage was interrelated with nearly all the prominent families of Outremer. Although from 1259 to the end of ...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/12/swansong-of-house-of-ibelin.html

 Without doubt, the most famous of the fourth generation of Ibelins — and arguably the best-known Ibelin today — was John of Jaffa, the son of Philip. His fame derives not from deeds of arms...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-house-of-ibelin-john-count-of-jaffa.html

 JOHN D’IBELIN, THE “OLD LORD” OF BEIRUT WAS BLESSED WITH FIVE SONS WHO GREW TO ADULTHOOD. THEY WERE COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO AS THE “WOLFLINGS” IN SOME CONTEMPORARY SATIRICAL LITERATU...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-house-of-ibelin-wolflings-balian-of.html

 The “Old Lord” of Beirut’s oldest son and heir, although named for his famous grandfather Balian, was like neither his wise father nor his diplomatic grandfather. Balian of Beirut, the �...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-house-of-ibelin-balian-of-beirut.html

BALIAN D'IBELIN, THE DEFENDER OF JERUSALEM IN 1187, HAD TWO DAUGHERS, HELVIS AND MARGARET. BOTH HELPED ESTABLISH THE IBELIN DYNASTY BY  STRENGTHENING THE KINSHIP TIES OF THE HOUSE OF IBELIN WITH...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/11/house-of-ibelin-daughters-of-balian.html

 PHILIP IS OFTEN LUMPED TOGETHER WITH HIS BROTHER JOHN, LORD OF BEIRUT, BY CHRONICLERS AND HISTORIANS MUCH THE SAME WAY HIS FATHER AND UNCLE, BALIAN AND BALDWIN, WERE TREATED A GENERATION EARLIE...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/11/philip-dibelin-regent-of-cyprus.html

 JOHN D'IBELIN, 1179 - 1236, HAS GONE DOWN IN HISTORY AS "THE OLD LORD OF BEIRUT." THE DESCRIPTION ORIGINATES WITH 13TH CENTURY HISTORIAN AND JURIST PHILIP DE NOVARE, WHO  MAKES "THE OLD LORD O...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/10/house-of-ibelin-john-dibelin-lord-of.html

ALTHOUGH ESCHIVA D'IBELIN NEVER WORE A CROWN, SHE WAS THE FOUNDER OF A DYNASTY THAT RULED CYPRUS FOR ROUGHLY 300 YEARS. ESCHIVA WAS MARRIED TO A LANDLESS ADVENTURER AS A CHILD AND ENDED UP MARRIE...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/10/house-of-ibelin-eschiva-dibelin-founder.html

  Balian d'Ibelin has been made famous by a Hollywood movie, which successfully distorts his biography in almost every significant way. The historical Balian was far more interesting, important ...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/10/house-of-ibelin-balian-of-nablus.html

 Although historically he would be overshadowed by his younger brother Balian, Baldwin of Ramla was the more prominent of the surviving Ibelin brothers at Hugh's death. He succeeded to his mater...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/10/house-of-ibelin-baldwin-of-ramla.html

 THE FIRST IBELIN, BARISAN, LEFT BEHIND THREE SONS, HUGH, BALDWIN AND BALIAN. THIS SECOND GENERATION OF IBELINS WERE RENOWNED FIGHTING MEN, PRAISED BY WILLIAM OF TYRE AS “NOBLE MEN, VALIANT IN...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-house-of-ibelin-hugh-i.html

 In the fourteenth century, the Ibelins claimed to be descendants of the Counts of Chartres, but the claim is patently concocted, and modern historians have been puzzling over the roots of the ...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-house-of-ibelin-obscure-origins.html

 Today I start a series on the history of the Ibelin Family -- arguably the most powerful and most charismatic of all the "Frankish" families. Certainly their influence pre-dated and out-lasted ...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-ibelins-archetypical-frankish-family.html

 STRADDLING THE TRADE ROUTES FROM SEVERAL CULTURES, RESIDENTS OF CRUSADER STATES WERE EXPOSED TO AND CULTIVATED A RANGE OF CULINARY TRADITIONS. THE CRUSADER KINGDOMS INHERITED THE CUISINE OF EAR...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/09/life-in-crusader-states-frankish-cuisine.html

 In medieval times the residents of Outremer -- the land beyond the seas or what was also known as the Holy Land -- had a reputation for "scandalous" clothes. The expressed shock of some visitor...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/08/life-in-crusader-states-frankish-fashion.html

>  For all their other significant contributions to social welfare, > it was with respect to medical care that the Hospitallers made the > greatest impact not just on ...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/08/life-in-crusader-states-medical-care.html

 Although the Hospitallers started as little more than a hospice, providing care but no cure to those who sought refuge with them, they rapidly assumed other functions and grew into the leading ...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/08/life-in-crusader-states-practice-of.html

When the First Crusade set off for Jerusalem at the end of the eleventh century, the provision of social welfare services was not a public or state function. Care of the sick, insane, dying, orph...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/08/life-in-crusader-states-social-welfare.html

 A literate population presupposes education in some form. While many noblemen and women would have received education at home from tutors, public schools were necessary to foster a literate cle...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/08/life-in-crusader-states-education.html

Spoken command of a language is not the same as literacy, whether in one’s native language or a foreign one. Although the overall level of literacy in Outremer was not recorded, some indicators...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/07/life-in-crusader-states-literacy.html

Language has a powerful yet often subconscious impact on identity and culture. When the crusaders arrived in the Holy Land, the languages most commonly spoken by the region’s natives were Arabi...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/07/life-in-crusader-states-language.html

BECAUSE MUSIC, DANCE AND THE PERFORMING ARTS ARE EPHEMERAL ART FORMS, THEY GENERALLY ELUDE HISTORICAL DOCUMENTATION. YET WE KNOW FROM THE WRITTEN RECORD THAT ALL THESE ART FORMS THRIVED IN THE CR...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/07/life-in-crusader-states-music-and.html

 It was not merely in the production of miniatures on parchment that Frankish painters excelled. Acre and Frankish Cyprus both developed into centres for icon painting, that is, larger-scale pai...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/07/life-in-crusader-states-icons.html

 THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE’S SCRIPTORIUM WAS FOUNDED IN THE FIRST DECADES OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM BY MONKS FROM EUROPE, WHO BROUGHT THEIR SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE MEDIUM WITH...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/06/life-in-crusader-states-manuscript.html

THE MOST IMPORTANT REMNANTS OF FRANKISH ART DATING FROM THE TWELFTH CENTURY ARE THE DECORATIONS OF THE KEY CRUSADER SHRINES: THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE (JERUSALEM), THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVI...

http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com/2023/06/life-in-crusader-states-architectural.html