Middle Ages

A series of religiously framed military expeditions, principally involving Latin Christian powers and the eastern Mediterranean, extending from the late eleventh through the late thirteenth century.

A Latin Christian crusader state established in the Levant after the First Crusade, centered on Jerusalem and later reorganized around coastal strongholds after the city’s loss in 1187.

A major crusade launched after Saladin’s reconquest of Jerusalem, involving European rulers and campaigns in the Levant from 1189 to 1192.

Saladin’s decisive victory over the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which destroyed the kingdom’s main field force and opened the way for the reconquest of Jerusalem.

The second plague pandemic’s catastrophic first wave in Europe, which reached Scandinavia around 1350 and caused extensive mortality and social and religious upheaval.

Saladin’s siege of Jerusalem, ending with the city’s surrender on October 2, 1187, after the defeat of the crusader army at Hattin.

A prominent nobleman of the Kingdom of Jerusalem who commanded the defense of Jerusalem during Saladin’s siege in 1187.

The Ayyubid sultan who defeated the crusader army at Hattin and retook Jerusalem in 1187.

King of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185, remembered for his military and political struggle against Saladin despite suffering from leprosy.

King of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 and commander of the crusader army defeated at Hattin.

Queen of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1190 and the wife of Guy of Lusignan.

The battlefield near the Sea of Galilee where Saladin defeated the main army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187.

The major political and religious center of Judea and the setting for much of the film’s story.

The Latin Christian polity in the Levant where the film’s court politics, frontier warfare, and defense of Jerusalem unfold.

The principal setting of the film, represented as a medieval Christian kingdom confronted by the Black Death.

A major crusader castle and lordship in Transjordan, historically associated with the lordship of Oultremer and the tensions preceding the 1187 campaign.