Crusader Queens: The Royal Women of Medieval Outremer

Once upon a time, back in the Middle Ages, four sisters would come to shape the Crusader States called Outremer. One would rebel (several times) against their father; another would come to rule more or less in her own right. All would see a healthy heaping of conflict while living in a chaotic time and place. In Part 1, we'll explore the many roles women played in the Crusades, and we will meet our leading ladies - Alice, Yvette, Hodierna, and Melisende - the daughters of the second Crusader King of Jerusalem. In Part 2, we'll rejoin our royal sisters as they weather scandal, trial by combat, suspicious deaths, and rebellious sons. 

To find out more about Katherine Pangonis’s book, Queens of Jerusalem, go to her website.

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Baldwin II and Melisende are crowned together

A page from Melisende's very fancy psalter, or prayer book.

The ivory cover of Melisende's fancy psalter.

Baldwin III yelling at his mom (rude).

Little Baldwin being crowned, and also quietly seething.