The movie Kingdom of Heaven is about the Second Crusade, where Saladin took over Jerusalem. It is where a French Blacksmith kills a guy and has to catch up to his father who he just met to go to Jerusalem. Along the way they get ambushed, and only three of the people make it out alive. One Balian’s dad and he is very injured. So when he cannot go along to Jerusalem with them he knights Balian. When they make it to Jerusalem, Balian is told that his father owns a piece of land, so he goes there. After the King dies, Balian is made the leader of the army by the queen, and the battle lasted a couple of days which ended in Balian surrendering. Through the movie there were quite a few historical inaccuracies, and this is what I am here to prove. Some of the inaccuracies were of the people themselves. The first person is Balian, in the movie he is portrayed as a bastard (someone whose parents aren’t married) and also a French blacksmith. In real life we know that Balian both knew his father and was from Jerusalem. The next person is Balian’s father, in the film he goes by the name Godfrey. But in real life his name is also Balian, I believe that this is used to not confuse the audience that are watching the film. Then the last person is the king’s sister, Sibylla. In the movie Balian and Sibylla have …show more content…
In the movie the trebuchets speed was so fast that it looked like a bullet. In reality there was no way that it could have gone that fast because trebuchets only shoot at the maximum of 60m/s, and a gun shoots a bullet at a maximum of 1500m/s. The boulder would need to be shot out of the trebuchet about 25x harder that it was. Also in the movie was the damage that the trebuchet was dealing in the battles. The damage of the trebuchet in the movie was it was able to knock down a stone wall in one blow. In real life it would take a lot of consistent blows to the exact same spot to knock down a stone
And finally an interesting point is brought up regarding missing lines from the original play 's script and performances regarding bastardry in the 1597 Quarto.
In Jay Rubenstein's book, "Armies of Heaven," he tells the story of the Crusades in its entirety, beginning with the events that shaped the world into the chaotic time period of the Crusades. Unlike most books on the Crusades, Rubenstein makes an interesting connection with the apocalypse and its effect on the Crusades. In "Armies of Heaven," Rubenstein proposes that the whole reasoning behind the Crusades was to prepare for the apocalypse and the second coming of Jesus Christ. The book begins by providing the background of the city of Jerusalem and its first thousand years after Christ. Rubenstein depicts all the events that shaped the holy city's state of being at the beginning of the crusade.
The word trebuchet comes from the French word that means “to tumble” or “to fall over,” which is precisely what the trebuchet aims to do (Farrell, 2006). The trebuchet catapult first began appearing in the 6th century (“How to Build”, 2012). However, these early trebuchets were powered by humans pulling on ropes in order to lunch a projectile. What we would officially recognize as a trebuchet that uses gravity acting on a counterweight to launch a projectile started appearing in the 12th century (“How to Build”, 2012). Trebuchets were invented because castles,
Warriors of God by James Reston Jr. is a non-fictional view of the third crusade. This particular crusade spanned from 1187-1192, containing many gruesome battles and a lot of intense moments between Islam and Christianity. Reston supplies the reader with a little background to the third Crusade when he talks about the first Crusades happening since 1095. Reston gives a fairly impartial view of this holy war. He discusses the battles, politics, and emotions of the Crusade as an outside party and if he takes any side at all it is with the Muslims. He often speaks badly of King Richard and he speaks well of Saladin, the sultan. He portrays Richard as a greedy, anti-Semite, who is intolerable of other religions, while he shows Saladin as tolerant to the Jews, reasonable, and an overall good leader. Reston wrote this book mostly to inform readers about the third Crusade but also to add some of his own insights. His thesis was a little unclear but he stated that the Crusades were the most violent event in history all the way up to Hitler’s rein. Reston did a good job in proving this when he told of battles and then analyzed them. He told of a time when King Richard had twenty thousand Muslims executed and when Saladin had Reginald of Chatillon beheaded along with many other Christian prisoners.
Trebuchets earned a reputation for being much more accurate and precise than their onager and catapult counterparts. Not only was this accuracy a benefit, but being based on rotational motion and leverage rather than torsion (spring power) and lacking in a throwing arm stop, the trebuchet proved a much safer alternative for the personnel operating it. Onagers and Mangonels would literally explode on occasion when the torsion proved too great or a crack developed in the throwing arm due to the rapid stops it experienced.
In 1095, Pope Urban the second, was the one who declared religious war against the Muslims now known as the Crusades. In order to get an army, plenary indulgences was offered to anyone who joined resulted in tens of thousands joining in on the campaign. This meant that anyone who joined was “cleansed” of their sins by the Pope which helped believers be more pure in the spiritual world. The crusades began in the late eleventh century by the Western European Christians. These Europeans went with armies to take back the Holy Lands which is modern day Israel, or as the Jews and Christians refer to as Palestine. “ The first official armies to take part in the pope’s crusade departed from Kingdoms in Germany, France, and Italy in August 1096 and began to arrive in Constantinople in late 1096 and early 1097” (5). For the next 200 years, Christians and Muslims would battle over the Holy Lands.
...e went into motion. Possible projectiles of the trebuchet were living prisoners, jugs of Greek fire, rocks, and animals. Another large weapon of siege was used primarily in storms, the battering ram. In its early stages, the ram was no more than a hefty beam with a mass of metal attached to the end. Men would hoist the cumbersome boom onto their shoulders and run into a wall or door as many times as needed until the surface under attack gave way. In the Middle Ages, it was developed into more of a machine, for the ram hung from the center of a tent under which the men operating the ram could hide. The ram could be swung like a pendulum much more easily than having to constantly run back and forth. Also, castle guards often poured hot oil or other things onto the ram and its engineers. The tent, which was on wheels, protected the men and the battering ram as well.
As I read these articles further as well as many others I found more and more to call out from the movie. Though all of my sources of information I have come across seemed to follow each other very well. As I expanded my base knowledge of the topic I found an endless stream of background information. At this point I forced myself to stop my search and came to the conclusion that around sixty percent of the movie was historically accurate.
Overall the movie The Prince of Egypt is mostly accurate in its plot with some exceptions for keeping the entertainment and focus of the young audience. Firstly the plot of the characters was fairly accurate but had some inaccuracies for entertainment and focus purposes. In addition the setting was very accurate coming out as the most accurate aspect of the movie. Finally the characters of the film are nearly accurate but have some changes to keep the main character as Moses because the movie is about
Another accuracy in this movie was the concentration camps in this movie, they were portrayed very well. Just like history, immediately after arriving at a concentration camp, they were split up and divided by gender and age. As soon as they arrived people who the Nazis did not see fit to work were killed. Along with this people
In order for the crusades to begin, the Christians needed to gather an army to travel and fight the forces of Muslims. With all the power being held by monarchies at this time, the church needed to be cleaver in order to gain troops to put their lives on the line. To gain the support of these warriors and dedication of men, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) challenged those morals of men by telling them to grab their weapons and join the holy war to recover the land of Jerusalem. It was not the challenge that convinced men to take part in this war. The promise of “immediate remission of sins” attracted the men to stand up for their religion and beliefs while at the same time, promising them a trip to heaven when life comes to an end. With this statement, men instantly prepared for battle which in a very short period of time gave the church power which has been held by the monarchies. Men of rich and poor prepared for battle, some wearing ...
... in the Kingdom of Heaven, Balian teaches the people how to get water from the earth by digging a hole in the ground. The traders teach each other skills to make themselves better and more profitable. Although the crusades had many beneficial outcomes, some were not as great. During the crusades hatred formed between Christians and Muslims. This hatred will last many years and still continues today in some aspect. The constant fighting between the Christian crusaders and the Muslim people transformed religion into a license to kill, which justified the slaughter of men women and children.
Thomas F. Madden’s The New Concise History of the Crusades is an invaluable account of the crusades that bases its arguments off of factual evidence and draws from historical accounts. Although his arguments may be flawed because of preconceived biases, Madden is still able to present the history of the crusades in an interesting and professional manner. The themes he addresses accurately portray the crusades as both a religious and territorial endeavor. Overall, Madden successfully summarizes and analyzes the crusades in his historical review, infusing his own ideologies in the text while still maintaining a professional voice.
The movie was historically accurate mainly in the larger events; the director said 80% of this movie is factual. The Nero Decree by Hitler was factual, as well as the Monuments Men finding the artwork in the mine at Altaussee because of a dentist. While the causes of the deaths were not the same, it is true that only two Monuments Men died in combat (Donald Jeffries and Jean-Claude Clermont in the movie, Ronald Balfour and Captain Walter Huchthausen in history).
one which he “peddles” to the viewers (Anderson & Meyer, 1988). Character exaggeration is often utilized as a means of overstating the value of a given message. In the film Kingdom of Heaven (2005), for instance, the character of Balian is portrayed as a “perfect knight” and Guy, as the “perfect villain.” Historically speaking though, Balian was never a perfect knight, let alone a guy who was profoundly valiant, virtuous, and prudent. Note that this theory assumes that the viewer sees the actor as being independent from the subject/object he represents, and that the actions of the actor are autonomous in the sense that they are independent of the prevailing social or cultural order.