Publisher's Synopsis
"In 1187 Jerusalem, the holy city held by Christians for four generations and the prize of the First Crusade, fell to Saladin after a short siege. The Christians within were outnumbered ten to one, and yet the city held out long enough for favourable terms to be negotiated. The population was spared. The city was defended by a woman: Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem. The Holy City had been lost, but the Christians maintained their footholds in the Middle East for another century. This region became known in Europe simply as Outremer, 'overseas'. Steeped in biblical wonder and the glamour of exoticism, Outremer has inspired generations of historians from antiquity to the modern day. Missing from both medieval and modern histories of the Outremer is the voice of the women of the kingdom. The stories of the queens and princesses who ruled and rebelled in this volatile region have all but been written out of the historical record. Even the wome
