Reigning Among Conspiracy

On July 14, 1099, the Crusaders took Jerusalem and founded the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. Not even a century had passed when, on Friday, October 2, 1187, Saladin recaptured the Holy City for Islam. Between those two dates, there was a kingdom ruled by Christians in Palestine. Immersed in a Muslim world, influenced by the Byzantine Empire, subject to a constant flow of crusaders from Europe, the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was turned into a melting pot of cultures and ideas. Soon the flexibility and tolerance of other cultures prevalent in the kingdom began to clash with the intransigence of the newcomers. Due to the constant wars and unhealthy conditions faced during military campaigns, noblewomen became widows at a very young age. Being rich and powerful, they had many suitors and invariably chose the most attractive candidate. Thus, their daughters were even more beautiful and more desirable and, in their turn, married the finest crusaders who arrived. In a spiraling vortex of beauty and diversity of ideas, a kingdom of conspiracy and intrigue was founded.