The Kingdom of Jerusalem was the most powerful Crusader State in the Middle Ages. Melisende, the daughter of King Baldwin II, would rule Jerusalem after the death of her father. A power struggle with her husband, Fulk V, led to a divided Kingdom. Finally in 1143 she became the sole ruler of Jerusalem, but still faced concerns of the Muslims invading and her son Baldwin III coming of age. Queen Melisende would rule Jerusalem for 22 years defending the Crusader states against Muslim attacks and supporting art and architecture in the Holy Land. Join us as we visit the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the reign of Queen Melisende. ...she was a very wise woman, fully experienced in almost all affairs of state business, who completely triumphed over the handicap of her sex so she could take charge of important affairs...striving to emulate the glory of the best princes, Melisende ruled the kingdom with such ability that she was rightly considered to have equaled her predecessors in that regard. ~William of Tyre Listen to the episode now Please send any comments, suggestions or topic ideas to [email protected] If you are enjoying the podcast please considering leaving a rating on iTunes. Rate the Medieval Archives Podcast now! Get your free audio book from Audible.com at: http://www.medievalarchives.com/AudioBook In this episode we discuss: Crusader States The Battle of the Field of Blood Marriage to Fulk V Second Crusade Kingdom of Jerusalem And more... Download the MP3 and listen to it on your favorite MP3 player. Subscribe to the feed so you do not miss a single episode. iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Download MP3 | RSS Feed The music was provided by Tim Rayburn. It is available at Magnatune.com