"The Holy City: A Map of Jerusalem
at the time of the Crusades"
Finished January 30th, 2011
Maybe about 12 hours
11 by 8.5 inches
Pencil, ink, watercolors

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity."

~ Psalm 122

Since my parents went to the Holy Land this past week, I thought I would finally start getting to work on this. And now I have finally, finally, FINALLY finished it everyone! The long-promised companion map to Outremer: The Land Beyond the Sea is complete. This is a map of the city of Jerusalem during the Middle Ages, particularly at the time (1099-1187) of the Crusader Kingdoms in Outremer (the Holy Land). For Nathan Sadasivan's "Crown of the World." For the most part, I really like this, but I do have one complaint: it looks like it was attacked by a box of Froot Loops. *facepalm*

This one is even MORE detailed (if possible) than my Outremer one, and, to boot, everything is smaller. My eyes were very strained while I worked on this. It's never a good sign when you're desperately looking for more light sources because all of the lights on in the room STILL won't provide enough light to work by. Again, like my other one, I used a LOT of references for it. Including GoogleMaps. But I didn't trace it off the computer. No. That would have been TOO EASY. I had to work and work and WORK on those darn wall shapes to make sure everything lined up perfectly with every little turret and tower all along the wall. In fact, if you paid REALLY close attention, you might notice that the city is actually a little crooked. But I wasn't going to change it once it was sketched. I am now very, VERY familiar with Jerusalem. In fact, when I was talking to my parents (when they were in the Holy Land) over Skype I was giving them directions to the various churches. *facepalm* I'm such nerd.

Okay, so I have to give you all a disclaimer. This is an approximation of what Medieval Jerusalem may have looked like. I did a lot of research, but not exhaustive research. As in, I didn't go hunt down every book on medieval Jerusalem while working on this. So there could most possibly be errors. Including (but by no means limited to) anachronistic stuff. But I think that it's accurate for the most part. At least, err....

Inner Historical Stickler:

...I hope so. (Feel free to correct me guys if you spot any errors)

That being said, there is one particular place where I just guessed at it's location. I read somewhere that the Hospital of the Knights of St. Lazarus (they were leper knights, so often times when Hospitaller or Templar knights got infected with leprosy they would join the Knights of St. Lazarus and continue the defense of the Holy Land that way ) was within the walls of Jerusalem, somewhere between Tancred's Tower and St. Stephen's Gate (Damascus Gate). So I put it smack-dab in between. And I'm not really sure if the maps I was looking at for references were correct when they put the Hospital of St. Mary of the Germans (ie the Teutonic Knights) near the Temple Mount. Because they were centered more in Acre and started in 1190s. AFTER Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in 1187. So...I just dunno. I put it in there anyway.

Oh, and you know what? Drawing maps of biblical places REALLY gives you a much more informed perspective on what's going on in the Bible. And it's just cool to know where all of these places are. For example, I was surprised that Mt. Zion wasn't actually the Temple Mount. You might think it would be, but Mount Zion is actually a little southwest of it. And I always mixed up places in my head when imagining passages in the Gospels, so it's just nice for my brain to be set straight.

So, along the border, from the top on the left side going down: Saladin, Malik al-Harawi (with a banner that reads "Allah") and the Lady Maryam (Malik's love interest. ) Along the right side running down are the Christians: King Baldwin IV (isn't he cute??!! ), our favorite Templar Godfrey de Montferrat and Sibylla of Jerusalem (later Queen).

Godfrey is in here in three places. One I already mentioned. He's also in the bottom where that little shamelessly-ripped-off-the-Maciejowski/Morgan Bible- battle is going on down there. He's the Templar. With the arming cap. Yeah. I tried to make it obvious. He's also praying before the Holy Family above the map key.



Other Crown of the World inspired pieces:

The Crown of the World
Outremer: The Land Beyond the Sea
The Holy City: Jerusalem

25 Expressions: Godfrey de Montferrat
Malik, Godfrey and Jacques sketch
Oh Godfrey
Poor Jacques
An (almost) Friendless Templar
A Serenading Saracen
Godfrey meets Baldwin IV
Well, this is awkward
A Beef with Gerard de Ridefort
Godfrey's Singing
Dreams of Chivalry
Dormez-vous?
Godfrey and Baldwin-Calvin and Hobbes Style
Godfrey de Montferrat, Knight of the Temple
Boys will be Boys
Drinking Buddies
What do you do with a Drunken Templar?
Chibi Godfrey
The Templar's Adoration