Social Stratification of Jerusalem Society during the Crusades (1174–1185) as Represented in the Film Kingdom of Heaven
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30829/juspi.v9i2.27364Keywords:
Social stratification, Crusades, Jerusalem, Mediveal society, Film representation.Abstract
This study critically examines the configuration of social stratification in Jerusalem during the period 1174–1185 as represented in the film Kingdom of Heaven. Employing a qualitative methodological framework, the research integrates content analysis and narrative analysis to systematically identify hierarchical structures depicted within the film, including the monarchy, nobility, military aristocracy, urban classes, and non Latin communities. These cinematic representations are subsequently juxtaposed with contemporary historiographical scholarship to evaluate their representational accuracy and interpretive deviations. The findings indicate that, although the film incorporates narrative simplifications and dramatization, it retains the fundamental characteristics of socio-political inequality in the Latin Kingdom particularly the dominance of the Frankish elite, restricted mobility among lower strata, and the interplay of religious authority and political power in sustaining hierarchical order. The study concludes that film functions not merely as a medium of entertainment but as a cultural apparatus capable of shaping public perceptions of medieval societies through selective reconstruction of the past.References
Asbridge, T. (2021). The Crusader States and their neighbours. Routledge.
Barber, M. (2012). The Crusader states.
Boas, A. J. (2017). Crusader Archaeology: The Material Culture of the Latin East. Routledge.
Boas, A. J. (2020). The Crusader World. Routledge.
Buck, A. D. (2021). The Principality of Antioch and its frontiers in the twelfth century.
Christie, N. (2020). Muslims and Crusaders: Christianity's Wars in the Middle East. Routledge.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Duggan, A. (2019). Representing the Crusades in modern film: Historical memory and cinematic imagination. Journal of Medieval Media Studies, 11(2), 145–163.
Ellenblum, R. (2019). Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press.
Grusky, D. B & Weisshaar, K, R. (2019). Inequality in society: The persistent role of stratification systems. Annual Review of Sociology. 45(1), 221–242.
Hamilton, B. (2016). The Leper King and His Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press.
Jacoby, D. (2025). Aristocratic identity and power in the Latin East. Mediterranean Historical Review, 40(1), 23–48.
Jotischky, A. (2017). Crusading and the Crusader States. Routledge.
Kangas, S. (2023). Military orders and frontier power. Speculum, 98(1), 77–104.
Kedar, B. Z. (2017). Crusade and Mission: European Approaches Toward the Muslims. Crusades, 16, 89-110.
Kostick, C. (2008). The social structure of the First Crusade.
Krippendorff, K. (2019). Content Analysis (4th ed.). Sage.
Lapina, E. (2018). Reimagining the Crusades in contemporary visual culture. Journal of Medieval History, 44(3), 345–367.
Lewis, K. J. (2017). Daily life and cultural exchange in the Latin East. Mediterranean Historical Review, 32(1), 22–45.
Lewis, K. J. (2017). Daily life in the Crusader States: Economy, society, and culture. Crusades, 16, 89–110.
MacEvitt, C. (2019). The Crusades and the Christian World of the East. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Macionis, J. J. (2021). Sociology (18th ed.). Pearson.
Morton, N. (2020). The Crusader states and their neighbours: A military history.
Murray, A. V. (1988). The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A dynastic analysis. Oxford University Press.
Murray, A. V. (2016). The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History. Prosopographica et Genealogica.
Pahlitzsch, J., & Korn, L. (2019). Multicultural coexistence in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Journal of Medieval History, 45(3), 267–289.
Phillips, J. (2019). The crusades: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
Prawer, J. (2021). The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem: European Colonialism in the Middle Ages. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Reynolds, S. (2017). Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted. Oxford University Press.
Riessman, C. K. (2021). Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. Sage.
Riley-Smith, J. (2017). The Knights Hospitaller in the Levant. Palgrave Macmillan.
Saadi, S. (2020). Historical accuracy and cinematic interpretation in Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. Journal of Historical Film Studies, 8(1), 55–73.
Taufiq, F. N. (2021). The role of the vassal class in Crusader feudal administration. Arab Journal of Medieval Studies, 12(2), 201–228.
Tyreman, C. (2019). The World of the Crusades.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright Statement
1. Author(s)'s Warranties
The author warrants that the article is original, written by the stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author, and free of any third-party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
2. Right of Authors
JUSPI allows the author(s) to hold the copyright. Authors retain all their rights to the published works, such as (but not limited to) the following rights:
- Reproduce the work.
- Prepare derivative works based on the work.
- Distribute copies of the work.
- Perform the work publicly.
- Display the work publicly.
- Copyright and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights.
- The right to self-archive the article (please read our Repository Policy).
- The right to enter separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article's published version (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal (JUSPI).
3. Co-Authorship
If the article was jointly prepared by other authors, any author submitting the manuscript warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to be agreed on this copyright and license notice (agreement) on their behalf and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this policy. JUSPI will not be held liable for anything that may arise due to the author(s) internal dispute. JUSPI will only communicate with the corresponding author.
4. Royalties
This agreement entitles the author to no royalties or other fees. To such extent as legally permissible, the author waives his or her right to collect royalties relative to the article in respect of any use of the article by JUSPI.
5. User/Public Right
JUSPI's spirit is to disseminate articles published as free as possible. Under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, JUSPI permits users to share, copy, redistribute, display, and perform the material in any medium or format. Adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. Users will also need to attribute authors and JUSPI to distributing works in the journal and other media of publication.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
