Kingdom of Heaven Essay Example for Free

Kingdom of Heaven Essay Kingdom of Heaven is about a man named Balian from Ibelin who travels to Jerusalem during the crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people. During this movie Balian’s wife commits suicide and he kills his own brother and runs away from the village. Throughout the film Balian tries to gain forgiveness from his father and redemption. The movie concludes as Balian is joined by his new girlfriend Sibylla, and they pass by the grave of Balians wife, they ride toward a new life together. Kingdom of heaven is a historically accurate movie due to the clothes they wore, modes of transportation and the weapons that they used. To prove that this movie is accurate is that the clothes are similar to what they actually wore in the 12th century Crusades. The types of clothes they used in the movie were thin cloth type shirts, pants and leather sewn shoes. For instance â€Å"The shirt is a simple tunic, probably of lightweight linen or silk.†[†¦] â€Å"The man’s legs should be covered with leg wraps or hosen.†(http://www.threeriver.org/marshal/wm_clothing.shtml). This quote shows what a man would wear in the 12th century. This next quote goes over the type of footwear that would be worn in the 12th century. â€Å"[B]rief overview of 12th Century shoe construction and history.†[†¦] â€Å" They are similar to a soft leather moccasin.† ( http://www.threeriver.org/marshal/shoes_1.shtml). Therefore those quotes prove the similarity between what type of clothes and shoes they used in the movie and the ones from the 12th century. Also the modes of transportation from the Kingdom of Heaven and the 12th century are very similar. They both got around by horseback riding. In the movie the horses were also used in battles as they wore armour and in the crusades they also used horses for battle. For example â€Å" Stallions were often used as war horses in Europe due to their natural aggression and hot-blooded tendencies.†(http://www.medievalwarfare.info/weapons.htm) This quote proves that they really did use horses as a mode of transportation. This next quote shows that they called the stallions warhorses. â€Å"The Knights themselves used different Middle Ages weapons riding on their warhorses† ( http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/middle-ages-weapons.htm). These quotes prove that back in the 12th century they used horses as transportation and also in battle. Furthermore they show how the Kingdom of Heaven is a historically accurate movie due to the modes of transportation. Lastly the weapons used in Kingdom of Heaven are accurate to what was really used in the Crusades. Some weapons that were used in the movie that were also used in the real Crusades include swords, shields, masks, and body armour. For example, â€Å"[W]eapons were used by the Knights Templar, Teutonic Knights and the Hospitallers to fight in the crusades.†[†¦] â€Å"every knight had spent their whole lives gaining expertise in the use of the lance, swords and daggers.† ( http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/middle-ages-weapons.htm). These quotes prove that the weapons used in the crusades include swords and daggers which were also used in the movie. â€Å"The Medieval period of history was extremely violent.†[†¦] â€Å"Medieval Weapons were used by the religious knights who fought in the Crusades.†( http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-weapons/index.htm) This shows that the medieval weapons were in fact used by the knights who fought in the crusades. Therefore the weapons shown in the Kingdom of Heaven are historically accurate. In conclusion Kingdom of Heaven is a Historically accurate movie because the clothes they wore, modes of transportation they used and weapons they used in the movie are similar to what they actually wore and used in the 12th century crusades. The evidence proves that they wore thin cloth type clothing, rode horseback and used swords shields and armour which proves that it is in fact historically accurate. Research proves that the movie is in fact historically accurate because the clothes, transportation and weapons are all generally similar to what was actually used back then in the crusades, such as cloth clothing, horses and swords. Overall, the Kingdom of Heaven gives a good explanation as to what happened in the Crusades of the 12th century and is a very entertaining movie to watch. I recommended this to anyone who is interested in history, battles and the Crusades. Bibliography Beattie, M. M. Brief Overview of 12th Century Clothing. The Barony of Three Rivers. Retrieved November 3rd, 2012, from http://www.threeriver.org/marshal/wm_clothing.shtml Furtado, P. (2005,June 1). Kingdom of Heaven. History Today Kingdom of Heaven (2005) IMDB Movies, TV and Celebrities. Retrieved October 29th, 2012, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320661 MAN OF WAR; Orlando Bloom Plays a Warrior Knight in the Lavish Kingdom of Heaven, a [Pounds Sterling]75 Million Epic about the Crusades. but He Tells Mike Goodridge That His Biggest Battle Is to Be Taken Seriously as a Leading Man. (2005, April 24). The Mail on Sunday (London, England) Mayer, H. E. (1972). The Crusades;. London: Oxford University Press. Medieval Weapons. Medieval Life and Times. Web. 6 Nov. 2012. . Medieval Weapons . Medieval Weapons and Armour. Retrieved October 28th, 2012, from www.medievalwarfare.info/weapons.htm Middle Ages Weapons. Middle Ages. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. . Scott, R. (Director). (2005). Kingdom Of Heaven [Motion picture]. USA: Twentieth Century Fox. Snell, M. Crusades Basics What You Need to Know About the Crusades. Medieval History Life in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Retrieved November 2nd, 2012, from http://historymedren.about.com/od/crusades/p/crusadesbasics.htm