Copyright Helena P. Schrader

Helena P. Schrader

"With an elegance of language, detail, and setting rivaling that of Doctorow's Jazztime, or Tolstoy's War and Peace, Schrader takes the reader on location to savor the world of Baliand'Ibelin in the times before he emerged as a pivotal player in thepolitics of the Crusader states." -- CHANTICLEER REVIEWS

Balian d'Ibelin: Knight of Jerusalem

Book I of the Jerusalem Trilogy

"...an epic novel of the late 12th century Crusades. ... Any historical fiction reader interested in the period will find this work a treasure." -- BLUE INK STARRED REVIEW

A landless knight,
a Byzantine princess
and a leper king—

The story of Balian d’Ibelin in the years before his fame.

The historical Balian d’Ibelin saved thousands of women and children from slavery and brokered peace between Richard I and Saladin. Arab chronicles described him as “like a king,” and his descendants dominated the history of the Holy Land for the next century. Yet he inherited neither land nor titles and we know nothing of his youth. What made him the man he would become?

In this comprehensive revision of the first book in the Jerusalem Trilogy, Schrader evokes the underlying currents and powerful personalities that shaped the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. She weaves history with hypotheses to create a credible, if fictional, backstory for a hero: Balian d’Ibelin.