Baldwin IV of Jerusalem - Baldwin in Art, Fiction, and Film

Baldwin in Art, Fiction, and Film

Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century manuscript illustrations to the histories of William of Tyre and Ernoul give little indication of Baldwin's illness. He figures in a Romantic depiction of the battle of Montgisard by Charles-Philippe Larivière in the Salles des Croisades at Versailles. This work, which dates from c. 1842, depicts him being carried into battle on a litter, his face uncovered and unscarred, his sword in his right hand. In fact, at Montgisard, he was still able to fight on horseback, and he used his sword with his left hand, since his right hand and arm had been the first affected by his illness.

Baldwin appears, with varying degrees of historical fidelity, in a number of novels. These include Zofia Kossak-Szczucka's Król trędowaty (The Leper King), Manuel Mujica Láinez's fantasy El unicornio (The Wandering Unicorn), Cecelia Holland's Jerusalem, Judith Tarr's historical fantasies Alamut and The Dagger and the Cross, The Knights of Dark Renown by Graham Shelby (1969), Nikos Kazantzakis's Saint Francis and The Crusader King by Susan Peek. He is generally depicted as a sympathetic character. Baldwin has also featured in bandes dessinées: Serge Dalens's L'Étoile de Pourpre ("The Purple Star") (also published as Baudouin IV de Jérusalem) and Michel Bom and Thierry Cayman's Sylvain de Rochefort series. Dalens's work was originally illustrated by Pierre Joubert, whose pictures of Baldwin are associated with his image as a role-model in the French Scout movement.

A fictionalized version of Baldwin is played by Edward Norton in the 2005 movie Kingdom of Heaven.