Introduction

In the year 1202, tens of thousands of crusaders gather in Venice, preparing to embark for Jerusalem to free the Holy City from Muslim rule. Among them is a lowly vagabond Briton, rescued from damnation by a pious knight who burns with zealous fire for their sacred undertaking. And so they set sail, along with dedicated companions—and with a beautiful, mysterious Arab "princess" whom the vagabond liberates from a brutish merchant. But the divine light guiding their "righteous" campaign soon darkens as the mission sinks ever deeper into catastrophe, disgrace, and moral turpitude—as Christians murder Christians in the Adriatic port city of Zara, tragic events are set in motion that will ultimately lead to the shocking and shameful fall of Constantinople.

Impeccably researched and beautifully told, Nicole Galland's Crossed is a stunning tale of the disastrous Fourth Crusade—and of the hopeful, brave, and driven who were caught up in and irrevocably changed by a corrupted cause and a furious battle beyond their comprehension or control.

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Excerpt

Act I
VENICE

Here let me tell you of one of the most remarkable and
extraordinary events you have ever heard of.
—Geoffrey of Villehardouin,
Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade

1

From San Nicolo, that sweltering sandbar of an island off the coast of Venice, rose a strange tent city milling with ten thousand unwashed soldiers and their unwashed squires, whores, cooks, priests, horses, heralds, armorers, and smiths. They called themselves pilgrims, having taken the cross, having sworn to carry out the pope’s wishes. This meant they were going to an unknown desert, to wrest an unknown city from its unknown ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. What are all the possible applications of the wordcrossedto the events and characters of the story?
2. Whom do you consider the most sympathetic character in the story? Why?
3. Which character behaves the most honorably throughout? Why?
4. If you were to find yourself in this story, which of the five main characters would you most resemble in outlook and action? (This might be a different response than questions 2 or 3.)
5. Discuss the differences of the two narrators – in their character and background; their morality and values and belief-systems; their story-telling styles.
6. Discuss Dandolo’s comments near the end of the book about the fall of empires. Does this seem like a purely historical observation, or are there possible implications about today’s world as well?
7. Discuss Jamila’s dilemma of having to choose whether she will remain with a man she loves or return to her community. What do you think of the choice she makes, and what choice would you make in her position?
8. What do you think is implied by the end of the epilogue: that the Briton has found a way to join the Jewish community, or that he and Jamila have gone off on their own?
9. There are strong parallels between the Fourth Crusade and the current situation inIraq, but the author emphasizes these parallels infrequently in the text itself. How often, if ever, did such parallels occur to you as you were reading?
10. Who is a better ruler, Dandolo or Boniface? Why?

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