God's Kingdom

The Kingdom of Jerusalem had a short life but what if it never fell and more than just 500 knights were left there after the First Crusade and forced the Muslims back and re-conquered Arabia for Christendom.

John I
All of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem's sons die, except one called John, who succeeds him in 1118 at the age of seventeen. Despite his father's glorious reign John wishes for more soldiers and appeals to the pope for an added 5,000 knights to defend Jerusalem. The Papacy accept and knights travel from England, France and Hungary. They provide added support to the Kingdom and soon John demands that the Crusader States of Tripoli and Antioch join Jerusalem and Edessa in a "Holy Union", however his words fell on deaf ears and so he readied and invasion. This started the First Latin War in which John was successful but the nation was nearing bankruptcy so he started charging the people coming to pilgrimage, leading to the Great Deposal.

Thirteenth Century
After the deposal of King John I the kingdom fell into crisis. Godwin of Wessex was proposed by England, the Byzantines claimed the kingdom was theirs, whilst Hungary claimed their king, Andrew I, should be king. It started the Second Latin War and ended in the division of the Kingdom, by the Byzantines and England. The English half became the new Kingdom of Jerusalem under King Godwin I. The whole identity of Jerusalem was built around re-taking land from the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Caliphates.