Crucesignatus!

Crusaders are on the march in a new, epic film.

Jerusalem.

Jews revere it as the city of the great king. Christians honor it as the site of the cross and the empty tomb. Muslims embrace it as a sacred city of Islam — the site of Mohammad’s ascension into heaven on a white stallion.

It’s a holy city.

Also an unholy city.

A blockbuster movie is now in the theaters — full of action, romance, drama and warfare — one that is set in 12th-century Jerusalem. Called Kingdom of Heaven, this Ridley Scott epic is about a young peasant blacksmith who becomes an honored knight, saves a kingdom, and falls in love with a princess.

It’s also about the Crusades.

Given that Jerusalem is sacred to the three major monotheistic religions, it’s not hard to grasp that there has been fierce competition, and even bloody conflict, over this holy hunk of real estate. Such warfare has broken out multiple times, and Kingdom of Heaven takes a look at what might have happened between the Second and Third Crusades, showing us ...