The Blood Red Horse by K.M Grant is a Historical Fiction novel about two boys that go on The Crusades. The novel is set in Medieval England during the Third Crusade. The De Granvilles, or the main characters, go of to fight in the Crusades with King Richard to take the Holy Land from the Muslims. (Grant 75) Although the story contains some fiction, it still manages to accommodate real pieces of History. The Blood Red Horse is historically correct because the characters Saladin, King Richard, and most of the events in the book all were recorded in history.
Saladin is portrayed the same in history as well as in The Blood Red Horse. Saladin was a vizier that lead the Muslims against The Franks in the twelfth century and was usually written as gruesome, yet merciful. When someone disobeyed the rules or needed to be killed, “Saladin was happy to shed blood if the time and cause were right , but he was also mindful that strength and mercy went together.” (Grant 73) One of Saladin's main traits was that liked to fight and to …show more content…
The Third Crusade was fought to reclaim Jerusalem, also known as The Holy Land. The crusaders goal was to, “...ravage the land in order to undermine Saladin's hold on it, but their ultimate aim was the reconquest of Jerusalem.”(“The Third Crusade”) When deciding whether to keep traveling to Jerusalem or not, the Christian knights run into a huge Saracen caravan. The Christian knights decide to raid the Saracen,steal all their goods, and leave them with nothing. (Grant 194) At the end of the crusade, the two sides entered a truce to stop fighting. Since Saladin’s army was not in good shape, “The two sides negotiated a three-year truce, the Treaty of Jaffa (September 2, 1192), which effectively ended the crusade.”(“Third Crusade”)Saladin, King Richard, and The Third Crusade are all represented in The Blood Red Horse