The Rose of Edessa
The Rose of Edessa started as an idea in a casual conversation, but it grew into an obsession. The initial spark was to tell a love story between a Crusader traveling to Jerusalem and an Armenian girl he met along the way. That initial thought sparked my curiosity. What role did Armenians play during the Crusades? It was something I don't remember discussing during Armenian history classes in school. Was it overlooked? Did Armenians not play a role even though they were Christians in the region the Crusades took place in? Or was my memory just bad?
I began to research. First, I had to read about the Crusades in general. What were they? When were they? I needed the basics. I bought a book and began reading. Every time Armenians were mentioned, I took notes. I looked for an opportunity where the interaction between Crusaders and Armenians could be mined to tell a story. Specifically, a love story.
So I researched some more. This time, I focused on the First Crusade and YouTube videos. Using the Real Crusades History YouTube Channel, I zeroed in on the setting of the story I wanted to tell: Baldwin of Bolougne establishing the first Crusader State at Edessa. Baldwin's campaign spoke to me for a number of reasons. First, it was really important that Europeans established a Crusader State before conquering Jerusalem, but it's not something too many people know about More importantly, Baldwin's story in Edessa is intertwined with the Armenian people. It was the Armenian Duke of Edessa, Thoros, who invited Baldwin to the city. The city of Edessa was controlled by Armenians at the time. The story-telling potential was there.
But it was also personal. My maternal grandfather's family is was from Edessa, or Ourfa, as they knew it before the Armenian Genocide. I thought I could make this a personal story; somehow connect with generations before me. My father's side of the family was from just outside of Ourfa, from a town called Berejik, or Bira as we see in Issue 1. I started to look into where all my great-grandparents came from, and tried to find a way to fit those locations into the story. Not all was fit in so easily. Some were in backstory, like the town my main characters mentor died in, and some were the the home of side-characters. But I found a way to fit most of them in, at least in my head (I wasn't so great at taking notes about all of that).
But before I could start, I did even more research. A professor named William James Hamblin created a YouTube channel called Crusading Warfare that gave a very detailed account of Baldwin's campaign in Edessa. I gained a very thorough understanding of events of Crusade and the context of region. To gain even more detail, I did some research into archives that sited different primary sources that gave accounts of various events and historical figures that were related to Baldwin. I wanted to be as historically correct as I could be.
So built a story around Baldwin and his mostly bloodless conquest of Edessa and it's surrounding territory.. It wasn't easy. It's kind of hard crafting a fun and interesting story around real historical events, without altering the facts. Since there were so few sources, I was able to fill in between the fact with some fictionalized versions of events. It was a challenge, but I gave it a shot. At one point early on, I decided to make it episodic and have each issue tell a complete story. I loosely outlined a full 8-issue arc telling the entire story of Baldwin's Campaign, but I only completed writing the first half.
I wanted to complete Baldwin's story at Edessa, and I wanted to see how Alard and Florine's love story finished, but unfortunately I just didn't have much fun writing this kind of thing. I don't think I had a good sense of the time period and what people were like or talked like. It was more a struggle than anything.
Maybe I bit off more than I can chew with this one. Maybe you can read it and see if you think differently. Is this any good? Should I pay someone to illustrate it? Do you want to read the second half of The Rose of Edessa? Please send your feedback..
But for now, please enjoy Issues 1-4 of The Rose of Edessa.