In 1187, Saladin's armies besieged the holy city of Jerusalem. He had previously destroyed the army of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin, and behind the city's high walls a last defense was led by an unlikely trio - including Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem. Although they could not resist Saladin, they hoped to negotiate terms that would save the lives of the city's inhabitants. Queen Sibylla was the last in a line of powerful female leaders in the Crusader States of the East. However, despite the many books written about the Crusades, one dimension is missing: the stories of women. Queens and princesses were typically presented as passive bearers of land and royal blood. In reality, women governed, conducted diplomatic negotiations, made strategic decisions, forged alliances, rebelled, and undertook architectural projects. Sibylla's grandmother, Queen Melisende, was the first queen to wield real political power in Jerusalem, governing under her exclusive right. She deceived both her husband and son to gain real power in her kingdom and was a force to be reckoned with in the politics of the medieval Middle East. The lives of her Armenian mother, her three sisters, and their daughters and granddaughters were equally fascinating. The lives of this pioneering dynasty of queens, as well as the Crusader Queen Elizabeth of Aquitaine, are the focus of Katharine Pangonis's debut book. In her work "QUEENS OF JERUSALEM," she explores the role women played in governing the Middle East during periods of intense instability and how they managed to rule and gain more power when given the chance.