The Diplomacy in the Third

Crusade
Tariq Sakoury
Natalie Torres
Senior Division
 Website Category

Process Paper
TOPIC CHOICE

When our teacher had assigned the History Day Project as an actual graded project for
our class, neither did I or my partner have an idea of what we were going to choose. Originally
we were both going to work on individual projects but after the process of choosing a topic was
finished, we decided to team up and work together. Tariq had already chosen the diplomacy in
the Third Crusade, and that was what we were going to do. There had been a separate “crusade”
between both partners, since one thought of the idea as “boring”, but that was the final choice:
The Third Crusade. Many of the different crusades had their own different issues but we both
thought the Third Crusade was a bit more diplomatic considering the agreement that happened
between Saladin and Richard the Lion Hearted. Although Richard did not agree with the final
negotiations, he ended up agreeing to the treaty.

RESEARCH PROCESS/ PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

We began our research in the classroom on the computer. Our school offers many helpful
search engines that made our research process a whole lot easier. We began by learning the basic
info of the Third Crusade followed by the participants and the effects. There were quite a few
helpful websites with the basic info, but we needed something with more detail, therefore, we
turned to books. With the books we were able to capture the picture of the quest and also the
problems that hindered the three kings from conquering Jerusalem again. To understand the
intensity in the crusade, we turned to primary sources. There were crusaders that had written
about their trip and of what they had seen. From the primary sources we were able to obtain a
closer look at the three kings and their personalities. With all the information, we decided to
build a website where we would be able to present it with the use of different technical programs.
Other than just text, we used pictures to exemplify the characters and/or scenes of the third
crusade. For the homepage we used an audio file to heighten the intensity that existed in the
battle. We had chosen the layout of the website to match with our topic so it would it all fit
together and would be presented properly.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOPIC & NHD THEME

This year’s theme was Debate and Diplomacy in History. Our topic fit with the National
History Day theme because it linked to Diplomacy. Diplomacy means a negotiation between
two nations according to the dictionary which relates to the negotiation between Saladin and
Richard the Lionhearted. It also linked to Debate because there had been controversial issues
concerning as to who had the proper authority over the Holy Land. This issue had been firing
with all the many battles and disagreements.