Second, the Dowager Queen of Jerusalem is a public figure throughout her Kingdom. Third, a woman who carries the blood of the Roman Emperors in her veins is more noble than I—or the Kurdish upstart who has stolen the Sultanate of Cairo and then Damascus from the rightful heirs.”
LO fucking L. In 1178, the Komnenos dynasty was not quite a century old and their first emperors, Isaakios I and Alexios I, were usurpers who took power in military coups. The only way this passage makes sense is if we assume Balian is a snobbish moron who isn’t up to snuff on his Byzantine history.
