The friends began to explore the hilltop fortress, an impressive fortification dominating the city’s highest point. Formidable masonry walls surrounded it, pierced by gates accessible only from movable aerial walkways spanning water-filled ditches. The town below the walls followed the hill down to the port.
The city’s population overflowed, women and children sleeping in makeshift tents around the squares and streets, even in yards and gardens, on balconies and the flat rooftops. They looked fearful, hungry, and tired. The children played and cried while their mothers and sisters gazed sadly toward the distant plains, hoping perhaps to spot brothers, husbands, or sons in the distant camps.
North and east of the fortress, cliffs of breathtaking inaccessibility presented an awesome challenge to uninvited guests. Corner watchtowers, turrets, and other perimeter defense systems topped the walls upon which stood men wearing loose red and green shirts and baggy trousers, metal chain mail to their ankles, up-tipped leather boots, and onion shaped helmets topped with white feathers. They kept careful watch on the distant armies and the flotillas in and out of the harbor.
The friends turned into a large central courtyard with a cylindrical tower at the center, the highest point of the fortress complex, overlooking a 360-degree vista of the port city, the distant plains, and the sea. Soldiers filled the courtyard, surrounded by a two-story structure, the guards’ barracks and armory. Soldiers in light garments and carrying iron crossbows and longbows guarded a doorway to a subterranean chamber. On the guards’ backs hung a weapon, a long black iron tube funneled outward at its end and attached to a V-shaped wooden handle.
“I wonder what is in the underground room they are guarding,” Calcium said.“And what new killing tool do I see—fashioned out of me?” Iron wondered.
“Who are you folks?” a voice inquired from inside a soldier’s iron tube. “Forgive my intrusion. I am Sulphur.”
Another voice spoke. “And I am Potassium. Together we make the mighty Black Powder.”
“Black Powder—or gunpowder, as you will come to be known—I have heard much about you,” Silicone said. “The discovery of what you two can do together changed the human world for the better at times, but more often for the worse.”
“Regrettably, you are right,” Sulphur admitted. “We know what humans value most about us. Here we wait idly until we fuse in an explosion…”
“That will take the life force out of a miserable human who has no understanding of what is about to happen to him.” Another voice concluded from within a metallic ball in the center of the weapon.
“And you are …?”
“Lead, the heavyweight and condemned because of it.”
“Can you tell us where we are?”
“You are in one of the recaptured by the Seljuk forces Palestine, or the Kingdom of Jerusalem, depending on whose claim you consider,” Sulphur replied. “Many battles have been fought to control these coastal lands. For centuries people have lived together here and practiced different faiths, like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They became subjects of the Seljuk Empire during the last century. The Seljuk are Muslims by faith but trace their ancestry to the Turkic tribes of the Central Asian steppes. Everyone lived in harmony together until the crusading warriors arrived from the northwest. They port cities recently in the province of invaded by sea and land, brandishing a red cross and claiming the right to their Holy Land. Imagine that. They claim it, despite their, or their ancestors, never having set foot here! Inconceivable atrocities came with the ensuing senseless wars.”
“The crusades.” Silicone launched into another portentous recital. “For almost two hundred years, Christian Europeans and their Byzantine allies fought the increasingly powerful Muslim Turks, expanding into Asia Minor. Centuries earlier, nomadic Turkic tribes organized and united under various rulers and thundered south from their homelands in the northern Asian steppes. The Turkic Seljuk Empire ruled western Asia between India, China, and Egypt and began to encroach on Byzantine territory in Asia Minor. So grave was the threat that the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I requested help from his western European rivals in Rome. Pope Urban II was quick to agree. Many have speculated about the Pope’s motives in calling for the “Holy War of the Cross”. Perhaps he hoped to recreate a reunified “Holy Roman Empire” across Europe. Likely, he hoped to neutralize the violently competing powers of feudal Europe. Regional European kings increasingly defied Rome’s authority, levied their own taxes, and waged costly land-grabbing wars that directly and tangibly affected the Vatican’s power, influence, and revenues. Independent feudal monarchies vied for power within a Roman Catholic dominated Western Europe. A “Truce of God” was declared in Europe. The forces of Christendom were reconciled and mobilized against the Muslim “barbarians.” They accused Muslims of harassing local Christian populations and European pilgrims in the Holy Land. Asian Christians, despite their peaceful coexistence in Palestine and elsewhere, were thrown into the middle of the ensuing conflict. This ancient land, a conflict-ridden crossroads of people, faiths, and armies, had enjoyed an unusual period of harmony and calm for four centuries before the crusades. The period of quiet followed the integration of the region under a new religion. After 661 C.E., the Islamic whirlwind stormed out of the nomadic heart of the Arabian Desert and swept across western Asia and northern Africa. Initially a fanatical, warlike movement, the wisdom of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and other ancient civilizations of the wider region influenced its development. The Muslim caliphates, established in Damascus, administered an empire Phoenicia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, North Africa, and Andalusia. Though not always willingly, people learned to live together. Jews and Christians—though not the Persian Zoroastrians, who did not trace their ancient faith to the Old Testament as Christianity and Islam do—were generally tolerated. With its unique geography and history, that intercontinental pivot, the Asian Mediterranean, was notably cosmopolitan. With a mixed population of Jews, Muslims, and Christians, it housed holy pilgrimage sites of all three faiths and was an important cultural, and religious hub, a progressive coexistence for various people and their Between 1147 and 1149 C.E., the armies of the second crusade conquered and ransacked the heart of the empire. In the ensuing violent madness, every living creature in the city of Jerusalem was massacred. For days blood streamed from the city’s drainage channels. The crusading wars continued for almost two centuries and shaped the future political history of Europe and Asia, isolating the Middle East and its people. They also helped guide a backward and superstitious medieval Europe through to an age of enlightenment, the Renaissance and the Reformation. Pizarro mentioned intolerant, and
the Persian,Baghdad or that spanned
historical, place of
traditions. that in our second voyage.”
Silicone paused for a moment. There was commotion in the central square. A small squad of mounted men rode through the gates. With fair skin, hair, and beards, they were tall and stocky. They wore light ceremonial armor and carried large wooden shields adorned with various insignia. They held banners, including the red-crossed white banner. In their midst a red-bearded giant with a golden crown on his head held an ornate golden shield with a red lion in the center. The Seljuk soldiers made way and looked on the passing mounted platoon with amazement, respect, fear, and despise. The horses pranced between lines of standing soldiers and across the cobblestone square. The entire event seemed well choreographed. The men reached the tower and dismounted. The two Seljuk soldiers guarding the door gave way ceremoniously. Two knights accompanied the tall crowned man through the massive iron-gated door and disappeared from view. Their companions sat in a shaded area and helped themselves eagerly to the food and drink laid out for them. The friends and their three new colleagues followed the men into the tower and climbed the steep, spiraling stone stairway into a large circular chamber at the top of the tower, a room designed for military command and defense. All the doors were of heavy iron. Strategically configured windows could be closed quickly, leaving narrow slits for shooting projectiles. The windows looked in every direction. Operable hatch doors over a number of openings on the carved plaster dome let in ventilation and natural light. Beautiful woolen carpets covered the floor, and equally elegant silks draped the walls. A large, intricately carved inlaid table held oil lamps, many books, scrolls, maps, feather pens, and inkwells, as well as fruit and refreshments, all arrayed on a red, gold, and green silk tablecloth. The two knights sat near the entrance, while the crowned man went inside to a stately chair upon which he sat. The room was absolutely quiet, the only sound a canary silently hopping in a brass birdcage hanging in the corner. Even the canary was too nervous to sing. Our friends noticed a man standing by a window, staring at the harbor and the sea beyond. He was a tall, strong man in his early forties. He had a beard and wore a white, blue, and gold embroidered silk robe and loose pants. His rolled white and blue silk headdress wrapped neatly around a semi-spherical golden cap and flowed around and behind his neck. A curved jewel-studded golden dagger adorned his leather belt. He turned toward his seated guest, bowed slightly, and spoke in fluent Latin.
“I welcome you to this castle, but not to this land. I am Al Nasir Salah-al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayub, the Governor of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, the faithful emissary of the Seljuk Court. You may address me as your people do, Saladin.”
The red-bearded giant responded, “And I am Richard of England, known as Lionheart, and I represent his Holiness the Pope, as well as the Levantine Latin kingdoms and their Christian subjects.”
An eerie silence fell, as the rivals assessed each other.
“Why are you invading our land,” Saladin asked at last. “Why are you here again?”
“Why did you invade the Iberian peninsula, Sicily, or Malta? Why are you there?”
“Despite wartime formalities,” Saladin diplomatically changed the subject, “I must admit that Lionheart suits you. You are the most competent military commander among the crusading invaders.” “May I also compliment your military strategy, especially your tactics of distant warfare?”
“One might say we are uncommon leaders in exceptional times. We must devote our minds and hearts, and often the lives of many dear ones, to questionable causes. Men like us often lead incomprehensible lives.”
Saladin stood silently, looked up, and muttered some kind of short silent prayer. He then glanced at Richard. It was neither a hateful look, nor a challenging stare. Rather, it seemed like a wise gaze that questions the absurdity of human suffering. Richard looked attentively at him. It was a strange brief moment for opposing leaders of such fearsome armadas.
“We must discuss ceasefire terms,” Richard prompted. “Have you received the Seljuk Emperor’s directives?”
Saladin smiled. “His Lordship trusts my recommendations.”
“Very well. Let’s get on with it.”
Richard raised his right arm. Instantly, one of his two companions rose and handed him a scroll. What Tin saw next amazed it. “Look at the arm of the man, carrying the scroll. There, the embroidery on his shirt sleeve.”
Our friends recognized what they saw. The embroidery was a shield divided into four squares. Two were marked with the symbol ‘+’, but the other two were marked with ‘5’. Below the shield was a human skull superimposed over a pair of crossed human thighbones.
“He is wearing the symbols of both Viracocha and Pachacamac,” Gold gasped.
The two men spent the next hour poring over maps. Richard’s crusading army was to give up the claim to Jerusalem and the surrounding territories, which Saladin recaptured in 1187 A.D. The Latins would retain control of their small coastal Asian kingdoms. Christians could live and make pilgrimages to Jerusalem and other holy sites. The Seljuk navy would escort the Latin navy out to sea for “insurance and protection”. Hostilities were to cease for five years. The Christian colonists would cease raiding the Seljuk lands, towns, and merchant caravans. Although, both Saladin and Richard suspected the conflict would persist, providing plenty of pretexts for retaliation. Silicone took advantage of the negotiations to explain. “Richard and Saladin know that Saladin’s struggles are far from over. This is no truce but only a cessation of hostilities between their armies. Richard’s army is withdrawing from the ongoing regional conflict, in effect abandoning the war he came to fight. And Saladin knows it.”
“But, why would he do that,” Potassium asked, “when he has recaptured several coastal towns?” “Maybe he’s homesick,” Helium humored. “You’re both right. Richard won some victories, but Saladin’s tiresome strategy of avoiding head-on engagements has worn him down. Saladin bids his time, exhausts his foe’s resources, and waits for a strategically opportune time to invest his army. Saladin knew that the northern Europeans would have trouble with the hot, dry climate, and the Seljuk naval blockade of supply routes. Time was on his side. His men were defending their homes and families and were better supplied. Saladin conducted a war of attrition, denying Richard the quick decisive war he wanted. Time was not on his side. Richard had started the Third Crusade in conjunction with the armies of the French King Phillip Augustus and the remaining troops of the German King Frederick Barbarossa—who drowned in a Seleucian river. But Richard took a long time to reach Asia since he stopped to help take the western Iberian Peninsula back from Muslim Moorish forces to form the Kingdom of Portugal. Later he took Cypress away from its Byzantine ruler because he insulted his fiancée. He reached the eastern Mediterranean to confront intense local summer heat, few remaining German forces, and an unreliable French King, who departed soon after the bloody conquest of Acre. After that Richard had to manage the regional squabbles over kingship, power, and politics with a smaller army. More important, he learned his brother John had rebelled in consolidating alliances and outnumbered followers, including the English folk hero Robin Hood. Richard recognized the urgency of going home to deal with his own problems.”
At this point, Saladin and Richard rose and walked to the window overlooking the harbor. They knew they were responsible for many lives. Could they reach their goals without further bloodshed?
“Your reputation has spread throughout Europe,” Richard said. “You have become a legend of sorts.” “That is encouraging.”
“The church denounces the Muslims, but the veteran crusaders tell a different story. Some people understand that the infidel oriental is neither evil nor decadent, not too unlike Europeans.”
“Just ordinary humans with the same needs, confusions, fears, and hopes.”
“I know that you protect civilians and prisoners, even offering to pay for their return home. You know we are short on provisions, so we execute the wounded prisoners and other useless mouths.”
“You slaughtered three thousand Muslim women and children at Acre. Were they useless? Could you not let them go, so we could feed them?”
Richard did not answer.
“I seek understanding between our peoples. War serves no good purpose.”
England, was busily fighting Richard’s “You speak wisely,” Richard replied. “Some question Rome’s holy wars. Others tell of mysterious discoveries in the Holy Land.”
“What do you mean?”
“I will tell you,” the Englishman said, “but first I want to ask you some questions. What we say, you must never reveal.”
Saladin nodded in agreement.
“Very well then. Explain the attack-withdrawal tactics you beat my cavalry with.”
“The Parthians used them against the Romans. The Parthian light cavalry were skilled mounted archers and engaged their enemies from a distance. They attacked with a fraction of their cavalry, and then withdrew as if in retreat. As soon as some distance separated them from their enemy, reinforcements rushed in for an ambush. The Parthians could shoot backwards with deadly accuracy at a full gallop. Our cavalry does well on long distance mountainous terrains, but heavy armor-clad European knights in the first crusade. We learned. Your heavy armor and weapons cripple an army in a prolonged engagement in a hot climate.” “You’re right about the climate and your tactics,” Richard conceded. “The knights who rode out too far never came back. Why are your thin swords so strong? If our blacksmiths made such thin blades, we could use them only for roasting chickens.”
Saladin smiled. “That, my honored guest. I cannot tell you. One must first learn our alchemists’ secrets.”
Saladin paused to ask for some fresh mint tea for them.
Silicone took the opportunity to explain. “The two worlds learned much from each other. The Europeans, younger and more isolated, learned from expeditions in arid and fail to stop the galloping their neighbors’ culture, science, and philosophy. The Seljuk blacksmiths knew how to mix ratios of pure cooked coal powder—our friend Carbon here—to make lighter, stronger steel weapons, armor, and gun barrels.” Iron and Carbon looked at each other. They knew they were stronger together.
“Tell me about your guns and your explosive weapons.”
“Grenades and guns.” Saladin crowed. “We learned about them from the Chinese, and improved them. They use an incendiary powder, whose exact composition is a secret.”
“I also have heard of your ancient maps that show lands we know nothing about, far away seas beyond the end of the inhabited world, where only dragons and demons roam.”
Saladin laughed “What rubbish. There are such maps. I have seen them. They show a continent far to the west and a great island continent in the far south. Despite their accuracies, some of the maps have recurring geographical inconsistencies. The world they represent was different from the one we know. They show dry land where we know seas, and solid land where there are now only islands. It’s as if the seas were lower then. The Great Library of Alexandria had many such maps and charts and obscure manuscripts, but the Roman Church unleashed their mobs to destroy it. Valuable treasures vanished forever. The establishment continues to destroy ancient knowledge. The eastern Christians of Byzantium are not so perverse. The western Catholics are sunk in ignorance, superstition, and prejudice. But for the Muslim scholars, even Greek literature and philosophy would have disappeared.”
“Ironically, Rome has opened Pandora’s box,” Richard said bitterly. “It has already had to yield.” Catholic precious “Yield? To whom?” Saladin asked.
“The Knights Templar.”
“Oh, yes,” Saladin said. “‘The Poor Knights’! They’re far from poor. They swarm the holy sites in and around Jerusalem. When we recaptured Jerusalem, they sent a secret emissary. They claimed to be a secret brotherhood, only nominally loyal to Rome. They seeked an arrangement whereby their scholars could continue studying the ancient sites, monasteries, and religious centers.”
“From the start of the first Crusade, some of the French nobility, notably the Court of Champagne, had an agenda before they got to Jerusalem. When Jerusalem fell in the second crusade, Bernard of Clairvaux capitalized on public sympathy for a ragtag militia under Hughes de Payens that protected Christian pilgrims. They were known as the Poor Knights because they could afford neither armor nor servants like the aristocratic knights. “Saint Bernard” led them to make an agreement with the new Kingdom of Jerusalem. Hence headquartered on the site of Solomon’s Temple of Solomon, they called themselves The Knights of the Temple or the Knights Templar. They secretly excavated the ruins of Solomon’s Temple. What they found, nobody knows.”
“Does no one know?” Saladin asked.
“Some say they took what they found and hid them among heretics like the French Cathar. Nobody knows what was discovered, but we do know what it did for the Poor Knights. Nine Templar leaders met secretly with a Papal Council in Troyes, and walked out with unheard of concessions and privileges: grants of land all over Europe and the Levant, the right to finance and protect Christians pilgrims—and no taxes whatsoever. They got the right to maintain a militia, accountable only to themselves. They walked out as an autonomous power with lands to rule, armies to keep, profitable operations to run, paying no taxes to anyone. Clearly, whatever they found in Jerusalem was so controversial that Rome had to make a deal. The Templars agreed to silence in exchange for their remarkable privileges.” “Is that why you came here?” Saladin asked. “Are you their ally?”
“I can tell you only that they are not happy that you recaptured Jerusalem and the other holy sites. You’re costing them money.”
At that moment, Saladin walked away with one of his men, who had come to whisper something to him. “What happened to the Knights Templar?” Hydrogen asked.
“That answer requires a long discussion,” Silicone said. “But I’ll tell you what is relevant to us. After the second Crusade, many remained in the newly established Christian kingdoms whose Muslim and Jewish citizens were slaughtered. They profited from trade between Asia and Europe, and often looted Silk Road caravans. They built strategically located fortifications for local defense and deployment of armored knight brigades. Saint Bernard recognized the need for more professional military resources, crusading monks, fighting work with a cross in one hand, and a sword in the other. The armies of Islam had a similar religioninfused fighting philosophy, the jihad. Christian edicts glorified and legitimized the ‘warriors of Christ,’ turning crusader mercenaries into folk heroes. Donations and concessions poured in from the Vatican, kings, merchants, and common folks for these protectors of the Holy Land. The militant orders’ fortified monasteries spread across the Levant and Europe. Inevitably, their power and wealth attracted investment from European elite, creating Europe’s first international commercial and promoted the idea of the religious warriors who did God's and financial enterprises. The orders soon had financial, commercial, military, and political reach throughout the Levant and Europe. By the time of Saladin, the Templars and the Hospitaller owned almost half the Latin Levant. Others soon copied them. The Germanic Order of Teutonic Knights played a major role in the Baltic crusades that led to the creation of the Catholic nations of Prussia, Poland, and the Baltic nations. It was the Teutonic Knights’ brutal surprise raiding parties into these previously pagan lands, which inspired such old folkloric tales as the metaphorical imagery of helmeted knights conducting surprise raids out of foggy forests. These soldiers of God invented a new type of entity, whose lifeline no longer depended on national and religious affiliations. Such military-religious ‘orders’ developed private international soldiery, trade, finance, and land and capital ownership. Indeed, it proved to be a very powerful and lucrative existence. The Levantine orders were eventually dislodged from their Asian territories by Saladin, and later his Ayubbid descendents and the Egyptian Memluk. In the early 14th century, the Ottomans captured the last eastern stronghold of the Hospitallers in Rhodes and Cyprus.
“The 14th century marked the beginning of the political Perhaps, 1307 AD, Pope Clement V outlawed the Templars, declaring them as heretics and devil worshippers. Many were burned at the stake. But, some of the Templars fled, or henceforth operated under different incarnations. Throughout most of Catholic Europe, their lands were confiscated. The Templars spirited away money, treasures, relics, and secret traditions to safer havens like Scotland. Some of the Templar relics are believed to be still hidden in Scottish sanctuaries. Others reincarnated ‘Headless
faceless, Horseman’ –a armored, and
decline of Vatican’s Holy Roman Empire. to consolidate their European influence, in in Portugal as the ‘Order of Christ’. Throughout the 15th century, under the rule of their enigmatic Grand Master, Emperor Henry “the Navigator”, the Portuguese famously circumnavigated Africa, finding a marine route to Asia, and created a colonial trading and slaving empire. Also, the Order of Christ facilitated the discovery of the New World. Their possession of ancient navigational charts
finding and exploration of
Following their African,
was instrumental to the the American continent.
Asian, and American colonization ventures, the Order of Christ was famed to have become the richest enterprise in Europe. While the Templars were persecuted, Rome allied itself to some other military-religious orders, such as the Order of Christ and the Hospitallers. After the loss of the Holy Land, the Hospitallers fled to Cyprus, Rhodes, and a few smaller Aegean islands. After the fall of Rhodes and Cyprus to the Ottomans, they moved to Malta under the new name of the “Knights of the Order of St. John”, better known as the ‘Knights of Malta’. They have been Vatican’s loyal agents ever since. These surviving religious military Orders
Catholic nations of Spain,
profited from within the
Portugal, Malta, and the merchant Italian City states, and effectively controlled European trade for over a century. By then, these Orders had adopted ruthless greed, exploitation, and autocracy. No profitable activity was overlooked, even smuggling, piracy, and slave trading. Increasing competition between the seafaring Protestant Northern Europeans and the Catholic lands brought rivalry and war. It was the descendants of the exiled English Templars that raised the infamous Skull and Bones flags atop their pirate ships.”
At that moment, Saladin returned and invited Richard to a table lavishly set with various dishes.
“Your pope,” Saladin said as Richard ate, “should know that the Templars will have no special privileges, just the same safe access as all other Christians.”
Richard laughed so loudly that some food spewed out of his mouth.
Richard: ‘Sorry. I laugh because it's rather grander than that. Ironically, Rome’s attempt to control Europe has diminished its power and influence for good. The Templars and their allies are sworn to undo the Vatican's influence and what they see as the church’s deliberate distortion of the historical truth behind Christianity and Jesus Christ.
“But tell me, we seem to be behind the Asians in many ways. Spices, herbs, fruits and vegetables, paper, color dyes, alchemy, metalworking, gunpowder, navigational charts, fine textiles, mathematics, sciences, medicine, and astronomy. Apparently, we surpass you mostly in fighting and religion. When I got here, I saw the difference with the Christians here. They bathe often, use incense, wear fine clothes, eat well, and live in fine villas. They even recite poetry for us at night.” Richard and his companion laughed scornfully, but not Saladin. “A taste for such luxuries started these wars. Greed. The Muslim and Byzantine merchants’ stand in the way of the Holy Roman Empire’s aim to dominate the Asian and African trade in spices, silk, ivory, and color dyes, all so precious in Europe. Once they lose their foothold here, they will find other ways to get at what they want. One wonders why Europe is so greedy, since its land is blessed with much water.” “Indeed, our crops often exceed our needs. We eat well, but we spend a lot of time doing the bidding of the Roman Church.”
“Why is that?”
“Europe,” Richard replied, “is isolated. Unlike Asia, we have no long history of races and nations mingling and learning from each other. Dense forests cover much of Europe. So in order to farm, we have to cut lots of trees. We got strong, durable iron tools, sharp enough to cut trees only when Rome colonized northern Europe. Before that most Europeans were huntergatherer warriors and knew little about the rest of the world.”
“Yes,” Saladin said, “our agriculture suffers from lack of water. Ancient records tell us that it used to rain much more here. There were more rivers, lakes, and forests in Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and central Asia. Now much of that is arid plains and desert. Our world has dried up. Our people invent new ways to manage water and develop dry land crops. Famines cause invasion and migration all over Asia.”
Richard mumbled: “Yes, that is a problem for the local Christian kingdoms as well.”
Saladin had another question for his guest. “Islam learns from both the Old and New Testaments, yet Jews and Christians do not accept Islam. But why do Christians persecute Jews? Why did the Christians massacre Jews along with Muslims when they captured Jerusalem?”
“The church blames the Jews for persecuting Jesus. And Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.” “Well,” Saladin rejoined, “Christians reject the newer Islam. But, why blame the Jews for hanging onto their beliefs? If we all mean the same one God, then the creator’s word should be the same in any language and faith. Why are your gospels true, and everything else false? Why force your beliefs down people's throats?” Richard offered no answer, only grabbing the red cross on his shirt. He changed the subject. “In Palestine, we visited the