All language subtitles for Crusades BBC Documentary Episode 3 Victory and Defeat

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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,040 At the end of the 11th century, 2 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:15,400 a papal call to arms inspired tens of thousands of Christian warriors 3 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,840 to march across the face of the known world, 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:23,840 to reclaim the Holy City of Jerusalem from its Islamic overlords. 5 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:29,131 These were the first Crusaders, and their seemingly miraculous victory 6 00:00:30,442 --> 00:00:32,248 ignited two centuries of religious war, 7 00:00:33,553 --> 00:00:35,735 as legends, like Richard the Lionheart 8 00:00:36,494 --> 00:00:38,676 and the mighty Muslim Sultan Saladin, 9 00:00:39,606 --> 00:00:41,966 fought for dominion of the Holy Land. 10 00:00:43,296 --> 00:00:45,634 In the 13th century, this titanic conflict 11 00:00:46,230 --> 00:00:48,987 reached a decisive and shocking conclusion. 12 00:00:50,126 --> 00:00:53,338 But for all its drama, this final chapter of the Crusades 13 00:00:54,485 --> 00:00:56,412 has been virtually forgotten. 14 00:00:59,767 --> 00:01:02,149 In the end, the fate of the Holy Land was decided 15 00:01:02,966 --> 00:01:05,578 not on the hallowed ground of Jerusalem, 16 00:01:06,724 --> 00:01:08,152 but in Egypt. 17 00:01:08,917 --> 00:01:10,784 And the ultimate outcome of the Crusades was dictated 18 00:01:11,551 --> 00:01:13,261 not by Christians, 19 00:01:13,938 --> 00:01:17,083 but by the Mongol successors to Genghis Khan, 20 00:01:17,911 --> 00:01:20,317 and by a Muslim slave, a fearsome warrior, 21 00:01:21,008 --> 00:01:24,662 whose story is now all but lost to Western history. 22 00:01:40,342 --> 00:01:41,710 By the 13th century, 23 00:01:42,332 --> 00:01:44,472 after more than a hundred years of Holy War, 24 00:01:45,180 --> 00:01:47,397 and thanks to Richard the Lionheart's Crusade, 25 00:01:48,121 --> 00:01:51,992 Western Christendom retained a fragile foothold in the East. 26 00:01:54,599 --> 00:01:57,553 As yet, Jerusalem remained in the hands of Islam, 27 00:01:58,497 --> 00:02:00,579 but three Crusader states survived, 28 00:02:01,191 --> 00:02:03,816 clinging to the coast of the Holy Land. 29 00:02:06,081 --> 00:02:07,759 These Christian outposts 30 00:02:08,298 --> 00:02:10,124 were ruled by bickering warlords, 31 00:02:10,785 --> 00:02:13,026 with little or no interest in waging Holy War. 32 00:02:13,806 --> 00:02:17,504 Weak, ineffective leaders incapable of defending themselves 33 00:02:17,704 --> 00:02:20,127 from any hostile neighbouring powers. 34 00:02:22,027 --> 00:02:27,500 As factualism and disunity crippled the secular powers of the Crusader states, 35 00:02:27,841 --> 00:02:30,844 the defence of the Holy Land increasingly fell to others. 36 00:02:31,044 --> 00:02:32,760 Above all, the military orders. 37 00:02:33,856 --> 00:02:36,624 The members of these orders combined the ideals of knighthood 38 00:02:37,507 --> 00:02:38,926 and monasticism. 39 00:02:39,807 --> 00:02:41,544 They were, essentially, Christian warrior monks, 40 00:02:42,243 --> 00:02:44,573 the perfection of the crusading idea. 41 00:02:45,796 --> 00:02:47,665 And they would come to play an ever more vital role 42 00:02:48,260 --> 00:02:50,971 in the very survival of the Crusader states. 43 00:02:57,259 --> 00:03:00,211 After the success of the First Crusade in the 11th century, 44 00:03:00,975 --> 00:03:04,411 Christian knights banded together to form the legendary Military Orders. 45 00:03:07,795 --> 00:03:10,413 Today, the most famous of these are the Knights Templar, 46 00:03:11,157 --> 00:03:12,682 but there were others, 47 00:03:13,248 --> 00:03:16,168 including the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights. 48 00:03:17,999 --> 00:03:19,577 Together, they formed the elite standing army 49 00:03:20,223 --> 00:03:21,703 of the Crusader states, 50 00:03:22,551 --> 00:03:25,796 and they built a series of imposing fortresses across the Holy Land. 51 00:03:32,852 --> 00:03:36,402 For the crusaders these castles addressed a critical weakness, 52 00:03:37,008 --> 00:03:38,915 a lack of man power. 53 00:03:40,049 --> 00:03:42,119 Ever since they'd arrived in the Holy Land, 54 00:03:42,758 --> 00:03:44,260 the Christians were short of men, 55 00:03:45,321 --> 00:03:49,037 and structures like this acted as nails driven into the fabric of this world 56 00:03:49,237 --> 00:03:51,120 to hold the Crusader states together. 57 00:03:54,282 --> 00:03:58,321 This stunning fortress at Montfort stood guard over northern Palestine, 58 00:03:59,309 --> 00:04:03,384 protecting the port of Acre, the capital city of the Crusader East, 59 00:04:03,947 --> 00:04:06,761 about a hundred miles north of Jerusalem. 60 00:04:10,388 --> 00:04:13,351 It was here that the Holy Orders established their headquarters. 61 00:04:15,104 --> 00:04:16,624 And in the heart of the city, 62 00:04:17,466 --> 00:04:19,224 archaeological excavations have uncovered the remains 63 00:04:19,713 --> 00:04:21,867 of one of their magnificent command centres, 64 00:04:25,010 --> 00:04:28,007 a demonstration of the Holy Orders' extraordinary wealth, 65 00:04:28,833 --> 00:04:32,798 which, until recently, lay almost completely buried underground. 66 00:04:38,239 --> 00:04:41,033 This remarkable complex was built by the Hospitallers, 67 00:04:41,729 --> 00:04:43,863 one of the greatest military orders. 68 00:04:44,511 --> 00:04:47,132 It's extraordinary to think that until a few decades ago, 69 00:04:47,943 --> 00:04:50,834 much of this compound remained buried under rubble, 70 00:04:51,663 --> 00:04:55,055 and it's only been revealed now by tireless archaeological excavation. 71 00:04:55,715 --> 00:04:59,594 The sheer scale and majesty of this place revealed the power 72 00:05:00,207 --> 00:05:02,014 and wealth of the Hospitallers. 73 00:05:02,492 --> 00:05:06,501 This is a monument to rival anything in the Middle Ages. 74 00:05:08,634 --> 00:05:13,713 The Hospitallers began as a charitable order devoted to caring for the poor and sick. 75 00:05:14,463 --> 00:05:16,439 But soon, like their Templar brethren, 76 00:05:17,093 --> 00:05:19,543 they embraced the Crusading ideal. 77 00:05:23,214 --> 00:05:24,540 Eight hundred years ago, 78 00:05:25,046 --> 00:05:27,056 these chambers would have been a frenetic hive 79 00:05:27,745 --> 00:05:29,979 of military and logistical organization. 80 00:05:31,210 --> 00:05:35,899 But this complex also stood at the heart of an international financial institution, 81 00:05:37,407 --> 00:05:43,410 because these Christian knights were not just engaged in the business of Holy War. 82 00:05:45,112 --> 00:05:49,000 The Military Orders received lavish donations from Europe's nobility, 83 00:05:49,830 --> 00:05:51,890 and also became heavily involved in trade, 84 00:05:52,469 --> 00:05:54,361 farming, and manufacture. 85 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:56,334 By the end of the 12th century, 86 00:05:56,906 --> 00:05:58,618 the Templars had developed such an elaborate 87 00:05:59,190 --> 00:06:01,949 and secure financial system that they virtually became 88 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,810 the bankers of Europe and of the Crusading movement. 89 00:06:06,853 --> 00:06:09,556 In what was essentially the first use of a cheque, 90 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:14,357 it became possible to deposit moneys in, say, Paris, 91 00:06:15,037 --> 00:06:18,201 receive a credit note, and then cash this in the Holy Land. 92 00:06:20,731 --> 00:06:22,484 Alongside the affluence of the Military Orders, 93 00:06:23,194 --> 00:06:27,392 Acre emerged as a bustling centre of trade between Islam and Europe, 94 00:06:28,672 --> 00:06:32,356 In fact, we now know that the Crusader states were actually 95 00:06:33,137 --> 00:06:35,563 minting their own money, so that even in the midst of holy war, 96 00:06:36,425 --> 00:06:39,415 they could trade with their supposed Muslim enemies. 97 00:06:43,672 --> 00:06:45,955 The whole economy, basically, of the Crusader Kingdom, 98 00:06:46,201 --> 00:06:49,695 was based on this imitation of gold coin, 99 00:06:50,490 --> 00:06:53,242 and the coins are Arabic coins,with Arabic script, 100 00:06:53,743 --> 00:06:57,073 and they are basically imitations made of the coins 101 00:06:57,786 --> 00:06:59,873 that were produced in Egypt. 102 00:07:00,616 --> 00:07:02,705 Except for these gold coins, the Crusaders also minted 103 00:07:03,878 --> 00:07:07,145 these Western-looking dinars. 104 00:07:07,758 --> 00:07:09,542 This was the typical coin of the West, 105 00:07:10,502 --> 00:07:12,322 and, besides this one, we also have... 106 00:07:12,999 --> 00:07:15,177 I brought an example of a coin which was minted here in Acre, 107 00:07:15,739 --> 00:07:19,476 and which was probably a fraction of this one again. 108 00:07:20,045 --> 00:07:22,063 So what you see, basically, on this table is, more or less, 109 00:07:22,681 --> 00:07:24,861 the monetary system of the Crusader Kingdom at that period, 110 00:07:26,296 --> 00:07:28,053 and these coins are minted in the millions. 111 00:07:33,073 --> 00:07:34,829 The moment the Crusaders set foot in the East, 112 00:07:35,605 --> 00:07:38,744 they, of course, understood that they had to fit in economically. 113 00:07:41,595 --> 00:07:44,702 To build a castle, the quantities of money that were involved, 114 00:07:45,428 --> 00:07:47,582 we're talking about two million. 115 00:07:49,413 --> 00:07:50,672 Millions of gold coins, 116 00:07:51,557 --> 00:07:53,513 just in the building of a castle over a two-year period. 117 00:07:54,499 --> 00:07:57,877 So the investments, what you see around you of Crusader Acre, 118 00:07:58,622 --> 00:08:03,191 the buildings, the stone, the masons, the people involved, 119 00:08:04,197 --> 00:08:06,867 it must have cost an enormous amount of money and it shows that societies 120 00:08:07,397 --> 00:08:10,829 were at war with each other, but underneath, trade went on. 121 00:08:11,605 --> 00:08:13,833 And it only became bigger and bigger. 122 00:08:21,807 --> 00:08:24,569 In the midst of this tide of trade and earthly transgression, 123 00:08:25,572 --> 00:08:29,257 it seemed the Christians had forgotten their sacred struggle for Jerusalem. 124 00:08:33,315 --> 00:08:38,313 At the same time, the Islamic East had fragmented after Saladin's death. 125 00:08:39,262 --> 00:08:40,511 His heirs, the Ayyubids, 126 00:08:41,323 --> 00:08:43,162 retained control of Egypt, Palestine and Syria. 127 00:08:46,441 --> 00:08:48,584 Ruled, in theory, by a sultan in Cairo, 128 00:08:49,590 --> 00:08:52,463 this was really little more than a loose coalition of rivals. 129 00:08:55,299 --> 00:08:57,750 Given the vast fortunes to be made through trade, 130 00:08:58,395 --> 00:09:00,162 by Christians and Muslims alike, 131 00:09:00,752 --> 00:09:05,100 both sides now had a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. 132 00:09:13,017 --> 00:09:15,853 Back in Europe, the crusading fire still burned. 133 00:09:16,927 --> 00:09:19,556 But its force was often directed away from the Holy Land, 134 00:09:20,576 --> 00:09:24,038 as the papacy launched campaigns against Southern French heretics, 135 00:09:24,803 --> 00:09:27,660 Baltic pagans and the Moors of Iberia. 136 00:09:28,764 --> 00:09:31,907 For 50 years, those few crusades that did reach the East 137 00:09:32,614 --> 00:09:35,093 failed to achieve any lasting conquests. 138 00:09:38,145 --> 00:09:40,082 The Crusade movement was now in crisis, 139 00:09:41,084 --> 00:09:44,742 and Jerusalem's recapture seemed like an impossible dream. 140 00:09:45,656 --> 00:09:47,844 What was needed was the leadership of a great European monarch, 141 00:09:48,685 --> 00:09:50,077 another Richard the Lionheart, 142 00:09:50,945 --> 00:09:53,254 who could spearhead a new campaign and galvanise support. 143 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,262 The only likely candidate was King Louis IX of France. 144 00:09:58,404 --> 00:10:02,245 Around 30 years of age, tall, pale skinned and slight of frame 145 00:10:03,377 --> 00:10:05,388 he was not quite the storybook crusade hero. 146 00:10:06,149 --> 00:10:09,184 But Louis was born of a line of kings who had waged a holy war 147 00:10:10,111 --> 00:10:13,567 and his royal blood was infused with the crusading impulse. 148 00:10:31,758 --> 00:10:33,491 Louis was a fanatically devoted Christian, 149 00:10:34,232 --> 00:10:36,663 obsessed with the life of Jesus Christ. 150 00:10:38,708 --> 00:10:41,191 In 1238, he obtained what was thought to be 151 00:10:41,391 --> 00:10:44,510 the actual Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus on the cross. 152 00:10:48,745 --> 00:10:51,701 The young king spent a fortune building this magnificent chapel 153 00:10:52,426 --> 00:10:56,114 in the heart of Paris to house his sacred relic. 154 00:10:59,020 --> 00:11:04,444 Even in his youth, the King was renowned for his intense spirituality. 155 00:11:05,250 --> 00:11:08,897 But at the age of 30, a grave personal crisis stirred in him 156 00:11:09,366 --> 00:11:12,515 a profound commitment to the Crusading cause. 157 00:11:15,606 --> 00:11:17,941 In 1244, Louis IX contracted a severe fever 158 00:11:18,705 --> 00:11:20,984 that brought him close to death. 159 00:11:21,718 --> 00:11:23,102 In the grip of this dire illness, 160 00:11:23,912 --> 00:11:27,193 Louis declared his unswerving determination to lead a crusade. 161 00:11:29,723 --> 00:11:32,291 Not since Richard the Lionheart, 70 years earlier, 162 00:11:33,231 --> 00:11:35,743 had a major monarch launched a crusade on this scale, 163 00:11:36,369 --> 00:11:38,750 with this degree of determination and devotion. 164 00:11:40,276 --> 00:11:41,758 In the months that followed, 165 00:11:41,958 --> 00:11:46,351 virtually all the great nobles of Northern France enlisted in the coming Holy War. 166 00:11:49,975 --> 00:11:53,821 One of the Crusade's most important recruits was a young knight 167 00:11:54,805 --> 00:11:56,007 named John of Joinville, 168 00:11:56,673 --> 00:12:00,415 a gifted writer, who became one of Louis' closest confidantes. 169 00:12:01,986 --> 00:12:04,023 As a participant in the coming crusade, 170 00:12:04,623 --> 00:12:07,069 John of Joinville came to know King Louis well, 171 00:12:08,043 --> 00:12:10,291 and witnessed the Holy War firsthand. 172 00:12:10,643 --> 00:12:14,335 Years later, he wrote a vivid account of his experiences on campaign, 173 00:12:15,251 --> 00:12:19,020 albeit one that portrayed Louis in a heroic and almost saintly light. 174 00:12:22,688 --> 00:12:24,090 "The epidemic in the camp began to grow worse. 175 00:12:24,768 --> 00:12:26,857 "Our men had so much dead flesh "on their gums 176 00:12:28,133 --> 00:12:31,602 "that the barbers had to remove it to enable them to chew food and swallow. 177 00:12:32,811 --> 00:12:35,076 "It was most pitiful to hear the moans of men, 178 00:12:35,783 --> 00:12:38,400 "from whom the dead flesh was being cut away, 179 00:12:39,608 --> 00:12:42,895 "for they moaned just like women in the pains of child birth." 180 00:12:49,691 --> 00:12:52,398 John of Joinville's King and hero, Louis IX, 181 00:12:53,223 --> 00:12:56,180 set out to perfect the art of crusading warfare. 182 00:12:57,557 --> 00:13:01,078 His campaign was driven by the same spiritual zeal that empowered 183 00:13:01,889 --> 00:13:04,492 the first Crusaders 150 years earlier, 184 00:13:05,543 --> 00:13:09,228 yet was underpinned by the most meticulous planning. 185 00:13:13,055 --> 00:13:16,226 This fortified town of Aigues-Mortes in Southern France 186 00:13:16,951 --> 00:13:20,122 became the European base of operations for Louis' crusade, 187 00:13:20,963 --> 00:13:23,243 and it was here that much of the logistical preparation 188 00:13:23,944 --> 00:13:26,196 for the expedition took place. 189 00:13:27,143 --> 00:13:29,882 To finance his campaign, Louis amassed a huge war chest. 190 00:13:30,501 --> 00:13:35,214 Royal accounts shows that in two years, he spent two million livres tournois, 191 00:13:35,686 --> 00:13:37,367 much of it on paying for his knights. 192 00:13:37,974 --> 00:13:42,332 Given that royal income was around 250,000 livres tournois per annum, 193 00:13:42,532 --> 00:13:44,327 this was a vast commitment. 194 00:13:45,013 --> 00:13:47,687 Louis effectively mortgaged France to pay for his crusade. 195 00:13:54,577 --> 00:13:57,913 In late August 1248, hundreds of ships set sail, 196 00:13:58,696 --> 00:14:00,511 carrying Louis' troops to war, 197 00:14:01,770 --> 00:14:04,841 a formidable Christian army, determined to defeat Islam, 198 00:14:05,594 --> 00:14:07,663 and recapture the Holy City of Jerusalem. 199 00:14:14,355 --> 00:14:15,318 "As far as your eye could behold, 200 00:14:15,905 --> 00:14:19,928 "the whole sea seemed to be covered by the canvas of the ships' sails, 201 00:14:20,602 --> 00:14:25,672 "whose number, large and small, was given as 1,800 vessels." 202 00:14:27,544 --> 00:14:28,829 King Louis stood at the head 203 00:14:29,579 --> 00:14:33,492 of the most perfectly prepared Crusader army ever to depart Europe, 204 00:14:34,090 --> 00:14:36,885 25,000 well-equipped, professional troops. 205 00:14:40,939 --> 00:14:42,753 But unlike the great Crusades of the past, 206 00:14:43,308 --> 00:14:45,435 their destination wasn't Palestine..... 207 00:14:47,257 --> 00:14:48,904 but Egypt. 208 00:14:50,953 --> 00:14:54,124 At first glance, the decision to launch a Crusader invasion of Egypt, 209 00:14:54,830 --> 00:14:57,094 rather than target Palestine and Jerusalem directly, 210 00:14:57,724 --> 00:14:59,127 might seem questionable. 211 00:14:59,804 --> 00:15:02,916 But Louis' actions actually made perfect strategic sense. 212 00:15:03,727 --> 00:15:06,387 Even if some desperate attempt to take the Holy City succeeded, 213 00:15:07,422 --> 00:15:11,315 Jerusalem could never be held, given its isolated position. 214 00:15:12,377 --> 00:15:13,748 But by attacking Egypt, 215 00:15:14,275 --> 00:15:15,919 the heartland of Islam's economic and military strength, 216 00:15:16,570 --> 00:15:18,530 Louis hoped to deliver a telling and deathly blow 217 00:15:19,135 --> 00:15:20,733 to his enemy's power base. 218 00:15:21,361 --> 00:15:25,431 From now on, the war for the Holy Land would be waged here, in Egypt. 219 00:15:26,925 --> 00:15:29,922 Louis' target was Cairo, capital of the Ayyubids, 220 00:15:30,801 --> 00:15:32,097 the fragmented dynasty 221 00:15:32,629 --> 00:15:35,109 whose grip on the Muslim Middle East was faltering. 222 00:15:37,098 --> 00:15:39,710 The French King reasoned that victory here, in North Africa, 223 00:15:40,380 --> 00:15:42,766 would undermine Islam's hold over the Near East, 224 00:15:44,619 --> 00:15:49,715 ushering in a new age of strength and security for the Crusader states, 225 00:15:50,315 --> 00:15:52,957 and opening the road to Jerusalem's recapture. 226 00:15:55,845 --> 00:16:01,522 On 5th June 1249, the Christian army arrived at the mouth of the River Nile, 227 00:16:02,724 --> 00:16:05,855 where they found the armies of Islam waiting for them. 228 00:16:08,428 --> 00:16:12,541 The full array of the Sultan's forces was drawn up along the shore. 229 00:16:14,312 --> 00:16:15,801 It was a sight to enchant the eye, 230 00:16:16,807 --> 00:16:18,715 for the Sultan's standards were all of gold, 231 00:16:19,357 --> 00:16:22,731 and where the sun caught them, they shone resplendent. 232 00:16:28,231 --> 00:16:30,213 This would be Louis'D-Day, 233 00:16:31,102 --> 00:16:33,625 a daring beach landing here at Damietta. 234 00:16:34,879 --> 00:16:40,028 The King was gambling the fate of his entire expedition on this one moment. 235 00:16:42,053 --> 00:16:44,789 Failure would end the Holy War even before it had begun. 236 00:16:48,497 --> 00:16:50,203 As the first Crusaders began to land, 237 00:16:50,904 --> 00:16:54,077 fierce fighting broke out up and down the coastline. 238 00:16:55,693 --> 00:16:58,595 The Muslims launched withering volleys of arrows and spears 239 00:16:59,295 --> 00:17:01,188 onto the Christian landing craft, 240 00:17:02,043 --> 00:17:04,531 and a desperate struggle for the beach commenced. 241 00:17:06,583 --> 00:17:08,370 Many boats couldn't get close enough to land 242 00:17:09,023 --> 00:17:10,691 and, with the possibility of the attack collapsing, 243 00:17:11,528 --> 00:17:14,983 urgent orders went out for the Crusaders to wade ashore. 244 00:17:15,825 --> 00:17:17,323 When Louis, watching from his landing craft, 245 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,541 saw his Royal Standard, the Oriflame, planted into the sands of Egypt, 246 00:17:23,586 --> 00:17:26,596 he leapt over board into chest-high water. 247 00:17:27,556 --> 00:17:30,533 Once ashore, with his blood up, the King had to be physically restrained 248 00:17:31,268 --> 00:17:34,125 to stop him charging headlong into combat. 249 00:17:44,377 --> 00:17:48,241 In the beach assault, the Muslims were said to have lost some 500 men, 250 00:17:48,966 --> 00:17:51,619 while the Crusaders suffered minimal casualties. 251 00:17:52,325 --> 00:17:54,826 For the Christians, the entire landing had been a startling, 252 00:17:55,539 --> 00:17:57,398 almost miraculous, success. 253 00:17:57,939 --> 00:17:59,448 A beach head had been established 254 00:17:59,946 --> 00:18:03,516 and many believed that they'd been lifted to victory by the hand of God. 255 00:18:04,190 --> 00:18:07,641 It was the most stunning opening foray of any crusade, 256 00:18:08,216 --> 00:18:12,058 and overall victory now seemed all but assured. 257 00:18:21,214 --> 00:18:23,641 Louis' army now marched south along the Nile. 258 00:18:24,316 --> 00:18:29,314 Some argued for an attack on the strategically vital port of Alexandria. 259 00:18:29,936 --> 00:18:33,551 But the King decided to risk an advance on Cairo itself, 260 00:18:34,637 --> 00:18:37,233 another huge gamble, one that would strike at the beating heart 261 00:18:38,275 --> 00:18:40,477 of Ayyubid power in the Middle East. 262 00:18:43,812 --> 00:18:47,005 But to reach Cairo, Louis would first have to defeat a mighty Muslim army 263 00:18:47,898 --> 00:18:51,202 that had now gathered here, on the banks of the Nile, at Mansourah. 264 00:18:55,761 --> 00:18:57,403 On the 21st December 1249, 265 00:18:58,037 --> 00:19:01,741 Louis' expedition reached the River Tanis, a tributary of the Nile. 266 00:19:02,766 --> 00:19:05,783 Thousands of Muslim troops were camped on the opposite shore, 267 00:19:06,667 --> 00:19:09,853 and beyond them stood the fortified town of Mansourah. 268 00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:17,524 The water separating the Christians and Muslims was too deep 269 00:19:18,070 --> 00:19:19,816 and fast flowing to cross. 270 00:19:21,164 --> 00:19:22,600 But just as stalemate seemed inevitable, 271 00:19:23,164 --> 00:19:26,782 Louis made contact with an Egyptian traitor willing to betray his people, 272 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:30,148 an informant who led the Christians 273 00:19:30,715 --> 00:19:33,811 to a secret crossing of the Tanis further downstream. 274 00:19:35,197 --> 00:19:36,683 On the 8th of February, King Louis 275 00:19:37,214 --> 00:19:41,529 and a select band of his troops began to ford the deep river. 276 00:19:42,130 --> 00:19:45,567 The vanguard was led by his brother, Robert of Artois, 277 00:19:46,306 --> 00:19:48,146 alongside a party of Templar Knights. 278 00:19:48,779 --> 00:19:52,952 As dawn broke, the impetuous Robert decided to launch an immediate assault, 279 00:19:53,559 --> 00:19:56,657 directly contradicting Louis' explicit orders. 280 00:19:57,354 --> 00:19:59,607 The Muslim camp was caught completely unawares, 281 00:20:00,256 --> 00:20:02,691 and a mass indiscriminate slaughter began. 282 00:20:03,259 --> 00:20:07,300 The Muslim General, Fakhr al-Din, was set upon by a party of Templars 283 00:20:07,884 --> 00:20:10,955 and cut down by two mighty sword blows. 284 00:20:13,099 --> 00:20:15,593 As they rampaged through the Muslim camp, 285 00:20:16,209 --> 00:20:18,722 it seemed the Crusaders would be victorious. 286 00:20:19,335 --> 00:20:20,785 But in the heat of battle, 287 00:20:21,451 --> 00:20:23,772 the King's brother made a catastrophic error of judgement, 288 00:20:24,323 --> 00:20:26,867 urging his troops on to attack Mansourah itself. 289 00:20:27,574 --> 00:20:30,748 Once inside, the town's gates were closed behind the Crusaders, 290 00:20:31,528 --> 00:20:36,676 and trapped within, Robert and his men were butchered almost to a man. 291 00:20:43,070 --> 00:20:47,888 Amidst the chaos, Louis tried to rally his remaining men back at the Tanis. 292 00:20:51,979 --> 00:20:56,744 The King stubbornly refused to retreat, and for two dreadful winter months, 293 00:20:57,469 --> 00:21:00,254 his Crusaders endured near-daily Muslim assaults, 294 00:21:00,929 --> 00:21:03,023 sustaining crippling casualties. 295 00:21:04,362 --> 00:21:08,046 The Christians were ravaged by disease and starvation. 296 00:21:08,623 --> 00:21:11,583 Even the King was struck down by illness. 297 00:21:13,216 --> 00:21:14,661 When he finally did try to pull back, 298 00:21:15,170 --> 00:21:20,105 marching north towards Damietta, Louis' bedraggled army was routed. 299 00:21:22,923 --> 00:21:25,935 At nightfall on the 4th of April 1250, 300 00:21:26,686 --> 00:21:29,882 Muslim troops eagerly fell upon the fleeing Christians. 301 00:21:30,834 --> 00:21:34,929 The Crusader King's audacious gamble had failed. 302 00:21:46,310 --> 00:21:48,636 Louis IX's Crusade had collapsed in confusion. 303 00:21:49,197 --> 00:21:53,446 Reluctant to abandon his men, but debilitated by disease, 304 00:21:53,991 --> 00:21:57,399 the King was persuaded to take flight. 305 00:22:00,460 --> 00:22:01,986 Louis, so stricken with dysentery 306 00:22:02,511 --> 00:22:04,363 that he had to have a hole cut in his breeches, 307 00:22:04,956 --> 00:22:07,102 was spirited away by a loyal group of lieutenants. 308 00:22:07,549 --> 00:22:10,578 He was eventually forced to take refuge in a small village, 309 00:22:11,156 --> 00:22:13,901 and there, cowering, half dead in a squalid hut, 310 00:22:14,577 --> 00:22:17,322 the mighty King of France was taken captive. 311 00:22:18,215 --> 00:22:19,727 His dream of conquering Egypt 312 00:22:20,178 --> 00:22:23,133 had ended in abject failure and personal humiliation. 313 00:22:31,476 --> 00:22:34,873 This cataclysm on the Nile stunned and bewildered Christian Europe. 314 00:22:36,382 --> 00:22:39,947 Never before had a Western King been taken captive during a Crusade. 315 00:22:42,193 --> 00:22:45,899 Louis was eventually freed after payment of a colossal ransom 316 00:22:46,099 --> 00:22:47,829 and returned home in shame. 317 00:22:49,283 --> 00:22:51,000 If anything, his piety deepened. 318 00:22:51,537 --> 00:22:53,829 Indeed, he was later canonized as a Saint. 319 00:22:54,904 --> 00:22:58,742 Yet for all his devotion, the perfect Crusader King died 320 00:22:59,401 --> 00:23:02,118 without seeing Jerusalem re-conquered. 321 00:23:08,755 --> 00:23:13,233 Louis' defeat in Egypt marked the end of the Great Crusades in the Near East. 322 00:23:14,202 --> 00:23:17,190 It also spelt disaster for the surviving Crusader states. 323 00:23:18,188 --> 00:23:19,851 For what no-one in the West yet realised 324 00:23:20,859 --> 00:23:23,063 was that it had been no ordinary Muslim army 325 00:23:23,821 --> 00:23:26,407 that shattered the French King's crusading dream. 326 00:23:43,587 --> 00:23:45,879 One of the reasons for Louis' defeat at Mansourah 327 00:23:46,628 --> 00:23:49,007 was that he faced a deadly new adversary. 328 00:23:49,593 --> 00:23:54,882 Spearheading the Muslim assault against him were elite Mamluks, or slave soldiers. 329 00:23:54,928 --> 00:23:57,393 Taken captive in the Russian Steppes as boys, 330 00:23:58,411 --> 00:24:02,254 these Mamluks were sold to Islamic rulers, indoctrinated in the Muslim faith, 331 00:24:02,962 --> 00:24:05,182 and trained in the arts of war. 332 00:24:06,938 --> 00:24:08,441 These fiercely loyal and highly professional warriors 333 00:24:09,044 --> 00:24:13,191 would come to play a decisive role in the final chapter of the Crusades. 334 00:24:16,473 --> 00:24:19,167 Above all, these slave soldiers were consummate horsemen. 335 00:24:20,099 --> 00:24:23,397 Schooled in riding from boyhood, they trained relentlessly, 336 00:24:24,056 --> 00:24:27,341 using an early form of polo to hone their skills. 337 00:24:29,903 --> 00:24:32,204 At first, they had served Saladin's heirs. 338 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,961 But in the aftermath of Louis' defeat, the Mamluks swept to power in Cairo. 339 00:24:39,521 --> 00:24:42,636 Slaves now became the masters of the Islamic world. 340 00:24:45,984 --> 00:24:51,017 The advent of these mighty Mamluks transformed the war for the Holy Land. 341 00:24:52,191 --> 00:24:56,965 But in the Crusades' final chapter, Islam's main enemy was not the Christians, 342 00:24:58,224 --> 00:25:01,241 but another band of empire-building warriors. 343 00:25:01,982 --> 00:25:04,957 Nomadic tribesmen from the vast plains of Asia, 344 00:25:05,638 --> 00:25:08,870 who had united under the leadership of the legendary Genghis Khan, 345 00:25:09,731 --> 00:25:11,650 they were the Mongols. 346 00:25:12,662 --> 00:25:14,480 And it was their titanic clash with the Mamluks 347 00:25:15,522 --> 00:25:19,620 that would dictate the fate of the remaining Crusader states in the East. 348 00:25:23,459 --> 00:25:27,004 The Mongols were a force unparalleled in the medieval world, 349 00:25:27,964 --> 00:25:29,340 perhaps in all human history, 350 00:25:29,873 --> 00:25:34,836 unrelenting, seemingly unstoppable, and utterly uncompromising. 351 00:25:35,616 --> 00:25:37,186 Their rise was mercurial. 352 00:25:37,695 --> 00:25:41,388 In the space of just 50 years, they exploded across the face of the Earth. 353 00:25:43,184 --> 00:25:47,814 By 1260, the vast Mongol empire stretched from China to Europe, 354 00:25:48,455 --> 00:25:51,891 from the Indian Ocean to the northern wastes of Siberia. 355 00:25:53,002 --> 00:25:55,241 They had crushed all who stood in their way, 356 00:25:56,215 --> 00:25:59,367 and now their eyes were fixed on the Holy Land. 357 00:26:01,241 --> 00:26:04,764 It was Genghis Khan who had put the Mongol Empire on the map. 358 00:26:06,553 --> 00:26:12,087 By the 1250s, rule had passed to his successors, who led an invasion of Iraq. 359 00:26:13,383 --> 00:26:18,005 There, in 1258, they crushed Baghdad, devastating the city, 360 00:26:18,673 --> 00:26:20,949 putting 30,000 Muslims to the sword. 361 00:26:23,301 --> 00:26:26,846 Only the Mamluks in Egypt could now prevent a Mongol apocalypse, 362 00:26:27,631 --> 00:26:30,081 engulfing the Islamic East. 363 00:26:31,384 --> 00:26:35,307 In the early summer of 1260, envoys from the Mongol General Hulegu, 364 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,532 grandson to Genghis Khan, arrived here in Cairo, 365 00:26:39,088 --> 00:26:41,403 demanding the Mamluk surrender. 366 00:26:43,762 --> 00:26:46,875 "Only those who beg our protection will be safe. 367 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,967 "We will shatter your mosques, reveal the weakness of your God, 368 00:26:51,992 --> 00:26:55,434 "and then we will kill your children and your old men together. 369 00:26:56,616 --> 00:27:00,444 "At present, you are the only enemy against whom we have to march." 370 00:27:03,846 --> 00:27:06,063 The Mamluk Sultan Qutuz responded 371 00:27:06,859 --> 00:27:09,757 by ordering the Mongol envoys' immediate execution. 372 00:27:11,670 --> 00:27:15,525 Their bodies were cut in half and their heads hung from this city gate. 373 00:27:17,962 --> 00:27:22,312 With this defiant statement of intent, the Mamluks went to war. 374 00:27:27,723 --> 00:27:29,279 Sweeping south through Syria, 375 00:27:30,180 --> 00:27:32,237 the Mongols were now just 50 miles from Jerusalem. 376 00:27:33,380 --> 00:27:35,631 For the Mamluks, the fate of the Holy Land 377 00:27:36,167 --> 00:27:39,238 and the future of Islam itself was at stake. 378 00:27:41,436 --> 00:27:45,359 And they decided to confront the Mongol horde head-on in Galilee, 379 00:27:46,935 --> 00:27:49,041 here at Ayn Jalut. 380 00:27:51,396 --> 00:27:54,246 I think, even from the beginning, it was a far-fetched venture. 381 00:27:55,195 --> 00:27:56,555 The Mongols had a terrible reputation. 382 00:27:57,217 --> 00:27:59,048 They had already taken most of Syria. 383 00:27:59,835 --> 00:28:01,909 They had behind them, of course, the entire Mongol empire. 384 00:28:02,869 --> 00:28:04,217 They were virtually undefeated. 385 00:28:04,793 --> 00:28:08,812 Their conquests were accompanied by destruction, by death, by massacres, 386 00:28:09,803 --> 00:28:13,351 and they're the scourge of the civilized world. 387 00:28:14,450 --> 00:28:16,253 The Mamluks were good soldiers too, but they, 388 00:28:16,737 --> 00:28:22,473 since their victories against the Crusaders and... against Louis in 1249, 1250, 389 00:28:23,447 --> 00:28:25,452 they really hadn't had any great victories. 390 00:28:26,245 --> 00:28:27,944 So it was a bit of gamble, and basically, 391 00:28:28,445 --> 00:28:30,216 Qutuz was putting everything into one pot, 392 00:28:31,201 --> 00:28:33,909 he was betting everything that he had on this venture. 393 00:28:34,807 --> 00:28:39,348 If I was gambling in Acre, or in Damascus, or in Cairo, or in Baghdad, 394 00:28:40,369 --> 00:28:44,167 or anywhere else in the area, I would probably put my money on the Mongols. 395 00:28:45,500 --> 00:28:49,469 The Mamluk vanguard was led by a fearsome general named Baybars, 396 00:28:50,061 --> 00:28:51,906 a blue-eyed, Caucasian slave warrior, 397 00:28:52,481 --> 00:28:56,021 who had fought against the Crusaders at Mansourah a decade earlier. 398 00:28:57,225 --> 00:28:59,666 Contemporary accounts describe how the Mongols launched 399 00:29:00,035 --> 00:29:04,184 two devastating charges that shook the Mamluk army to the core. 400 00:29:04,767 --> 00:29:08,985 But teetering on the brink of defeat, Qutuz managed to rally his troops 401 00:29:09,094 --> 00:29:13,325 and mount a decisive counterattack that shattered the Mongol lines 402 00:29:13,781 --> 00:29:16,675 and left their commander slain upon the field. 403 00:29:19,225 --> 00:29:20,571 It's not the first time the Mongols had been defeated, 404 00:29:21,077 --> 00:29:23,901 but it was the first time in a long time, in this area, they'd been defeated. 405 00:29:24,399 --> 00:29:26,397 So the Mongols are thrown out of Syria 406 00:29:27,069 --> 00:29:29,028 and the Mamluks take over Syria up to the Euphrates River 407 00:29:29,669 --> 00:29:32,783 with the exception, of course, on the coast where the Crusaders are still found. 408 00:29:38,557 --> 00:29:41,761 Ayn Jalut was an astonishing triumph for Islam. 409 00:29:42,769 --> 00:29:46,039 Although the Mongols continued to pose a terrifying threat, 410 00:29:46,777 --> 00:29:48,637 their advance had been halted. 411 00:29:49,372 --> 00:29:52,788 But there was a twist to the tale of this historic Mamluk victory. 412 00:29:54,911 --> 00:29:59,250 In October 1260, on their victorious march back south to Cairo, 413 00:29:59,926 --> 00:30:03,616 the Mamluk army stopped in a remote spot in the desert. 414 00:30:04,533 --> 00:30:06,930 Qutuz wanted to indulge his passion for hare coursing. 415 00:30:07,728 --> 00:30:10,554 He was joined by a small group of elite Mamluk commanders, 416 00:30:11,270 --> 00:30:15,360 amongst them Baybars, the man who had led the vanguard at Ayn Jalut. 417 00:30:17,897 --> 00:30:21,495 A count suggests that Baybars asked the Sultan a favour, 418 00:30:22,011 --> 00:30:24,869 and when Qutuz agreed, he reached out to kiss the Sultan's hand. 419 00:30:25,918 --> 00:30:29,969 At this moment, Baybars gripped the Sultan's arms to stop him drawing a sword 420 00:30:30,993 --> 00:30:34,061 and another conspirator stabbed Qutuz in the neck. 421 00:30:34,869 --> 00:30:38,364 The Sultan died beneath a furious torrent of blows. 422 00:30:45,375 --> 00:30:48,800 Before Ayn Jalut, Qutuz and Baybars had been bitter enemies, 423 00:30:49,536 --> 00:30:53,220 rivals who briefly put aside their differences to face the Mongols. 424 00:30:56,063 --> 00:31:01,790 Now, with Qutuz's assassination, Baybars was free to seize the reins of power. 425 00:31:04,190 --> 00:31:07,160 After more than a century and a half of war in the Holy Land, 426 00:31:07,847 --> 00:31:09,365 it would be this remarkable man 427 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,999 who would determine the outcome of the Crusades. 428 00:31:29,236 --> 00:31:31,591 Baybars' story is all but forgotten in the West. 429 00:31:32,808 --> 00:31:34,430 No images of him survive. 430 00:31:35,066 --> 00:31:36,749 Few recognize his name today. 431 00:31:38,267 --> 00:31:42,074 And yet this is the true Islamic champion of the Crusading age. 432 00:31:43,459 --> 00:31:45,676 The man who turned back the savage Mongol horde, 433 00:31:46,374 --> 00:31:48,268 who bent the Muslim world to his will, 434 00:31:49,284 --> 00:31:53,324 and who brought an unparalleled ferocity to the jihad against Christendom. 435 00:31:57,635 --> 00:31:59,390 Once he had seized power, 436 00:32:00,057 --> 00:32:04,309 Baybars' most urgent concern was the legitimisation of his own rule 437 00:32:04,811 --> 00:32:07,048 and the consolidation of Mamluk power in Egypt. 438 00:32:07,433 --> 00:32:10,968 He dedicated the early years of his reign to reshaping the Muslim East, 439 00:32:11,724 --> 00:32:14,463 forging a potent and authoritarian regime. 440 00:32:15,173 --> 00:32:17,087 One of his most cunning political moves 441 00:32:17,743 --> 00:32:20,599 was to re-establish the Sunni Caliphate here in Cairo 442 00:32:21,275 --> 00:32:23,567 because the Caliph, as a spiritual figurehead, 443 00:32:24,293 --> 00:32:26,768 could offer him the legitimacy he desired. 444 00:32:27,813 --> 00:32:29,189 Once he'd selected a suitable candidate, 445 00:32:29,857 --> 00:32:32,731 Baybars publicly swore allegiance to his new puppet 446 00:32:33,609 --> 00:32:35,542 and then pledged to uphold and defend the faith, 447 00:32:36,132 --> 00:32:39,982 to rule justly, and to wage jihad against the enemies of Islam. 448 00:32:40,552 --> 00:32:44,772 In return, the Caliph appointed him as Sultan of the entire Muslim East, 449 00:32:45,005 --> 00:32:48,888 giving him free reign to forge an empire and to crush his enemies. 450 00:32:54,392 --> 00:32:59,327 In early summer 1261, Baybars staged a spectacular procession 451 00:33:00,095 --> 00:33:03,801 through the streets of Cairo, to proclaim his new power and authority. 452 00:33:08,844 --> 00:33:12,336 Dressed in his finery, Baybars and the new Caliph rode in procession 453 00:33:12,895 --> 00:33:14,509 through the heart of Cairo. 454 00:33:15,623 --> 00:33:17,559 Baybars was to be invested as the Sultan, 455 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:20,523 the ruler of Egypt and the Muslim East. 456 00:33:21,353 --> 00:33:23,481 His subjects would come to love and fear their new master, 457 00:33:24,476 --> 00:33:27,319 Baybars, the blue-eyed former slave. 458 00:33:30,456 --> 00:33:33,466 Transfixed and terrified by the spectre of another Mongol invasion, 459 00:33:34,208 --> 00:33:37,704 the Muslim Near East willingly accepted Baybars' tyrannical rule. 460 00:33:38,522 --> 00:33:41,042 And with unrivalled and absolute power in his hands, 461 00:33:41,742 --> 00:33:44,802 he set about creating the perfect military state. 462 00:33:51,706 --> 00:33:56,380 The Mamluks dedicated themselves to military training, striving to achieve perfection as warriors. 463 00:33:57,341 --> 00:33:59,266 They were taught to deliver precise sword strikes 464 00:34:00,308 --> 00:34:03,017 by repeating the same cut up to a thousand times a day. 465 00:34:03,961 --> 00:34:07,453 Baybars encouraged his troops to experiment with new weapons and techniques. 466 00:34:08,541 --> 00:34:10,984 His army became the most highly trained and disciplined force 467 00:34:11,442 --> 00:34:15,549 of the Crusader era, more than a match for Mongols and Christians alike. 468 00:34:31,176 --> 00:34:33,097 Baybars' Mamluks were a force more numerous, 469 00:34:33,586 --> 00:34:39,151 disciplined and ferocious than any yet encountered in the war for the Holy Land. 470 00:34:40,596 --> 00:34:44,500 And one with no interest in reaching an accommodation with the Crusader states. 471 00:34:47,332 --> 00:34:53,484 These enfeebled Christian enclaves, now encircled by the Sultan's mighty Middle Eastern empire 472 00:34:54,007 --> 00:34:55,851 were horrendously vulnerable and exposed. 473 00:34:59,370 --> 00:35:03,957 In the spring of 1265, Baybars marched out of Egypt. 474 00:35:04,833 --> 00:35:09,119 He'd actually mobilised his troops to counter an expected Mongol invasion of Syria, 475 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:11,483 but this never materialised. 476 00:35:12,561 --> 00:35:14,234 And ever the ruthlessly efficient commander, 477 00:35:14,821 --> 00:35:19,144 with his army already in the field, he turned his gaze on the Crusader states. 478 00:35:20,858 --> 00:35:26,211 Weak as they were, the Christians could still turn to the elite knights of the Military Orders, 479 00:35:26,978 --> 00:35:29,910 and to the formidable fortresses that had preserved and protected 480 00:35:30,406 --> 00:35:33,505 their fragile foothold in the Holy Land for nearly two centuries. 481 00:35:38,404 --> 00:35:43,336 Arsuf, like several other fortresses throughout the Levant, is a masterpiece. 482 00:35:45,353 --> 00:35:49,026 It is the last word in military architecture. 483 00:35:50,140 --> 00:35:53,309 The complexity, the quality of the building here, 484 00:35:54,375 --> 00:35:59,298 the quality of the garrison inside, it's just a remarkable piece of work. 485 00:36:02,382 --> 00:36:07,085 Capturing the castle at Arsuf would be a fearsome challenge for any army. 486 00:36:08,737 --> 00:36:10,931 Yet when Baybars arrived here in March 487 00:36:11,669 --> 00:36:13,952 and deployed the full force of his Mamluk military machine, 488 00:36:14,848 --> 00:36:19,636 he quickly proved his mastery of siege warfare, down to the finest detail. 489 00:36:23,099 --> 00:36:26,832 Baybars was an incredibly well-organised sultan. 490 00:36:27,787 --> 00:36:30,234 His logistics are a masterpiece. 491 00:36:31,313 --> 00:36:33,867 When we go back to the archaeological finds here, 492 00:36:35,078 --> 00:36:38,950 you can see it, you can see how careful he was about the planning. 493 00:36:42,422 --> 00:36:43,612 So if you look at all the walls around you, 494 00:36:44,039 --> 00:36:46,837 you look at the foundations of the castle, you look at the towers, 495 00:36:48,256 --> 00:36:52,550 it is built out of local stone, it's a very porous type of beach stone. 496 00:36:53,458 --> 00:36:55,756 You look at the catapult stones, this is not from here. 497 00:36:56,748 --> 00:37:01,014 The catapult stones are made out of a very, very dense, hard lime, 498 00:37:02,032 --> 00:37:05,365 that comes from the foot hills of the Samarian hills. 499 00:37:06,416 --> 00:37:08,681 So when he was planning out the siege, he says, 500 00:37:09,612 --> 00:37:12,926 "I cannot bombard the castle with the same stones 501 00:37:13,930 --> 00:37:16,309 "that the castles are built here, "because there's not going to be any impact." 502 00:37:17,827 --> 00:37:24,223 So he's got somebody, 15 kilometres away from here, chipping those stones away. 503 00:37:25,223 --> 00:37:27,729 That is a lot of work. I mean, it will take at least, 504 00:37:28,546 --> 00:37:31,616 I would say a week, maybe ten days, just to get your ammunition ready. 505 00:37:36,087 --> 00:37:40,058 Baybars knew he had time. 506 00:37:40,983 --> 00:37:44,091 There was no help that was going to come from outside. 507 00:37:49,286 --> 00:37:52,360 And because they did not have help coming from anywhere, 508 00:37:53,998 --> 00:37:57,166 they were fighting a lost battle. 509 00:38:03,846 --> 00:38:08,465 After three days of fierce fighting, Baybars took control of Arsuf. 510 00:38:09,110 --> 00:38:11,872 Those Christians who survived were taken into slavery, 511 00:38:12,702 --> 00:38:15,425 and then forced to demolish their own castle. 512 00:38:18,473 --> 00:38:23,008 Baybars was on his way to fight the mongols, he was not planning a beseige 513 00:38:27,861 --> 00:38:30,163 but he has got the army here, 514 00:38:30,363 --> 00:38:36,895 he has already paid them to arive from Cairo to the coast, so why not utilize them? 515 00:38:37,095 --> 00:38:38,290 And he done it. 516 00:38:41,435 --> 00:38:47,858 Baybars' policy of devastation meant that the Crusader states now faced total annihilation. 517 00:38:49,665 --> 00:38:52,191 But the Sultan was not just a brutal military genius, 518 00:38:53,306 --> 00:38:55,895 he was also a frighteningly efficient bureaucrat, 519 00:38:57,501 --> 00:39:00,731 who imposed his will across the Islamic world. 520 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,497 So this is a town called Lod. 521 00:39:17,807 --> 00:39:20,010 In the Middle Ages, this place lay on a key route through Palestine, 522 00:39:21,147 --> 00:39:23,752 and it still holds one of the great treasures of the Crusading era. 523 00:39:24,833 --> 00:39:26,231 Or be it, a little bit hard to find. 524 00:39:34,958 --> 00:39:38,694 Far from the usual trail of awesome Crusader castles and mighty cities, 525 00:39:39,706 --> 00:39:46,500 it's nevertheless a potent reminder of his unique achievements, an unloved medieval treasure. 526 00:39:59,964 --> 00:40:01,849 This is Baybars' bridge. 527 00:40:02,178 --> 00:40:05,371 Still standing, almost 700 years after it was build. 528 00:40:05,833 --> 00:40:08,996 and, incredible, it's still got traffic running over the top of it. 529 00:40:09,747 --> 00:40:12,047 We know it was constructed under Baybars' rule 530 00:40:12,477 --> 00:40:14,236 because it bears his famous lion emblem. 531 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:17,878 And symbols like this appeared on scores of bridges 532 00:40:18,245 --> 00:40:21,405 constructed across the Near East under his reign. 533 00:40:22,900 --> 00:40:26,388 It may not look that impressive, but this unassuming bridge was 534 00:40:27,365 --> 00:40:29,313 just as important to Baybars' military strength and power 535 00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:33,227 as any of the magnificent weapons he could bring to bear in war. 536 00:40:36,947 --> 00:40:40,697 Before Baybars, no-one had been able to rule the Near East from Egypt 537 00:40:41,425 --> 00:40:44,794 because they were unable to communicate with the far reaches of their realm. 538 00:40:45,862 --> 00:40:47,756 Baybars understood this truth 539 00:40:48,359 --> 00:40:51,409 and that's why he threw huge amounts of money at infra-structure, 540 00:40:52,130 --> 00:40:54,170 building bridges like this and roads, 541 00:40:55,367 --> 00:40:57,341 and with that communication system in place, 542 00:40:57,965 --> 00:41:01,070 he was able to create what's known as his Barid. 543 00:41:02,085 --> 00:41:04,146 This was effectively a postal service, 544 00:41:04,964 --> 00:41:06,786 a system of elite riders and messengers, 545 00:41:08,095 --> 00:41:09,750 who would go in relay from point to point, 546 00:41:10,157 --> 00:41:11,906 bringing messages to the Sultan himself. 547 00:41:13,001 --> 00:41:17,654 Forlorn and forgotten as it might look, this bridge was actually a key element 548 00:41:18,434 --> 00:41:21,159 in the success of Baybars' Mamluk state. 549 00:41:26,128 --> 00:41:28,466 When the age of the Crusades began, 200 years earlier, 550 00:41:29,230 --> 00:41:33,614 the Islamic world was in disarray, divided and disunited. 551 00:41:35,350 --> 00:41:36,652 The First Crusade, and most of the Holy Wars that followed, 552 00:41:37,482 --> 00:41:41,112 had been waged against an enemy paralyzed by infighting. 553 00:41:43,576 --> 00:41:47,352 But Baybars' tyrannical rule united the Muslim world as never before, 554 00:41:48,097 --> 00:41:52,095 finally bringing Islam the power to prevail in the war for the Holy Land, 555 00:41:52,976 --> 00:41:55,925 spelling disaster for the few remaining Crusader states. 556 00:42:01,448 --> 00:42:06,151 In May 1268, three years after defeating the Christians at Arsuf, 557 00:42:06,941 --> 00:42:09,485 the Mamluk army arrived at Antioch, 558 00:42:10,112 --> 00:42:13,574 a city of special significance to the Crusades. 559 00:42:17,454 --> 00:42:18,960 Two centuries earlier, 560 00:42:19,536 --> 00:42:23,618 this mighty metropolis had been the Christians' first major conquest in the Holy Land. 561 00:42:23,973 --> 00:42:27,116 Now, it would mark the beginning of the end. 562 00:42:30,585 --> 00:42:33,506 The first Crusaders had taken eight months to break into Antioch, 563 00:42:34,417 --> 00:42:39,109 but when the Sultan Baybars turned the full force of his Mamluk military machine against this city, 564 00:42:39,813 --> 00:42:41,964 it fell within a single day. 565 00:42:42,784 --> 00:42:45,455 As his troops poured through a breach in the defences , 566 00:42:46,484 --> 00:42:51,060 Baybars ordered that the city's gates be barred so that no-one could escape. 567 00:42:51,456 --> 00:42:54,506 He then had tens of thousands of men, women and children butchered. 568 00:42:55,613 --> 00:42:59,022 The last days of the Crusader states had begun. 569 00:43:02,668 --> 00:43:05,045 The inexorable obliteration of the Crusader states 570 00:43:05,779 --> 00:43:08,381 continued after Baybars' death in 1277. 571 00:43:10,629 --> 00:43:13,461 The Sultan's successors conquered Tripoli in 1289, 572 00:43:15,915 --> 00:43:19,008 and finally seized Acre itself in 1291. 573 00:43:21,162 --> 00:43:22,864 After almost 200 years, 574 00:43:23,717 --> 00:43:27,705 the war for the Holy Land ended in a definitive victory for Islam. 575 00:43:36,594 --> 00:43:42,382 Dark, brutal, and savage as they often were, the Crusades, nonetheless, 576 00:43:42,582 --> 00:43:46,469 left no permanent mark upon Islam or the West. 577 00:43:46,965 --> 00:43:52,219 In truth, the war for the Holy Land had been all but forgotten by the end of the Middle Ages. 578 00:43:53,391 --> 00:43:59,991 So why do these distant wars still seem to exert a profound influence upon our modern world? 579 00:44:12,278 --> 00:44:17,396 In the 19th century, Europe's fascination with the Crusades was reawakened. 580 00:44:20,041 --> 00:44:23,951 These medieval wars were now recast as glorious triumphs 581 00:44:24,699 --> 00:44:27,225 that seemed to affirm the capacity of great powers, 582 00:44:28,171 --> 00:44:30,406 like England and France to forge empires, 583 00:44:31,125 --> 00:44:34,161 to colonise the supposedly barbaric Near East. 584 00:44:36,204 --> 00:44:39,132 The desire to reconnect with the mediaeval past 585 00:44:39,776 --> 00:44:41,982 found its ultimate expression here at Versailles. 586 00:44:42,754 --> 00:44:47,328 King Louis Philippe of France dedicated five rooms -the Salles Des Croisades 587 00:44:47,736 --> 00:44:51,774 - to these monumental, highly romanticised, paintings of the Crusades. 588 00:44:54,397 --> 00:44:56,923 Here is crusading history reshaped in art. 589 00:44:58,547 --> 00:45:01,153 The first Crusaders capturing sacred Jerusalem. 590 00:45:02,206 --> 00:45:04,898 Richard the Lionheart crushing the Muslims at Arsuf, 591 00:45:07,267 --> 00:45:09,749 and even King Louis of France, 592 00:45:10,597 --> 00:45:12,426 the saintly monarch brought to his knees in Egypt, 593 00:45:13,226 --> 00:45:16,188 now portrayed as an all-conquering hero. 594 00:45:22,071 --> 00:45:26,062 This triumphalist propaganda eventually found its echo in Islam, 595 00:45:27,664 --> 00:45:29,442 not least in the promotion of Saladin 596 00:45:30,017 --> 00:45:33,248 as a Muslim hero, second only to Muhammad himself. 597 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:39,016 And the misappropriation of the past continues to this day. 598 00:45:41,950 --> 00:45:52,888 Five days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the american president, George W Bush referred on the ensuing war of terror as a crusade. 599 00:45:55,582 --> 00:45:57,060 Many commentators were horrified, 600 00:45:57,330 --> 00:46:00,904 while Islamist extremists, including Osama Bin Laden, 601 00:46:01,539 --> 00:46:03,426 seized upon the President's statement 602 00:46:03,986 --> 00:46:07,612 as proof that the West was still waging a holy war in the Middle East. 603 00:46:09,801 --> 00:46:14,080 The idea of a direct and unbroken line of conflict linking the mediaeval 604 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,687 and the modern eras has helped to give rise to an almost fatalistic belief 605 00:46:19,625 --> 00:46:23,264 that a clash between Islam and the West is inevitable. 606 00:46:25,460 --> 00:46:27,832 Yet careful study of the complex encounter 607 00:46:28,956 --> 00:46:31,072 between Muslims and Christians, in the age of the Crusades, 608 00:46:31,964 --> 00:46:33,572 reveals that the uneasy mix 609 00:46:34,177 --> 00:46:37,684 of peaceful contact and simmering conflict was not so dissimilar 610 00:46:38,265 --> 00:46:42,753 to relations between rival powers anywhere in the Middle Ages. 611 00:46:46,171 --> 00:46:49,176 The Crusades have things to tell us about our own world, 612 00:46:50,142 --> 00:46:53,652 but most of these lessons are common to all eras of human history. 613 00:46:55,311 --> 00:46:57,716 How hatred of an alien enemy can be harnessed, 614 00:46:59,092 --> 00:47:02,034 how trade can transcend the barriers of conflict, 615 00:47:03,645 --> 00:47:08,884 and how faith can inspire extraordinary deeds and horrific violence. 616 00:47:12,307 --> 00:47:14,515 The notion that the struggle for the Holy Land 617 00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:18,946 has a direct bearing upon the modern world is misguided. 618 00:47:20,085 --> 00:47:23,377 We must examine and seek to understand these medieval wars, 619 00:47:24,185 --> 00:47:28,571 so that we can counter the distortion of our collective history. 620 00:47:29,607 --> 00:47:34,671 And, above all, we must place the Crusades where they belong - in the past. 621 00:49:11,720 --> 00:49:19,600 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk 57804

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