The Crusades: Assassins vs Templars
4/9/202647 min
For the second episode in our mini-series on the Crusades, we explore the legendary rivalry between two extraordinary medieval orders: the Assassins and the Templars. Separating myth from history, we uncover their beliefs, covert operations and lasting legacy, revealing how truth and legend became forever entwined.
For this series, we're joined by Steve Tibble, author of many books on the Crusades, including 'Assassins and Templars: A Battle in Myth and Blood'.
Produced by James Hickmann and McKenna Fernandez, and edited by Jhenelle White.
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First 90 secondsDan Snow· Host0:00
Have you been enjoying my podcast and now want even more history? Sign up to HistoryHit and watch the world's best history documentaries on subjects like how William conquered England, what it was like to live in the Georgian era, and you can even hear the voice of Richard III. We've got hundreds of hours of original documentaries, plus new releases every week, and there's always something more to discover. Sign up to join us in historic locations around the world and explore the past. Just visit historyhit.com/subscribe. The Assassins versus the Templars. It's the Alien versus Predator of the medieval world. Whoever wins, we lose. One, a group of warrior monks in white mantles marked with those red crosses, sworn to defend pilgrims and fight for Christendom. The other, a secretive sect hidden in mountain fortresses, striking fear into rulers through targeted, surgical, theatrical killings. Two small players whose influence and survival depended not only on their bravery and skill and ambition, but also on the, the creation of a myth of invincibility by convincing their enemies that this was a fight that they weren't gonna win. Today, I'm joined again by the crusading expert, the historian Steve Tibbolt, to look at these two secretive religious orders that have been immortalized in legend and myth. We've got the Nizari Ismailis, the Assassins to you and me, and we've got the Templars. Who were they really? How did these