The Assassins’ sect spread from Persia and its mountain base at Alamut and established a formidable forward presence in Syria throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Key strategic fortresses included al-Kahf, Khariba, Khawabi, Masyaf, Rusafa and Qula’ya. Some more notable political murders were those of Vizier Shihab al-Din (1177), Marquis Conrad of Montferrat, King of Jerusalem (1192), and Raymond, son of Bohemond IV of Antioch (1213). By 1265 the power of the Assassins was eventually broken through a combination of Mongol incursion and the growing dominance of Baybars, the Mamluk sultan of Egypt. They were to serve their new masters as trained killers for several generations to come. In 1272 the sultan employed his Assassins in an attempt on the life of Prince Edward (later to become King Edward I) of England.
It was in 1192, having taken Jerusalem, that Saladin assigned the guarding of access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to two Moslem families. The Joudeh were entrusted with the key, the Nusseibeh had custodianship of the main entrance. Their descendants retain the responsibility to this day.
When in 1291 Acre fell to the Mamluks and the Frankish crusaders were finally pushed from the Holy Land, it was the small offshore isle-fortress of Arwad that served as their last redoubt. Only in 1302 did the Moslems gain possession. The era of the Crusades was past.
In 1230, almost twenty years after the Children’s Crusade, a priest arrived in Europe claiming to be one of its few survivors. His was a harrowing tale of hardship and suffering, of the young murdered or sold into slavery. Their holy quest had been in vain.
The True Cross was never found.
Acknowledgement
Throughout the writing of this book, the current and real plight of so many thousands of children in myriad corners of the world was often in my mind. Exploitation abounds. Whether consigned to short and terrifying lives as Kalashnikov-fodder or held in prostitution, or condemned to exist as slave-labour or as refugees, children variously fall prey to adult greed, neglect, stupidity and evil. Pilgrim is as much about these young as it is about Kurt, Isolda and their companions. Lest we forget.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Dedication
Beginning
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
End
Historical Note
Acknowledgement