The Templar Knight
Mysteries of the Knights Templar
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SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Was cannibalism practised during the Crusades?
A special investigation by the Templar Knight blog into medieval allegations that human meat was eaten by soldiers during the Crusades
Read MoreLisbon conquered in the Crusades!
This is an astonishing story from the Middle Ages of how a vast crusader army on the way to the Holy Land was convinced to divert to Portugal and help a small Christian kingdom take a city called Al-Usbuna from…
Read MoreSpain and Portugal – battle between Islam and Christianity
Hard to believe that modern Spain and Portugal were once part of a global caliphate (from 711 CE) – ruled by Muslim emirs. It then became a battleground between Islam and Christianity for eight hundred years. Finally, by 1492, the…
Read MoreMedieval Journey in the town of Santa Maria da Feira
The ‘Viagem Medieval’ is three weeks of Middle Ages mayhem when an entire town in northern Portugal goes back seven hundreds in time. There is everything you would expect and a whole lot more. I visited last Friday – fresh,…
Read MoreMedieval Porto in northern Portugal
Porto is my mother’s birthplace so hugely significant to me – a place where I developed a love for medieval history. Looming above the eighteenth century city centre is a mass of granite topped by the medieval cathedral. In front…
Read MoreMartim Moniz – Portuguese crusader hero – an interview with him…
Martim Moniz was a Portuguese crusader who fought with the first king of Portugal – Dom Afonso Henriques – when he conquered what was then the Islamic city of Al-Usbuna which would subsequently become the Christian capital of Portugal…Lisbon. Many…
Read MoreSantiago de Compostela – burial place of Saint James the Apostle
How on earth can a town in Spain claim to have the body of one of the apostles of Jesus Christ? But that’s exactly the assertion made by Santiago de Compostela. For over a thousand years, its cathedral has boasted…
Read MoreThe turning point for Moorish rule in Spain
While the crusades suffered setbacks in the east with the loss of Jerusalem and the advances made by Saladin – all was not well for Muslim rulers in the west. It’s often forgotten that the crusades were not just waged…
Read MoreIs it a mosque or a church?
Toledo in Spain shows how Christians and Muslims lived together and even allowed churches to become mosques and vice versa
Read MoreTomar – Templar jewel in Portugal
Tomar is a Templar jewel in Portugal with an incredible church and castle
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