The Templar

In 1095 Hugh de Payens, Godfrey de Saint-Omer and Hugh’s sister Eleanor leave Burgundy with the armies answering Pope Urban II’s call to crusade. Their journey takes them through Europe and Byzantium into Anatolia and Syria, where hunger, disease and rival leadership test the language of pilgrimage and holy war.

The march towards Jerusalem exposes the practical violence behind crusading ideals: sieges, massacres, negotiations and the struggle to survive far from home. Hugh and Godfrey begin to form the commitments that will later shape the Knights Templar, while Eleanor’s presence reveals the civilian costs and personal loyalties concealed by the chronicles of commanders.