1 00:00:05,047 --> 00:00:07,277 SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE: Jerusalem, the Holy City, 2 00:00:07,367 --> 00:00:11,360 is regarded by many as the actual centre of the world. 3 00:00:13,367 --> 00:00:16,643 Since the Bronze Age, it's been the object of desire 4 00:00:16,727 --> 00:00:19,161 for both conquerors and prophets, 5 00:00:19,247 --> 00:00:23,877 each one claiming the city and robbing their predecessors of their past. 6 00:00:26,047 --> 00:00:27,844 Jerusalem is ever-changing. 7 00:00:27,927 --> 00:00:29,360 It's never been the same, 8 00:00:29,447 --> 00:00:32,917 and that is both its blessing and its curse. 9 00:00:33,887 --> 00:00:37,675 This beguiling place has changed hands many times, 10 00:00:38,527 --> 00:00:41,087 often with violence and bloodshed. 11 00:00:44,447 --> 00:00:48,884 And for many, this religious capital will be the setting 12 00:00:48,967 --> 00:00:53,040 for the Day of Judgement when the world will end. 13 00:00:55,567 --> 00:01:00,800 In the early 7th century, a new faith arose out of the Arabian Peninsula. 14 00:01:01,927 --> 00:01:07,479 This faith would revere Jerusalem, already sacred to Jews and Christians. 15 00:01:07,567 --> 00:01:11,799 But the new movement would adapt and commandeer their traditions. 16 00:01:12,447 --> 00:01:14,483 This was Islam. 17 00:01:16,087 --> 00:01:20,365 Its followers believe that their founder, too, came here 18 00:01:20,447 --> 00:01:22,961 like Abraham and Jesus before him. 19 00:01:25,807 --> 00:01:28,844 But what would the arrival of a third faith 20 00:01:28,927 --> 00:01:32,078 mean for the unfolding story of Jerusalem? 21 00:02:02,527 --> 00:02:04,438 I'm a writer and historian, 22 00:02:04,527 --> 00:02:07,758 and I've been coming to Jerusalem since childhood. 23 00:02:10,247 --> 00:02:12,238 It's been a holy place, 24 00:02:12,327 --> 00:02:16,843 the site of a sacred spring for some 4,000 years. 25 00:02:18,647 --> 00:02:21,161 This was where the Jews built their temples 26 00:02:21,247 --> 00:02:23,681 for the worship of their one god, 27 00:02:24,407 --> 00:02:29,322 where the Canaanites, Greeks and Romans idolised their pagan gods, 28 00:02:30,407 --> 00:02:32,841 and where Christianity was founded. 29 00:02:36,327 --> 00:02:37,806 In the 4th century, 30 00:02:37,887 --> 00:02:41,562 Constantine the Great created Christian Jerusalem, 31 00:02:41,647 --> 00:02:44,878 building the enormous Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre 32 00:02:45,687 --> 00:02:49,965 and commandeering the sacred symbols and relics of Judaism. 33 00:02:50,767 --> 00:02:54,237 The Temple Mount where the Jewish temple once stood 34 00:02:54,327 --> 00:02:56,921 was deliberately preserved in ruins 35 00:02:57,007 --> 00:03:01,205 to celebrate the victory of Christianity over Judaism. 36 00:03:02,207 --> 00:03:05,882 The Jews were a persecuted minority and in the 7th century, 37 00:03:05,967 --> 00:03:08,242 they remained banned from Jerusalem 38 00:03:08,327 --> 00:03:12,161 by the Christian Byzantines who still ruled the Middle East. 39 00:03:13,127 --> 00:03:15,197 The Christians had even claimed for themselves 40 00:03:15,287 --> 00:03:18,165 many of the Jewish traditions of the Temple Mount, 41 00:03:18,247 --> 00:03:20,636 and now they moved these, wholesale, 42 00:03:20,727 --> 00:03:22,922 over to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 43 00:03:23,007 --> 00:03:25,805 Adam's skull, Abraham's altar 44 00:03:25,887 --> 00:03:29,118 and the oil-bearing horn that had anointed King David 45 00:03:29,207 --> 00:03:33,723 joined Christian relics, such as the lance that had pierced Jesus' side, 46 00:03:33,807 --> 00:03:36,037 and of course, the True Cross. 47 00:03:36,567 --> 00:03:39,365 They even moved the official centre of the world 48 00:03:39,447 --> 00:03:43,725 from Temple Mount to its new home at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 49 00:03:48,767 --> 00:03:51,440 But the Byzantine Empire had grown weak, 50 00:03:51,807 --> 00:03:54,765 and Christian Jerusalem was about to be changed 51 00:03:54,847 --> 00:03:57,566 by the revelations given to one man. 52 00:04:06,087 --> 00:04:09,523 800 miles away in the Arabian Desert, 53 00:04:09,607 --> 00:04:14,761 a young merchant named Muhammad lived in the pagan town of Mecca. 54 00:04:15,447 --> 00:04:17,324 (DOG BARKING) 55 00:04:17,407 --> 00:04:19,318 (GOATS BLEATING) 56 00:04:20,287 --> 00:04:22,084 But he knew of Jerusalem 57 00:04:22,167 --> 00:04:26,080 and he came to respect the Jewish and Christian scriptures. 58 00:04:32,727 --> 00:04:38,563 According to tradition, in 6 1 0 AD, the Archangel Gabriel visited Muhammad. 59 00:04:40,447 --> 00:04:44,281 He came to believe he was chosen to be God's messenger. 60 00:04:47,247 --> 00:04:50,364 When the prophet received God's revelations, 61 00:04:50,447 --> 00:04:53,359 it was said that his face became flushed, 62 00:04:53,447 --> 00:04:56,484 he fell silent, he lay limp on the floor, 63 00:04:56,567 --> 00:05:00,116 engulfed by visions and humming sounds. 64 00:05:00,207 --> 00:05:06,043 And then he began to recite these divine and poetical revelations. 65 00:05:06,607 --> 00:05:12,796 At first, they were just chanted aloud, then they were divided into 1 1 4 chapters 66 00:05:12,887 --> 00:05:16,846 and finally collated into a book known as the Quran. 67 00:05:22,607 --> 00:05:26,805 Muhammad preached submission, in Arabic, ''Islam, '' 68 00:05:26,887 --> 00:05:31,358 to the one God in return for universal salvation. 69 00:05:32,727 --> 00:05:35,082 And for him,Jerusalem mattered. 70 00:05:36,807 --> 00:05:39,879 Respectful of the Jewish and Christian prophets, 71 00:05:39,967 --> 00:05:41,878 he venerated this place. 72 00:05:43,967 --> 00:05:47,277 Unlike Jesus, Muhammad was not a miracle worker, 73 00:05:47,367 --> 00:05:52,885 but one apparently mystical experience would link him forever with the city. 74 00:05:57,847 --> 00:06:00,486 Muhammad's followers believe that one night 75 00:06:00,567 --> 00:06:02,842 he was awoken by the angel Gabriel 76 00:06:02,927 --> 00:06:06,886 and mounted a steed with a human face, named Al-Buraq. 77 00:06:06,967 --> 00:06:10,084 And together, they flew on his night journey 78 00:06:10,167 --> 00:06:13,079 to a place called ''The Furthest Sanctuary.'' 79 00:06:14,887 --> 00:06:17,082 There he met and prayed 80 00:06:17,167 --> 00:06:21,240 with the most revered prophets of Judaism and Christianity, 81 00:06:21,327 --> 00:06:26,879 including Abraham, Moses and Jesus, and then ascended to heaven. 82 00:06:29,607 --> 00:06:33,077 And it's this that would turn the spotlight on Jerusalem 83 00:06:33,447 --> 00:06:35,358 for the emerging faith. 84 00:06:35,927 --> 00:06:37,838 From the earliest days of Islam, 85 00:06:37,927 --> 00:06:42,364 this Furthest Sanctuary was identified with the Temple Mount. 86 00:06:42,447 --> 00:06:47,601 And today it's known as Haram-al-Sharif, the noble sanctuary. 87 00:06:51,727 --> 00:06:53,604 (CONVERSING) 88 00:06:56,407 --> 00:07:00,480 Jerusalem remains a sacred destination for Muhammad's followers. 89 00:07:02,367 --> 00:07:04,164 On this day every year, 90 00:07:04,247 --> 00:07:08,240 Muslims gather here to commemorate the night journey 91 00:07:08,327 --> 00:07:10,795 of the prophet Muhammad to Jerusalem, 92 00:07:11,287 --> 00:07:16,884 making this city one of the most holy places in the world for Muslims today. 93 00:07:19,087 --> 00:07:21,442 Al-Isra or the Night Journey 94 00:07:21,527 --> 00:07:24,439 is celebrated in mosques across the city. 95 00:07:24,687 --> 00:07:26,917 (CHANTING IN ARABIC) 96 00:07:29,087 --> 00:07:33,000 Mustafa Abu Sway leads fellow Muslims in prayer. 97 00:07:36,527 --> 00:07:38,677 My understanding of the Night Journey is that 98 00:07:38,767 --> 00:07:43,283 it's the night that established the perpetual relation between 99 00:07:43,367 --> 00:07:47,155 two parts of the Muslim world, between Mecca and Jerusalem. 100 00:07:47,287 --> 00:07:50,882 And it's an invitation, basically, to the children of Abraham 101 00:07:50,967 --> 00:07:53,845 to reconnect with Jerusalem. 102 00:07:53,927 --> 00:07:56,964 It was a night in which the Prophet himself, of course, 103 00:07:57,047 --> 00:08:01,996 connected personally with Jerusalem, when everyone knows that all prophets 104 00:08:02,287 --> 00:08:05,438 had that sublime relationship with this Holy City. 105 00:08:08,807 --> 00:08:12,038 MONTEFIORE: Muhammad's message wasn't just one of prayer and peace. 106 00:08:12,127 --> 00:08:16,723 He was also a formidable statesman, and he sent an expeditionary force 107 00:08:16,807 --> 00:08:20,004 to probe the defences of Byzantine Palestine. 108 00:08:20,447 --> 00:08:24,486 I wonder if he was already dreaming of reaching Jerusalem. 109 00:08:24,927 --> 00:08:27,964 In any case, Islam was getting closer. 110 00:08:34,887 --> 00:08:37,117 Muhammad died in 632, 111 00:08:37,207 --> 00:08:39,880 but his vision continued under his successors 112 00:08:39,967 --> 00:08:43,846 who were known as the Caliphs or ''Commanders of the Faithful. '' 113 00:08:47,847 --> 00:08:50,725 And just five years after their Prophet's death, 114 00:08:50,807 --> 00:08:54,482 three Islamic armies were converging on Jerusalem. 115 00:08:57,447 --> 00:09:00,564 It's thought there was a reason for their urgency, 116 00:09:01,927 --> 00:09:04,361 that these early Muslims may have believed 117 00:09:04,447 --> 00:09:07,359 the end of the world would take place here. 118 00:09:12,167 --> 00:09:16,319 Muhsin Yusuf has studied what drove Muhammad's followers. 119 00:09:17,207 --> 00:09:19,118 The day of judgement, the end day, 120 00:09:19,207 --> 00:09:22,119 was extremely important for almost everybody. 121 00:09:22,687 --> 00:09:25,326 The religious people especially came to Jerusalem 122 00:09:25,407 --> 00:09:27,045 and they wanted to occupy it 123 00:09:27,127 --> 00:09:30,722 because they wanted to be here in the Day of Judgement 124 00:09:30,807 --> 00:09:33,799 because they think and they thought in that time 125 00:09:33,887 --> 00:09:36,640 that they would ascend to heaven from here, 126 00:09:36,727 --> 00:09:39,400 from Jerusalem, so they wanted to be close. 127 00:09:39,487 --> 00:09:43,275 But for the average soldiers, it was important, 128 00:09:43,367 --> 00:09:45,642 but it's not like the religious people. 129 00:09:45,727 --> 00:09:48,719 They wanted to revenge against the Byzantines 130 00:09:48,807 --> 00:09:51,275 who tried to attack Muhammad. 131 00:09:55,207 --> 00:09:58,119 Driven by these political and religious motives, 132 00:09:58,207 --> 00:10:02,086 the Islamic armies surrounded and laid siege to the Holy City. 133 00:10:07,887 --> 00:10:11,880 Inside, the Christians, led by the patriarch Sophronius, 134 00:10:11,967 --> 00:10:16,006 thought the Muslims had been sent as punishment for their sins. 135 00:10:18,367 --> 00:10:20,835 Fearful of a bloody storming of the city, 136 00:10:20,927 --> 00:10:24,283 they started to negotiate and agreed to surrender, 137 00:10:25,527 --> 00:10:27,358 on one condition. 138 00:10:27,927 --> 00:10:29,997 That the terms of the takeover 139 00:10:30,087 --> 00:10:35,400 were personally guaranteed by the Muslim Caliph himself, Omar, 140 00:10:36,407 --> 00:10:41,481 a puritanical giant who reinforced his authority with a big stick. 141 00:10:43,927 --> 00:10:49,081 The Caliph Omar arrived in Jerusalem to accept the surrender of the city. 142 00:10:49,527 --> 00:10:53,645 The patriarch Sophronius presented him with the keys of Jerusalem 143 00:10:53,847 --> 00:10:57,999 in return for the promise that the Christians could worship freely, 144 00:10:58,407 --> 00:11:00,875 the so-called ''Pact of Omar.'' 145 00:11:08,207 --> 00:11:11,597 Omar had won Jerusalem for the early Muslims. 146 00:11:13,607 --> 00:11:15,040 But he went further still. 147 00:11:15,127 --> 00:11:18,802 For him, the now ruined Jewish shrines on the Temple Mount 148 00:11:18,887 --> 00:11:21,003 were important to Islam, too. 149 00:11:23,767 --> 00:11:27,316 He and his warriors cleared away the debris to pray there. 150 00:11:28,927 --> 00:11:30,440 He was deliberately co-opting 151 00:11:30,527 --> 00:11:33,678 the ancient Jewish tradition of sanctity there 152 00:11:33,767 --> 00:11:37,555 for the new and final revelation of Islam. 153 00:11:40,487 --> 00:11:43,320 And he even invited the Jews themselves, 154 00:11:43,407 --> 00:11:47,082 who had been exiled by the Christians back to the city, 155 00:11:47,167 --> 00:11:50,045 so that they, too, could pray on the Temple Mount. 156 00:11:54,527 --> 00:11:59,043 But the central importance of Jerusalem to Islam was paramount. 157 00:12:00,047 --> 00:12:04,916 The new faith would build right on the site of the Jewish temple itself. 158 00:12:06,687 --> 00:12:10,965 This would become the jewel in the crown of Islamic Jerusalem 159 00:12:11,407 --> 00:12:15,764 and a monument to the splendour of those Arab Caliphs who built it. 160 00:12:17,047 --> 00:12:18,844 The Umayyads. 161 00:12:27,007 --> 00:12:30,716 The Umayyad empire was one of the largest in the world 162 00:12:31,127 --> 00:12:35,245 and in 685, Abd al-Malik became its Caliph. 163 00:12:37,047 --> 00:12:40,437 Abd al-Malik was a triumphant empire builder 164 00:12:40,527 --> 00:12:42,165 and religious reformer. 165 00:12:42,247 --> 00:12:45,045 He won a vicious civil war against his enemies 166 00:12:45,127 --> 00:12:48,961 and when he captured one rebel leader, he led him around on a dog leash, 167 00:12:49,047 --> 00:12:52,039 hacked off his head and tossed it to the crowd. 168 00:12:53,367 --> 00:12:55,517 But despite this brutal exterior, 169 00:12:55,607 --> 00:12:59,282 he also indulged his more aesthetic sensibilities 170 00:13:00,047 --> 00:13:04,598 and his most enduring achievement is still breathtaking. 171 00:13:05,887 --> 00:13:07,798 (INDISTINCT) 172 00:13:09,927 --> 00:13:13,044 And it was the legacy of Judaism that he drew on 173 00:13:13,127 --> 00:13:16,403 for the location of this most ambitious of projects, 174 00:13:18,527 --> 00:13:22,679 adding a new layer of holiness to an already sacred site. 175 00:13:25,287 --> 00:13:27,084 It's one of the most successful 176 00:13:27,167 --> 00:13:30,477 and beautiful religious buildings ever constructed. 177 00:13:31,887 --> 00:13:35,596 Dominating the Temple Mount, it's the Dome of the Rock. 178 00:13:38,847 --> 00:13:40,678 It's not a mosque, but a shrine, 179 00:13:40,767 --> 00:13:44,521 and mysteriously, Abd al-Malik never said why he built it. 180 00:13:47,607 --> 00:13:49,962 The design was exquisitely simple, 181 00:13:50,047 --> 00:13:54,279 a dome 65 feet in diameter supported by a drum, 182 00:13:56,127 --> 00:13:58,800 all resting on octagonal walls. 183 00:14:00,967 --> 00:14:03,959 The golden dome, the gleaming white marble 184 00:14:04,047 --> 00:14:07,357 and the lavish decorations are a powerful combination. 185 00:14:13,247 --> 00:14:17,206 It's unlike any other Islamic shrine in the world. 186 00:14:23,127 --> 00:14:26,563 Directly beneath the dome is the Rock itself. 187 00:14:28,447 --> 00:14:32,406 Then, as now, this spot marks for so many 188 00:14:32,487 --> 00:14:34,398 the centre of the world. 189 00:14:35,767 --> 00:14:40,045 This is a very ancient stone. No one knows its ultimate origin, 190 00:14:40,527 --> 00:14:45,123 but this is certainly the holiest place in all of Jerusalem. 191 00:14:45,927 --> 00:14:50,159 This is the place where some believe Adam's skull was buried. 192 00:14:50,527 --> 00:14:53,280 Where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac, 193 00:14:53,767 --> 00:14:57,282 where the Jewish holy of holies supposedly stood. 194 00:14:57,807 --> 00:15:01,720 This is the place whence Muhammad the prophet ascended to heaven 195 00:15:02,207 --> 00:15:04,038 during his night journey. 196 00:15:05,007 --> 00:15:08,079 And it's an amazing place just to stand 197 00:15:08,727 --> 00:15:12,436 and believe that this is the essence, 198 00:15:12,887 --> 00:15:16,516 the foundation stone of Jerusalem sanctity. 199 00:15:25,047 --> 00:15:27,800 Jerusalem now had an Islamic shrine, 200 00:15:28,647 --> 00:15:31,764 but still needed a mosque for Friday prayers. 201 00:15:38,447 --> 00:15:40,677 Built by Abd al-Malik and his son, 202 00:15:40,767 --> 00:15:44,442 it's known as ''Al-Aqsa, '' the farthest mosque. 203 00:15:48,207 --> 00:15:50,562 Between them, Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock 204 00:15:50,647 --> 00:15:53,639 celebrated Islam's claim to Jerusalem. 205 00:15:55,887 --> 00:15:59,641 The Jewish Temple Mount was now an Islamic shrine, 206 00:16:00,567 --> 00:16:04,401 and its magnificence outshone any of the Christian monuments. 207 00:16:06,647 --> 00:16:10,356 Surely that was always Abd al-Malik's intention. 208 00:16:14,007 --> 00:16:17,522 For over 300 years, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 209 00:16:17,607 --> 00:16:21,043 had been the centre of all religious life in Jerusalem. 210 00:16:21,127 --> 00:16:26,679 But now the Muslims had reactivated and reinvigorated the Temple Mount, 211 00:16:26,767 --> 00:16:30,442 adopting and adapting many of the traditions of the Jews 212 00:16:30,527 --> 00:16:34,202 and the Christians, and of course, adding many of their own. 213 00:16:34,567 --> 00:16:38,879 From now on, Jerusalem had two centres of sanctity. 214 00:16:38,967 --> 00:16:41,242 The Christian and the Muslim. 215 00:16:52,527 --> 00:16:56,645 The Umayyads ruled from Syria, but loved Jerusalem, 216 00:16:56,727 --> 00:17:00,276 and even considered making it their imperial capital. 217 00:17:02,447 --> 00:17:04,517 Right here, just south of the Temple Mount, 218 00:17:04,607 --> 00:17:08,839 the Umayyad Caliphs built a magnificent palace complex, 219 00:17:08,927 --> 00:17:11,919 often using stones from the old Jewish temple. 220 00:17:12,127 --> 00:17:16,723 There were vast, expansive courtyards and tinkling fountains. 221 00:17:16,807 --> 00:17:18,399 And amazingly, they designed it 222 00:17:18,487 --> 00:17:21,559 so they could walk straight from their third floor apartments 223 00:17:21,647 --> 00:17:25,686 into their new and magnificent Al-Aqsa mosque up there. 224 00:17:33,647 --> 00:17:37,276 These carvings once decorated the caliphs'palaces. 225 00:17:37,687 --> 00:17:42,715 They're 1,400 years old, but give a glimpse into an Islamic world 226 00:17:42,807 --> 00:17:45,082 that, today, is unimaginable. 227 00:17:47,087 --> 00:17:50,557 The Umayyads were more like decadent Roman emperors 228 00:17:50,967 --> 00:17:53,720 than puritanical Islamic rulers. 229 00:17:54,687 --> 00:17:58,123 Islam actual banned the depiction of human faces, 230 00:17:58,327 --> 00:18:00,887 but as you can see from these decorations, 231 00:18:01,247 --> 00:18:04,557 the Umayyads enjoyed naked dancing girls. 232 00:18:04,647 --> 00:18:06,524 Some with cartoonish faces, 233 00:18:06,607 --> 00:18:10,156 and some bare-breasted and brazenly sexual. 234 00:18:13,447 --> 00:18:17,076 This was not our traditional image of early Islam. 235 00:18:18,007 --> 00:18:21,761 Far from it. In fact, it would have been fun to be an Umayyad. 236 00:18:32,327 --> 00:18:36,764 Yet, even under this decadent, easy-going and rather tolerant dynasty, 237 00:18:36,847 --> 00:18:39,884 Islam was changing and becoming more exclusive. 238 00:18:40,207 --> 00:18:43,279 The Jews had been allowed to worship on the Temple Mount 239 00:18:43,367 --> 00:18:46,279 for about 80 years, but in 720, 240 00:18:46,767 --> 00:18:50,521 the Caliph banned them from entering those precincts at all. 241 00:18:51,207 --> 00:18:53,402 They were allowed to continue to live in the city, 242 00:18:53,487 --> 00:18:56,445 but the Jews weren't allowed onto the Temple Mount again 243 00:18:56,527 --> 00:18:58,643 for over 1 ,000 years. 244 00:19:13,887 --> 00:19:17,118 Jerusalem was ruled by the Umayyads and their successors, 245 00:19:17,207 --> 00:19:20,324 the Abbasids, for more than three centuries. 246 00:19:21,847 --> 00:19:24,315 They were mainstream Sunni Muslims. 247 00:19:24,407 --> 00:19:28,958 But since the 7th century, Islam had been split into two strands. 248 00:19:30,887 --> 00:19:35,483 In 969, a new mystical dynasty from Egypt conquered the city. 249 00:19:37,247 --> 00:19:41,206 They belonged to the other strand of Islam, the Shiites. 250 00:19:41,287 --> 00:19:45,758 Their Caliphs claimed descent from the Prophet's daughter Fatimah. 251 00:19:45,847 --> 00:19:47,565 They were known as Fatimids 252 00:19:47,647 --> 00:19:51,196 and they were much more tolerant towards Christians and Jews. 253 00:19:53,287 --> 00:19:56,006 Christian pilgrims were flocking to the city 254 00:19:56,087 --> 00:19:58,442 as the new millennium approached. 255 00:20:01,607 --> 00:20:05,077 Around this time, there were rumours that Jerusalem would be ruled 256 00:20:05,167 --> 00:20:10,799 by a mystical last Christian Emperor who would herald the end of days. 257 00:20:13,087 --> 00:20:17,683 But the Muslims regarded their own Fatimid Caliphs as sacred kings, 258 00:20:18,447 --> 00:20:20,278 and by the year 1 000, 259 00:20:20,367 --> 00:20:23,245 a child was Caliph of the Fatimid Dynasty. 260 00:20:30,407 --> 00:20:33,843 This sacred boy ruler was Al-Hakim. 261 00:20:33,927 --> 00:20:36,600 He grew up to be broad-shouldered, handsome, 262 00:20:36,687 --> 00:20:39,076 and his blue eyes were speckled with gold. 263 00:20:39,167 --> 00:20:42,796 He adored poetry, he loved literature and he was ascetic. 264 00:20:43,287 --> 00:20:46,006 He was a popular and beloved young Caliph. 265 00:20:46,967 --> 00:20:51,404 But he was increasingly obsessed with his own semi-messianic status. 266 00:20:51,527 --> 00:20:53,404 He took to wandering the streets at night 267 00:20:53,487 --> 00:20:56,524 in mystical trances induced by opium. 268 00:20:56,607 --> 00:21:00,441 Then he ordered massacres of dogs and cats, and banned chess. 269 00:21:02,807 --> 00:21:05,605 Gradually, Hakim was going mad. 270 00:21:09,767 --> 00:21:14,283 The Fatimid Caliphs considered themselves to be touched by the divine, 271 00:21:14,367 --> 00:21:16,642 suspended between God and man. 272 00:21:17,407 --> 00:21:20,922 But soon it seems Hakim believed he was wholly divine. 273 00:21:21,367 --> 00:21:25,246 And he began to exercise his powers to devastating effect. 274 00:21:27,927 --> 00:21:31,158 Hakim, who was swiftly emerging as the Arab Caligula, 275 00:21:31,247 --> 00:21:35,479 soon unleashed his first purge against the Jews and the Christians. 276 00:21:36,087 --> 00:21:39,079 He ordered Jews to wear a grotesque cow-like halter 277 00:21:39,167 --> 00:21:41,317 to remind them of the golden calf. 278 00:21:41,407 --> 00:21:45,116 And they had to ring bells to warn Muslims of their approach. 279 00:21:45,207 --> 00:21:48,279 Then he offered them the choice, death or conversion, 280 00:21:48,367 --> 00:21:51,245 and thousands of Jews started to flee the country. 281 00:21:54,527 --> 00:21:56,040 As for the Christians, 282 00:21:56,127 --> 00:21:59,324 it was a sacred ritual performed just once a year 283 00:21:59,407 --> 00:22:04,401 at their holiest site that provoked Hakim's dangerous fury, 284 00:22:05,727 --> 00:22:08,082 the Descent of the Holy Fire. 285 00:22:11,407 --> 00:22:13,045 (CHANTING) 286 00:22:13,127 --> 00:22:14,958 On holy Saturday night, 287 00:22:15,047 --> 00:22:18,926 crowds fought for a place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 288 00:22:20,007 --> 00:22:23,761 Christ's tomb was sealed and all lamps extinguished 289 00:22:23,847 --> 00:22:28,284 until, amid emotional scenes, the patriarch entered the tomb. 290 00:22:28,367 --> 00:22:30,198 (BELLS RINGING) 291 00:22:32,927 --> 00:22:34,997 Thousands of pilgrims waited 292 00:22:35,087 --> 00:22:38,602 in spine-tingling anticipation and total darkness. 293 00:22:43,327 --> 00:22:48,447 First, there was a spark, then a flicker, then brightness flared. 294 00:22:49,367 --> 00:22:53,326 And the patriarch emerged holding the holy fire. 295 00:22:53,687 --> 00:22:55,757 (BELL TOLLING) 296 00:22:55,927 --> 00:22:58,680 Which was then passed from pilgrim to pilgrim 297 00:22:58,767 --> 00:23:02,601 in scenes of total abandon and wild joy. 298 00:23:02,807 --> 00:23:04,604 (CROWD CHEERING) 299 00:23:05,087 --> 00:23:09,126 To the Christians, it was a miracle confirming the divinity of Christ. 300 00:23:11,247 --> 00:23:13,841 But to Hakim, it was a piece of trickery, 301 00:23:13,927 --> 00:23:18,398 an exhibition of fairground hucksterism, and as soon as he heard about it, 302 00:23:18,487 --> 00:23:21,604 he ordered the total demolition of this place. 303 00:23:34,487 --> 00:23:38,400 The reconstruction of the Holy Sepulchre would take decades, 304 00:23:38,687 --> 00:23:43,078 and never even approached the glory or scale of the original. 305 00:23:45,647 --> 00:23:50,641 Scarcely anything remains of Constantine's Basilica, except here. 306 00:23:52,287 --> 00:23:55,677 A three-minute walk away from today's Holy Sepulchre 307 00:23:55,807 --> 00:23:59,595 is this little-known Russian church, the Alexander Nevsky. 308 00:24:01,687 --> 00:24:04,884 Hakim had destroyed Constantine the Great's Basilica, 309 00:24:04,967 --> 00:24:06,844 the first Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 310 00:24:06,927 --> 00:24:10,966 almost down to bedrock and virtually nothing was left. 311 00:24:11,327 --> 00:24:13,158 But it's one of the joys of Jerusalem 312 00:24:13,247 --> 00:24:17,445 that you find in the most unexpected places, hidden treasures. 313 00:24:17,887 --> 00:24:20,117 And this pillar is one of them. 314 00:24:20,567 --> 00:24:25,436 Here it stands, down in the bell room of a 1 9th-century church. 315 00:24:26,207 --> 00:24:31,122 And this pillar once stood in the magnificent Basilica 316 00:24:31,767 --> 00:24:33,962 of Constantine the Great. 317 00:24:34,127 --> 00:24:35,924 And as you touch it, 318 00:24:36,287 --> 00:24:39,404 you can feel the presence of his vanished Jerusalem, 319 00:24:40,287 --> 00:24:44,166 destroyed by the insane delusions 320 00:24:44,247 --> 00:24:45,919 of a messianic tyrant, 321 00:24:46,647 --> 00:24:48,365 Al-Hakim. 322 00:24:51,487 --> 00:24:54,445 Despite Hakim's worst excesses, 323 00:24:54,567 --> 00:24:57,764 still the Christians kept coming on holy pilgrimages 324 00:24:57,847 --> 00:25:00,202 that were increasingly fashionable. 325 00:25:01,207 --> 00:25:05,246 But Fatimid Jerusalem now fell to Turkic warlords 326 00:25:05,327 --> 00:25:08,444 who threatened and massacred the Christian pilgrims. 327 00:25:13,927 --> 00:25:17,715 Europe issued a rallying cry to rescue the Holy City. 328 00:25:28,847 --> 00:25:33,841 In 1 095, Pope Urban II created a new Christian concept, 329 00:25:34,207 --> 00:25:36,323 holy war for Jerusalem. 330 00:25:36,727 --> 00:25:40,163 In return for the remission of sins, and salvation, 331 00:25:40,407 --> 00:25:42,318 Christians would conquer Jerusalem 332 00:25:42,407 --> 00:25:46,320 and cleanse the holy sites of the vile infidel. 333 00:25:48,727 --> 00:25:51,799 Tens of thousands vowed to become holy warriors, 334 00:25:51,887 --> 00:25:54,560 setting off through Europe into Asia Minor. 335 00:25:56,407 --> 00:26:00,161 Some were organised armies led by princes and their knights. 336 00:26:00,807 --> 00:26:03,162 Others were mobs led by holy men. 337 00:26:04,487 --> 00:26:06,045 For around three years, 338 00:26:06,127 --> 00:26:10,643 these Crusaders battled their way towards their sacred goal. 339 00:26:12,167 --> 00:26:14,362 Of 80,000 who set off, 340 00:26:14,447 --> 00:26:19,157 probably only around 1 0,000 survived the perilous journey. 341 00:26:22,047 --> 00:26:26,916 On Tuesday, June 7th, 1 099, in punishing heat, 342 00:26:27,047 --> 00:26:31,404 the Crusaders finally received the reward for all their suffering. 343 00:26:32,007 --> 00:26:34,441 They emerged from the hills around Jerusalem 344 00:26:34,527 --> 00:26:38,520 to see before them the city of the King of Kings, 345 00:26:38,847 --> 00:26:42,442 and before them, too, the tomb of their Lord Jesus Christ. 346 00:26:43,007 --> 00:26:46,443 By nightfall, they were encamped around Jerusalem. 347 00:26:52,567 --> 00:26:56,446 Far from home, the Crusaders' choice was stark. 348 00:26:58,207 --> 00:27:02,598 Death, or victory on the ramparts of the Holy City. 349 00:27:05,607 --> 00:27:07,563 Things seemed hopeless. 350 00:27:08,967 --> 00:27:11,959 But Italian sailors arrived just in time. 351 00:27:12,047 --> 00:27:13,526 They dismantled their ships 352 00:27:13,607 --> 00:27:16,201 and built siege engines from the timbers. 353 00:27:17,887 --> 00:27:19,957 There would be no going back. 354 00:27:25,047 --> 00:27:27,083 Finally, at almost the last moment, 355 00:27:27,167 --> 00:27:31,399 the Crusaders identified the weakest point in Jerusalem's defences, 356 00:27:31,647 --> 00:27:33,046 and somewhere around here, 357 00:27:33,127 --> 00:27:36,483 they rolled up their siege engines against the wall where it was lowest 358 00:27:36,567 --> 00:27:39,001 and fought their way into the city. 359 00:27:43,207 --> 00:27:46,802 Simultaneously, they broke in through the southern walls, too, 360 00:27:48,487 --> 00:27:52,002 and began their vicious slaughter of the Muslim faithful, 361 00:27:52,087 --> 00:27:54,442 whether citizens or soldiers. 362 00:27:54,607 --> 00:27:56,882 (SWORDS CLASHING) 363 00:27:56,967 --> 00:27:59,162 The battle raged for hours. 364 00:27:59,247 --> 00:28:02,000 The Crusaders killed everyone they could find, 365 00:28:02,087 --> 00:28:04,203 in the streets and the alleyways. 366 00:28:04,287 --> 00:28:05,959 (SWORDS CLASHING) 367 00:28:06,047 --> 00:28:10,199 They didn't just chop off heads, but also feet and hands, 368 00:28:11,007 --> 00:28:14,636 delighting in the fountains of cleansing infidel blood. 369 00:28:15,007 --> 00:28:17,043 They seized babies from their mothers 370 00:28:17,127 --> 00:28:19,118 and dashed their heads against the walls. 371 00:28:19,887 --> 00:28:24,358 Ultimately, they hacked and diced so much human flesh 372 00:28:24,647 --> 00:28:28,925 that they literally rode up to their bridles in blood. 373 00:28:34,487 --> 00:28:37,684 The fleeing Jerusalemites took refuge on the roofs 374 00:28:37,767 --> 00:28:40,600 of the Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. 375 00:28:41,327 --> 00:28:46,037 But the Crusaders smashed their way onto this crowded sacred esplanade. 376 00:28:48,847 --> 00:28:50,803 Some Muslims leapt to their deaths. 377 00:28:52,407 --> 00:28:56,958 Jews sought refuge in their synagogues, but the Crusaders set them on fire. 378 00:29:04,447 --> 00:29:08,122 After 48 hours, the slaughter was over. 379 00:29:14,327 --> 00:29:15,885 At the Holy Sepulchre, 380 00:29:15,967 --> 00:29:19,243 princes and priests sang in praise of Christ, 381 00:29:19,807 --> 00:29:24,562 clapping jubilantly and bathing the altar in tears of joy 382 00:29:24,927 --> 00:29:26,838 before parading through the streets. 383 00:29:32,487 --> 00:29:34,603 But the city was almost empty. 384 00:29:34,687 --> 00:29:38,919 The numbers killed have been exaggerated to as many as 70,000, 385 00:29:39,007 --> 00:29:43,046 but the toll was probably between 1 0,000 and 30,000 dead. 386 00:29:44,327 --> 00:29:47,558 Such was the slaughter that six months later, 387 00:29:47,927 --> 00:29:51,840 Jerusalem would still stink of putrefying bodies. 388 00:29:53,967 --> 00:29:58,438 The Crusaders who died in battle were laid to rest in this graveyard 389 00:29:58,527 --> 00:30:02,998 next to the Golden Gate, ready to rise on Judgement Day. 390 00:30:03,207 --> 00:30:05,084 (MUEZZIN CALLING) 391 00:30:06,767 --> 00:30:09,406 Benny Kedar has studied what drove them. 392 00:30:10,607 --> 00:30:14,646 Evidently, the Crusaders seeked to attain salvation 393 00:30:14,727 --> 00:30:20,040 by joining the Crusade, by fighting in it, by dying on it. 394 00:30:20,327 --> 00:30:25,879 But this was not the only motivation one can ascribe to them. 395 00:30:26,207 --> 00:30:28,437 Certainly there were people 396 00:30:28,527 --> 00:30:32,281 who were seeking a new life in a new country. 397 00:30:32,367 --> 00:30:34,278 There were people who were adventurous, 398 00:30:34,367 --> 00:30:36,835 and sometimes their motivation was 399 00:30:36,927 --> 00:30:41,079 an amalgam of these three aims. 400 00:30:41,647 --> 00:30:44,639 So what was the significance of this place outside the Golden Gate 401 00:30:44,727 --> 00:30:46,126 to the Crusaders? 402 00:30:46,207 --> 00:30:48,596 Of course, this is the place where, 403 00:30:48,687 --> 00:30:52,123 according to Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, 404 00:30:52,207 --> 00:30:54,846 the end of days is going to take place, 405 00:30:54,927 --> 00:30:57,805 and everybody wants to have a good seat for that occasion, 406 00:30:57,887 --> 00:31:01,562 and that's why you have all these cemeteries all around to this day. 407 00:31:02,207 --> 00:31:04,482 (MUEZZIN CALLING) 408 00:31:09,087 --> 00:31:12,124 MONTEFIORE: The Crusaders had slaughtered the people of Jerusalem 409 00:31:12,207 --> 00:31:14,596 but they didn't destroy their holy places. 410 00:31:16,807 --> 00:31:18,957 As so often in the city's history, 411 00:31:19,047 --> 00:31:22,926 they seized their enemies' sacred sites and made them their own. 412 00:31:26,247 --> 00:31:28,966 The Crusaders, like the Muslims before them, 413 00:31:29,047 --> 00:31:31,436 believed that many of the major buildings in Jerusalem 414 00:31:31,527 --> 00:31:34,405 had actually been constructed by David and Solomon. 415 00:31:34,487 --> 00:31:36,205 So they turned the Dome of the Rock 416 00:31:36,287 --> 00:31:39,120 into the Temple of the Lord, Templum Domini, 417 00:31:39,207 --> 00:31:43,564 and they turned the Al-Aqsa mosque into the temple or palace of Solomon. 418 00:31:43,847 --> 00:31:45,644 Both became churches. 419 00:31:45,767 --> 00:31:47,723 (TOLLING) 420 00:31:55,367 --> 00:31:57,403 New bells were installed, 421 00:31:57,687 --> 00:32:02,522 their sound symbolising the Christian and not the Islamic call to prayer. 422 00:32:04,527 --> 00:32:09,237 Jews and Muslims were banned on pain of death from entering the city 423 00:32:09,327 --> 00:32:12,444 and very few of them were even left alive. 424 00:32:14,687 --> 00:32:16,917 Syrian and Armenian Christians 425 00:32:17,007 --> 00:32:20,761 were invited to settle in Jerusalem to increase its population. 426 00:32:23,687 --> 00:32:27,839 This now Christian city was once again the capital of a kingdom, 427 00:32:27,927 --> 00:32:29,645 the kingdom of Jerusalem 428 00:32:29,727 --> 00:32:33,879 whose lands included much of today's Israel,Jordan and Lebanon. 429 00:32:43,847 --> 00:32:47,476 Crusader Jerusalem was about to enter its golden age 430 00:32:47,567 --> 00:32:51,196 under a remarkable woman who deserves to be better known, 431 00:32:51,287 --> 00:32:53,881 Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem. 432 00:33:04,167 --> 00:33:05,361 (CLICKING) 433 00:33:05,447 --> 00:33:06,846 In 1 1 29, 434 00:33:06,927 --> 00:33:11,239 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre witnessed its first royal wedding. 435 00:33:12,327 --> 00:33:15,797 Melisende, the daughter of King Baldwin II, 436 00:33:15,887 --> 00:33:18,162 married Fulk, Count of Anjou. 437 00:33:18,247 --> 00:33:21,444 And they then processed through cheering streets 438 00:33:21,527 --> 00:33:24,644 and then spent their first night together 439 00:33:24,727 --> 00:33:27,639 in the royal apartments of the Al-Aqsa mosque. 440 00:33:33,287 --> 00:33:35,881 The pomp and popularity of the royal wedding 441 00:33:35,967 --> 00:33:38,800 was a sign of what was to come for Jerusalem. 442 00:33:40,047 --> 00:33:43,323 Under Queen Melisende, the city would flourish. 443 00:33:46,247 --> 00:33:50,206 She embellished Jerusalem, creating much of what we see today. 444 00:33:50,287 --> 00:33:52,118 (BELLS TOLLING) 445 00:33:53,087 --> 00:33:56,363 She built the classic Crusader Church of St Anne's 446 00:33:57,687 --> 00:33:59,757 and the markets of Jerusalem. 447 00:34:00,567 --> 00:34:02,717 They're still the markets today. 448 00:34:04,847 --> 00:34:08,760 Melisende's Jerusalem had a population of around 30,000, 449 00:34:09,527 --> 00:34:11,722 plus streams of pilgrims. 450 00:34:13,967 --> 00:34:16,037 But it was a dangerous city. 451 00:34:17,767 --> 00:34:20,156 The medieval version of the wild west. 452 00:34:22,047 --> 00:34:26,882 Murderers, adventurers and whores came here to make their fortune. 453 00:34:28,487 --> 00:34:31,877 Its political intrigues were notoriously sleazy. 454 00:34:32,367 --> 00:34:35,803 Even the respected Queen herself was implicated. 455 00:34:37,007 --> 00:34:41,398 Melisende was famously beautiful and as formidable as any man, 456 00:34:41,527 --> 00:34:43,802 but even she had her share of scandal. 457 00:34:43,887 --> 00:34:47,596 Rather bored with her middle-aged husband, King Fulk, 458 00:34:47,687 --> 00:34:49,518 she started to spend a lot of time 459 00:34:49,607 --> 00:34:52,804 with the young and handsome Count Hugh of Jaffa. 460 00:34:54,287 --> 00:34:57,757 King Fulk accused them of having an affair, and one day, 461 00:34:57,847 --> 00:35:01,556 while Count Hugh was sitting in a Jerusalem cafe playing dice, 462 00:35:01,647 --> 00:35:05,003 he was approached and stabbed by a mysterious knight. 463 00:35:05,567 --> 00:35:07,444 King Fulk's critics claimed 464 00:35:07,527 --> 00:35:10,724 that he'd ordered the assassination of his wife's lover. 465 00:35:11,087 --> 00:35:15,797 When the knight was tried, tortured and then publicly dismembered, 466 00:35:16,087 --> 00:35:21,798 only his tongue was left intact to prove the king's innocence. 467 00:35:24,247 --> 00:35:26,681 Melisende and King Fulk made it up. 468 00:35:27,767 --> 00:35:31,396 Even if the Queen had lost her love, she kept her power. 469 00:35:34,167 --> 00:35:37,682 And soon she would celebrate her greatest achievement. 470 00:35:39,127 --> 00:35:42,802 Melisende and her son rebuilt and reconsecrated 471 00:35:42,887 --> 00:35:45,162 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 472 00:35:47,007 --> 00:35:49,805 It remains to this day the masterpiece 473 00:35:49,887 --> 00:35:54,438 and dazzling holy stage set of Crusader Jerusalem. 474 00:36:05,127 --> 00:36:08,358 But even as the Crusader kingdom enjoyed its heyday, 475 00:36:08,447 --> 00:36:12,565 Islam resolved to win back the Holy City. 476 00:36:15,727 --> 00:36:19,879 And the man who would launch this new holy war was Saladin. 477 00:36:26,007 --> 00:36:29,238 Saladin was a remarkably gifted statesman, 478 00:36:29,527 --> 00:36:33,884 beloved by his princes and generals whom he alone could bind together. 479 00:36:34,127 --> 00:36:36,277 And by the standards of the 1 2th century, 480 00:36:36,367 --> 00:36:38,278 he was a very attractive leader. 481 00:36:38,367 --> 00:36:41,723 He was wise, moderate, humane. 482 00:36:41,807 --> 00:36:44,924 But above all, he loved Jerusalem. 483 00:36:45,607 --> 00:36:48,758 ''I've had my fill of earthly pleasures,'' he said. 484 00:36:49,207 --> 00:36:54,918 From then on, he devoted himself to the holy war to liberate Jerusalem. 485 00:36:57,447 --> 00:36:59,517 Jerusalem's strategic nightmare 486 00:36:59,607 --> 00:37:03,043 was that Syria and Egypt would unite against her. 487 00:37:04,047 --> 00:37:06,322 Now Saladin seized both, 488 00:37:06,607 --> 00:37:10,805 encircling Jerusalem and threatening to strangle the kingdom. 489 00:37:14,327 --> 00:37:16,636 And he was fortunate in his enemies. 490 00:37:17,967 --> 00:37:21,323 The dynasty of Christian warrior kings had run dry. 491 00:37:23,327 --> 00:37:27,206 In 1 1 87, Saladin defeated Jerusalem's army 492 00:37:27,287 --> 00:37:29,517 and captured its inept king. 493 00:37:35,007 --> 00:37:40,161 And so, on Sunday, September 20th, Saladin surrounded Jerusalem, 494 00:37:40,247 --> 00:37:43,956 determined to storm the city and massacre the Christians. 495 00:37:46,887 --> 00:37:49,117 (BELL TOLLING) 496 00:37:49,287 --> 00:37:52,484 Inside, women prayed for mercy at the Sepulchre. 497 00:37:53,927 --> 00:37:55,406 Without a king, 498 00:37:55,487 --> 00:37:59,799 the Jerusalemites appointed a respected baron, Balian, to lead them. 499 00:38:01,327 --> 00:38:06,003 As Saladin's troops attacked the city, the walls were defended by mere boys. 500 00:38:07,047 --> 00:38:10,403 So Balian made an uncompromising offer. 501 00:38:11,647 --> 00:38:15,720 He told Saladin, ''First we will kill all our own women and children, 502 00:38:16,127 --> 00:38:20,120 ''then we will demolish your Dome of the Rock and your Al-Aqsa mosque 503 00:38:20,207 --> 00:38:22,243 ''and only then will you get the city.'' 504 00:38:24,127 --> 00:38:26,243 To save Islam's holy places, 505 00:38:26,327 --> 00:38:29,524 Saladin agreed to negotiate a peaceful surrender. 506 00:38:32,167 --> 00:38:35,398 But the Christians would still pay a heavy price. 507 00:38:37,087 --> 00:38:40,921 All the Jerusalemites would be ransomed or enslaved. 508 00:38:41,087 --> 00:38:45,842 But for Saladin, this was the fulfilment of his entire life's work. 509 00:38:45,967 --> 00:38:47,798 Saladin got Jerusalem. 510 00:39:02,207 --> 00:39:04,641 Saladin sat on his throne and watched 511 00:39:04,727 --> 00:39:08,481 as two vast columns of Christians left the city. 512 00:39:09,247 --> 00:39:11,715 The Christians turned and wept 513 00:39:11,807 --> 00:39:15,197 as they gazed upon Jerusalem for the last time. 514 00:39:27,967 --> 00:39:29,400 With the Christians gone, 515 00:39:29,487 --> 00:39:32,877 Saladin turned his attention to the Dome of the Rock, 516 00:39:33,327 --> 00:39:37,366 which he called ''the jewel of the signet ring of Islam. '' 517 00:39:39,167 --> 00:39:41,806 When Saladin retook possession of the Haram-al-Sharif, 518 00:39:41,887 --> 00:39:43,115 the Temple Mount for Islam, 519 00:39:43,207 --> 00:39:45,767 it was a triumphant personal moment for him 520 00:39:45,847 --> 00:39:47,997 and for his dynasty and for the faith. 521 00:39:48,087 --> 00:39:50,647 He immediately set about cleansing 522 00:39:50,727 --> 00:39:54,083 the Temple Mount of any vestiges of Christianity. 523 00:39:54,447 --> 00:39:56,836 (MUEZZIN CALLING) 524 00:39:57,007 --> 00:39:59,805 He pulled down the Cross from the top of the Dome, 525 00:39:59,887 --> 00:40:02,196 which had been used as a church, 526 00:40:02,287 --> 00:40:06,758 and ripped out the Crusader apartments from within Al-Aqsa mosque. 527 00:40:08,607 --> 00:40:12,486 When that was done, he bought vast quantities of rose water up 528 00:40:12,567 --> 00:40:15,718 onto the Haram and Saladin himself, the sultan, 529 00:40:15,807 --> 00:40:19,959 his princes and all his generals got down on their knees right here 530 00:40:20,047 --> 00:40:23,483 and scrubbed the Haram stones with rose water 531 00:40:24,047 --> 00:40:28,359 to cleanse it forever of the pollution of the Christian infidel. 532 00:40:32,167 --> 00:40:36,399 Like the Crusaders before him, Saladin did not raze the city, 533 00:40:36,487 --> 00:40:39,479 but adapted and embroidered its sacred places 534 00:40:40,767 --> 00:40:43,042 using the buildings of his enemies. 535 00:40:45,367 --> 00:40:50,441 These Christian decorations probably once stood in a Crusader church. 536 00:40:51,127 --> 00:40:54,483 Now they adorn the Muslim Dome of the Ascension. 537 00:41:00,807 --> 00:41:04,686 Saladin's mission was to recreate an Islamic Jerusalem. 538 00:41:07,087 --> 00:41:09,476 He left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre intact, 539 00:41:11,047 --> 00:41:13,356 but he banned all church bells. 540 00:41:14,087 --> 00:41:16,203 (MUEZZIN CALLING) 541 00:41:19,847 --> 00:41:24,079 The Islamic call to prayer would hold the monopoly of sound, 542 00:41:24,167 --> 00:41:27,364 and the sultan could enjoy the city that he adored. 543 00:41:35,247 --> 00:41:37,317 After the expulsion of the Christians, 544 00:41:37,407 --> 00:41:41,639 Saladin settled Muslims here from all over the Islamic world 545 00:41:43,487 --> 00:41:45,523 and brought back the Jews. 546 00:41:51,287 --> 00:41:55,121 Saladin had won the city through the weakness of his opponents. 547 00:41:56,807 --> 00:42:00,720 But the news of Jerusalem's fall had shocked Christian Europe, 548 00:42:01,567 --> 00:42:03,444 from kings to peasants. 549 00:42:05,407 --> 00:42:08,160 Saladin's luck was about to run out. 550 00:42:08,567 --> 00:42:14,199 The greatest warrior in all Christendom was on his way to rescue Jerusalem. 551 00:42:14,767 --> 00:42:17,440 It was Richard the Lionheart. 552 00:42:20,407 --> 00:42:25,197 Richard was six-foot-tall, red-haired and ruthlessly competent. 553 00:42:26,367 --> 00:42:31,521 He was a showman and warrior who wielded a sword that he claimed was Excalibur. 554 00:42:34,807 --> 00:42:39,323 He was capable of surprising political and religious flexibility. 555 00:42:40,407 --> 00:42:43,797 Richard and Saladin were evenly matched. 556 00:42:45,447 --> 00:42:48,439 To take Jerusalem, Richard marched down the coast 557 00:42:48,527 --> 00:42:51,280 and defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf. 558 00:42:54,807 --> 00:42:56,763 Now the Christian Crusader 559 00:42:56,847 --> 00:43:00,442 was poised to threaten Saladin's hold on Jerusalem. 560 00:43:01,647 --> 00:43:04,957 Saladin waited nervously inside the city. 561 00:43:05,047 --> 00:43:07,720 His generals advised him that if he didn't leave, 562 00:43:07,807 --> 00:43:10,924 he might be trapped inside a devastating siege. 563 00:43:12,087 --> 00:43:15,716 Saladin wavered, but he knew that if he left the city, 564 00:43:15,807 --> 00:43:17,798 his generals would surrender it to Richard. 565 00:43:20,327 --> 00:43:23,956 The thought of abandoning his prize was too much. 566 00:43:42,447 --> 00:43:44,677 Still a few days' march away, 567 00:43:45,007 --> 00:43:48,477 Richard realised that even if he captured Jerusalem, 568 00:43:48,767 --> 00:43:53,887 he would not be able to hold her whilst Saladin's vast empire was intact. 569 00:43:55,807 --> 00:43:58,640 Richard's only option was to negotiate. 570 00:44:00,887 --> 00:44:03,162 First, Richard wrote to Saladin, 571 00:44:03,687 --> 00:44:06,804 ''The Muslims and the Christians are both done for, 572 00:44:06,887 --> 00:44:10,118 ''the lands are ruined at the hands of both of us. 573 00:44:10,207 --> 00:44:14,803 ''All we have to discuss is Jerusalem, the True Cross and the territories. 574 00:44:17,367 --> 00:44:21,121 ''But Jerusalem is the centre of our worship, 575 00:44:21,607 --> 00:44:24,075 ''which we will never renounce.'' 576 00:44:24,607 --> 00:44:27,075 Saladin replied to this. He said, 577 00:44:27,407 --> 00:44:32,356 ''Jerusalem is as much ours as yours, but it is greater for us. 578 00:44:32,927 --> 00:44:36,237 ''Because it is the place that our prophet visited on his night journey.'' 579 00:44:37,807 --> 00:44:41,436 Either way, there was a big problem in the way of a deal. 580 00:44:41,527 --> 00:44:45,076 Both men wanted to possess Jerusalem totally. 581 00:44:52,327 --> 00:44:53,965 Unable to reach a settlement, 582 00:44:54,047 --> 00:44:57,119 the fighting between Richard and Saladin continued 583 00:44:57,207 --> 00:44:59,846 until their armies were at a standstill. 584 00:45:00,687 --> 00:45:02,837 -Hi, Yvonne, nice to see you. -Thank you. 585 00:45:02,927 --> 00:45:07,205 Yvonne Friedman believes that these two men had much in common. 586 00:45:08,007 --> 00:45:11,841 How important was Jerusalem to each of them, Richard and Saladin? 587 00:45:12,247 --> 00:45:16,365 For both of them, it was the goal and the aim of the war. 588 00:45:17,327 --> 00:45:19,682 That Saladin fought more wars 589 00:45:19,767 --> 00:45:23,760 against Muslims than against Christians. 590 00:45:24,167 --> 00:45:29,082 He couldn't envision the possibility of giving up Jerusalem. 591 00:45:29,647 --> 00:45:31,683 That, uh... 592 00:45:31,767 --> 00:45:34,281 And it was the crown of his achievements. 593 00:45:34,367 --> 00:45:38,155 For Richard, it was the goal he never achieved. 594 00:45:38,767 --> 00:45:41,918 Who do you think was the greater man, Saladin or Richard? 595 00:45:42,327 --> 00:45:43,885 They were both great men, 596 00:45:43,967 --> 00:45:49,360 but Saladin was a better statesman, a better politician. 597 00:45:50,007 --> 00:45:53,204 While they were both great warriors, 598 00:45:53,287 --> 00:45:56,723 Richard, on the battlefield, actually won, 599 00:45:57,127 --> 00:45:59,482 and he was a great leader of soldiers. 600 00:45:59,567 --> 00:46:02,127 He was not a great statesman 601 00:46:02,207 --> 00:46:04,482 and I don't think he was a great English king. 602 00:46:10,927 --> 00:46:13,964 MONTEFIORE: And so, on September 2nd, 1 1 92, 603 00:46:14,047 --> 00:46:17,357 the sultan and king agreed the Treaty of Jaffa, 604 00:46:19,287 --> 00:46:21,596 the first partition of Palestine. 605 00:46:24,487 --> 00:46:27,559 The Christian kingdom received a new lease of life 606 00:46:27,647 --> 00:46:29,524 with Acre as its capital. 607 00:46:30,287 --> 00:46:33,120 Saladin kept his treasured Jerusalem, 608 00:46:33,207 --> 00:46:36,677 only granting the Christians access to the Holy Sepulchre. 609 00:46:39,647 --> 00:46:43,401 Richard, it seemed, had got the raw end of the deal. 610 00:46:49,087 --> 00:46:51,442 Richard the Lionheart had failed. 611 00:46:51,527 --> 00:46:54,997 Saladin the Islamic sultan ruled Jerusalem. 612 00:46:55,447 --> 00:46:58,644 And even though these two men shared the same passions, 613 00:46:58,727 --> 00:47:00,319 the same love for Jerusalem, 614 00:47:00,407 --> 00:47:03,444 the same chivalry and the same ruthlessness, 615 00:47:03,527 --> 00:47:04,960 they never met. 616 00:47:05,047 --> 00:47:08,756 Saladin invited Richard to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 617 00:47:08,847 --> 00:47:10,519 but Richard was adamant. 618 00:47:10,607 --> 00:47:13,167 If he couldn't possess Jerusalem totally, 619 00:47:13,247 --> 00:47:15,886 he preferred never to set eyes on it. 620 00:47:28,247 --> 00:47:32,126 Six months after signing the treaty, Saladin died. 621 00:47:33,887 --> 00:47:37,675 But his nephew, who loved the city, came to live here, 622 00:47:37,767 --> 00:47:40,839 embellishing it with new buildings and new walls. 623 00:47:43,327 --> 00:47:46,763 But within a generation, the Crusaders were back. 624 00:47:49,247 --> 00:47:54,002 This time they invaded Egypt, the jewel of the family's empire. 625 00:47:55,687 --> 00:47:59,885 Threatened by its loss, Saladin's nephews took a drastic step. 626 00:48:01,007 --> 00:48:03,999 They believed that if the Crusaders took the city, 627 00:48:04,087 --> 00:48:07,875 they would kill everyone inside it and dominate all of Syria. 628 00:48:09,127 --> 00:48:13,166 So they demolished Jerusalem's walls to destroy her military value 629 00:48:14,247 --> 00:48:19,116 and offered her up to save Egypt, the lesser of two evils. 630 00:48:20,847 --> 00:48:22,758 This desperate act backfired. 631 00:48:22,847 --> 00:48:26,362 The Crusaders were defeated in Egypt and fled for home. 632 00:48:26,447 --> 00:48:30,235 They never even got near Palestine, yet alone the Holy City. 633 00:48:33,007 --> 00:48:38,923 Saladin's family had destroyed the walls of their beloved Jerusalem for nothing. 634 00:48:40,607 --> 00:48:45,078 Today, these stones are all that is left of the walls, 635 00:48:45,167 --> 00:48:51,402 a poignant reminder of the glories and the decline of the House of Saladin. 636 00:49:02,247 --> 00:49:04,602 The Jerusalemites wept and fled. 637 00:49:06,207 --> 00:49:08,516 The city was now left defenceless. 638 00:49:11,087 --> 00:49:13,601 It seemed like the end for Jerusalem. 639 00:49:13,687 --> 00:49:16,884 On the Haram, women, children and old men 640 00:49:17,007 --> 00:49:20,886 rent their clothes and tore their hair and scattered in all directions 641 00:49:20,967 --> 00:49:23,197 as if it was the Day of Judgement. 642 00:49:26,527 --> 00:49:30,645 And yet, Jerusalem was about to change hands again, 643 00:49:30,727 --> 00:49:33,082 in an unlikely and forgotten deal 644 00:49:33,167 --> 00:49:37,763 that strangely prefigures the peace negotiations of our own times. 645 00:49:43,447 --> 00:49:47,235 Saladin's dynasty had become weakened by family feuds 646 00:49:47,727 --> 00:49:50,321 when a new and unorthodox Crusader 647 00:49:50,407 --> 00:49:53,319 arrived on a very different kind of crusade. 648 00:49:55,327 --> 00:49:59,764 He would be the most eccentric ruler that Jerusalem has ever had. 649 00:50:00,567 --> 00:50:03,001 This maverick was Frederick II. 650 00:50:13,247 --> 00:50:16,080 King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, 651 00:50:16,407 --> 00:50:19,399 Frederick was the most powerful monarch in Europe, 652 00:50:20,247 --> 00:50:23,444 heir to lands from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. 653 00:50:27,007 --> 00:50:30,158 And more importantly, he knew his enemies. 654 00:50:32,007 --> 00:50:34,840 Frederick was unique because he was at home with Islam. 655 00:50:34,927 --> 00:50:39,284 It was said that he'd grown up in the backstreets of semi-Islamic Sicily 656 00:50:39,367 --> 00:50:42,245 running wild with a bunch of Arab urchins. 657 00:50:42,327 --> 00:50:45,717 He spoke Arabic and even had a harem. 658 00:50:45,807 --> 00:50:48,685 His enemies regarded him as the anti-Christ, 659 00:50:48,767 --> 00:50:50,519 the beast of the Apocalypse. 660 00:50:50,607 --> 00:50:54,202 His friends, though, and admirers called him ''Stupor Mundi, '' 661 00:50:54,287 --> 00:50:56,482 the wonder of the world. 662 00:50:59,887 --> 00:51:02,401 Unlike other Crusaders before him, 663 00:51:02,847 --> 00:51:06,635 Frederick realised that he was too weak to fight for Jerusalem. 664 00:51:09,047 --> 00:51:13,837 But so, too, was his Muslim opponent, Saladin's nephew, Sultan Kamil. 665 00:51:15,647 --> 00:51:21,517 The solution? These two educated men immediately opened secret talks. 666 00:51:22,327 --> 00:51:23,840 (INAUDIBLE) 667 00:51:23,927 --> 00:51:26,122 As the sultan and the emperor negotiated, 668 00:51:26,207 --> 00:51:31,235 they discussed Aristotelian philosophy, Arab geometry, Islamic theology, 669 00:51:31,567 --> 00:51:34,798 and they also sent each other gorgeous dancing girls. 670 00:51:35,007 --> 00:51:38,204 Frederick, of course, did everything his own way. 671 00:51:38,447 --> 00:51:40,722 He lived like an oriental potentate, 672 00:51:40,807 --> 00:51:43,879 and in between bouts of serious negotiations, 673 00:51:43,967 --> 00:51:48,597 he went on long hunting trips and spent time seducing new mistresses. 674 00:51:49,087 --> 00:51:53,763 He even wrote chivalrous poetry to his new Syrian mistress. 675 00:51:59,847 --> 00:52:01,883 When the negotiations wavered, 676 00:52:01,967 --> 00:52:04,640 Frederick prepared his troops for battle. 677 00:52:06,527 --> 00:52:09,837 This did the trick. His army wasn't needed. 678 00:52:10,207 --> 00:52:14,439 Instead, a groundbreaking power-sharing deal was struck. 679 00:52:19,247 --> 00:52:23,525 In 1 229, Frederick achieved the undreamable. 680 00:52:23,807 --> 00:52:25,604 In return for 1 0 years' peace, 681 00:52:25,687 --> 00:52:29,396 he received all of Jerusalem, including this, the Citadel. 682 00:52:29,647 --> 00:52:32,241 The House of Saladin kept the Temple Mount 683 00:52:32,327 --> 00:52:36,798 and the Muslims enjoyed full freedom of worship and access. 684 00:52:37,127 --> 00:52:39,402 Only the Jews were left out of this deal, 685 00:52:39,487 --> 00:52:42,365 and very few of them remained in Jerusalem. 686 00:52:42,927 --> 00:52:46,681 This shared sovereignty remains, even today, 687 00:52:46,767 --> 00:52:50,396 the most daring peace deal in all of Jerusalem's history. 688 00:52:58,887 --> 00:53:01,606 Through this shrewd alliance with Islam, 689 00:53:01,687 --> 00:53:04,645 Frederick had won the city for Christianity. 690 00:53:05,527 --> 00:53:09,076 But the fact that the Dome of the Rock remained under Muslim control 691 00:53:09,167 --> 00:53:13,206 led to some accusing him of betraying the Crusader cause. 692 00:53:17,247 --> 00:53:20,956 Reuven Amitai thinks that this freewheeling polymath 693 00:53:21,407 --> 00:53:23,716 wasn't just playing at politics. 694 00:53:23,887 --> 00:53:26,720 I think that Frederick had a pretty good idea what this was all about. 695 00:53:26,807 --> 00:53:30,595 Frederick was well-known, was a very, very successful, 696 00:53:30,687 --> 00:53:33,326 a very, very powerful, a very, very hands-on ruler. 697 00:53:33,407 --> 00:53:38,356 And I think he knew that this was a relatively cheap way, 698 00:53:38,447 --> 00:53:42,599 in terms of manpower and resources and just general aggravation, 699 00:53:42,687 --> 00:53:45,838 to achieve the main goal. He wanted to look good. 700 00:53:45,927 --> 00:53:48,964 I mean, he was not... He certainly was not a na'ive babe in the woods. 701 00:53:49,047 --> 00:53:52,517 So what was the reaction of both sides to the secret deal? 702 00:53:52,847 --> 00:53:58,717 I think that deep down in both societies there was difficulty accepting 703 00:53:58,807 --> 00:54:01,640 that one could make real peace with the other side. 704 00:54:01,727 --> 00:54:05,481 The idea that two rulers would strike a deal of such magnitude, 705 00:54:05,567 --> 00:54:08,718 and so publicly, perhaps was difficult to swallow. 706 00:54:13,287 --> 00:54:14,766 MONTEFIORE: When the deal was complete, 707 00:54:14,847 --> 00:54:18,760 Frederick received the keys to the city from the Muslim commanders. 708 00:54:20,687 --> 00:54:24,396 And characteristically, Frederick put his own stamp on the occasion. 709 00:54:24,647 --> 00:54:26,205 (SINGING) 710 00:54:27,087 --> 00:54:29,157 Here in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 711 00:54:29,247 --> 00:54:31,966 Frederick held a crown-wearing ceremony 712 00:54:32,047 --> 00:54:35,357 attended not by priests, but by his German troops. 713 00:54:35,447 --> 00:54:37,199 It wasn't so much a coronation, 714 00:54:37,287 --> 00:54:39,323 more a symbolic display 715 00:54:39,407 --> 00:54:43,036 of his universal power as Christian emperor. 716 00:54:48,887 --> 00:54:51,162 But his triumph was spoiled. 717 00:54:51,327 --> 00:54:54,637 The Pope, to punish him for his haughty independence, 718 00:54:54,727 --> 00:54:56,558 had excommunicated him. 719 00:54:56,647 --> 00:55:00,117 And now he was forced to leave his own city. 720 00:55:00,807 --> 00:55:03,958 He had won Jerusalem but he could never enjoy it. 721 00:55:15,887 --> 00:55:20,438 1 30 years after the first Crusaders' bloody conquest, 722 00:55:20,527 --> 00:55:22,882 the city was Christian again. 723 00:55:26,207 --> 00:55:29,244 But without its walls, Jerusalem was insecure. 724 00:55:32,607 --> 00:55:37,522 And after the death of the co-signer of the treaty, Kamil, peace didn't last. 725 00:55:39,607 --> 00:55:41,882 The city was tossed back and forth 726 00:55:41,967 --> 00:55:45,596 between Islamic princelings and Crusader barons. 727 00:55:58,687 --> 00:56:01,042 On July 1 1 th, 1 244, 728 00:56:01,127 --> 00:56:05,120 1 0,000 Kharismian Tartars rode towards Jerusalem. 729 00:56:08,567 --> 00:56:12,606 Recklessly invited in by Saladin's feuding descendants, 730 00:56:13,007 --> 00:56:15,475 these mercenaries were now out of control. 731 00:56:19,567 --> 00:56:21,398 The horsemen clattered into the city, 732 00:56:23,047 --> 00:56:25,242 fighting and hacking their way through the streets. 733 00:56:28,287 --> 00:56:30,676 They destroyed churches and houses. 734 00:56:33,727 --> 00:56:36,321 Christian Jerusalem was under attack. 735 00:56:39,807 --> 00:56:42,924 The Tartars burst into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 736 00:56:43,007 --> 00:56:45,043 Christendom's holiest shrine. 737 00:56:45,127 --> 00:56:46,685 They set it on fire. 738 00:56:46,767 --> 00:56:49,725 When they found the priests celebrating mass at the altar, 739 00:56:49,807 --> 00:56:52,116 they beheaded them and disembowelled them. 740 00:56:52,207 --> 00:56:54,198 Then they smashed their way into the tombs 741 00:56:54,287 --> 00:56:57,563 of the Crusader kings of Jerusalem right under this chapel. 742 00:56:57,647 --> 00:57:01,117 They pulled out the bodies and threw them onto a bonfire 743 00:57:01,207 --> 00:57:03,641 and finally, they smashed the stone 744 00:57:03,727 --> 00:57:07,356 at the door of the tomb of Jesus Christ himself. 745 00:57:13,847 --> 00:57:17,522 When they had thoroughly destroyed and pillaged Jerusalem, 746 00:57:17,607 --> 00:57:19,643 the Tartars galloped away. 747 00:57:21,407 --> 00:57:24,001 Over 2,000 Christians were massacred. 748 00:57:29,407 --> 00:57:31,796 Jerusalem was at rock bottom. 749 00:57:31,887 --> 00:57:37,803 It resembled a devastated village, without walls, ruined and half-empty. 750 00:57:38,287 --> 00:57:41,916 It seemed as if Jerusalem couldn't sink any lower. 751 00:57:49,887 --> 00:57:52,526 For the moment,Jerusalem was desolate, 752 00:57:52,607 --> 00:57:55,405 controlled by different Islamic warlords. 753 00:57:57,247 --> 00:58:01,206 Hordes of invaders galloped through her streets at will. 754 00:58:03,407 --> 00:58:06,558 There were few Muslims, let alone Christians left, 755 00:58:08,727 --> 00:58:10,797 and just a handful of Jews. 756 00:58:12,407 --> 00:58:15,843 And yet she still remained sacred for the three faiths. 757 00:58:17,767 --> 00:58:21,157 Could one of them provide a champion to rebuild her? 758 00:58:21,247 --> 00:58:25,206 Could Jerusalem once again become the Holy City, 759 00:58:26,447 --> 00:58:28,677 the centre of the world?