0:00:02 > 0:00:04Jerusalem, the Holy City,
0:00:04 > 0:00:09is regarded by many as the actual centre of the world.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Since the Bronze Age, it's been the object of desire
0:00:15 > 0:00:17for both conquerors and prophets.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Each one claiming the city,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24and robbing their predecessors of their past.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Jerusalem is ever-changing - it's never been the same,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31and that is both its blessing and its curse.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36This beguiling place has changed hands many times,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40often with violence and bloodshed.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45And for many, this religious capital
0:00:45 > 0:00:49will be the setting for the Day of Judgement,
0:00:49 > 0:00:51when the world will end.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56In the early 7th century,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59a new faith arose out of the Arabian peninsula.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03This faith would revere Jerusalem,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06already sacred to Jews and Christians,
0:01:06 > 0:01:11but the new movement would adapt and commandeer their traditions.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13This was Islam.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19Its followers believe that their founder, too, came here,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21like Abraham and Jesus before him.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27But what would the arrival of a third faith
0:01:27 > 0:01:30mean for the unfolding story of Jerusalem?
0:02:01 > 0:02:03I'm a writer and historian,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06and I've been coming to Jerusalem since childhood.
0:02:09 > 0:02:10It's been a holy place,
0:02:10 > 0:02:15the site of a sacred spring, for some 4,000 years.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20This was where the Jews built their temples
0:02:20 > 0:02:23for the worship of their one God,
0:02:23 > 0:02:28where the Canaanites, Greeks and Romans idolised their pagan gods,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31and where Christianity was founded.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40In the 4th century, Constantine the Great created Christian Jerusalem,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44building the enormous Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre
0:02:44 > 0:02:49and commandeering the sacred symbols and relics of Judaism.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53The Temple Mount where the Jewish Temple once stood
0:02:53 > 0:02:55was deliberately preserved in ruins
0:02:55 > 0:03:00to celebrate the victory of Christianity over Judaism.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04The Jews were a persecuted minority, and in the 7th century
0:03:04 > 0:03:08they remained banned from Jerusalem by the Christian Byzantines,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11who still ruled the Middle East.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13The Christians had even claimed for themselves
0:03:13 > 0:03:16many of the Jewish traditions of the Temple Mount,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19and now they moved these, wholesale,
0:03:19 > 0:03:21over to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre -
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Adam's skull, Abraham's altar,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27and the oil-bearing horn that had anointed King David
0:03:27 > 0:03:29joined Christian relics
0:03:29 > 0:03:33such as the lance that had pierced Jesus' side, and of course,
0:03:33 > 0:03:38the true cross. They even moved the official centre of the world
0:03:38 > 0:03:43from Temple Mount, to its new home, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50But the Byzantine Empire had grown weak.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53And Christian Jerusalem was about to be changed
0:03:53 > 0:03:56by the revelations given to one man.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08800 miles away, in the Arabian desert,
0:04:08 > 0:04:13a young merchant named Muhammad lived in the pagan town of Mecca.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22But he knew of Jerusalem, and he came to respect
0:04:22 > 0:04:24the Jewish AND Christian scriptures.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34According to tradition, in 610 AD,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37the Archangel Gabriel visited Muhammad.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43He came to believe he was chosen to be God's messenger.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49When the Prophet received God's revelations,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53it was said that his face became flushed, he fell silent,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58he lay limp on the floor, engulfed by visions and humming sounds.
0:04:58 > 0:05:05And then, he began to recite these divine and poetical revelations.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08At first, they were just chanted aloud
0:05:08 > 0:05:11then they were divided into 114 chapters,
0:05:11 > 0:05:15and finally, collated into a book, known as the Koran.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Muhammad preached submission - in Arabic, "Islam" -
0:05:25 > 0:05:30to the one God, in return for universal salvation.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33And for him, Jerusalem mattered.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Respectful of the Jewish and Christian prophets,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42he venerated this place.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Unlike Jesus, Muhammad was not a miracle worker,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49but one, apparently mystical, experience
0:05:49 > 0:05:52would link him for ever with the city.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Muhammad's followers believed that one night
0:05:59 > 0:06:01he was awoken by the angel Gabriel,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05and mounted a stead with a human face, named Al-Buraq.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08And together, they flew on his night journey
0:06:08 > 0:06:11to a place called "the Furthest Sanctuary".
0:06:13 > 0:06:18There he met and prayed with the most revered prophets of Judaism
0:06:18 > 0:06:23and Christianity, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26and then ascended to Heaven.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31And it's this that would turn the spotlight on Jerusalem
0:06:31 > 0:06:34for the emerging faith.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37From the earliest days of Islam,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41this Furthest Sanctuary was identified with the Temple Mount.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46And today, it's known as Haram Al-Sharif - the Noble Sanctuary.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Jerusalem remains a sacred destination
0:06:57 > 0:06:59for Muhammad's followers.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05On this day every year, Muslims gather here to commemorate
0:07:05 > 0:07:09the night journey of the Prophet Muhammad to Jerusalem,
0:07:09 > 0:07:14making this city one of the most holy places in the world
0:07:14 > 0:07:16for Muslims today.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Al-Isra, or the Night Journey,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23is celebrated in mosques across the city.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Mustafa Abu Sway leads fellow Muslims in prayer.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37My understanding of the Night Journey is that
0:07:37 > 0:07:41it's the night that established the perpetual relationship
0:07:41 > 0:07:45between two parts of the Muslim world, Mecca and Jerusalem.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49It's an invitation to the children of Abraham
0:07:49 > 0:07:52to reconnect with Jerusalem.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55It was a night in which the Prophet himself
0:07:55 > 0:07:58connected personally with Jerusalem,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00when everyone knows that all prophets
0:08:00 > 0:08:04had that sublime relationship with this holy city.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Muhammad's message wasn't just one of prayer and peace -
0:08:11 > 0:08:13he was also a formidable statesman,
0:08:13 > 0:08:17and he sent an expeditionary force to probe the defences
0:08:17 > 0:08:19of Byzantine Palestine.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23I wonder if he was already dreaming of reaching Jerusalem.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26In any case, Islam was getting closer.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Muhammad died in 632.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38But his vision continued under his successors,
0:08:38 > 0:08:43who were known as the caliphs, or "Commanders of the Faithful".
0:08:46 > 0:08:50And just five years after their Prophet's death,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53three Islamic armies were converging on Jerusalem.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59It's thought there was a reason for their urgency.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03That these early Muslims may have believed
0:09:03 > 0:09:06the end of the world would take place here.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14Muhsin Yusuf has studied what drove Muhammad's followers.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17The Day of Judgement, the end day,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21was extremely important for almost everybody.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23The religious people especially came to Jerusalem
0:09:23 > 0:09:28and they wanted to occupy it because they wanted to be here
0:09:28 > 0:09:31in the Day of Judgement, because they think,
0:09:31 > 0:09:32they thought in that time -
0:09:32 > 0:09:36that they would ascend to Heaven from here, from Jerusalem,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38so they wanted to be close.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42But for the average soldiers, it was important,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44but it's not like the religious people.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48They wanted to revenge against the Byzantines
0:09:48 > 0:09:50who tried to attack Muhammad.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Driven by these political AND religious motives,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00the Islamic armies surrounded and laid siege to the Holy City.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10Inside, the Christians, led by the Patriarch Sophronius,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14thought the Muslims had been sent as punishment for their sins.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Fearful of a bloody storming of the city,
0:10:19 > 0:10:24they started to negotiate and agreed to surrender,
0:10:24 > 0:10:26on one condition -
0:10:26 > 0:10:30that the terms of the takeover were personally guaranteed
0:10:30 > 0:10:34by the Muslim Caliph himself, Omar,
0:10:34 > 0:10:40a puritanical giant who reinforced his authority with a big stick.
0:10:42 > 0:10:48The Caliph Omar arrived in Jerusalem to accept the surrender of the city.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52The patriarch Sophronius presented him with the keys of Jerusalem,
0:10:52 > 0:10:57in return for the promise that the Christians could worship freely.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59The so-called "Pact of Omar".
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Omar had won Jerusalem for the early Muslims.
0:11:12 > 0:11:13But he went further still.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17For him, the now ruined Jewish shrines on the Temple Mount
0:11:17 > 0:11:19were important to Islam, too.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25He and his warriors cleared away the debris to pray there.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30He was deliberately co-opting, the ancient Jewish tradition
0:11:30 > 0:11:36of sanctity there, for the new and final revelation of Islam.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41And he even invited the Jews themselves,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45who had been exiled by the Christians, back to the city
0:11:45 > 0:11:48so they, too, could pray on the Temple Mount.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57But the central importance of Jerusalem to Islam was paramount.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01The new faith would build
0:12:01 > 0:12:04right on the site of the Jewish Temple itself.
0:12:04 > 0:12:10This would become the jewel in the crown of Islamic Jerusalem,
0:12:10 > 0:12:15and a monument to the splendour of those Arab caliphs who built it -
0:12:15 > 0:12:17the Umayyads.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29The Umayyad empire was one of the largest in the world
0:12:29 > 0:12:34and in 685 Abd al-Malik became its Caliph.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40Abd al-Malik was a triumphant empire builder and religious reformer.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43He won a vicious civil war against his enemies
0:12:43 > 0:12:46and when he captured one rebel leader, he led him around
0:12:46 > 0:12:50on a dog leash, hacked off his head and tossed it to the crowd.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54But despite this brutal exterior,
0:12:54 > 0:12:59he also indulged his more aesthetic sensibilities,
0:12:59 > 0:13:04and his most enduring achievement is still breathtaking.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11And it was the legacy of Judaism that he drew on
0:13:11 > 0:13:14for the location of this most ambitious of projects...
0:13:17 > 0:13:21..adding a new layer of holiness to an already sacred site.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26It's one of the most successful
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and beautiful religious buildings ever constructed.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Dominating the Temple Mount, it's the Dome of the Rock.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39It's not a mosque, but a shrine,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43and mysteriously, Abd al-Malik never said why he built it.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48The design was exquisitely simple -
0:13:48 > 0:13:53a dome, 65 feet in diameter supported by a drum...
0:13:54 > 0:13:57..all resting on octagonal walls.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02The golden Dome, the gleaming white marble
0:14:02 > 0:14:06and the lavish decorations are a powerful combination.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16It's unlike any other Islamic shrine in the world.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Directly beneath the Dome is the Rock itself.
0:14:27 > 0:14:33Then, as now, this spot marks for so many the centre of the world.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36This is a very ancient stone.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39No-one knows its ultimate origin,
0:14:39 > 0:14:44but this is certainly the holiest place in all of Jerusalem.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49This is the place where some believe Adam's skull is buried,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56where the Jewish holy of holies, supposedly stood.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01This is the place whence Muhammad the prophet ascended to heaven
0:15:01 > 0:15:02during his night journey.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07And it's an amazing place, just to stand,
0:15:07 > 0:15:13and believe that this is the essence the foundation stone,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15of Jerusalem sanctity.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Jerusalem now had an Islamic shrine,
0:15:27 > 0:15:30but still needed a mosque for Friday prayers.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Built by Abd al Malik and his son,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43it's known as "Al Aqsa", the farthest mosque.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49Between them, Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52celebrated Islam's claim to Jerusalem.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58The Jewish Temple Mount was now an Islamic shrine,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03and its magnificence outshone any of the Christian monuments.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Surely, that was always Abd al-Malik's intention.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15For over 300 years, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
0:16:15 > 0:16:19had been the centre of all religious life in Jerusalem,
0:16:19 > 0:16:25but now the Muslims had reactivated and reinvigorated the Temple Mount
0:16:25 > 0:16:29adopting and adapting many of the traditions of the Jews
0:16:29 > 0:16:33and the Christians, and of course, adding many of their own.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37From now on, Jerusalem had two centres of sanctity -
0:16:37 > 0:16:40the Christian and the Muslim.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55The Umayyads ruled from Syria, but loved Jerusalem,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59and even considered making it their imperial capital.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Right here, just south of the Temple Mount,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07the Umayyad caliphs built a magnificent palace complex,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10often using stones from the old Jewish temple.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15There were vast expansive courtyards, and tinkling fountains.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18And amazingly, they designed it so they could walk
0:17:18 > 0:17:20straight from their third floor apartments
0:17:20 > 0:17:24into their new and magnificent Al-Aqsa Mosque up there.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36These carvings once decorated the Caliph's palaces.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38They're 1,400 years old,
0:17:38 > 0:17:43but give a glimpse into an Islamic world that today, is unimaginable.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49The Umayyads were more like decadent Roman emperors
0:17:49 > 0:17:53than puritanical Islamic rulers.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Islam actual banned the depiction of human faces,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00but as you can see, from these decorations,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03the Umayyads enjoyed naked dancing girls.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08Some with cartoonish faces, and some bare-breasted and brazenly sexual.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16This was not our traditional image of early Islam.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20Far from it. In fact, it would have been fun to be an Umayyad.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Yet, even under this decadent, easy-going
0:18:33 > 0:18:35and rather tolerant dynasty,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Islam was changing and becoming more exclusive.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41The Jews had been allowed to worship on the Temple Mount
0:18:41 > 0:18:44for about 80 years,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47but in 720, the Caliph banned them
0:18:47 > 0:18:49from entering those precincts at all.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52They were allowed to continue to live in the city,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55but the Jews weren't allowed on to the Temple Mount again
0:18:55 > 0:18:57for over a thousand years.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Jerusalem was ruled by the Umayyads
0:19:14 > 0:19:19and their successors, the Abbasids, for more than three centuries.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23They were mainstream Sunni Muslims.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27But since the 7th century, Islam had been split into two strands.
0:19:29 > 0:19:35In 969, a new mystical dynasty from Egypt conquered the city.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40They belonged to the other strand of Islam, the Shiites.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Their caliphs claimed descent from the Prophet's daughter Fatima.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46They were known as Fatimids
0:19:46 > 0:19:51and they were much more tolerant towards Christians and Jews.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Christian pilgrims were flocking to the city
0:19:55 > 0:19:57as the new millennium approached.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03Around this time, there were rumours that Jerusalem would be ruled
0:20:03 > 0:20:07by a mystical last Christian emperor,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10who would herald the End of Days.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16But the Muslims regarded their own Fatimid Caliphs as sacred kings
0:20:16 > 0:20:22and by the year 1000, a child was Caliph of the Fatimid Dynasty.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33This sacred boy ruler was Al-Hakim. He grew up to be broad-shouldered,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37handsome and his blue eyes were speckled with gold.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42He adored poetry, he loved literature and he was aesthetic.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44He was a popular and beloved young Caliph.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49But he was increasingly obsessed with his own semi-messianic status.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52He took to wandering the streets at night,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55in mystical trances induced by opium.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Then he ordered massacres of dogs and cats, and banned chess.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Gradually, Hakim was going mad.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11The Fatimid Caliphs considered themselves to be touched
0:21:11 > 0:21:15by the divine, suspended between God and man.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19But soon it seems Hakim believed he was wholly divine
0:21:19 > 0:21:23and he began to exercise his powers to devastating effect.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Hakim, who was swiftly emerging as the Arab Caligula,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34soon unleashed his first purge against the Jews and the Christians.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37He ordered Jews to wear a grotesque cow-like halter
0:21:37 > 0:21:40to remind them of the golden calf.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43And they had to ring bells to warn Muslims of their approach.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47Then he offered them the choice - death or conversion -
0:21:47 > 0:21:50and thousands of Jews started to flee the country.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54As for the Christians,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57it was a sacred ritual performed just once a year
0:21:57 > 0:22:04at their holiest site that provoked Hakim's dangerous fury -
0:22:04 > 0:22:07the descent of the Holy Fire.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13On Holy Saturday night,
0:22:13 > 0:22:18crowds fought for a place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Christ's tomb was sealed, and all lamps extinguished until,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27amid emotional scenes, the patriarch entered the Tomb.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36Thousands of pilgrims waited in spine-tingling anticipation,
0:22:36 > 0:22:37and total darkness.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45First, there was a spark, then a flicker,
0:22:45 > 0:22:47then brightness flared.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52And the patriarch emerged holding the Holy Fire...
0:22:55 > 0:22:59..which was then passed from pilgrim to pilgrim in scenes
0:22:59 > 0:23:02of total abandon and wild joy.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08To the Christians, it was a miracle confirming the divinity of Christ.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13But to Hakim, it was a piece of trickery,
0:23:13 > 0:23:15an exhibition of fairground hucksterism,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17and as soon as he heard about it,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20he ordered the total demolition of THIS place.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37The reconstruction of the Holy Sepulchre would take decades
0:23:37 > 0:23:41and never even approached the glory or scale of the original.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Scarcely anything remains of Constantine's Basilica...
0:23:48 > 0:23:49except here.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54A three-minute walk away from today's Holy Sepulchre
0:23:54 > 0:23:58is this little known Russian church, the Alexander Nevsky.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Hakim destroyed Constantine the Great's Basilica,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07the first church of the Holy Sepulchre, almost down to bedrock
0:24:07 > 0:24:09and virtually nothing was left,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12but it's one of the joys of Jerusalem that you find
0:24:12 > 0:24:16in the most unexpected places hidden treasures.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20And this pillar is one of them. Here it stands,
0:24:20 > 0:24:25down in the bell room of a 19th-century church.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30And this pillar once stood in the magnificent basilica
0:24:30 > 0:24:32of Constantine the Great.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35And as you touch it,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39you can feel the presence of his vanished Jerusalem.
0:24:39 > 0:24:45Destroyed by the insane delusions, of a messianic tyrant,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47Al-Hakim.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54Despite Hakim's worst excesses, still the Christians kept coming
0:24:54 > 0:24:58on holy pilgrimages that were increasingly fashionable.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04But Fatimid Jerusalem now fell to Turkic warlords,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07who threatened and massacred the Christian pilgrims.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17Europe issued a rallying cry to rescue the Holy City.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32In 1095, Pope Urban the Second created a new Christian concept -
0:25:32 > 0:25:35holy war for Jerusalem.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39In return for the remission of sins and salvation,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41Christians would conquer Jerusalem
0:25:41 > 0:25:45and cleanse the holy sites of the vile infidel.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Tens of thousands vowed to become holy warriors,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53setting off through Europe into Asia Minor.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Some were organised armies led by princes and their knights.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01Others were mobs led by holy men.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07For around three years, these crusaders battled their way
0:26:07 > 0:26:09towards their sacred goal.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12Of 80,000 who set off,
0:26:12 > 0:26:17probably only around 10,000 survived the perilous journey.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25On Tuesday 7th June 1099, in punishing heat,
0:26:25 > 0:26:30the crusaders finally received the reward for all their suffering.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35They emerged from the hills around Jerusalem to see before them
0:26:35 > 0:26:38the city of the king of kings, and before them too,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41the tomb of their lord, Jesus Christ.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45By nightfall, they were encamped around Jerusalem.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56Far from home, the crusaders' choice was stark -
0:26:56 > 0:27:01death, or victory on the ramparts of the Holy City.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06Things seemed hopeless.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10But Italian sailors arrived just in time.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12They dismantled their ships
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and built siege engines from the timbers.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18There would be no going back.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Finally, at almost the last moment,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30the crusaders identified the weakest point in Jerusalem's defences,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33and somewhere around here, they rolled up their siege engines
0:27:33 > 0:27:38against the wall where it was lowest and fought their way into the city.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Simultaneously, they broke in through the southern walls, too.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50And began their vicious slaughter of the Muslim faithful,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53whether citizens or soldiers.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57The battle raged for hours,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00the crusaders killed everyone they could find,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03in the streets and the alleyways.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08They didn't just chop off heads but also feet and hands,
0:28:08 > 0:28:13delighting in the fountains of cleansing infidel blood.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15They seized babies from their mothers
0:28:15 > 0:28:19and dashed their heads against the walls.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Ultimately, they hacked and diced so much human flesh
0:28:23 > 0:28:28that they literally rode up to their bridals in blood.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36The fleeing Jerusalemites took refuge on the roofs
0:28:36 > 0:28:38of the Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45But the Crusaders smashed their way onto this crowded sacred esplanade.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Some Muslims leapt to their deaths.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Jews sought refuge in their synagogues,
0:28:53 > 0:28:55but the Crusaders set them on fire.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06After 48 hours, the slaughter was over.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18At the Holy Sepulchre, princes and priests sang in praise of Christ,
0:29:18 > 0:29:23clapping jubilantly and bathing the altar in tears of joy,
0:29:23 > 0:29:25before parading through the streets.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32But the city was almost empty.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37The numbers killed have been exaggerated to as many as 70,000.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41But the toll was probably between 10,000 and 30,000 dead.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Such was the slaughter that six months later,
0:29:46 > 0:29:50Jerusalem would still stink of putrefying bodies.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57The Crusaders who died in battle were laid to rest in this graveyard,
0:29:57 > 0:30:02next to the Golden Gate, ready to rise on Judgement Day.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Benny Kedar has studied what drove them.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13Evidently the Crusaders seeked to attain salvation
0:30:13 > 0:30:16by joining the Crusade,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19by fighting in it, by dying on it.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25But this was not their only motivation one can ascribe to them.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Certainly, there were people who were seeking
0:30:28 > 0:30:31a new life in a new country.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35There were people who were adventurers and sometimes
0:30:35 > 0:30:39their motivation was an amalgam of these three aims.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43So what was the significance of this place outside the Golden Gate
0:30:43 > 0:30:45to the Crusaders?
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Of course, this is the place where, according to Jewish, Christian
0:30:49 > 0:30:53and Muslim tradition, the End of Days is going to take place,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56and everybody wants to have a good seat for that occasion,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00and that's why you have all these cemeteries all around to this day.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10The Crusaders had slaughtered the people of Jerusalem,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13but they didn't destroy their holy places.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17As so often in the city's history,
0:31:17 > 0:31:22they seized their enemies' sacred sites and made them their own.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27The Crusaders, like the Muslims before them,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30believed many of the buildings in Jerusalem
0:31:30 > 0:31:33had actually been constructed by David and Solomon.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36So, they turned the Dome of the Rock into the temple of the lord,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39Templum Domini. And they turned the Al-Aqsa mosque
0:31:39 > 0:31:44into the temple, or palace, of Solomon, both became churches.
0:31:53 > 0:31:59New bells were installed, their sound symbolising the Christian
0:31:59 > 0:32:02and not the Islamic call to prayer.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07Jews and Muslims were banned on pain of death from entering the city
0:32:07 > 0:32:10and very few of them were even left alive.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17Syrian and Armenian Christians were invited to settle in Jerusalem
0:32:17 > 0:32:20to increase its population.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26This now Christian city was once again the capital of a kingdom,
0:32:26 > 0:32:28the Kingdom of Jerusalem,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32whose lands included much of today's Israel, Jordan and Lebanon.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46Crusader Jerusalem was about to enter its golden age,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49under a remarkable woman who deserves to be better known,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem.
0:33:02 > 0:33:08In 1129, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
0:33:08 > 0:33:10witnessed its first royal wedding.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Melisende, the daughter of King Baldwin II,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16married Fulk, Count of Anjou.
0:33:16 > 0:33:21And they then processed through cheering streets
0:33:21 > 0:33:24and then spent their first night together in the royal apartments
0:33:24 > 0:33:26of the Al-Aqsa mosque.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34The pomp and popularity of the royal wedding
0:33:34 > 0:33:36was a sign of what was to come for Jerusalem.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42Under Queen Melisende, the city would flourish.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48She embellished Jerusalem, creating much that we see today.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56She built the classic Crusader Church of St Anne's
0:33:56 > 0:33:59and the markets of Jerusalem.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02They're still the markets today.
0:34:03 > 0:34:08Melisende's Jerusalem had a population of around 30,000,
0:34:08 > 0:34:09plus streams of pilgrims.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15But it was a dangerous city.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19The medieval version of the wild west.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25Murderers, adventurers and whores came here to make their fortune.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30Its political intrigues were notoriously sleazy,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34even the respected Queen herself was implicated.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40Melisende was famously beautiful and as formidable as any man.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42But even she had her share of scandal.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Rather bored with her middle-aged husband, King Fulk,
0:34:46 > 0:34:50she started to spend a lot of time with the young and handsome
0:34:50 > 0:34:51Count Hugh of Jaffa.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55King Fulk accused them of having an affair.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59And one day, while Count Hugh was sitting in a Jerusalem cafe
0:34:59 > 0:35:04playing dice, he was approached and stabbed by a mysterious knight.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07King Fulk's critics claimed that he'd ordered
0:35:07 > 0:35:09the assassination of his wife's lover.
0:35:09 > 0:35:14When the knight was tried, tortured and then publicly dismembered,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17only his tongue was left intact,
0:35:17 > 0:35:21to prove the King's innocence.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26Melisende and King Fulk made it up.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30Even if the Queen had lost her love, she kept her power.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36And soon she would celebrate her greatest achievement.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Melisende and her son rebuilt and reconsecrated
0:35:41 > 0:35:43the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48It remains to this day the masterpiece
0:35:48 > 0:35:52and dazzling holy stage set of Crusader Jerusalem.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08But even as the Crusader kingdom enjoyed its heyday,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10Islam resolved to win back the Holy City.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18And the man who would launch this new holy war was Saladin.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28Saladin was a remarkably gifted statesman,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32beloved by his princes and generals, whom he alone could bind together.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35And by the standards of the 12th century,
0:36:35 > 0:36:37he was a very attractive leader.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41He was wise, moderate, humane.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44But above all, he loved Jerusalem.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48"I've had my fill, of earthly pleasures," he said.
0:36:48 > 0:36:54From then on, he devoted himself to the holy war, to liberate Jerusalem.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00Jerusalem's strategic nightmare was that Syria AND Egypt
0:37:00 > 0:37:01would unite against her.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07Now, Saladin seized both, encircling Jerusalem
0:37:07 > 0:37:09and threatening to strangle the kingdom.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15And he was fortunate in his enemies.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20The dynasty of Christian warrior kings had run dry.
0:37:20 > 0:37:26In 1187, Saladin defeated Jerusalem's army
0:37:26 > 0:37:28and captured its inept king.
0:37:33 > 0:37:39And so, on Sunday 20th September, Saladin surrounded Jerusalem
0:37:39 > 0:37:42determined to storm the city and massacre the Christians.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Inside, women prayed for mercy at the Sepulchre.
0:37:52 > 0:37:57Without a king, the Jerusalemites appointed a respected baron, Balian,
0:37:57 > 0:37:59to lead them.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02As Saladin's troops attacked the city,
0:38:02 > 0:38:04the walls were defended by mere boys.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09So Balian made an uncompromising offer.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14He told Saladin, "First we will kill all our own women and children,
0:38:14 > 0:38:19"then we will demolish your Dome of the Rock and your Al-Aqsa mosque
0:38:19 > 0:38:21"and only then will you get the city."
0:38:22 > 0:38:25To save Islam's holy places,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Saladin agreed to negotiate a peaceful surrender.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34But the Christians would still pay a heavy price.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39All the Jerusalemites would be ransomed or enslaved.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42But for Saladin, this was the fulfilment
0:38:42 > 0:38:44of his entire life's work -
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Saladin got Jerusalem.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04Saladin sat on his throne and watched,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07as two vast columns of Christians left the city.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10The Christians turned and wept,
0:39:10 > 0:39:14as they gazed upon Jerusalem for the last time.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28With the Christians gone,
0:39:28 > 0:39:32Saladin turned his attention to the Dome of the Rock,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36which he called, "The jewel of the signet ring of Islam."
0:39:36 > 0:39:40When Saladin retook possession of the Haram al-Sharif,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43the Temple Mount, for Islam, it was a triumphant personal moment
0:39:43 > 0:39:46for him and for his dynasty and for the faith.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50He immediately set about cleansing the Temple Mount
0:39:50 > 0:39:53of any vestiges of Christianity.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58He pulled down the cross from the top of the Dome
0:39:58 > 0:40:03which had been used as a church, and ripped out the Crusader apartments
0:40:03 > 0:40:06from within Al-Aqsa mosque.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11When that was done, he brought vast quantities of rose water
0:40:11 > 0:40:15up onto the Haram and Saladin himself, the sultan, his princes
0:40:15 > 0:40:18and all his generals got down on their knees right here
0:40:18 > 0:40:22and scrubbed the Haram's stones with rose water
0:40:22 > 0:40:27to cleanse it for ever of the pollution of the Christian infidel.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34Like the Crusaders before him, Saladin did not raze the city
0:40:34 > 0:40:39but adapted and embroidered its sacred places,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42using the buildings of his enemies.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49These Christian decorations probably once stood in a Crusader church.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53Now they adorn the Muslim Dome of the Ascension.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03Saladin's mission was to re-create an Islamic Jerusalem.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08He left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre intact,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12but he banned all church bells.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18FAINT CALL TO PRAYER
0:41:18 > 0:41:22The Islamic call to prayer would hold the monopoly of sound,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25and the sultan could enjoy the city that he adored.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36After the expulsion of the Christians,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Saladin settled Muslims here from all over the Islamic world.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44And brought back the Jews.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Saladin had won the city through the weakness of his opponents.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59But the news of Jerusalem's fall had shocked Christian Europe,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02from kings to peasants.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Saladin's luck was about to run out.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10The greatest warrior in all Christendom
0:42:10 > 0:42:13was on his way to rescue Jerusalem.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16It was Richard the Lionheart.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24Richard was six foot tall, red-haired and ruthlessly competent.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28He was a showman and warrior who wielded a sword
0:42:28 > 0:42:30that he claimed was Excalibur.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38He was capable of surprising political and religious flexibility.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42Richard and Saladin were evenly matched.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47To take Jerusalem, Richard marched down the coast
0:42:47 > 0:42:50and defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55Now the Christian Crusader was poised
0:42:55 > 0:42:59to threaten Saladin's hold on Jerusalem.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05Saladin waited nervously inside the city. His generals advised him
0:43:05 > 0:43:09that if he didn't leave, he might be trapped inside a devastating siege.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14Saladin wavered, but he knew that if he left the city,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16his generals would surrender it to Richard.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23The thought of abandoning his prize was too much.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43Still a few days' march away,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47Richard realised that even if he captured Jerusalem,
0:43:47 > 0:43:49he would not be able to hold her
0:43:49 > 0:43:52whilst Saladin's vast empire was in tact.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57Richard's only option was to negotiate.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04First, Richard wrote to Saladin - "The Muslims and the Christians
0:44:04 > 0:44:09"are both done for, the lands are ruined at the hands of both of us.
0:44:09 > 0:44:10"All we have to discuss is Jerusalem,
0:44:10 > 0:44:14"the True Cross and the territories.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20"But, Jerusalem is the centre of our worship,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23"which we will never renounce."
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Saladin replied to this. He said,
0:44:26 > 0:44:29"Jerusalem is as much ours as yours,
0:44:29 > 0:44:31"but it is greater for us.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34"Because it is the place that our Prophet visited
0:44:34 > 0:44:36"on his night journey."
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Either way there was a big problem in the way of a deal.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Both men wanted to possess Jerusalem totally.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54Unable to reach a settlement, the fighting between Richard
0:44:54 > 0:44:58and Saladin continued until their armies were at a standstill.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06Yvonne Friedman believes that these two men had much in common.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10How important was Jerusalem to each of them, Richard and Saladin?
0:45:10 > 0:45:15For both of them, it was the goal, the aim of the war.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20But Saladin fought more wars against Muslims
0:45:20 > 0:45:22than against Christians.
0:45:22 > 0:45:28He couldn't envisage the possibility of giving up Jerusalem.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32But... And it was the crown of his achievements.
0:45:32 > 0:45:37For Richard, it was the goal he never achieved.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40Who do you think was the greater man, Saladin or Richard?
0:45:40 > 0:45:43They were both great men,
0:45:43 > 0:45:46but Saladin was a better statesman,
0:45:46 > 0:45:48a better politician.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51While they were both great warriors,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56Richard, on the battlefield, actually won.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58And he was a great leader of soldiers.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00He was not a great statesman,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03and I don't think he was a great English king.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12And so on 2nd September 1192,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16the Sultan and King agreed the Treaty of Jaffa.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20The first partition of Palestine.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26The Christian kingdom received a new lease of life
0:46:26 > 0:46:29with Acre as its capital.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Saladin kept his treasured Jerusalem,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36only granting the Christians access to the Holy Sepulchre.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42Richard, it seemed, had got the raw end of the deal.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Richard the Lionheart had failed.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54Saladin the Islamic Sultan ruled Jerusalem.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57And even though these two men shared the same passions,
0:46:57 > 0:46:59the same love for Jerusalem,
0:46:59 > 0:47:03the same chivalry and the same ruthlessness, they never met.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07Saladin invited Richard to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
0:47:07 > 0:47:09but Richard was adamant -
0:47:09 > 0:47:12if he couldn't possess Jerusalem totally,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15he preferred never to set eyes on it.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31Six months after signing the treaty, Saladin died.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36But his nephew, who loved the city, came to live here,
0:47:36 > 0:47:40embellishing it with new buildings and new walls.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46But within a generation, the Crusaders were back.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51This time they invaded Egypt,
0:47:51 > 0:47:54the jewel of the family's Empire.
0:47:54 > 0:47:59Threatened by its loss, Saladin's nephews took a drastic step.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02They believed that if the Crusaders took the city,
0:48:02 > 0:48:07they would kill everyone inside it and dominate all of Syria.
0:48:07 > 0:48:12So they demolished Jerusalem's walls to destroy her military value
0:48:12 > 0:48:16and offered her up to save Egypt,
0:48:16 > 0:48:18the lesser of two evils.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21This desperate act backfired.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25The Crusaders were defeated in Egypt and fled for home.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29They never even got near Palestine, let alone the Holy City.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34Saladin's family had destroyed the walls
0:48:34 > 0:48:37of their beloved Jerusalem for nothing.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44Today these stones are all that are left of the walls,
0:48:44 > 0:48:48a poignant reminder of the glories and the decline
0:48:48 > 0:48:50of the House of Saladin.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04The Jerusalemites wept and fled.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07The city was now left defenceless.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13It seemed like the end for Jerusalem. On the Haram,
0:49:13 > 0:49:17women, children and old men ripped their clothes and tore their hair
0:49:17 > 0:49:22and scattered in all directions, as if it was the Day of Judgement.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28And yet, Jerusalem was about to change hands again,
0:49:28 > 0:49:31in an unlikely and forgotten deal
0:49:31 > 0:49:37that strangely prefigures the peace negotiations of our own times.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46Saladin's dynasty had become weakened by family feuds
0:49:46 > 0:49:49when a new and unorthodox Crusader
0:49:49 > 0:49:51arrived on a very different kind of crusade.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59He would be the most eccentric ruler that Jerusalem has ever had.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02This maverick was Frederick II.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor,
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Frederick was the most powerful monarch in Europe.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22Heir to lands from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28And more importantly, he knew his enemies.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33Frederick was unique, because he was at home with Islam.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35It was said that he'd grown up
0:50:35 > 0:50:38in the back streets of semi-Islamic Sicily
0:50:38 > 0:50:40running wild with a bunch of Arab urchins.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44He spoke Arabic and he even had a harem.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46His enemies regarded him as the Antichrist,
0:50:46 > 0:50:49the beast of the apocalypse.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52His friends, though, and admirers called him Stupor Mundi,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55the wonder of the world.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00Unlike other Crusaders before him,
0:51:00 > 0:51:05Frederick realised that he was too weak to fight for Jerusalem.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10But so, too, was his Muslim opponent,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12Saladin's nephew, Sultan Kamil.
0:51:14 > 0:51:20The solution? These two educated men immediately opened secret talks.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25As the Sultan and the Emperor negotiated,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28they discussed Aristotelian philosophy, arid geometry,
0:51:28 > 0:51:33Islamic theology, and they also sent each other gorgeous dancing girls.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36Frederick, of course, did everything his own way.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39He lived like an Oriental potentate.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42And in between bouts of serious negotiations,
0:51:42 > 0:51:47he went on long hunting trips and spent time seducing new mistresses.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52He even wrote chivalrous poetry to his new Syrian mistress.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00When the negotiations wavered,
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Frederick prepared his troops for battle.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09This did the trick. His army wasn't needed.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13Instead, a ground-breaking power-sharing deal was struck.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22In 1229, Frederick achieved the undreamable -
0:52:22 > 0:52:24in return for ten years' peace,
0:52:24 > 0:52:28he received all of Jerusalem including this, the citadel.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31The house of Saladin kept the Temple Mount,
0:52:31 > 0:52:35and the Muslims enjoyed full freedom of worship and access.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Only the Jews were left out of this deal,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41but very few of them remained in Jerusalem.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45This shared sovereignty remains, even today,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49the most daring peace deal in all of Jerusalem's history.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00Through this shrewd alliance with Islam,
0:53:00 > 0:53:04Frederick had won the city for Christianity.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08But the fact that the Dome of the Rock remained under Muslim control
0:53:08 > 0:53:12led to some accusing him of betraying the Crusader cause.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19Reuven Amitai thinks that this free-wheeling polymath
0:53:19 > 0:53:22wasn't just playing at politics.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Frederick had a pretty good idea what this was all about.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27Frederick was, as is well known,
0:53:27 > 0:53:32was a very successful, a very, very powerful, a very hands-on ruler.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36And I think he knew that this was a relatively cheap way,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39in terms of manpower and resources,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43and just general aggravation, to achieve the main goal.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45He wanted to look good.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48He was certainly not a naive babe in the woods.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51So what was the reaction of both sides to the secret deal?
0:53:51 > 0:53:55I think that deep down, in both societies,
0:53:55 > 0:53:57there was difficulty accepting
0:53:57 > 0:54:00that one could make real peace with the other side.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04The idea that two rulers would strike a deal of such magnitude,
0:54:04 > 0:54:07and so publicly, perhaps, was difficult to swallow.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13When the deal was complete,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15Frederick received the keys to the city
0:54:15 > 0:54:18from the Muslim commanders.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23And characteristically, Frederick put his own stamp on the occasion.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27Here in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
0:54:27 > 0:54:30Frederick held a crown-wearing ceremony,
0:54:30 > 0:54:34attended not by priests, but by his German troops.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38It wasn't so much a coronation, more a symbolic display
0:54:38 > 0:54:42of his universal power as Christian emperor.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50But his triumph was spoiled.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53The Pope, to punish him for his haughty independence,
0:54:53 > 0:54:55had excommunicated him.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59And now he was forced to leave his own city.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03He had won Jerusalem, but he could never enjoy it.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18130 years after the First Crusaders' bloody conquest,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21the city was Christian again.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28But without its walls, Jerusalem was insecure.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35And after the death of the co-signer of the treaty, Kamil,
0:55:35 > 0:55:37peace didn't last.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42The city was tossed back and forth between Islamic princelings
0:55:42 > 0:55:45and Crusader barons.
0:55:57 > 0:56:04On 11th July 1244, 10,000 Kharismian Tartars rode towards Jerusalem.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11Recklessly invited in by Saladin's feuding descendants,
0:56:11 > 0:56:14these mercenaries were now out of control.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21The horsemen clattered into the city,
0:56:21 > 0:56:24fighting and hacking their way through the streets.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29They destroyed churches and houses.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35Christian Jerusalem was under attack.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42The Tartars burst into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
0:56:42 > 0:56:44Christendom's holiest shrine. They set it on fire.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48When they found the priests celebrating mass at the altar,
0:56:48 > 0:56:51they beheaded them and disembowelled them.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54Then they smashed into the tombs of the Crusader kings of Jerusalem,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57right under this chapel. They pulled out the bodies
0:56:57 > 0:56:59and threw them onto a bonfire.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02And finally, they smashed the stone
0:57:02 > 0:57:06at the door of the tomb of Jesus Christ himself.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15When they had thoroughly destroyed and pillaged Jerusalem,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18the Tartars galloped away.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23Over 2,000 Christians were massacred.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30Jerusalem was at rock bottom.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33It resembled a devastated village,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36without walls, ruined and half empty.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41It seemed as if Jerusalem couldn't sink any lower.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50For the moment Jerusalem was desolate,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53controlled by different Islamic warlords.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00Hoards of invaders galloped through her streets at will.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06There were few Muslims, let alone Christians left...
0:58:07 > 0:58:09..and just a handful of Jews.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14And yet she remained sacred for the three faiths.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19Could one of them provide a champion to rebuild her?
0:58:19 > 0:58:23Could Jerusalem once again become THE Holy City,
0:58:23 > 0:58:27the centre of the world?
0:58:46 > 0:58:49Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:49 > 0:58:52E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk