Crusades

Jerusalem

Episode two chronicles the Crusaders' trail of carnage across the Middle East. Two-thirds of them would not even survive the beginning of their journey, as Terry Jones illustrates by attempting to duplicate their march across the harsh, rocky landscape of Anatolia in the heat of summer, wearing chain mail. Jones follows their path to Antioch, site of the famed siege whose strange outcome would encourage the savagery of the Crusaders' campaign. Their barbarous conquest of Jerusalem - where they sacked the city and butchered its inhabitants - was only a prelude to the bloodier campaigns that followed.

Jihad

Episode three colorfully explores the Muslim recapturing of Jerusalem and the Second Crusade this Arab victory provoked. It's a chronicle of unholy alliances, political intrigue and fabled warriors. This time, however, the Christian soldiers weren't the only ones fighting for a religious cause. By the time the soldiers of the Second Crusade arrived in the Holy Land, Jerusalem's Arab leader, Nur ed-Din, had declared a Jihad, or holy war, against the invaders. A final battle commanded by his successor - the legendary Saladin - would determine the ultimate fate of this Crusade.

Destruction

The chronicles of the last Crusades unfold in this final episode. The Third Crusade added the names of Richard "the Lionheart" and Phillip of France to the roster of holy warriors, and Terry Jones examines the reality behind the legends of their noble deeds. The Fourth and final Crusade, launched as a commercial operation, sacked and looted Constantinople, the Christian city that originally inspired the holy movement. These final campaigns also produced a revolt in Egypt that destroyed the remnants of the Crusaders' Christian kingdom, ending two centuries of the epic and misguided adventures whose repercussions are still felt today.