[bvw]

This is a fantastic bit of work, parisfal!

Just wanted to note to you a related interesting FR thread: "Is Osama bin Laden the Present Day Leader of the Cult of the Assassins"

[parsifal]

Thank you very much for the link (and the boost). Those were fascinating links within that post. The "real Parsifal" may have had some link to the assassins. In one account,"the Knights Templar were named the Grail guardians who awaited the mahdi, the desired knight, to reestablish paradise on earth, halting the spreading desert wasteland brought about by the loss of the Goddess."

Also,:"At the peak of their [Templars] power and influence they were the most disciplined and formidable fighting force ever seen, respected even bytheir opposite numbers, the Hashishim, or Assassins of Islam. It was hardly by coincidence that one of the Templars' greatest centers of influence was at Troyes, where Chretiens' Le Conte del Graal first appeared...The Templars certainly had many clandestine contacts with both the Islamic and Arabian traditions." (from The Holy Grail by Malcolm Godwin.)