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On July 14, 2022, Al-Qaeda's official media outlet Al-Sahab released a video featuring an audio address by the organization's leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The video is the sixth part in a series titled "Deal of the Century or Crusades Spanning Centuries," whose first part was released on September 11, 2020. The fifth part was released on June 14...

The Order of Assassins were the deadliest special forces of the Medieval world. They were masters of disguise and stealth, wielding psychological warfare as their greatest weapon. Originating in 11th-century Persia, the Assassins, led by Hassan-i Sabbah, targeted prominent figures, including Sunni leaders, employing tactics like stabbing with stilettos and slashing with concealed weapons. The Assassins successfully assassinated key figures, instilling fear and dread across the Middle East.

A large cemetery from the time of the Crusades was discovered near a medieval stone church in Salo Perttel, a former municipality in Finland.A landowner in the municipality of Salo was looking over excavation work for the installation of geothermal pipes when he spotted an iron object poking out of a mound of dirt. He pulled it out and found himself holding a nearly complete He was reported to archaeologists from the University of Turku and the Turku Museum Centre.The find has now led to the discovery of an extensive grave field, not far from the grey granite medieval church...

The sword was discovered in 2021 by Shlomi Katzin while conducting a study of stone and metal anchors on the seabed. The area was a natural anchorage for ships near Haifa's ancient port city that the Crusaders captured from the Arabs during the early 12th century AD.In a new study published by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the researchers describe how the sword was found covered in a thick marine concretion of sand and shells, making it difficult to separate the metal without causing damage. However, the concretion slowed down the oxidation process, preserving the sword which would have rusted...

"Echoes of History: Ragnarök" is a historical podcast inspired by the video game "Assassin’s Creed Valhalla : Dawn of Ragnarök." It’s the second season of Ubisoft’s popular podcast “Echoes of History."The year 1066 has become indelibly linked to William the Conqueror, the Norman King who by his victory at Hastings seized the English throne. But for every event that becomes gilded in history as a turning point, there were thousands of others overshadowed, and one such event happened only weeks before that fateful battle and involved the same English King, but instead of securing everlasting glory, it ended the career...

New analysis into the residue inside ancient ceramic vessels from 11th–12th century Jerusalem has found that they were potentially used as hand grenades.Previous research into the diverse sphero-conical containers, which are within museums around the world, had identified that they were used for a variety of purposes, including beer drinking vessels, mercury containers, containers for oil and containers for medicines.This latest research, led by Griffith University's Associate Professor Carney Matheson, confirmed that some vessels did indeed contain oils and medicines, and some contained scented oils, consistent with other recent research into the use of the vessels.However, his findings also revealed...

If the world is a complete disastrous mess, blame the Catholic Church. Throughout history, this aphorism has popped up with some frequency and in various forms. And while this condemnation has frequently been issued by those of an anti-Papist stripe, it has just as often been uttered by devout Catholics themselves, even saints and popes. How is this possible, you ask? Well, let’s check in with Fulcher of Chartres who in AD 1105 penned the quote that may be seen in the image at the beginning of this post: “What wonder that the whole world was a prey to disturbance...

The sword, recovered off the coast of Israel, most likely belonged to a knight who fell into the sea or lost the weapon in battle, experts said. Shlomi Katzin attached a GoPro camera to his forehead, slipped on his diving fins and jumped into the waters off the Carmel coast of Israel, eager to go exploring. On the sandy floor of the Mediterranean Sea, he found a sword. Archaeologists would later determine that it was about 900 years old. It weighed four pounds, measured about four feet long and originated from the Third Crusade, experts said. “Oh yes, he was...

A mass grave uncovered in Sidon, Lebanon, has shed new light on the Crusades and on the cruelty of medieval warfare, a new study in the academic journal PLOS ONE has shown. Archaeologists unearthed a large quantity of human bones in the moat of the Saint Louis Castle in South Lebanon. The area was first conquered by the Crusaders after the First Crusade in 1110. Some 150 years later, the Christian city was attacked and largely destroyed by the Mamluks in 1253 and then destroyed even more by the Mongols in 1260. Pursuing the idea of liberating the holy sites...

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR continue to interest experts, who claimed they had uncovered a "place of power" used by the order and a possible clue that they were on the hunt for the Ark of Covenant. The Catholic military order was active for almost 200 years until their abrupt demise. At the height of their power between the 12th and 13th century, the Templars were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusade period and managed large Christian economic organisations across Europe and the Middle East. But their sudden reduction in power inspired the rise of legends and has seen...

President Tayyip Erdogan warned Greece on Friday that Turkey will retaliate against any attack on its survey vessel Oruc Reis in the eastern Mediterranean in an escalating row between the NATO allies over gas and oil exploration in the region. Turkey and Greece are vehemently at odds over overlapping claims for hydrocarbon resources in the region, and tensions rose after Ankara launched exploration operations in a disputed area of the Mediterranean on Monday. On Thursday, Erdogan warned of a "high price" if Oruc Reis was attacked and suggested Turkey had already acted on that warning. Speaking to reporters after Friday...

In 1187, Saladin managed to defeat the Crusader states and reconquer Jerusalem, prompting Richard to initiate another military campaign to regain Christian control over the Holy Land. After Acre surrendered to him, the king started to descend along Israel's coast with his forces. "Ultimately, Richard and the Crusaders wanted to reconquer Jerusalem, but first the monarch decided to march south to capture Jaffa," the archaeologist explained. The march along the shore allowed the troops to be protected by the Mediterranean Sea on their right side and to receive the logistical support of their fleet. Lewis pointed out that Richard proved...

Columbus set sail on his first voyage AUGUST 3, 1492, with the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria. He explained how the Spanish monarchs approved his plan: "... And ordained that I should not go by land (the usual way) to the Orient (East), but by the route of the Occident (West), by which no one to this day knows for sure that anyone has gone." Why did he seek to find a sea route to India and China? Because 40 years earlier Islamic Ottoman Turks closed off the land routes. The background to Columbus' voyage goes back to the...

Capital University announced in a statement by the Chair of the Board of Trustees Andre Porter and Interim President Dave Kaufman that the university will change its mascot, Cappy the Crusader, after the Board of Trustees passed a resolution in favor of doing so. The Board of Trustees completed “a 15-month process of study, discussion, and reflection.” Their studies showed that “a significant portion of the Capital Family” agreed that the “nickname and mascot should be a unifying symbol that enhances school spirit and pride for all who are affiliated with Capital.” The university community recently “challenged” the nickname because...

Who says Jews and Muslims can’t work together? In St. Louis, an Israeli-American restaurant owner and a pair of Muslim activists have joined forces in order to exact retroactive justice against a historical figure that hated both groups. Their target is King Louis IX of France (1214-1270) who was canonized by the Catholic Church as St. Louis, after whom a great American city was named. But as the St. Louis Jewish Light reports, Ben Poremba (the Israeli), and Umar Lee and Moji Sidiqui (his two Muslim colleagues) have launched an effort to not only remove a famous statue of the...

Complete title: Pope Francis Criticises Proselytization "You Are Not A 'Disciple Of Jesus' If You Try To Convert Non-Believers" Pope Francis. Photo credits: Franco Origlia/Getty Images Advocating a new outreach strategy https://www.dailywire.com/news/pope-francis-tells-students-how-not-to-convert-unbelievers for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has said that speech should never be used in order to convince a non-believer of the truths of the Catholic Faith. Francis made these remarks while addressing the students of Rome's Pilo Albertelli classical secondary school last Friday (Dec 20). "Never, never bring the gospel by proselytizing," Francis said. "If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you...

Francis dismisses need for Catholic conversion, makes comparison to Crusades ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - A distinguished authority on Islamic jihad has excoriated Pope Francis for equating the evangelization of Jews and Muslims with the Crusades. "The Pope is purveying historical fiction," Dr. Robert Spencer, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades, told Church Militant. "The Crusades were not an exercise in forced conversion. In reality, they were a small-scale defensive response after 450 years of Islamic jihad aggression had conquered over half of Christendom, and an attempt to protect Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land," Spencer asserted....

October 7 is the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary, formerly the feast of Our Lady of Victory. The date marks the 448th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto in AD 1571. The Battle of Lepanto was a miraculous victory in which the combined ships of the Christian Holy League under Don John of Austria, defeated the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in a decisive battle that blocked Turkish imperial aggression from the western Mediterranean. Six years before in AD 1565, the Knights of Saint John had gained a similarly miraculous victory over the Turks at the Siege...

May 07, 2007, 7:27 a.m. Islamic ApologeticsKaren Armstrong tells us to ignore history and doctrine, focus on platitudes about peace and love. By Raymond Ibrahim Islamic apologist extraordinaire Karen Armstrong is at it again. In an article entitled “Balancing the Prophet” published by the Financial Times, the self-proclaimed “freelance monotheist” engages in what can only be considered second-rate sophistry. The false statements begin in her opening paragraph: Ever since the Crusades, people in the west have seen the prophet Muhammad as a sinister figure.… The scholar monks of Europe stigmatised Muhammad as a cruel warlord who established the false...

The dig's archeological team --- co-directed by UNC Charlotte professor of history Shimon Gibson, Rafi Lewis, a faculty member at the University of Haifa and Ashkelon Academic College, and James Tabor, UNC Charlotte professor of religious studies -- has revealed the rumored, but never physically detected, moat-trench the Fatamid defenders dug along the city's southern wall to protect against siege engines - a defense that contemporary accounts claim helped stymie the southern assault. Through stratigraphic evidence, the archaeologists have been able to confirm the 11th Century date of the 17-meter-wide by 4-meter-deep ditch, which abutted the Fatimid city wall (built...