Regarding the Templars, I was recalling Chapter 12 of Jean De Joinville's
first person account of the Seventh Crusade.
In that chapter, envoys from "The Old Man of the Mountain", i.e. the chief of
the Hashshashins, visited King Louis in Acre to extort cash in the time
honored tradition of "you pay or you die". The Hashanashins (or Assasins)
didn't have an army, but they did have a reputation for effective infiltration
with no concern for their own safety.
What was good King Louis to do?
"On his return, the envoy found his majesty seated so as to have the Master of
the Hospital on one side and the Master of the Temple on the other." The
upshot being, that instead of receiving tribute, "The Old man of the mountain"
began to pay it.
*************
Is Sir William of Conger truly as fearsome as those 13th C. Templars?
Perhaps.
But as warriors grow old, in both Christendom as well as the Orient, we often
find them leaving the battlefield and entering the monastery.
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