The Crusades (2014)

The First Crusade begins with all the makings of a blockbuster movie hit–lust for power and land, bloodthirsty players, and little understanding of the extent to which Jerusalem's pilgrimage sites would be involved.

The Second Crusade will see the formation of Military Orders such as the storied Knights Templars; the Reconquista (re-conquest) of the Iberian peninsula, and the rise of Saladin and his conquest of Jerusalem.

We see the First Crusade's unlikely meeting of St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Al-Kamil; the Third Crusade's victories through a triumvirate of Europe's rulers; the Fourth Crusade's diversion to Constantinople; and a Spanish pilgrimage.

King St. Louis IX's two Crusades; the rise of the Ottoman Empire; the triumphant Battle of Lepanto; a final Christian victory in the Iberian Peninsula; and the loss of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.