Nasr al-Din’s encounter with the Templars was sensational enough to be spoken about in England, where the acidic court chronicler and archdeacon of Oxford Walter Map recorded a lively account of the young man’s scandalous adventures.6 Map took special interest in the Templars’ role, as did William of Tyre. Both men heard and recorded versions of the same story: having been ambushed and then imprisoned by the Templars, Nasr al-Din responded not by resenting his captors, but by seeking to impress them.
