Lost Relics Of The Knights Templar (2021) Season 2 Episode 4: Pilgrim Warriors
Relic hunters explore artifacts from the medieval Christian pilgrimages.
#adventure
Relic hunters explore artifacts from the medieval Christian pilgrimages.
#adventure
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TVTranscript
00:00Obsessive antiquities hunter Hamilton White has built a world-class collection of rare and historic objects.
00:11Working with fellow collector and friend Carl Cookson, he investigated a group of artifacts that may be linked to the Knights Templar.
00:20Now, they're exploring the history behind some of the most important objects in Hamilton's collection.
00:26Assembled over a lifetime, Hamilton's prized pieces include ancient Celtic gold,
00:39a sword and helmet from the Crusades, and a mysterious white marble chalice from the Knights Templar treasure trove.
00:47It really is the best of the best.
00:51To solve the mysteries behind these artifacts, they're traveling across Europe and to the Middle East, seeking answers and making stunning new discoveries.
01:02They were heading for a purpose.
01:06It's changing history.
01:08The lost relic hunters are back on the trail, and what they uncover could rewrite history as we know it.
01:18Carl and Hamilton are investigating Hamilton's collection of thousands of items belonging to medieval Christian pilgrims and warrior knights on the road to Jerusalem.
01:28In the Middle Ages, victories by Christian crusaders opened up pilgrimage routes to the most venerated sites in the Holy Land,
01:36as well as to sacred places in Europe like Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
01:42The legendary resting place of St. James the Apostle, symbolized by the clamshell or coquille Saint-Jacques.
01:55That's Saint-Jacques clamshell.
01:58Yeah, just pilgrim's pendants.
02:00The shell as a sign of pilgrimage has really always been associated with Compostela, Santiago, the route of St. James.
02:08He'd have bought these on his pilgrimage.
02:09Yeah, that I would imagine is manufactured by a tinker and bought.
02:14I mean, that's different. That's obviously a homemade one. That's much earlier.
02:17What's that made of?
02:19Mother of Palm shell.
02:21That's beautiful. That's a Jerusalem cross.
02:23I mean, that's only one box. I mean, I've got something like six and a half thousand crosses all together.
02:28Have you?
02:30The true meaning of the clamshell and its connection to St. James and the Jerusalem cross with its arrangement of five crosses has been lost to time.
02:40Carl and Hamilton are attempting to recover the original meaning to learn how these powerful symbols may have been used to lay a trail for Christian warriors entering Muslim-held territory.
02:56Hamilton also collects stonework from the Middle Ages that may hold clues to decipher the Christian pilgrim iconography.
03:04Pilgrim.
03:07One piece is a traditional depiction of a medieval pilgrim.
03:13The other is a larger figure carrying a spear.
03:19So this is the knight.
03:21Yeah.
03:23And this is a pilgrim.
03:25And the difference is of him carrying what's obviously a spear, whereas the pilgrim in the traditional clothing of a pilgrim and carrying a proper pilgrim staff.
03:37And a Bible or a book.
03:39Yeah, something else in the other hand, but that is a stone carving of this period, which is probably 10th, 11th century. I mean, that's a little bit earlier than that.
03:54So what about this one? Tell me what you see.
03:57It's a military man, whether it's a soldier, whether it's one of the military orders.
04:08If it's 11th century, it's very early if it is one of the military orders, which puts it French or Spanish.
04:16In the Middle Ages, pilgrimage was often undertaken as a penance with the promise of forgiveness of sin as reward for the journey.
04:24It was supposed to be a peaceful, spiritual path.
04:28But the military figure, so closely resembling a pilgrim but bearing a spear, may suggest a more violent side to Christian pilgrimage.
04:40Carl and Hamilton are going to be following the pilgrim trail through France and Spain to the magnificent cathedral in Santiago de Compostela
04:49to find out if pilgrimage routes were also used by Christian warriors to infiltrate Muslim-held territories in southern Europe.
04:57They will also journey to the most sacred Christian site of all, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem,
05:05as they try to figure out the hidden meaning of Hamilton's collection and just how perilous it was to be a medieval Christian pilgrim.
05:14Before they depart, Carl and Hamilton invite Dr. Janina Ramirez to examine some of the pilgrimage relics.
05:23Janina teaches the history of art at Oxford and specializes in prehistory and the medieval period.
05:31She's going to help them piece together the pilgrimage experience in the Middle Ages.
05:37Ooh, already I'm excited. These look medieval to me.
05:41Yeah.
05:42Again, I want to ask, where are they from?
05:46Very hard to say. Could be northern Spain, could be northern Portugal, could be southwest France.
05:59This to me looks like a staff, something you need to walk with, but that's not, is it?
06:03That's a weapon, it's a spear.
06:04It's a weapon, it's a spear.
06:06It's an infantry soldier.
06:07So there's the spearhead here.
06:10But still wearing the cape, the cloak, so what are we dealing with there?
06:16I would put that at probably 11th century. I mean, that's quite early.
06:22Whether he's supposed to be one of the members of one of the very early orders, hard to say.
06:27It is a pilgrim in terms of the cloak and the cape.
06:30But he's armed.
06:31But he's armed. There's a spear there. I can see you've got a couple of spearheads here as well, Hunter. What are these?
06:37Well, I mean, they're more or less of the same kind of period.
06:40It's very difficult to put a precise date on a spear.
06:43That's your standard foot soldier's weapon, exactly as they come out of the ground.
06:46Can I have a look?
06:47Yeah, of course you can.
06:49This is Santiago.
06:51That's Santiago, yeah.
06:52So the shell is associated with St. James, the apostle, the fisherman, Christ called to follow him.
06:59And so, you know, there's lots of symbolism we could talk about with the shell.
07:02But there's other symbols on some of these. I'm really interested by these Jerusalem crosses.
07:07That's gorgeous.
07:09Oh, the cross of Jerusalem.
07:12Really, really beautiful.
07:14I'm really interested by these Jerusalem crosses.
07:16That's gorgeous.
07:18Oh, the cross of Jerusalem.
07:21Really good one, too.
07:23Chronology-wise, I mean, that's the earliest one, 12th, 13th, I would imagine.
07:27That's a little bit later than that.
07:29That's maybe 16th-ish.
07:31What's interesting when we think about kind of maps of the world, Mapamundi of the medieval period.
07:37Jerusalem is at the centre, isn't it?
07:38Jerusalem is at the centre.
07:39And what you've got with these crosses is like an abbreviated version of that.
07:43This is the four corners of the compass, north, south, east, west.
07:46And this right here in the centre is Jerusalem.
07:49And it's the centre of the universe.
07:51So, yeah, it's a symbol.
07:54But it's so much more than that.
07:56It's got so much more meaning behind it.
07:58It's the world view.
08:04That world view was shaped by pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem.
08:08Carl and Hamilton's journey to understand what these medieval travellers faced
08:12has them retracing the pilgrimage route from the south of France
08:16to the sacred shrine of St James in Spain.
08:19It's a journey that strikes a deeply personal chord with Carl.
08:27I'm just thinking about me loved ones, past and present.
08:31It will also reveal shocking details of a holy war
08:35that raged in Europe between Christians and Muslims for more than 700 years.
08:52To kick off their investigation into the symbolism of Hamilton's collection
08:55of medieval Christian pilgrim artefacts,
08:58Carl and Hamilton are travelling to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the south of France.
09:03Dating back to the 12th century,
09:05the town was the traditional starting point for the journey 500 miles west
09:10to Santiago de Compostela in Spain,
09:15the legendary last resting place of St James the Apostle.
09:19Carl is a devout Christian, and it has been his lifelong dream
09:22to explore the pilgrimage route to Santiago, the legendary Camino,
09:26to try to understand what the medieval pilgrim experience was like.
09:34Right, so this is it. We're on it.
09:36Yeah, we've gone through the gate, right?
09:38We've come through the gate, and this is the most daunting part for a pilgrim
09:42because you're about to go from here to the Roncesvaux Pass,
09:46which is the daunting hill climb into the Pyrenees.
09:49So that's your first shell that tells you we're on the Camino, we're starting.
09:54You're going to see a lot of them on the way.
09:56I think a pilgrim's going to be chuffed to see that
09:58because they've been through a lot.
10:00I think a pilgrim's going to be chuffed to see that
10:02because they've dreamt about doing it.
10:04They're actually here now, so you collect them in your mind,
10:07and you probably link the shells with these gorgeous places.
10:13Today, the town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port,
10:16the jumping-off point for the pilgrimage route,
10:18is a peaceful place that welcomes travelers.
10:21But that wasn't always the case.
10:23Dr. Janina Ramirez is doing some research
10:26into medieval accounts of the journey to Santiago.
10:31Possibly the most important source
10:33for trying to understand the world of medieval pilgrimage
10:36is a manuscript called the Codex Calixtinus.
10:40You've got in there information about St. James the Great,
10:43so stories of his life, his miracles,
10:46really digging up the relics that you're going to get to
10:48at the end of this long journey.
10:50And you've also got really interesting information
10:54that a tourist might want.
10:56And you can imagine being a tourist, being on the route,
10:59and looking up, right, now I'm going to find out
11:01about the life of St. James.
11:03Book five is where you get the really practical advice.
11:07Where to stay, what you're going to encounter, where to eat.
11:12But the picture the Codex paints
11:14of the medieval pilgrim experience is no walk in the park.
11:21If you were going to journey through this place
11:23in the 12th century,
11:25you're going to encounter some truly vicious toll collectors.
11:29They come at pilgrims with weapons
11:31and demand an exorbitant fee.
11:34If you refuse to pay, they'll beat you up and take the money,
11:38even searching you intrusively to get it.
11:42These people are forest savages.
11:45It's easy to think that going on pilgrimage
11:47can be some sort of mellow, spiritual, religious experience.
11:53But the practicalities was that it was actually very dangerous.
11:59In addition to the threat of being beaten and robbed,
12:02the journey, which was done on foot,
12:04or, if you were wealthy enough, on horseback,
12:06was physically demanding as well.
12:09Crossing the 12,000-foot peaks in the Pyrenees mountain range
12:12was dangerous, and countless pilgrims were injured
12:15or died on the grueling hike.
12:19Carl and Hamilton have opted for a much safer
12:22and faster mode of transport.
12:38The first station of prayer on the ancient route
12:41sits at the top of the mountain pass
12:43and is known as Charlemagne Cross,
12:46named for one of medieval Europe's greatest warrior kings,
12:50Charles the Great, or Charlemagne.
12:53Somewhere in the pass around here
12:55is where Charlemagne stopped with his whole army
12:58on the way to crossing the Pyrenees to fight the Moors.
13:01So they put a cross up.
13:03The battle that took place here in 778 CE
13:06was just one of the many conflicts in a bloody religious war
13:09between Christians and Muslims
13:11that raged across the Iberian Peninsula for seven centuries.
13:15It was known as the Reconquista,
13:17and it shaped the history of modern-day Portugal and Spain.
13:22And now this is one of the main stops, isn't it,
13:25for pilgrims to come past this and leave a stone?
13:29Yeah, it seems to be one of the really popular ones.
13:32The cross has got loads of scattered stones,
13:35and it almost looks like it's unkempt and not looked after.
13:38But actually all of those stones are left by pilgrims.
13:42They're left by pilgrims and their offerings, aren't they?
13:49In the medieval Codex Calixtinus,
13:51Janina has found a reference to Charlemagne's cross.
13:54The Codex points out landmarks that you can still see today.
13:58And it's interesting because if we're thinking about
14:01promoting the whole route,
14:03it's important that parts along that route
14:06also have their history, their connections.
14:09So Charlemagne's cross, for example,
14:11the Codex says the summit is called Charlemagne's cross
14:15because here Charlemagne first raised a cross
14:18and then knelt facing Galicia
14:21and poured out prayers to God and St James.
14:25And so it's traditional for pilgrims to kneel here
14:28facing St James's homeland and to plant their own crosses.
14:32You might find 1,000 crosses here,
14:35the first station of prayer on the Camino de Santiago.
14:39What I think is significant
14:41is how the author has tied Charlemagne into the story.
14:45So it's not just about St James,
14:47it's not just about the relics at the end of the route.
14:50It's about stopping off and showing respect,
14:53remembering the history of this route as you go along.
14:56Charlemagne's prayers to God and St James
14:59were not answered on this occasion
15:01and his invasion of Muslim Spain in 778 ended in defeat.
15:06But in 801, Charlemagne captured Barcelona
15:09and established Christian control over the Spanish March,
15:13a strategic strip of territory
15:15between the Pyrenees and the Ebro River.
15:25I've brought a little medieval cross.
15:29That's it there.
15:31It's a nice little bronze thing.
15:34I'm going to put that down.
15:48I'm just thinking about my loved ones, past and present,
15:53and how grateful I am.
15:56It feels good, but, I mean,
16:00for somebody that's going to have to do the full 800km,
16:04it's a hell of a walk.
16:06If you're at this point and you've got some serious problems
16:09or things that you need help with,
16:12by God, you've got some time to think about it on the way.
16:22Carl and Hamilton's next stop is the Castillo de Manjardín.
16:26This strategic castle was held by the Banu Qasi,
16:30the local Muslim dynasty,
16:32until it was taken by the Christian king Sancho I of Navarre
16:36in 914 during the Reconquista of Spain.
16:41Just as the Crusades opened up pilgrimage routes
16:44to Jerusalem in the Middle Ages,
16:46the Reconquista cleared the way for Christian pilgrims
16:49to travel through Europe
16:51to the Shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela.
16:56The Shrine of St. James
17:02Pretty good view.
17:04Great spot.
17:08What a fantastic defensive position it is.
17:12CASTILLO DE MANJARDÍN
17:25Carl and Hamilton are at Castillo de Manjardín,
17:28a fortress that protected Christian pilgrims travelling to Spain.
17:32It's a lot smaller when you get up here
17:35than it looks when you're looking at a tiny little garrison
17:38to maintain this.
17:40If this was finally captured when he pushed the Moors out,
17:44this would have altered the Camino route, wouldn't it?
17:47I think that was the idea,
17:49that it gave a much safer path going out to the west,
17:53because it was the last little bit of frontier lands
17:56where you'd still got problems with the Muslims.
17:59Yeah, the pilgrims must have been much more at ease
18:02when this place was recaptured.
18:04Oh, God, definitely.
18:06It took away the main threat, didn't it?
18:08I don't know how many soldiers would have been in this place.
18:11Something of this size, I would guess probably no more than 100.
18:16It's such an amazing place.
18:18360-degree panoramic views.
18:21It's absolutely magnificent.
18:23In the context of the bloody wars between Christians and Muslims
18:27fought during the Reconquista of Spain,
18:30it's easy to understand why Hamilton's carving of a pilgrim figure
18:34might be carrying a spear.
18:36It could have been a route marker,
18:38indicating safe passage for pilgrims,
18:40or a waypoint for Christian warriors disguised as pilgrims,
18:44intent on infiltrating Muslim-held territory
18:47beyond the Spanish March.
18:50Hamilton is convinced that the carving is Spanish
18:53and dates to the 11th century,
18:55when this was still disputed territory.
19:01Just a few miles from the castle is the town of Estella.
19:05Founded in 1090 and defended by the Christian garrison at the castle,
19:09it was a major waystation for medieval pilgrims on the Camino.
19:15In addition to protection,
19:17there was another reason the town was so popular with pilgrims.
19:23I, you know, told you to bring your flask with you.
19:26Yeah.
19:27Well, you'll see why in a minute.
19:28All right, OK.
19:29This is the Bodella Erace.
19:31What's interesting about here
19:33is there's something that's unique on the Camino
19:37that you can't get anywhere else.
19:38Yeah, the whole route.
19:42And what do you think of that?
19:45What's the catch?
19:46Well, you've got water on the right,
19:48and you've got wine there, and there's no catch.
19:50It's the pilgrim's wine fountain,
19:52so you can have a little bit of a swig on the way to Santiago,
19:56and that's why I told you to bring your flask.
20:01Free?
20:02Free, look at that.
20:04Look at that.
20:06Can you believe that?
20:08The free wine is made by local monks just outside Estella.
20:13Carl and Hamilton have come to the monastery
20:15to see if they can find any sculptures
20:17similar to Hamilton's stone carving,
20:20which they think would have come from a church or monastery
20:23along the route of the Camino.
20:26So these recesses and these bases,
20:29do you think they would have had a figurine on them?
20:32I think it's possible they could have had
20:34some kind of sculpture on them, certainly.
20:36Why do you make a bracket
20:37unless there's something going on top of it?
20:39Why do you make a recess
20:40unless you're trying to highlight something?
20:42If there were any stone figures here,
20:44they have long since been removed,
20:46but the scallop shell symbol on Hamilton's pilgrim pendants
20:50are everywhere.
20:52On the actual top of the column,
20:54you've got the inside of a scallop shell.
20:57Well, it's just the shell symbolism
20:59that's repeated throughout the whole Camino.
21:02It's the universal pilgrim symbol.
21:05You've got it again on the columns there,
21:08the scallop shells.
21:09Actually, if you look around, there's loads of them.
21:12There's one there, all over the place.
21:18Although the symbol of the scallop shell
21:20is common along the route to the Shrine of St James,
21:23Carl and Hamilton have not yet discovered its deeper meaning.
21:28But their next stop, the historic town of Santiago
21:31with its magnificent cathedral, might hold some answers.
21:37All roads lead to St James.
21:54500 miles from the start of their journey
21:57along the pilgrim route known as the Camino,
22:00Carl and Hamilton have finally arrived
22:03in Santiago de Compostela,
22:05home to the shrine of St James the Apostle,
22:08the patron saint of Spain who was martyred in 44 CE.
22:15The city is home to a 1,000-year-old cathedral
22:18that some believe holds the remains of St James.
22:22His shrine was and is the ultimate destination
22:25for pilgrims traveling the Camino.
22:36While Hamilton spends the afternoon
22:38rummaging through antique shops,
22:43Carl is heading straight for the cathedral.
22:46The first church was built on this site
22:48in 829.
22:52It is one of only three churches in the world
22:55said to be built over the tomb of an apostle of Jesus.
23:05Some believe that the remains of St James
23:08are stored in the cathedral's crypt.
23:12Right there's the reliquary box,
23:15which is said to hold the relic.
23:18For anybody that's actually done the Camino and walked it,
23:22it's been quite an arduous journey.
23:25And to get here is like the end of it,
23:27so hopefully they'll feel elated
23:29and they'll get the wishes of St James,
23:31and they'll feel like they've made it.
23:33It's been quite an arduous journey,
23:35and to get here is like the end of it,
23:37so hopefully they'll feel elated
23:39and they'll get the wishes or the prayers answered.
23:42For a pilgrim, it would feel very special.
23:50According to some sources,
23:51St James preached the gospel in Spain
23:54before returning to Judea.
23:58After he was beheaded by King Herod in 44 CE,
24:03two of his disciples are said to have brought
24:06his remains back to Spain.
24:10Another legend claims that his remains
24:12washed up on a beach covered in shells.
24:16But how did St James and his pilgrimage route
24:19become associated with the symbol of the scallop shell?
24:22And what did that symbol mean to medieval pilgrims?
24:25Carl is meeting local guide and historian
24:28Eva Rodriguez to see if he can find out more.
24:31Somebody said to me, I don't know how true it is,
24:34but the actual sand jack shell with the lines,
24:38the base of the shell is Santiago,
24:40and the lines indicate the different routes.
24:42Yes, you know, many, many things that you can read
24:46about the shell.
24:50The story about the shell is really very confused
24:52because there are many legends about it.
24:55It is said that maybe the pilgrims chose the shell
24:59because remembering Botticelli,
25:01you know, the shell, it's like to be born again.
25:05Another thing is miracles, you know, related with shells,
25:08like the knight and the horse that falls into the ocean
25:12and later on come out, you know, covered with shells.
25:16There is another legend that says when the pilgrims
25:19arrived in the Middle Ages, they were given a shell
25:22to prove the family, the friends,
25:24look at this, I have been in Santiago.
25:27Carl and Hamilton have learned more about the layered meaning
25:30of the scallop shell symbol,
25:32but they still need to uncover the significance
25:34of the Jerusalem cross.
25:36So overwhelming on many levels.
25:38The final leg of their journey will take them
25:40to the holiest site in the Christian world.
25:43It's a heck of a piece of construction.
25:46In their quest to understand the mysteries
25:49of the religious symbols carried along
25:51medieval pilgrimage routes,
25:53Carl and Hamilton have come to the ultimate destination
25:57for Christian travellers.
26:01The Holy See, the Holy City of Jerusalem,
26:04is one of the most important places in the world
26:06for pilgrims to visit.
26:08It is a place where the Holy Spirit
26:10and the Holy Spirit come together
26:12for Christian travellers.
26:15The Holy City of Jerusalem.
26:29When they took Jerusalem, that must have been
26:31quite a euphoric moment for them.
26:34They'd been sanctioned by the Pope
26:37to come to Jerusalem and take it back for Christians.
26:40Yeah, and they actually did it.
26:44Pope Urban II called for all Christians across Europe
26:48to embark on a holy crusade to recapture Jerusalem.
26:52Christian knights retook the city in 1099,
26:55making it possible for thousands of pilgrims
26:58to journey to the Holy Land.
27:02But getting there was still a dangerous journey.
27:05Dr. Janina Ramirez has uncovered an account
27:07by one of the first English pilgrims
27:09to reach the city in 1102.
27:19Even though travel to Jerusalem
27:21would have been slightly easier
27:23after the first crusade finished,
27:25it still was perilous, arduous,
27:29and it took a long time.
27:31There's a fabulous account by an English pilgrim
27:35who was travelling to Jerusalem, Seowulf,
27:38and in his account, Relatio,
27:40he tells of how difficult the journey was.
27:43It took over 90 days, and for seven of those,
27:47he was stuck on a boat trying to get from Cyprus
27:51to the city port of Joppa.
27:53That's modern-day Jaffa.
27:55He says, we were tossed about by tempestuous weather
27:58for seven days and seven nights.
28:01Being forced back one night
28:03almost to the spot from which we sailed.
28:06But at sunrise on the eighth day,
28:09we stood before us the coast of the port of Joppa,
28:12which filled us with an unexpected
28:15and extraordinary joy.
28:17Once Seowulf arrived in Jerusalem,
28:20he headed straight to the most sacred spot of all,
28:23the hill of Calvary,
28:25where Christ was said to have been crucified,
28:27a site that now holds the world's most famous church.
28:30He writes, the first place to be visited
28:33is the church of the Holy Sepulchre,
28:35which is called the Martyrdom,
28:37not only because the streets lead most directly to it,
28:41but because it is more celebrated
28:44than all the other churches,
28:46and that rightly and justly.
28:48For all the things which were foretold
28:51and forewritten by the holy prophets
28:53of our Saviour, Jesus Christ,
28:55were there actually fulfilled.
28:59More than 900 years later,
29:01Carl and Hamilton are following in the footsteps of Seowulf,
29:05one of the first English pilgrims.
29:12The church of the Holy Sepulchre
29:14has been a major Christian pilgrimage site
29:16since its construction in the fourth century.
29:19It was destroyed and rebuilt many times
29:21over the following centuries,
29:23including a major reconstruction by the Crusaders
29:26after their bloody battle to recapture the city in 1099.
29:38Staggering, isn't it?
29:40It was what they perceived as their most important church
29:43of that period in time, isn't it?
29:45So, optimum amounts of effort is put into constructing it.
29:49Thousands of tourists visit the church
29:51of the Holy Sepulchre every day,
29:53and many take the opportunity to touch the stone
29:56where Christ was said to have been laid out
29:58after he was crucified.
30:07Modern-day religious pilgrims
30:09also light candles for their loved ones
30:11to honor those that are still living
30:13and those who have departed.
30:20Carl and Hamilton still have to decipher
30:23the symbolism of the Jerusalem Cross
30:25that many medieval pilgrims would bring back with them
30:28from their journey to the Holy Land.
30:30They are searching some of the holiest sites in Jerusalem
30:33to understand why it differs
30:35from the conventional Christian cross
30:37found throughout Europe.
30:50The Holy Sepulchre
30:55Just outside the church of the Holy Sepulchre,
30:58Carl is meeting someone who knows a thing or two
31:00about the history of the Jerusalem Cross.
31:04Wassim Razouk is the president of the Holy Land Bikers Club,
31:08as well as the proud owner of a tattoo parlor
31:11in Jerusalem's Old City.
31:14I was amazed because you're
31:16the oldest tattoo shop in the world.
31:18Yeah, well, yeah, you know,
31:21we're the oldest tattooing family in the world.
31:24Really?
31:25We've been tattooing for 700 years.
31:27We originally come from Egypt,
31:29and when my family came 500 years ago to the Holy Land,
31:33they found out that there was a tradition
31:35of tattooing pilgrims,
31:37and since tattooing was their profession,
31:39they started doing that.
31:41Come into my humble shop.
31:43The Jerusalem Cross is the most popular tattoo
31:46for Wassim's customers,
31:48and Carl wants to find out what secrets
31:50the tattoo artist has learned
31:52from generations of inking it.
31:54This is a 500-year-old stamp of the Jerusalem Cross,
31:58which is the symbol that most people
32:02want to be tattooed with
32:04to commemorate their pilgrimage.
32:06So the symbol of the Jerusalem Cross
32:09represents the big cross,
32:12represents Jerusalem as the center of the universe,
32:16and the four crosses represent the gospel,
32:18or the word of God,
32:20spreading to the four corners of the world.
32:22Since we have this stamp,
32:26we also have a document
32:30that was written by a pilgrim
32:34back in 1669
32:36who had documented his pilgrimage
32:38together with an image of his arm
32:42tattooed with this exact stamp.
32:46This is not a tattoo.
32:48It's a certificate of pilgrimage.
32:50It's not just for life, it's for eternity.
32:52It's for eternity, yeah.
32:54This is the one that I would like to stamp you with.
32:56Yeah, I'm going to go for it.
32:58Oh, my God.
33:00That's a big thing for me, Paul.
33:02I'm honored and proud that you're going to do it.
33:04Why do people get it?
33:06The reason why people get it
33:08is because they feel different
33:10when they come to the Holy Land,
33:12and that's changed their soul.
33:14And this is what goes with you also
33:16when you die.
33:18Your certificate of pilgrimage is...
33:22Complete.
33:24Complete.
33:26Beautiful.
33:30Carl and Hamilton's exploration
33:32of the Christian pilgrimage relics
33:34revealed the dangers of traveling
33:36during the Middle Ages.
33:38Pilgrims faced physical hardship and danger
33:40at every turn on their spiritual journey.
33:42The roads they used
33:44may have also been cover
33:46for military incursions into Muslim territory.
33:50Their exploration
33:52of Christian pilgrim symbols
33:54has not only uncovered the deeper meaning
33:56of these artifacts,
33:58but has also had a profound personal impact
34:00on Carl,
34:02who has literally left a mark on him for life.