The story of the loss of the Templar castle of Safed, during the time of the crusaders (13th century) ...the Egyptian army attacked the Templar castle of Safed four years before 1270. The new sultan was a brutal and treacherous Kipchak warrior named Baibars Rukd as-Din, who had taken the throne by murdering the former sultan. When his attacks on the castle failed, he offered free escape and pardon for all Turcopoles, the native-born troops who comprised the major part of the garrison, and they began to desert in numbers. Stripped of their support, the Templars sent one of their Syrian-born sergeants, Brother Leo, to negotiate with Baibars. Leo returned with the good news that all of the Templars were free to leave, with a guarantee of safe-conduct through the Egyptian lines. The Templars had not yet learned the character of their enemy, and accepted. As soon as Baibars had taken control of the castle and the Templars, he gave them that night to decide whether they would choose conversion to the Islamic faith, or death. In the morning they were lined up outside the castle gate to announce their decisions. Before they could speak, the Templar commander of the castle called out to them to choose death rather than abandon their Christian faith. He was promptly seized, stripped, and skinned alive in front of his brother Templars. Unshaken by the screaming and the blood of their leader, the Templars to a man chose death rather than give up the cross. They got their choice, as Baibars ordered their immediate beheadings. From: Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry by John J. Robinson .