It is the year 1200 and the world is about to change in dramatic fashion. Let's just give ourselves a little bit of context of what the world looks like. The kings of Western Europe are caught up in the Crusades. In the year 1200, the third crusade has just ended and is mildly successful, but Jerusalem is still in control of the Muslims. The Byzantine Empire, what's left of the true Roman Empire, is on the decline, losing more and more territory to the Turks. In the Middle East and Persia, you have the golden age of Islam. The Abbasid Caliphate is still around, although it has now been fragmented into many different Muslim empires.