The crusaders as a whole were perceived by the Arabs as true barbarians, ignorant and childish. At the beginning of the 12th century, the Templars proved to be the most fanatical fighters that the Arabs had to face. However, outside the battlefield, we note that a certain religious tolerance animated them. In 1140, the emir and chronicler Osama Ibn Mounqidh, also ambassador to the Franks, went to Jerusalem. He used to go to the old al-Aqsa Mosque, "the residence of my friends the Templars". The emir related an anecdote during which the Templars openly took his defense during the prayer. While the way Muslims pray was both unknown and misunderstood by the Franks newly arrived in the East, the Templars found their interest in enforcing this worship, even if it was qualified as infidel. A few years later, in 1187, during the Battle of Hattin, the Muslim leader Saladin had the heads of two hundred and thirty Templar prisoners beheaded on the spot and in his presence. Saladin's private secretary concluded by speaking of his master "How many evils he heals by putting a Templar to death." On the other hand, the Arab military leaders spared the masters of the order prisoners because they knew that as soon as a master died, he was immediately replaced.
Result of the battle Such was the famous Battle of Trasimene, and one of the few memorable defeats of the Roman people. Fifteen thousand Romans were killed in the fight; ten thousand, dispersed by flight through all Etruria, reached Rome by the most diverse routes; two thousand five hundred enemy p