The Year was 1187

On this morning of (May 17) rabi II, two days after the victory, the Sultan sought out the Templars and Hospitallers who had been captured and said " I shall purify the land of these two impure races." He assigned fifty dinar to every man who had taken one of them prisoner, and immediately the army brought forward at least a hundred of them. He ordered that they should be beheaded, choosing to have them dead rather than in prison. With him was a whole band of scholars and surfis and a certain number of devout men and ascetics; each begged to be allowed to kill one of them, and drew his sword and rolled back his sleeve.

- Imad-ad-Din, Secretary and Chancellor to Saladin

So what exactly has changed in 800+ years except for the name of the person doing the writing?