in the Travels of Sir John Mandeville is also relatively positive, though with many inaccurate and mythical features. It is said that Muslims are easily converted to Christianity because their beliefs are already so similar in many ways, and that they believe that only the Christian revelation will last until the end of the world. The moral behaviour of Muslims at the time is shown as superior to that of Christians, and as a standing reproach to Christian society. When the Knights Templar were being tried for heresy reference was often made to their worship of a demon Baphomet, which was notable by implication for its similarity to the common rendition of Muhammad's name used by Christian writers of the time, Mahomet. All these and other variations on the theme were all set in the "temper of the times" of what was seen as a Muslim-Christian conflict as Medieval Europe was building a concept of "the great enemy" in the wake of the quickfire success of the early Muslim conquests shortly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, as well as the lack of real information in the West of the mysterious East. In the Heldenbuch-Prosa, a prose preface to the manuscript Heldenbuch of Diebolt von Hanowe from 1480, the demon Machmet appears to the mother of the Germanic hero Dietrich and builds "Bern" (Verona) in three days. See also References Citations Sources Shalem, Avinoam. Constructing the Image of Muhammad in Europe. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and Boston, 2013. New Edition. William Montgomery Watt, Muslim-Christian Encounters. Perceptions and Misperceptions Irving, W. (1868). Mahomet and his successors. New York: Putnam Encyclopedias Religious perspectives on Muhammad Criticism of Islam Christianity in the Middle Ages Christianity and Islam Point of view