You will encounter plagues, accusations of heresy, forged relics, carnivals and bandits. The Templars will be suppressed, Islam will spread its influence and pirates will have their wicked way with passing ships. All good stuff, nothing particularly historical or deep, just a damn good range of varied events. This is useful because aside from atmosphere and a modicum of decision making, the game runs, more or less, on the interaction generated by playing cards on other players. The map is large and depicts the area from Ireland in the North West to Cairo in the South East.
Every major city is there, linked by lines to show the main movement routes.
Your mad monk can travel by foot, or horse if he is feeling rich, and by boat if he has knocked over the local Nat West Bank - money remains tight all game, with a constant trade off between moving quickly or saving gold. But wherever you go, it will take a long time to get there. Interestingly, the British Isles remain remote both in feel and distance, simply by virtue of the channel crossing. Strange how many games manage to capture this phenomena. The players start in their home city and spend the rest of the game pottering around, pursuing leads, delivering icons for sale or as gifts to grateful churches.