Knights' Castle
photo by syrialooks on Flickr
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- Uploaded:
- Aug 08, 2009
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- 1024 × 768
- Original date:
- May 12, 2006
The castle is located east of Tripoli in the "Homs Gap (34°46′N 36°19′E)," atop a 650-meter high cliff along the only route from Antioch to Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea. The original fortress had been built in 1031 for the emir of Aleppo. It was captured by Raymond IV of Toulouse early in 1099, during the First Crusade, but was abandoned when the Crusaders continued their march to Jerusalem. It was reoccupied again by Tancred, Prince of Galilee in 1110. Raymond II, count of Tripoli, gave it to the Hospitallers in 1144.
The Hospitallers rebuilt it and expanded it into the largest Crusader fortress in the Holy Land, adding an outer wall 30 meters thick with seven guard towers 8-10 meters thick, to create a concentric castle. One of these towers was occupied by the Grand Master of the Hospitallers. In the 12th century there was a moat covered by a drawbridge leading to postern gates. Between the inner and outer gates was a courtyard, leading to the inner buildings, which were rebuilt by the Hospitallers in a Gothic style. These buildings included a meeting hall, a chapel, and a 120-meter long storage facility. Other storage facilities were dug into the cliff below the fortress, and it is estimated that the Hospitallers could have withstood a siege for five years. By 1170, the Hospitallers' modifications were complete, but parts of the fortress were rebuilt after numerous earthquakes in the late 12th century and early 13th century. It may have held about 50-60 Hospitallers and up to 2000 other foot soldiers. Aside from the control of the road to the Mediterranean, the Hospitallers also exerted some influence over Lake Homs to the east, where they could control the fishing industry and watch for Muslim armies gathering in Syria.
In 1163, the fortress was unsuccessfully besieged by Nur ad-Din. After their victory the Hospitallers became an essentially independent force on the Tripolitanian frontier. It was also besieged, again unsuccessfully, by Saladin in 1188, during which time the Castellan was captured. He was taken by Saladin's men to the castle gates where he was told to order the gates opened. He first told them in Arabic to surrender the castle, then in French told them to hold the castle to the last man.
During the Fifth Crusade the Hungarian king Andrew II strengthened the outer walls (1217) and financed the guarding troops.
It was recaptured by Baibars on April 8, 1271, after deceiving the Hospitallers into believing the count of Tripoli had instructed them to surrender. Baibars refortified it and used it as a base against Tripoli. He also converted the Hospitaller chapel to a mosque. The Mameluks later used it to attack Acre in 1291.
The fortress is one of the few sites where Crusader art (in the form of frescoes) has been preserved. Edward I of England, while on the Ninth Crusade in 1272, saw the fortress and used it as an example for his own castles in England and Wales. T.E. Lawrence believed Krak des Chevaliers was the greatest of the Crusader castles and "the most wholly admirable castle in the world." Today it is a highly tourist attraction.
wikipedia
Wikipedia Article
Krak des Chevaliers (French pronunciation: [kʁak de ʃəvaˈlje]), also Crac des Chevaliers, is a Crusader castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by a settlement of Kurds; as a result it was known as Hisn al Akrad, meaning the "Castle of the Kurds". In 1142 it was given by Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, to the Knights Hospitaller. It remained in their possession until it fell in 1271. It became known as Crac de l'Ospital; the name Krak des Chevaliers was coined in the 19th century.
The Hospitallers began rebuilding the castle in the 1140s and were finished by 1170 when an earthquake damaged the castle. The order controlled a number of castles along the border of the County of Tripoli, a state founded after the First Crusade. Krak des Chevaliers was amongst the most important and acted as a centre of administration as well as a military base. After a second phase of building was undertaken in the 13th century, Krak des Chevaliers became a concentric castle. This phase created the outer wall and gave the castle its current appearance. The first half of the century has been described as Krak des Chevaliers' "golden age". At its peak, Krak des Chevaliers housed a garrison of around 2,000. Such a large garrison allowed the Hospitallers to extract tribute from a wide area. From the 1250s the fortunes of the Knights Hospitaller took a turn for the worse and in 1271 Krak des Chevaliers was captured by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars after a siege lasting 36 days.
The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Order of Hospitallers or simply Hospitallers, were a group of men attached to a hospital in Jerusalem that was founded by Blessed Gerard around 1023 which evolved into a military/hospitaller order.
The Hospitallers arose because of the work of a Amalfitan hospital located in the Muristan district of Jerusalem, founded around 1023 to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the Western Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, the organisation became a religious and military order under its own charter, and was charged with the care and defence of the Holy Land. Following the conquest of the Holy Land by Islamic forces, the Order operated from Rhodes, over which it was sovereign, and later from Malta where it administered a vassal state under the Spanish viceroy of Sicily.
The Order was weakened by Napoleon's capture of Malta in 1798 and became dispersed throughout Europe. It regained strength during the early 19th century as it repurposed itself toward humanitarian and religious causes. The heads of all five modern Orders of St. John assert that the Roman Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta with its headquarters in Rome is the original order and that four Protestant orders stem from the same root. Protestant branches are headquartered in Berlin (the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John), the Hague (the Order of Saint John in the Netherlands), and Stockholm (the Order of Saint John in Sweden), and a British revival is headquartered in London (the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem).
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (Italian: Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme di Rodi e di Malta), also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's oldest surviving order of chivalry. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is headquartered in Rome, Italy, and is widely considered a sovereign subject of international law.
SMOM is the modern continuation of the original medieval order of Saint John of Jerusalem, known as the Knights Hospitaller, a group founded in Jerusalem about 1050 as an Amalfitan hospital to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, it became a military order under its own charter. Following the loss of Christian held territories of the Holy Land to Muslims, the Order operated from Rhodes (1310–1523), and later from Malta (1530–1798), over which it was sovereign.
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