Knight's castles of the Holy Land. Syria before the war: Castles of the Crusaders. Castle of Coucy in France

The specificity of the Crusades was that the large-scale military operations of the Crusaders themselves lasted several years at most. The breaks between campaigns were decades, and during this time it was necessary to hold the positions that had been conquered or defend those that had already existed for a long time. To solve these problems in medieval conditions of warfare, fortified castles were best suited - they were both administrative and political centers, and, no less important, the most effective instruments of military control over territories. So there were plenty of crusader castles in the regions where the crusades took place.

Castle Krak des Chevaliers

One of the most famous castles in the world (and not only those related to the Crusaders) is Krak des Chevaliers, located in modern Syria. This beautifully preserved castle, which belonged to the Order of the Hospitallers, is truly one of the most impregnable castles in history. Initially, a small Kurdish fortress was located on a cliff 650 meters high, but the crusaders occupied it during the First Crusade . In 1142, the fortress was transferred to the Order of the Hospitallers, who turned it into an impregnable citadel with walls ranging from 3 to 30 meters thick. In addition, some of the premises were hidden directly in the rock, which made it possible to wait out long sieges. Krak des Chevaliers were repeatedly tried to capture, but without success. The castle was captured in 1271 only with the help of a forged letter in which the commander of the garrison was ordered to surrender Krak des Chevaliers.

Bodrum Castle

Bodrum, a castle located in modern Turkey, also belonged to the Order of the Hospitallers, but was built only in the 15th century, when the Crusades had already ended and the Crusaders had long been expelled from the Holy Land. The castle was built over the course of about a century, and for its construction stone was used from the ruins of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - the tomb of King Mausolus, the famous Mausoleum. But in the 16th century, Bodrum, which had previously repeatedly repelled attacks from the Turks, was nevertheless captured and became a Turkish fortress.

Beaufort Castle

Beaufort is a castle located on a hill about 300 meters high in the south of modern Lebanon. It is located at a strategically important height that controls the surrounding area, but there is no information about the existence of fortifications here before the Crusades. The castle was built at the beginning of the 12th century, but in 1190 it passed into the hands of Salah ad-Din according to an exchange agreement. Half a century later, he returned to the crusaders, and twenty years later he was sold to the Templar Order. True, the Templars They were not located in Beaufort for long: in 1268 the castle was captured by Egyptian Muslims and has remained unoccupied since then. However, in the second half of the 20th century, the ruins of the castle were used as one of the bases by the terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Belvoir Castle

Belvoir Castle is a fortress of the Order of Hospitallers located on a hill (altitude 500 meters) above the Jordan Valley. Initially, this territory was allocated as a fief to one of the French nobles who participated in the First Crusade, but in 1168 he sold it to the Hospitallers. The Order was an excellent specialist in the construction of castles and created Belvoir, an excellent fortress located in such a way that even siege weapons were not afraid of it. Belvoir was of great strategic importance - it was a key point in the defensive line of the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the threat from the east. Therefore, they repeatedly tried to capture Belvoir; the famous Salah ad-Din alone made three attempts. The third attempt was successful and Belvoir fell in 1189. The crusaders were released, and the castle became a Muslim fortress. In 1220, rumors began to spread about the start of a new crusade and the Arabs, fearing that the Hospitallers would again be able to get their stronghold, attempted to destroy the castle. In general, Belvoir became unsuitable for military use; the Crusaders did not have enough money and time to restore it.

Montfort Castle

Montfort - this castle, which stood on a steep narrow mountain in the north of the modern state of Israel, existed for a relatively short time, less than half a century. However, it is quite remarkable - since it was the first residence of the famous Teutonic Order . In 1220, the newly formed Order acquired these lands from one of the French feudal lords with money provided by the Pope. Over the course of several years, a castle was built, where the archives and treasury of the Order were transported, and the residence of the Grand Master was also located here. In the middle of the century, the situation in the region became more complicated, the castle began to be attacked and in 1271 it was captured by the Mamluks (Egyptian Muslims). True, before that the Teutons managed to carry out the organized removal of the archives and treasury of the Order from the castle.

El Karak Castle

El-Karak is a Crusader castle located at an altitude of about 1000 meters in the west of modern Jordan, near the coast of the Dead Sea. Construction of the castle was started by the Crusaders in 1142 and lasted twenty years, after which El-Karak became the capital and residence of the King of Transjordan. The Arabs made several attempts to take the castle by storm, but each time they failed. In 1176 the castle came under the control of the famous crusader Renaud de Chatillon, famous for his cruelty. El-Karak was located at the intersection of trade routes, so de Chatillon successfully robbed Muslim merchants. In 1187, de Chatillon was killed, and a year later his castle was captured by storm after an eight-month siege. From that moment on, the fortress did not return to the hands of the crusaders.

Alexander Babitsky

In 1099, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem, which became the center of the newly created Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the territory nearby and on the way to the Holy City was called the Transjordanian Seigneury. The knights planned to settle here for a long time, and therefore began to build fortified structures everywhere that could withstand attacks and sieges for a long time.

One of the first castle-fortresses of the new Kingdom of Jerusalem was El Kerak - Fort Krak de Moab, which translated means “fortress in the Land of Moab.” Construction lasted about twenty years and ended in 1161. At the same time, El Kerak became the capital and residence of the King of Transjordan, taking over the capital functions from the Krak de Montreal fortress.

El-Karak had significant strategic advantages, it was located east of the Jordan River, and from its position it was convenient to control the activities of the nomadic Bedouin shepherds and monitor the trade routes from Damascus and Cairo, as well as the Hajj routes to Mecca. Later, the Templars significantly strengthened this fortress, building towers and defenses on the north and south sides and adding two deep ditches to them.

In addition, Krak de Moab was part of a chain of fortifications stretching from the Egyptian border (from the Gulf of Aqaba) to Turkish possessions. Like all other points in this chain, El-Karak ensured the transmission of messages through a heliograph (light transmitter), thanks to which the message traveled a huge distance in less than 12 hours in both directions.

Salah ad-Din. Miniature.

The fortress was besieged several times, but always successfully repelled attacks. However, in 1176, a certain Renaud de Chatillon became the ruler of these places, turning out to be a fairly successful commander, because a year later he defeated the army of the Egyptian ruler Salah ad-Din (Saladin), who launched a campaign against Jerusalem. After the defeat, the ruler of Egypt miraculously escaped death and captivity, but did not forget the lesson taught and Renaud de Chatillon. He besieged Krak de Moab twice in 1183 and 1184, but was unable to take the fortress. It must be said that Renaud did not waste any time, he captured Aqaba, which was part of the Egyptian possessions, and threatened to destroy Mecca (a sacred place for Muslims), and in 1187 Renaud de Chatillon robbed a caravan in which there was a close relative of the Egyptian ruler. This was the last straw. Salah ad-Din set out on a campaign, captured Reno and executed him, and besieged Krak de Moab. This siege lasted eight months, but still, after another assault in 1188, the fortress fell. Salah ad-Din turned out to be a rather merciful winner; he allowed the Christians defending the fortress to leave El-Kerak. Subsequently, this fortress remained under the control of various Muslim rulers, but never returned to its builders - the crusader knights.

Krak de Montreal - royal fortress of Shobak

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This formidable fortress was built in just a year, and with the personal participation of King Baldwin I, who wanted to have a powerful fortress in this strategically important place, and at the same time a royal residence. As a result, in 1116, on the top of the mountain, at an altitude of about a kilometer above sea level, a fortress appeared with the name Mons Relis or Montreal (Royal Mountain), and it received the name Shobak after the name of the area where it is located. Shobak occupied an advantageous strategic position, because from here it was possible to control the territory of the valley, which means collecting tribute from pilgrims and trade caravans coming from Syria to the Arabian Peninsula.

Shobak Fortress

To build the fortress, the crusaders had to make truly titanic efforts, since all the stone blocks had to be cut out of the rocks in the neighborhood. Traces of this work can still be seen today, if, of course, you move here - to the now dilapidated fortress walls and buildings. The dimensions of the fortress castle are quite large - 175 meters long and 90 meters wide.

In 1189, Salah ad-Din captured Shobak after a two-year siege, and the castle itself was partially destroyed by him, after which it fell into disrepair. Some of the buildings were not spared by time, and some were simply stolen by local residents for their own buildings. Only fragments of the defensive walls, the ruins of the main tower, church and chapel have survived to this day. It is known that there was a spring of fresh water inside the castle walls, and 375 steps led to it, along which one had to go down into the hill (presumably 75 meters deep into the earth). Today, archaeologists are actively searching for the spring, conducting excavations on the territory of the castle. Almost half of the staircase - about 150 steps - has already been discovered, but most of the Krak-de-Montreal is hidden from view and keeps its secrets to this day.

Montfort Castle Farm

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For a long time, Montfort was a fortified farm owned by the de Mily family, descendants of participants in the early crusades. Later, in 1229, the land was sold to the Teutonic Order, who decided to create a fortified castle here - a kind of headquarters of the Order. From a small fortified farm, the Teutons decided to make a fortress, calling it Montfort, which is translated from French as “Strong Mountain” (mont - mountain, fort - strong). The construction required a lot of funds, and the Order turned to the Pope with a request to help in a good cause, and the head of the church helped raise money for the headquarters of the Teutonic Knights in the Holy Land.

Ruins of the Teutonic Order fortress Montfort.

Quite quickly, one of the most beautiful castles of the Middle Ages was built. The fortress housed a hospital, here was also the archive of the Teutonic Order and its treasures, as well as the Grand Master of the Order himself. In 1266, Sultan Baybars besieged Montfort, but he never managed to take the fortress. Six years later, his second attempt turned out to be more successful, and in 1271, Baybars’s army managed to destroy the southern wall of the fortress by digging under it, because of which the wall simply sank, and the soldiers of the Egyptian ruler penetrated the gap. The Teutons retreated to the central tower of the fortress, continuing to fight, but did not refuse to enter into negotiations and managed to come to an agreement with the enemy to mutual satisfaction: the knights of the Teutonic Order were allowed to leave Montfort, and with all their treasures and archives. And indeed, the Order moved from Montfort to Acre without interference, where it continued its activities. By the way, the archive that they took out then is still kept in the Tyrol Museum (Austria).

However, Sultan Baybars ordered the fortress itself to be destroyed so that the crusaders would have nowhere to return, but the destruction affected mainly the central tower, and most of the fortress has survived to this day.

In 1926, the first excavations were carried out here, in which fragments of weapons of defenders and attackers, armor, parts of statues, glass fragments from the stained glass windows of a local church and other curious objects were found. The central knight's hall has survived to this day, as well as the ruins of a church and a winery, a security northern tower, a building with beautiful Gothic arches near the Kziv stream - a hospital, according to archaeologists, as well as a moat on the eastern side of the castle.

Now the fortress is part of the national park and is freely accessible to everyone.

Castle of the Knights - Krak des Chevaliers

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Qalaat al-Hosn, or Krak des Chevaliers, is a castle with an unusual history and the last stronghold of the knights in the Holy Land. Its history is inextricably linked with the history of the monastic-knightly Order of the Hospitallers, although it is not due to them that it was born.

Much earlier, and until the 11th century, there was a small fortress on the mountain spur of Jebel Ansari in Syria, known as the “hill fortress.” Its location was of great strategic importance, because from here it was possible to control the road to Tripoli, one of the richest ports of that time. Knowing this, the emir of the Syrian city of Homs placed a garrison of Kurdish soldiers within the walls of the fortress in 1031, who monitored such an important road. Over time, local residents began to call the fortress Hosn al-Akrad, or the Castle of the Kurds. The appearance of the crusaders, who sought to clear the road to Jerusalem, led to the fact that the fortress was captured by them. This happened for the first time in 1099, but the knights did not leave the garrison in the “fortress on the hill” and went their own way, and the Kurds returned to the fortress. Ten years later, the fortress was again captured by the crusaders led by Tancred of Antioch, but eventually came into the possession of the Tripolitan Count Raymond I, to whom the knight “gifted” it. But the maintenance of such a powerful structure was beyond the strength of the ruler of Tripoli, and in 1142 he “donated” the fortress to the Knights of the Hospitaller Order, which was a great success for both sides: the Order received ownership of the entire castle with the adjacent land, and the county received very reliable protection in the person of the Hospitallers or, as they were also called, the Johannites.

The monastic knights built powerful fortifications here, partly restoring, partly creating new ones: the existing walls were strengthened in the fortress, barracks, a chapel, a kitchen with a mill, a refectory and even a multi-seat restroom were rebuilt. The fortress also had its own natural source of water, thanks to a clever device of pipes and an aqueduct. In subsequent years, Muslims repeatedly tried to recapture the “fortress on the hill” from the knights, but each time without success - for 130 years the Hospitallers successfully repelled all attacks.

In 1170, an earthquake partially destroyed the castle, but this was only a reason to improve it. In accordance with the new spirit, a chapel and some towers of the castle were built in the Gothic style, and additional walls appeared around the fortress, including a powerful external one. A berkil was built in the fortress - a deep reservoir that served not only as a water storage, but also as an additional barrier from enemies.

Krak de Chevalier.

By the beginning of the 13th century, Krak des Chevaliers had turned into a large and powerful structure, and incredibly large food reserves guaranteed it a truly unprecedented “margin of safety”, because 2 thousand people could endure a siege for 5 years! The security of the castle is eloquently demonstrated by the fact that this Crusader fortress was the last to fall in the Holy Land. This happened due to a double trick: first they used an undermining against the knights, and then a deception - a forged letter from the head of the Order.

Krak de Chevalier. The gallery of the monastery, made in the Gothic style.

The Egyptian Sultan Baybars, who had previously conquered almost all of their fortifications from the European knights, for a long time did not dare to storm the last stronghold of chivalry - the Krak des Chevaliers castle. However, in the end, he made such an attempt, and in 1271 his soldiers managed to break into the space between the outer and inner walls, and then, having made a tunnel, Baibars’s soldiers found themselves in the very heart of the fortress. However, the defenders of Krak des Chevaliers took refuge in the southern redoubt - the most fortified place of the castle, where the main supplies of provisions were also located, and, apparently, they could sit there for many, many years. The Sultan, of course, did not want this, and he prepared a letter, allegedly sent by Hugo de Revel, the Grand Master of the Order, with the order to surrender the fortress. Having received such a letter, the defenders obediently obeyed the will of the Grand Master, and Krak des Chevaliers was taken by the enemy. However, the invaders spared the lives of all the surviving knights, which undoubtedly partially atone for their treachery. In subsequent centuries, the fortress gradually fell into disrepair; it suffered greatly from the Mongol invasion, and during the period of Ottoman rule it was completely abandoned.

In 1927, restoration work began at the castle; now the Castle of Knights is a popular place for visiting tourists. Centuries later, Krak des Chevaliers looks magnificent again; it is still a majestic fortress, which is rightly considered the pinnacle of the art of castle building.

Castle of the Order of the Temple - Atlit

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Under the mastership of Guillaume of Chartres, the construction of Atlit (also known as Château-Pelerine or Pilgrim's Castle) took place in 1218.
The Turks fortified Mount Tabor, which formed a dangerous wedge and threatened both the plain of Acre and the road along the coast. The Franks tried to capture the mountain in 1217, which unleashed another Egyptian (Damietta) campaign. Guillaume of Chartres, who was lying sick in Acre, did not participate in the expedition, but the kings of Jerusalem and Hungary, the Duke of Austria, the Master of the Order of the Hospitallers and the monasteries of both orders launched an attack. When the first attack failed, the Master of the Order of the Hospitallers proposed to try again, but the lethargy, not to say cowardice, of the lay crusaders forced them to retreat.
King John undertook the construction of a castle south of the Caesars, in the new mark (province) of the state. The Master of the Order of the Temple and his council decided for their part to strengthen Cape Atlit in order to block the road to Haifa. The Templars already had a tower not far from the cape, which was called the “castle of narrow passages”; the shore here created a natural raid that could be fortified, where Richard the Lionheart’s fleet moored during its advance to Jaffa.
Due to the crowd of pilgrims who supplied voluntary labor, the new fortress was called Pilgrim's Castle. “Gautier d’Aven gave him this name and said that he would be his godfather, and put a thousand Saracen gold coins under the first stone” (Quoted: “The History of Heraclius.” Book XXXI, Chapter XII)

A wide and high cape, with natural fortifications to the north, west and south, rises above the sea. To the east stands a tower, built in ancient times by the Templars, who held it as much by peace as by war. This tower was once erected to protect pilgrims on the Jerusalem road or on their way back from thieves who lay in wait for them along this narrow path. It stands very close to the sea, on a mountain ledge, which was called the “Narrow Passage”.
During the entire time it took to build the castle, the Templars chiseled their way into the rock. After six weeks they began the first laying of the foundation. An ancient wall appeared, long and wide. They also found a treasure of ancient coins, unknown to modern people, sent down by the goodness of the Son of God to reward them for their expenses and labors. Therefore, the Templars initially called the castle “Castle of the Son of God.” Then they dug up and removed the sand, behind which they found another wall, and between these two walls a source of drinking water, which flowed in abundance. God generously provided them with stone and cement. The Templars built two towers in front of the pediment from quadrangular polished stones, so large that a team of two oxen could barely drag one of them. Each tower is one hundred paces long by seventy-four wide; this space consists of a double fortress wall. A new and high rampart, ending in battlements, connects the two towers, and, thanks to the remarkable skill [of the builders], the knights, fully armed, can ascend and descend the stairs built inside. Another wall extends from one bank to the other and guards a fresh water well at the end of the peninsula. The castle is surrounded on all sides by a high new wall with towers, which rises from the sandbank itself; inside it is a chapel with chambers and many outbuildings. The main purpose of this structure is to allow the monastery of the Order of the Temple, during the retreat from the city of Acre, to stay here until they prepare to defend the walls of Jerusalem. The domain has fisheries, salt marshes, forests, pastures, arable lands and abundant pastures. Vineyards, existing or planted, and orchards are a delight to the inhabitants. The Saracens do not have a single fortress between Acre and Jerusalem. This new castle causes them extreme damage, and, overcome with fear, they prepare to leave their cultivated lands between Jerusalem and Jordan. There is also a port there, which is naturally good and which [the builders'] skill could have improved. This fortified place is only six miles distant from Mount Tabor, and it is believed that its construction predetermined the destruction of the fortress on the mountain; for throughout the long and wide plain, which extends from Atlitus to Mount Tabor, the Saracens, because of the power of the new castle, can neither plow the land, nor sow, nor reap in safety. (Quoted: "Historia captionis Damiatae" by Olivier Scholastic, published by Thomas Cole in: Historia Anglicanae Scriptores. Oxford. l687.) The fortress, which looked so proudly into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, was built of limestone; the walls grew out of the waves themselves. Behind the fortress wall, around a large hall, a huge vaulted structure decorated with giant heads of sculptured knights, warehouses, stables, and barracks were concentrated. The hexagonal chapel was perhaps the most beautiful the Templars ever built. The foundations of the walls, broken supports, huge blocks of hewn stone, several carved cornices - witnesses of past glory - are still piled up on the cape today.

If we consider the plan of Atlit, this fortification occupies a narrow rocky and sandy cape, extremely convenient for defense according to medieval views. However, the Templars, who took up the cause in 1218, abandoned all the principles of the system of flanking fire and several lines of defense developed in Europe during this era. On Atlit they were proud of their only defensive line - an extremely thick wall, built from colossal stone blocks, reinforced by rectangular towers, with semicircular faces in plan. There are dungeons here - the main towers of the castle, but they are by no means located in those places where they could least be attacked, but in the most dangerous direction, in order to take on the onslaught of an attack. It would seem that they should be exceptionally massive; but in true Byzantine style, their walls, in comparison with their curtains [the section of the wall between the towers], are thin, and wooden galleries on top of the towers were not used to strengthen their defensive power, which were already becoming familiar. Atlit had a seaport, which made it possible to supply its inhabitants with everything they needed during a siege or, in extreme cases, to evacuate.
When the castle was excavated in the 1930s, archaeologists were amazed by the skill of the builders. For example, if the besiegers tried to use the common tactic of digging under the castle walls, they would be flooded with water, because... the bottom of the ditch was below sea level. Thus, when in 1220 Atlit was besieged by Al-Muazram, who had trebuchets, three catapults and four ballistas at his disposal, their effect turned out to be negligible due to the thick walls. Three hundred Templars under the command of Master Pedre de Montegaudo bravely defended themselves and even managed to disable the trebuchet and catapult. A month later the siege was lifted.
The castle also did not open its gates to other people. One of these was Frederick II, who was denied access to the castle. He also had to stop the attack because... he didn't stand a chance.
But Atlit's story ends on a sad note. In 1291, after the fall of Acre, its garrison was evacuated. The castle went to the Muslims, but was never taken by them.

Bagras or Gaston

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The castle of Baghras, in the border area between Syria and Asia Minor, was vital to the defense of Antioch. It passed into the hands of the Order of the Temple in 1131, when Fulk, king of Jerusalem, traveled north of his kingdom to Antioch, or, at the latest, in 1137, when Raymond of Poitiers, prince of Antioch, went north to fight the Cilician Armenians. Together with Rocher Russel and Darbezac, this castle was among the first significant donations to the order in the Holy Land.
The owners of this castle changed very often. He constantly switched from Muslims to Christians and back - so, in 1156. it was in the hands of the Templars in 1160-1161. was included, together with the surrounding lands, in the feud of the Prince of Antioch in 1175. - This is again the northern headquarters of the Order of the Temple. In 1188 The castle was captured by Salah ad-Din.
In 1191 King of Cilician Armenia Leo II (Levon II) captured Bagras Castle. According to him, he drove out the Saracens from there and took the castle by law of war. The Templars testified that the Turks, after the capture of Acre in July 1191. fled, and the Armenian king found Bagras “without inhabitants and, as it were, liberated from the hands of the pagans,” which did not allow any confiscation on his part.
In 1201, a quarrel broke out between the king of Cilician Armenia Leo II (Levon II) and Bohemond I (IV), Count of Tripoli over the principality of Antioch, which Bohemond disputed with his nephew Raymond de Rupen. The Templars were also drawn into this struggle, whose castles ended up in the hands of King Leo II.

The Templars were also drawn into this struggle. The Templars, with the support of Bohemond and the Patriarch of Antioch, demanded the return of Bagras Castle. Leo II summoned them and, in a passion, announced that he was “holding Gasten as compensation for Antioch.” After this, both parties sent reports to Rome. A little later, Leo II turned to the Order of the Temple with a request for help against the Sultan of Aleppo, Grand Master Gilbert Eral went to Armenia and presented Leo II with the bull of Innocent III, ordering the return of Bagras. Lev promised to return Bagras and Darbezak (another castle of the order), even asking to be accepted into the brethren of the House. The king could not refuse the Templars anything, wanting from them only help in taking control of Antioch. But Gilbert Eral was not inclined to become a mercenary in the war between Christians, and left the country. Leo, without hesitation, turned to the Hospitallers, who came to his aid in exchange for castles and fiefs. The struggle for Antioch resulted in a real war. The King of Cilician Armenia took revenge on the Templars as best he could and, despite the requests of the Pope, refused to return Bagras to them, as well as other castles he had occupied (Darbezak, the port of Bonel).
A truce was concluded during the arrival of papal legates, who were entrusted with the administration of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, as well as the resolution of the Antioch conflict. The first of the cardinal legates arrived in the Holy Land in November 1202, the other in March 1203. During their stay in Acre and after the first negotiations, Leo launched a night attack on Antioch. While the Patriarch of Antioch was trying to come to an agreement, the Templars, who made up half of the garrison, “showed their teeth,” as Leo put it: “Ecce Templarii contra nos denies acuentnt” (Behold, the Templars have sharpened their teeth against us (lat.)). “They equipped the towers, resorted to weapons, fired at our troops both inside and outside the city, unfurling a banner against us,” writes the king of Armenia.
Both legates, Cardinal St. Praxidia and Cardinal St. Markella, did not understand each other very well. Cardinal St. Praxidia took the side of the Armenian king more. His colleague, Cardinal St. Marcellus, supported the Templars and excommunicated Leo and his kingdom; the Hospitallers, in turn, forced the Count of Tripoli to be excommunicated.
In 1205 the legates left the Holy Land. Innocent III appointed new envoys to investigate the case of the Count of Tripoli, and two others, the bishops of Valania and Byblis, to investigate the case of the Templars against Leo II.
In 1209, Innocent III again patiently repeated his warnings to Leo II:

The Templars will stop the insults you are complaining about as soon as you stop insulting them and no longer prevent them from taking Gasten Castle under their jurisdiction. This is precisely the essence and reason for their hostility, for you refuse to hand over the castle to them and do not want to deal with them fairly, despite our requests and suggestions. All laws, any justice allow force to be opposed to force, especially to those who do nothing reprehensible by resisting. The Templars are not priests, they have the right to defend themselves since you are attacking them, and especially because you are stealing from them what they need for the war with the pagans. Since you hold and strengthen their castles, it is not surprising that they stand their ground and defend themselves against you in Antioch, of which they own a large part<...>They persistently ask permission to do what the indulgence of Pope Alexander III has given them the right to do, otherwise many of them confirm to us that they will leave the Holy Land<...>and since they are brave and powerful people, they could be of great help to you or bring great harm<...>Do not think that we are telling you this out of affection for the Count [of Tripoli] or out of affection for the Templars, for we would rather see them observing their charter than fighting with you. Leo refused to give up the captured Bagras. In 1211 The Templars began military operations against Leo, supported by the regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, John I (Jean de Bienne), who sent them fifty knights. Skirmishes with the Armenians had already occurred during the delivery of food to the castles of the order of Resho Guillaume and Rocher Russel (the only ones of the five castles that the order continued to own in Cilician Armenia). During one of these expeditions, the troops of the Armenian king caught the Templars in a gorge, where the master and many of his brothers were wounded, and one of them was killed. The struggle lasted until 1213, when Leo surrendered, returning all their castles to the Templars.

In 1268 Bagras Castle was lost to the Order of the Temple.
The Catalan Charter (Regle catalane) tells us an unpublished version of the loss of Bagras (Gastin), where the commander of Antioch, brother Giraud de Sauzay, was in 1268. In the text, the French language is heavily mixed with the Provençal-Catalan dialect: It happened that brother Giraud de Sauzay was the commander of Antioch land. The Sultan left Babylon with all his forces and marched on Antioch. Before he found himself on this earth, the commander informed the master that he had heard that the Sultan was on his way and, they say, was going against Antioch, so that the master would send, for God's sake, sergeants and weapons for the castle, for Gasten lacked everything. The master replied that he would send him reinforcements and everything necessary if the Sultan approached Antioch, but let him know that there was nothing to fear from an attack [from April 5 to 26, Baibars turned to Beaufort and Banias]. Following this, the Sultan showed up at Antioch and, upon his arrival, took the city: thus, not even two days passed before it was taken.
The Templars of Gasten were in great turmoil, as they lacked everything, weapons and food, as well as experienced leaders, as would be required to fortify the castle. And while the brothers were eating, one of them, who was called Brother Guy de Belen [d "Ibelen? Maybe Ibelin de Gibel?, took possession of the keys to the castle, jumped on his horse and took them to the Sultan. He told him that Gasten was his, for the brothers want to surrender - “and here are the keys to your castle, which I brought to you!” And then the Sultan gathered large forces and threw them at the castle. Before the attack, the knights and sergeants knew very well that the fortress was difficult to defend. the commander announced, “that he will defend her as best he can, and then let the will of God be done,” the brother knights replied that “they will do whatever he wishes or orders.” On the contrary, the sergeants are just mercenaries. refused to stay there, because they saw well that the city would not be able to defend itself, and they did not want to die in it." In the face of Guy's betrayal, seeing the cooling of their warriors, the Templars realized that the situation was desperate. They decided to tear down the castle and join Roche Guillaume ( La Roche de Guillaume), another Templar fortress, which was almost equally weakened. They carried away what food and supplies they could and destroyed most of what was left there.
When news of the loss of Antioch reached Acre, the Grand Master of the Order of the Temple of Thomas Berar and the order felt great pain and great concern about the fate of Baghras. Since there was no hope that the Templars would hold the castle on their own, and there was no possibility of sending help, the chapter decided to give the order to recall the garrison, which had previously

“The Crusader castles were exactly the lure that Syria hooked me on from the very beginning. I remembered how, back in school, I read the adventures of the brave King Richard the Lionheart and other noble knights who went on long-term crusades and built impregnable citadels far from home. And then it suddenly became clear that all this was not a fairy tale! Despite the wars and destruction, the gloomy citadels of the soldiers of the cross have been preserved and still stand windswept on the rocky hills of distant Syria...

BANIYAS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Markab. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

I couldn’t resist going on a trip to see the castles of the Crusaders. But I didn’t have time for all the locks. Therefore, among the many, I chose three that seemed the most attractive to me. Of course, Krak des Chevaliers, it was he who, before the current civil war in Syria, was recognized by everyone as the best preserved. In addition, there is the black and gray Markab almost on the very coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the grandiose castle of Salahaddin, to which I went first...”

Center the map

Movement

By bike

While passing through

Visiting the Site for curious travelers is Dmitry Vozdvizhensky, my colleague, journalist, photographer, experienced traveler. With this article we will continue the series of materials under the general title “Syria before the war”, we will talk about what this country was like just recently, and about what kind of Syria we have irretrievably lost.

Ali Bita is not a hereditary aristocrat and not the heir of a millionaire. But from his birth he lived in a huge medieval castle - Salahaddin Castle. Before the war, it was a place of pilgrimage for tourists. And once upon a time these were simply useless ruins. So the ancestors of Ali Bit - simple Bedouins - settled here.

At the beginning of the 20th century it was the territory of Turkey. The Turks did not pay any attention to the castle, which was called Son - there were enough other, more pressing concerns.

LATAKIA, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Son, Salahaddin castle. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

Therefore, the local population enjoyed using the buildings that were built by the brave crusaders more than eight hundred years ago. Now the castle is known throughout the world as one of the masterpieces of serf architecture. The Bedouins, of course, had long been resettled to new places, and Ali Bit, who spent his entire childhood here, decided to stay among his native ruins forever and worked as a caretaker.

Ali Bita, caretaker of the castle: “My family lived here for a long time, and I was born and raised here. I got so used to these stones that I decided to stay among them. I’ve been working as a caretaker for several decades now and I know every corner here.”

LATAKIA, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Son, Salahaddin castle. Fortress moat. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

Son Castle turned into Salahaddin Castle in 1957, the Syrian authorities named it in honor of the great Arab conqueror who managed to clear the Middle East of European knights. The capture of this impregnable fortress is considered one of the key moments of that distant military campaign. The assault lasted only a few days.

This sounds incredible. The powerful walls of the castle were surrounded by a huge moat. In the monolithic mountain, the crusaders dug a ditch as much as 30 meters deep. This is the height of a ten-story building. Moreover, they dug the ditch, naturally, without explosives or excavators, only with picks and shovels. It took a hundred years, but these are already details. Time itself passed much more slowly back then.

LATAKIA, SYRIA: Crusader castles - the citadel of the castle of Son, the castle of Salahaddin. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

On top of the moat was crowned a powerful donjon - a free-standing and most invulnerable tower. In the castle of Son, the knights felt absolutely safe. Only a complete madman could attack the fortress head-on. But Salahaddin did not do this. He surrounded the castle, and then without much difficulty captured the lower courtyard, making a hole in the walls with catapults. The Crusaders believed that his loss would not complicate the defense. But they miscalculated. As a result, Salahaddin allowed them to leave by paying a ransom: 10 dinars for men, 5 for women and 2 dinars for children.

LATAKIA, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Son, Salahaddin castle. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

Ali Bita hospitably gave us tea. He said that he felt like a real master, just like Robert de Son, who built these phantasmagoric fortifications, or Salahaddin, who took them almost without a fight.

Ali was sure that it was its cyclopean size that destroyed the castle. It was the largest of all the Crusader castles: the area was more than five hectares. The knights could not strengthen it entirely as reliably as from the side of the donjon. And in order to defend such long walls, a lot of soldiers were needed. But the crusaders didn’t have them.

Salahaddin perfectly understood this serf mathematics and, most likely, that is why he did not even try to storm the smallest of the knight’s castles - Krak des Chevaliers...

Dream, Salahaddin Castle

Dream, Salahaddin Castle

Dream, Salahaddin Castle

Dream, Salahaddin Castle

The famous adventurer Lawrence of Arabia called it the most delightful of all the castles in the world. Traveling to Syria and not visiting here is the same as visiting Moscow and not looking at the Kremlin.

A bad tourist is one who does not dream of chipping a pebble from an ancient building: a castle, a pyramid or a temple. Doing this is strictly prohibited, as it is a historical monument after all. But there is a special type of travelers to whom this rule does not apply. Such tourists are called archaeologists and they do their job solely for the sake of science. The people who were enthusiastically dismantling the roof of the medieval donjon turned out to be Syrian and German archaeologists. Their enthusiasm is understandable: the last serious studies of the castle were carried out under the French, in the mid-thirties. And since then, scientists have accumulated many questions about this stronghold.

HOMS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Krak des Chevaliers. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

It is then that serious scientific articles and solid monographs appear, but for now archaeologists are like curious children looking for fabulous pirate treasures.

Toralf Burkert - archaeologist: “Look how interesting it is. Here is the cement that the French left here. It most likely let water through, and therefore all the stones under it are damp. This is sandstone, the crusaders usually built from it, but what kind of stones they are and where they came from is difficult to say. Maybe it was from the French, maybe the Turks worked, but it’s unlikely that this has remained here since the Middle Ages.”

HOMS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Krak des Chevaliers. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

The French carried out a serious restoration here in the thirties. They moved an entire Alawite village from here. They laid special rails to clear the rubble. The work was not in vain. There's a lot to see here. Krak des Chevaliers stands on the top of a mountain range, at an altitude of six hundred and fifty meters above sea level. There are no mountains around from which the citadel could be fired upon, nor dense thickets in which the enemy could hide. Krak des Chevaliers was built in a very important place - the passage between the Mediterranean coast and the interior of the Euphrates and Bekaa Valley. A small garrison of this fortress could stop an entire army.

HOMS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Krak des Chevaliers. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

Krak des Chevaliers acquired its modern appearance in the second half of the twelfth century. At that time, the fortress passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitaller. It was they who built the second row of defensive structures, which made it possible to withstand numerous attacks by Arab warriors. Krak des Chevaliers is almost three times smaller than Salahaddin Castle. The Franks abandoned the construction of the lower courtyard, and therefore the castle was easier to defend.

HOMS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Krak des Chevaliers. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

Everyone who has heard stories about this amazing castle imagines a mighty Christian stronghold. But in appearance, this castle of knights is not at all as intimidating as many other not so famous fortresses. It is very compact, and from a distance it looks simply miniature. But its small size made this bastion impregnable. In the best military campaigns, the garrison was increased to four thousand people, which made it possible to create an incredibly dense defense and repel any attacks.

Krak de Chevalier was taken already at the end of the 13th century, when the position of the Crusaders in the Middle East was greatly weakened. The troops of Sultan Baybars captured it with heavy losses after a month and a half siege. Iyas Alkhaty, a member of the Syrian-German archaeological expedition, believed that Krak des Chevaliers was the best knight's castle in the entire Middle East.

Iyas Alkhaty – archaeologist: “This is a unique castle. Everything here is special - the architecture, the land, the atmosphere. My favorite place in Syria is, of course, Palmyra, but Krak des Chevaliers is also beyond competition. It is impossible to find a second castle like this anywhere in the world.”

HOMS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Krak des Chevaliers. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

Iyas was not alone in his love for medieval castles. Many Syrians are proud of these not at all Syrian buildings. In total, more than a dozen excellent fortresses from the times of the Crusades have survived in Syria. Almost the entire coast is dotted with them. Walking through the former citadels of European knights before the Civil War was a popular and useful pastime. Entire families with children, groups of students and young couples came to the places once favored by the Franks. Crusader castles offer not only majestic architecture, but also majestic landscapes. Fortresses were usually built on the tops of mountains and hills, and therefore the landscapes from the dilapidated walls are truly stunning.

HOMS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Krak des Chevaliers. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

At the top of the fortress tower you begin to feel the history. You are amazed at the tenacity with which it was possible to build and defend, capture and destroy such fantastic structures. After spending at least half a day in a real medieval fortress in Syria, you begin to look at the entire Middle East in a completely different way. A visit to antique shops in Aleppo or Damascus then turns into an exciting search for lost treasures...

Most of them are made in the next block. But the tourists, impressed by the castles, were happy to be deceived and gladly bought these relics. After all, Salahaddin is the same Syrian brand for Syria as Napoleon is for France.

HOMS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Krak des Chevaliers. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky. HOMS, SYRIA: Crusader castles - Krak des Chevaliers. Photo: Dmitry Vozdvizhensky.

This man knew how to fight, he broke the back of the knightly orders and expelled the Europeans from the Middle East. It’s a paradox, but his tomb in Damascus was restored to its proper form solely because of the visit to the city of the European monarch, the German Emperor Wilhelm II. Salahaddin's tomb was almost lost during the frantic construction in Damascus at the end of the nineteenth century.

It may seem strange, but modern Israel is not very interested in the history of the Crusades. In fact, these long-standing wars had little to do with the Jews themselves. Christians fought with Muslims, each for their own Holy Land, and the small Jewish population of those years only suffered from this. Therefore, for the most part, the surviving ruins of castles and fortresses of those times remain in oblivion and are of interest only to foreign tourists. On the other hand, all these ruins have stood untouched for centuries, and therefore are especially interesting for their authenticity and former grandeur.
3.

It is worth remembering that almost a thousand years ago, the movement for the liberation of the Holy Land from Muslim rule was started by a simple poor hermit-pilgrim Peter of Amiens from Picardy. This French pilgrim once visited Jerusalem and was horrified by the oppression of Christians by the Muslim authorities. He devoted the rest of his life to calls for the struggle for the liberation of the Holy Land. Peter wandered through the cities of Europe barefoot, without shoes, in simple rags, and his sermons had considerable success. These ideas became extremely popular both among ordinary people and among the clergy and nobles. In just over 140 years, nine crusades were officially organized. The greatest success was achieved by the first, during which almost the entire east of Asia Minor was conquered, Jerusalem was conquered and four Christian states were organized on the occupied lands.
4.

The main goal, control of all trade routes from East to West, was achieved. But the policy of the European conquerors was extremely short-sighted. The local population was destroyed and oppressed, the capture of large cities was accompanied by bloody massacres and robberies. The crusaders built many fortresses in which they holed up after their predatory raids on local settlements. Any dissatisfaction was punishable by cruel death. Naturally, such rulers could not gain a foothold in these lands for long. Moreover, there was no unity among the crusaders themselves. Many disparate orders of knighthood were formed - the Templars, the Johannites, the Teutons, and so on. The knights were also defeated by territorial affiliation - Genoese, Pisans, Venetians, and so on. These groups constantly argued and fought with each other. Each ruled at his own discretion and was not averse to profiting at the expense of other people's possessions. The Muslims began to push back the foreigners. The new crusades were already much less successful. A series of defeats led to the loss of Jerusalem. Later, the main city of all Christians changed hands several times, until it finally and permanently ended up in the possession of Muslims. The reign of the Crusaders ended ingloriously and forever. The remnants of the orders moved back to Europe. In the north, the Teutons continued their policy of conquest by sword and cross. Today, the most famous fortress of these crusaders has been restored in Malbork, Poland. I . That gigantic fortress has nothing in common with the crusader fortresses in Israel and the ruins of Chateauneuf are a good example of this.
5.

This fortress was built after the first Crusade to cover the trade route to Damascus. The Knights of the Hospitaller Order were stationed here. The fortress made of large yellow stone blocks could accommodate up to 60 people. Looking at some of the photos, you might think that the only way to get to Chateauneuf is by SUV.
6.

In fact, the roads throughout almost all of Israel are excellent. From here it's a stone's throw to the border.
7.

The Syrian territories are clearly visible from the walls of the fortress. They are easily distinguished by the lack of greenery. Forests there have long become a rarity.
8.

Unfortunately, from the ruins of Chateauneuf it is already difficult to determine what this fortress looked like during the times of the Crusaders. Nevertheless, several rooms with high arched ceilings have miraculously been preserved here.
9.

You can even find what looks like a huge fireplace inside. It’s amazing to see these premises that have managed to remain in this condition for more than 800 years.
10.

At the top of the fortress we saw a target. As they explained to us, they use it to aim their guns from the nearest military base. Just don’t think that the Israeli military decided to finish off the remnants of the fortress, which managed to survive many thorns. Local artillerymen do not lay down, but only imitate training shooting ranges.
11.

The fact that states hostile to Israel are located very close to here can be understood by the abundance of barbed wire. Chateauneuf continues to be the object of strategic attention. This means that the history of this fortress is not over yet. The confrontation between the worlds is the past, present and future of this land, which has been generously irrigated with blood for many centuries. And the ruins of Chateauneuf are only mute witnesses to all these events. And I don’t want to say goodbye to Israel at all. Sounds much nicer - see you again!
12.

Even today, it is enough to look at Europe and we will notice fortified feudal castles, sometimes in ruins, and sometimes in complete preservation or in a state of reconstruction, carried out by groups of enthusiasts and youth. Great Britain, France, Spain, and Switzerland are especially rich in castles. There are about 600 castles in France (and there were over 600 of them!): some of them - like the Pierrefonds castle (north of Paris) or the O'Konigsbourg castle (in Alsace) - have been completely restored, while others - such as the castle Mein-sur-Ièvre near Bourges or the Montlhéry Tower - only ruins remain. In turn, Spain has preserved over 2000 castles, of which 250 are completely intact and intact.

All these castles (and the armor of medieval knights!) are strictly individual and unlike one another: each country has generated its own style, which is characteristic only of its buildings. They also differ from each other in the status of their lords: a king, a prince, or a simple small baron, like that Picardy feudal lord named Robert de Clary, who owned a fief measuring only six hectares. They also differ in the choice of place of construction, whether they are in the mountains (Tarasp or Sion castles in Switzerland), on the seashore (for example, Caernarvon Castle in Wales), along river banks (Marienburg Castle in Poland) or in an open field (Sals Castle in the province of Roussillon). Even whether they were in a humid or temperate climate favoring forest growth, as is the case at Koussi, or on the edge of a rocky desert, like the Krak des Chevaliers in Syria, influenced their architecture and appearance.

Castle of the Crusader Knights - the legendary Krak des Chevaliers.

However, in any case, fortified feudal castles delight us with their amazing power, regardless of whether they are in good condition or badly destroyed by the inexorable time of eight or nine centuries of their existence. And that unceremonious landowner who wanted to remove the pile of rubble piled up in the middle of his field knows well how much work it cost him, but the technology now is not at all what it was then, and... how much work then did it cost to deliver all these stones to him ?!

Again, although all the castles look different, the real difference between them existed, first of all, because of their purpose. A castle is one thing - a dwelling for a lord, and quite another - a castle belonging to some spiritual knightly order or the same king, who wished to consolidate his power by building it. These are the different scale of construction, and sometimes the speed with which these castles were erected, and - perhaps the most important thing for the defense of the castle from the enemy, whoever he may be - is the garrison contained in it.

Well, for the local residents who lived in villages near the castle, it was both a refuge, a guarantor of security, and a source of income. In addition, it was the castle that, in the then gray and ordinary life, was the source of all the most interesting news, and, therefore, gossip and gossip. Although we know of numerous peasant uprisings that took place in the Middle Ages, there are many other examples from which it is clear that in many cases both the peasants who lived around the castles and their lords who lived inside the castle walls seemed to form one whole and even , happened, and acted together!

Yes, but how were these stone strongholds built, which even today amaze us with their size and strength of the walls? Is it really possible that space aliens could not have happened here, to whom some people so stubbornly today attribute the authorship of the Egyptian pyramids? Of course not! Everything was much simpler and more complicated. For example, a feudal lord could not involve his serfs in the construction of a castle. Even if he really wanted it. Corvee - that is, labor service in favor of the owner or owners of the castle was unchanged and limited by local customs: peasants could, for example, be forced to clean out the castle moat or drag logs from the forest for construction, but nothing more.

It turns out that castles were built by free people who had the right to move freely around the country, and there were a lot of them. Yes, yes, these were free people, artisans who had to be paid regularly for their work, and the rural corvee remained only a kind of help for the feudal lord, but nothing more. After all, it is clear that working with stone required real experts in their field, and where would the peasants get them from? Well, if the feudal lord wanted the work to go quickly, then in addition to masons he also had to hire general workers, of whom a lot were also required! For example, it is known that the construction of Beaumaris Castle in England was carried out very quickly - from 1278 to 1280, but the labor of 400 masons and another 1000 laborers was used. Well, if the lord could no longer pay, there was always work for the stone craftsmen: somewhere nearby there could be a cathedral, a church, a city under construction, so their labor was always needed at that time!

Despite the Roman heritage in masonry, most fortresses built from the 6th to the 10th centuries were made of wood. And only later does stone begin to be used - at first in the form of small stones, but gradually larger and more regular in shape. This is the so-called rubble stone, from which most European castles are built, although, for example, in Livonia, almost all castles were built from brick. The vertical surfaces of the walls were made completely smooth to prevent the enemy from finding any clues during the assault. Starting from the 11th century, they will increasingly turn to brick: it is less expensive and provides greater strength to buildings during shelling. However, very often the builders had to be content with what was nearby the construction site, because a team of oxen with a load weighing two and a half tons was not able to cover more than 15 kilometers of road in a day.

Castle of Coucy in France.

Whatever you say, some of the castles built in that distant time simply amaze the imagination. For example, the castle of Coucy in France was so large that the entrance to it was guarded by a cylindrical tower (donjon) 54 meters high and 31 meters wide. In addition, it was protected by three entire fortress walls, the last of which completely encircled the town of Kusi. When they decided to blow up the castle in 1652, the use of gunpowder only succeeded in slightly covering the walls with cracks! Forty years later, an earthquake widened these cracks in the masonry, but the tower stood. At the end of the 19th century, some restoration work was undertaken. But in 1917, for some reason, the German army needed to destroy it to the ground, and this required 28 tons of the most modern explosives! That's how big and strong this castle was, although the Cusi family did not belong to the highest nobility. “Neither a king, nor a prince, nor a duke, nor a count - keep in mind: I am Ser Cusi” - such was the motto of this arrogant family!

The well-preserved citadel and donjon of Chateau-Gaillard seem to hang over the river valley.

It took the English king Richard the Lionheart only a year, from 1196 to 1197, to build the Chateau-Gaillard fortress, of which he was later very proud. The castle was built according to a typical Norman design: a mound surrounded by a moat, rising on the edge of a hill, on the very bank of the Seine River. The first bastion guarded the gate, and two high fortress walls protected the donjon. The castle was supposed to serve as a support for the English possessions in Normandy, and that is why the French king Philip Augustus began to besiege it in 1203. At first glance, it seemed impregnable, but the king of France began by plundering the surrounding area and forcing the local residents (over a thousand people) to take refuge behind its walls. Soon famine began there, and the defenders had to drive them away.

Donjon of the Chateau-Gaillard castle.

Then Philip Augustus ordered to fill up the ditches, make tunnels and mine the towers. The first bastion fell, and the besieged took refuge in the central part. But one night the French penetrated there, into the very heart of the castle, and they made their way there through... a latrine, which turned out to have an opening that was too wide! They lowered the drawbridge, panic began, and as a result his garrison surrendered without even having time to hide in the donjon.

Donjon of Kolossi Castle in Cyprus, built in 1210 by King Guy de Louisignan ()

As for the castles of the Crusaders, in the Holy Land, which in Europe was also called Outremer or “Lower Lands” (and they were called that because they were depicted at the bottom of European maps of that time, and, going to the East, the Crusaders seemed to move “from top to bottom” "), they appeared almost as soon as the knights got there. They captured many castles and fortresses and then rebuilt them, and among them is the Krak des Chevaliers castle or “Castle of the Knights,” which is so interesting in all respects that it needs to be told in more detail.

Reconstruction of the exterior of the Krak des Chevaliers castle in 1914.

The crusaders first captured it back in 1099, but quickly abandoned it as they rushed to Jerusalem. The fortress was recaptured from the Muslims again in 1109, and in 1142 it was transferred to the Hospitallers. They strengthened the walls, rebuilt the barracks, the chapel, the kitchen with a mill, and even... a multi-seat latrine, also made of stone. The Muslims launched many attacks in an attempt to retake the "hill fort", but were unsuccessful each time.

Plan of the Krak des Chevaliers castle.

As a result of the earthquake of 1170, the castle was damaged, and its construction style changed significantly. The rigor and simplicity of the Romanesque style was replaced by sophisticated Gothic. In addition, at the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th centuries in Krak not only the chapel and individual towers destroyed by the earthquake were rebuilt, but they were also surrounded by a powerful outer wall.

Berkil.

Between the inclined buttress in the western part of the fortress and its outer wall, a berkil was made - a deep reservoir that served not only as a water storage, but also as additional protection from enemies. The size of the castle premises is amazing. For example, it has a gallery - a 60-meter hall built by Muslims and used by them only as a stable.

Gate to the castle.

Grain, olive oil, wine and provisions for horses were stored in the castle's storerooms. In addition, the knights had numerous herds of cows, sheep and goats. The well inside the castle supplied the knights with water, in addition, water also came into it through an aqueduct from a natural spring.

Aqueduct.

One of the earliest buildings of the castle - a chapel in the Romanesque style - was painted according to the Byzantine canon, although the inscriptions on the frescoes were in Latin. On the walls hung banners and trophies of war, fallen knights... and even the harness of their horses. After the castle was taken by Muslims, a mosque was built here.

Chapel.

Surviving paintings.

“And a verse of the Koran sounded from the minbar...” When the Muslims captured Krak, they immediately converted the chapel into a mosque and built a minbar in it.

By the beginning of the 13th century, the Krak fortress had become such a powerful fortification that two thousand people could survive a siege within five years.

Its security is also indicated by the fact that it was the last refuge of the crusaders in the East. Saladin himself, who more than once turned his gaze to the high walls of Krak, did not dare to storm it for a long time, believing that an attack on this fortress would be tantamount to sending soldiers to certain death. Therefore, he limited himself to destroying crops near the castle walls and appropriating the crusaders’ cattle, which were grazing nearby, which caused them great losses. The Egyptian Sultan Baybars, who recaptured all their fortifications from the Europeans, like Saladin, was also aware that taking Krak by storm or by starvation was almost impossible: powerful walls, thanks to which a relatively small garrison could defend it, as well as huge food supplies created for him simply an unprecedented “margin of stability.” However, the Sultan nevertheless decided to storm the eastern part of his fortifications and, although he suffered heavy losses, still managed to break into the space between the outer and inner walls. But taking possession of the entire citadel of the castle turned out to be very difficult. On March 29, 1271, after a successful mine, the Sultan’s soldiers found themselves in the very heart of the “nest of the Hospitallers.” However, the small garrison did not surrender even after this, but took refuge from them in the most fortified place - the southern redoubt, where the main food supplies were stored.

Everything was stored in these dungeons...

And they are simply scary. After all, there is such a thickness of stones above your head.

Now, to lure them out of this hiding place, cunning was needed. A letter was prepared allegedly from the Grand Master of the Order with an order to surrender the fortress. On April 8, he was taken to the garrison, and its defenders had no choice but to carry out the will of the “second father.” Now the descendants of the soldiers of the Sultan’s army adhere to a different version. According to them, the Arabs, allegedly disguised as Christian priests, came to the walls of the castle with pleas to protect them from Muslim soldiers. And when, supposedly, the gullible Hospitallers opened the gates to “fellow believers,” they pulled out weapons hidden under their clothes. Be that as it may, Krak was nevertheless taken. However, the Muslims saved the lives of all the surviving knights. After the Mongol invasion, the fortress fell into disrepair and was then completely abandoned. There, like in many other forgotten fortresses, a small settlement was located.

South tower of the castle.

"Hall of Knights". In 1927, restoration work began at the castle, so today visitors see the Castle of the Knights in almost all of its former grandeur and splendor.

The order castles built in Europe also differed from all others both in their size and in the fact that instead of an ordinary chapel, they built a relatively large church that could accommodate all the brother knights who spent time in it in prayer. The largest room was also allocated for the refectory in the order's castles, since several hundred people (knights and sergeants of the order) were supposed to eat there at the same time, which never happened in those castles that belonged to one feudal lord.

They usually tried to place battle towers in order castles in its corners and built them specifically so that they rose one floor above the walls, which made it possible to fire from them not only the area around, but also the walls themselves. The design of the loopholes was such that it provided the shooters with both a significant field of fire and reliable protection from enemy shots. The height of the castle walls was comparable to the height of a modern three- to four-story house, and the thickness could be four or more meters. Some large castles had several rows of walls, and the approaches to the outer walls were usually protected by moats and palisades. The fallen brother knights were buried in the crypt under the church floor, and the tombstones were decorated with their full-length sculptural images of stone - effigies. The spacious church inside the castle served the knights for joint prayers and meetings. The donjon, “a fortress within a fortress,” the largest and tallest tower in the castle, was the last and most reliable stronghold for its defenders. The knights and, in particular, the Templars did not spare space for wine cellars, since they consumed wine not only during table meals, but also as medicine. The decoration of the refectory of the order's castles was distinguished by asceticism and consisted of wooden tables and benches with the very minimum of decorations, since everything connected with bodily pleasures in spiritual knightly orders was considered sinful and was prohibited. The living quarters of the brother knights were also not distinguished by great luxury, as, indeed, were the separate chambers of the commander of the castle garrison. It was assumed that the knights should spend all their free time from war in military exercises, as well as fasting and praying.

Southeast tower of the Krak des Chevaliers castle.

Along the entire top of the wall there was usually a covered battle passage with embrasures for firing at the enemy. Very often it was made so that it protruded slightly outwards, and then holes were also made in its floor to throw stones down through them and pour boiling water or hot resin. The spiral staircases in the castle towers also had a defensive value. They tried to twist them so that the attackers had the wall on their right, which made it impossible to swing the sword.

West Tower.

Western tower and aqueduct.

West side of the inner wall.

The Crusaders in the Holy Land used a variety of objects as fortifications, including ancient Roman amphitheaters, basilicas and even cave monasteries! One of them was the Ain Habis monastery, which consisted of several caves dug by Byzantine monks right in the middle of a steep cliff in the valley of the Yarmouk River. For a long time, no one knew where these monks made their secluded refuge, until the crusaders came to the valley. They did not have time to build a strong fortress here, and they turned a cave monastery into it, connecting all its halls with wooden stairs and balustrades. Relying on him, they began to control the route from Damascus to Egypt and Arabia, which, of course, did not please the ruler of Damascus. In 1152, the Muslims attacked this mountain fortress, but were unable to take it and retreated, after which the king of Jerusalem sent a large garrison here.

In 1182, Saladin decided to capture Ain Habis at any cost, for which he sent a selected detachment of soldiers to storm it, with them being specialists in mining, who had proven themselves well during the sieges of other castles built by the crusaders. The soldiers captured the lower gallery of the monastery, after which a secret passage was dug up from one of its interior rooms, through which they burst inside, and where the Europeans did not expect them at all. As a result, the fortress fell only five days after the siege began!

But the crusaders decided to take back the monastery and began to besiege it not only from below, but also from above. To deprive the defenders of water, they began to throw large stones, which destroyed the reservoir that fed the monastery with water, after which the Muslims surrendered.

Plan of the assault on the cave monastery of Ain Habis.

That is, the crusaders were not only good warriors in terms of sword and spear skills, but they also understood architecture and hired smart engineers to build their castles. In a word, trusting in Christ, they did not shy away from the achievements of the then military science and technology!