Krak des Chevaliers
(English language)
This page summarizes the history of the castle called Krak des Chevaliers based on the little information that can be recovered visiting the place directly, reading history books on the XI-XII century period or surfing the web. The information you read below have been cross checked using several sources, but mainly the Steven Runciman’s book on history of crusades. That basic info has been then complemented with other sources to give an overall picture of this castle story.
Krak des Chevaliers (Hosn el Akrad in Arab) is one of the main attractions of a travel in Syria. The Castle is located half road approximately between Aleppo and Damascus and its position was strategic since located in the only passage that the mountain chains Syrian (the Oronts) and Lebanese (Ante Lebanon) allow to who, at those times, wanted to reach the Mediterranean coasts. This passage is called the passage of Homs and was as said one of the few passages to reach the city of Tartus (today).
At that time the roads to travel from place to place were almost obliged and by controlling the passage of Homs meant controlling great part of the Lebanese coast between Antioch and Beirut and great part of the Syrian hinterland.
The hill, on which Krak des Chevaliers it has been constructed, was originally the place on which a small fortress called the "Castle on the slope" or “Kurdish castle” rose. It was created/occupied in 1031 approximately from the Homs Emir that left, as garrison, curds soldiers in order to protect the inner territories of Syria from the threat of potential intruders coming from the Mediterranean coast
The First conquest of the Krak
The dates of the events, related to the first conquest from the crusaders of Krak des Chevaliers, are those of the First Crusade with the participation of characters like “Geoffrey de Bullion” (from Northern France), “Raymond de Saint Gilles” count of Tolouse (from Southern France), Bohemond from Tarant (Southern Italy Norman), Tancred (grandson of Bohemond), “Baldwin de Boulogne”. They left Europe in August 1096 and reached Constantinople (via earth) to the end of the same year. In the 1097 crusaders conquered Edessa (Baldwin of Flanders) Antioch (Bohemond) and gradually they conquered the various coastal cities, Tripoli (Raymond of Toulouse), and then Jerusalem that they “liberated” on July, 1099 (Geoffrey de Bullion).
(Microsoft Encarta)
In 1099, during the passage of the first crusade soldiers heading towards Jerusalem, Raymond of Toulouse occupied the castle shortly (3 weeks) as the historian Steven Runciman tells us. According to the story, Raymond and Geoffrey de Bullion, leaders of the crusaders troops, left Antioch (Bohemond remained as a king of that city) and continued towards Jerusalem. During the trip, in search of food supplies (always insufficient) for the troops, they found the castle, garrisoned from curds soldiers and for the greater part peasants. Curds, in order to avoid a direct clash with crusaders, let sheep flocks get out from the castle so to satisfy the francs. These, in a limited number, were dispersed to recover the cattle. In that moment the curds, seeing crusaders troops separate and vulnerable, tried a sortie and nearly they succeeded to capture Raymond that was helped in time from its personal guard. During the night the castle was abandoned from the occupants and Raymond established there for three weeks before returning to the road to Jerusalem. Runciman does not explain if in this date they left a crusader garrison, but it is possible that this actually didn’t happen and that later the castle was taken back from curds.
The first incursion to Krak des Chevaliers (January 1099) came before the conquest of Jerusalem (15 July 1099). After that event the destiny of Krak des Chevaliers is bound to the events of the county of Tripoli where it belonged. Raymond of Toulouse, in the attempt to take and own land as they made before him Baldwin, Bohemond, Tancred and Geoffrey, tried to conquer Tripoli. First he took Tartus around 1100 and then tried to conquer the Krak and the city of Homs in Syria without succeeding. It was then concentrated on taking Tripoli where it constructed its fortress on the Mont-Pelerin, close to the port of the city. It died in the February of 1105. In the 1109 county of Tripoli was in hands of the cousin of Raymond, Wilhelm-Jordan, count of Cerdagne, but in the spring of the same year it arrived from France the son of Raymond, Bertrand of Saint Gilles, than demanded the inheritance. After an initial division in which the zone to north of Tripoli was assigned to Wilhelm- Jordan (vassal of Tancred) and the south zone to Bertrand, this last one took the total area after the dead of Wilhelm-Jordan and became count of Tripoli with the name of Raymond II from 1109 to 1189. Various sources bring back the conquest date of the Krak around to 1110 and therefore it is reasonable that it has been Raymond II to take it.
Fortress of Saint-Gilles,
Tripoli
The Hospitalers order.
This historical period sees the important born of knight’s orders as the Templars (1119) and the Hospitalers. Mission of these last ones was to protect the coastal roads and to cure the sicks. Both were military orders and had an important role in the wars in middle east. Krak des Chevaliers, with other castles, was donated to the Hospitalers order from Raymond II of Tripoli in 1144 (cfr. M.Barber "the History of the Templars") and since then they continued to garrison it in order to defend itself from the Muslim incursions.
The Krak could accommodate until 2000 between soldiers and knights, even if some speak about 4000, and the garrison constructed fortifications in adding to those original ones along all the period of their permanence and every time the circumstances demanded it. Difficult to think that the Krak has ever accommodated so many knights. the historians are conservative on the number of knights present in this period in all the middle east area and is thought they could be in all around a thousand.
The presence of crusaders in the zone in the following years was never calm and was always subject to the incursions of the muslin populations of border. Krak des Chevaliers, respect to other fortifications, was in a favorable geographic position because in that period the main zones on which it was concentrated the defensive efforts or attack efforts was Jerusalem (Israel), Damietta (Egypt), Edessa (Armenia), Constantinople (Turkey), Aleppo and Damascus (Syria) all enough far from the Krak. Perhaps this is the reason because the Krak it has not suffered in the time destructions and it has been maintained in this state until today.
The Krak during the other crusades
In the 1144 Sultan of Damascus, Nureddin, conquered Edessa defeating Baldwin. This marked a hard blow to crusaders and had remarkable repercussions also in the West. It came launch a second crusade (1148-1149) that, in spite of the presence of the king of France (Luigi with Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine) and Germany (Conrad III), he turned out to be a failure. The journey followed the path of the first crusade, from Constantinople to Antioch to Jerusalem. They tried to conquer Damascus, but unsuccessfully.
The Krak was attacked in 1163 always from Nureddin whose troops met with those of crusaders in Buquai' ah in the vicinities of the castle. Crusaders in that occasion won and they maintained the garrison of the zone and the castle.
In 1170 Nureddin died and Saladin took his place. During his reign it surrounded all the Christian reins from Armenia until Egypt.
Saladin, even if seems that it did not place under direct besiege the Krak castle, around 1180 he made various incursions in the zone of the county of Tripoli, but gave up conquest plans. This would have to confirm that the Krak had an important role of defense of the coastal positions of the zone, but that in the more general within the clash “Crusaders –Muslims” it was not among the priorities of conquest from Muslims. Interesting is what one of the famous historian of the age Wilhelm from Tiro in this period writes about one of the raids of Saladin within the triangle of castles crusades Chastel Blanc, Krak des Chevaliers, al-Arimah: "the count of Tripoli grouped his men in the city of Arqa (near Tripoli), waiting the opportunity to fight the enemy without to incur in serious danger. The warrior monks of the Temple (Templars), in the same region, barricaded themselves within their castles (Chastel Blanc and al-Arimah were castles possessed from the Templars) waiting for besiege, without taking risk of thoughtless attacks; the monks of the Hospital (the Hospitalers) induced from analogous fears, grouped themselves in their castle, called Krak, judging sufficient in case of crisis to protect the castle from the damages provoked from the enemy. The enemy troops were between the templars, the hospitalers castles and the forces of count of Tripoli (in Arqa) so to prevent that they could ask for help to each other or send messengers in order to inform on the respective situations. Saladin troops were moving freely on the territory and destroyed farms and land without opposition, Saladin set afire the harvest, took the cattle and depopulated the entire region". From this we evince as crusaders in these lands they were shrewd and conscious of the own forces and more focused to defend than to the attack.
Templars Castles (t) and Hospitalers in the zone of Tortoise (North of Tripoli)
Around 1170 the all Syrian area suffered from a earthquake and also the Krak suffered damages from this event but the most important date of the period is the 4th of July 1187, when Saladin defeated crusaders in the battle of Hattin between Jerusalem and Tiberiade’s lake. The defeat was one of the heaviest for crusaders and in a short time it brought Jerusalem in the Muslim hands.
Between 1187 and 1271, year in which crusaders lost Krak des Chevaliers, there happened important events such as (here extremely summarized):
- The Third Crusade around 1197 with the participation of Frederic of Germany (died in Asia), Philippe of France (arrived until to Acres and then abandoned the crusade) and Richard “Lionhearted” that continued as a real hero to Jerusalem, besieged the city and agreed with the Saladin a free access to Jerusalem before starting his long trip and adventure back to England (…)
- The Fourth Crusade around to 1202 carried to the pillage of Constantinople from crusaders and they placed on the throne Baldwin of Flanders. As for the other crusades the initial idea was to set Jerusalem free, however the interests towards Greece and the reign of Constantinople were so high that still today this episode it is source of division between the Orthodox Church and Roman. The importance of this crusade was in the breach that happened between east and the west and carried out to a lack of support from eastern empire to crusade forces there located.
- Fifth Crusade 1218-1221 saw a change of strategy and crusaders from the base of Cyprus headed directly for the heart of the reign of Egypt that in that moment represented the source of every threat for the Latin possession. They tried to conquer the city of Damietta without succeeding.
- The Sixth Crusade around to the 1229 was carried out when in Italy was in full action the fight between papacy and empire. Frederic II passed from Cyprus, Acres and came down towards Jerusalem where agreed with the Muslims 10 years of free passage and becoming king of Jerusalem. Being Federico II excommunicated from the Pope, this successful event was not received with enthusiasm in Italy. At the end of the 10 years (1244) Jerusalem it was plundered and reconquered from the Muslims of Egypt of the Ayyubide reign.
- the Seventh and Eighth Crusade from 1250 to 1270 saw the King of France Luigi IX. After some successes in Egypt he lost an important battle near Damietta in Egypt like the fifth crusade. In the 1270 Luigi tried again embarking from Tunisia, but it died for an epidemic that hit its army during besieges.
In the last period of XIII century the new force of Mongols, the force of the Muslims of Egypt, the lack from the western countries to succeed to find an alliance with the Greeks and the Byzantines, the inner rivalries to several the participants the crusades reduced the presence of crusaders in the zone going from Armenia to Egypt drastically and gradually disappearing in the years to come.
The end of Krak des Chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers followed therefore these events. It was in fact during the winter of 1271 that al-Zaher sultan Baybars of Egypt, in its progressive reconquest of Latin possessions, "besieged the castle for several days (March), hitting it with bullets of its catapults before that its troops began the final attack in order to occupy the castle, door to door, tower to tower" the final conquest of the castle from Baybars called "the panther". It is not known what it has been the fate of the knights crusaders that at the moment of the surrender they were not more than 200. Some think that the defeated soldiers were left free to reach the coast and from there to continue for their destinies, others (Runciman) that the knights were all killed after the battle while the others were left free to reach the coast.
An other history tells that the Arabs, avoiding the attack to the main door of Krak de Chevaliers that would have lead to a series of narrow passages, attacked the southern wall digging galleries under the great tower of the south-west angle and in this way they crossed external walls. Before attacking the last garrison in the main tower they tried a stratagem. A pigeon traveller was sent to the castle with a message of the Great Master of the Hospitalers, in which he ordered to the garrison to surrender. In inferior number and without hope of salvation, the defenders made what they have been ordered also understanding that the message was false, they surrendered with honour. Baybars in any case as a result of the conquest restored the damaged parts and constructed to new towers and the fortress maintained its importance under the dominion of the Arabs intact.
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