(the term "krak" derives from the Syriac karak meaning "fortress") or Qal`at al-Hosn1 ("the impregnable fortress") is a fortified castle, emblematic of the Renaissance of the 12th century. Dating from the time of the Crusades, it is located in western Syria, on the last foothills of the jabal Ansariya. Since 2006, it has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List2.
The Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem managed the fort from 1142 to 1271, when it was conquered by Baybars, Sultan of the Mamluks. This conquest put an end to 129 years of invincibility of the fort.
Thomas Edward Lawrence, upon discovering it in 1909, on his 21st birthday, called it "the most beautiful of castles in the world, certainly the most picturesque that I have seen, a true marvel." "
The first crusade
In January 1099, with the arrival of the First Crusade, the Kurdish garrison was ousted by Raymond de Saint-Gilles who abandoned the place almost immediately, his objective being Jerusalem. He tried in vain to retake the fortress in April 1102 and it was finally Tancred, the regent of Antioch, who seized it in 1110 and installed a Frankish garrison there under the authority of the Count of Tripoli. In 1115, an offensive by Arslan, the Emir of Aleppo, was repulsed.
Over the years, the importance of the Krak des Chevaliers grew in parallel with the influence of the Crusaders towards the east, but the cost of its maintenance led Raymond II to entrust it to the care of the Hospitallers (1142). It is from this period that the name “Krak des Chevaliers” dates.
At the instigation of the Hospitallers, several other defensive works were built in the vicinity and the Krak des Chevaliers was from then on linked by fire signals and by carrier pigeons to the fortifications of Gibelacar and Chastel Rouge (Hospitallers) and of Chastel Blanc and Arima ( Templars).
The second crusade
From the middle of the 12th century, following the fall of the Seljuks, the victories of Zengi over the Crusaders (loss of Edessa), the failure of the siege of Damascus by the second crusade, and the arrival in power of Nur ad-Din, a united Muslim front emerged and the pressure on the Crusaders - and therefore on the Krak des Chevaliers - was increased.
In 1157, a major earthquake shook the castle and Raymond du Puy, the grand master of the Hospitallers, had it restored and enlarged thanks to funding from the King of Bohemia. It was the first in a series of four phases of work that spanned a century and a half (1144-1170, 1170-1202, 1250-1271 and 1271-1285).
In 1163, Nur ad-Dîn tried to seize the Krak but his army was routed at the very foot of the fortress by a surprise attack by the Frankish cavalry which pursued and decimated the fugitives. A second siege also failed in 1167.
A second earthquake (1170) causing considerable damage, the Krak des Chevaliers was rebuilt and consolidated including many elements of military architecture borrowed from the Byzantines.
Saladin might inflict many defeats on the Crusaders, he could not seize the Krak des Chevaliers. When he died in 1193, the unity of the Muslims broke up and the danger was reduced for the fortress which then entered its golden age, covering a total area of 2.5 hectares protected by two concentric walls entirely independent. The Krak housed a garrison of 2,000 men and had provisions for five years.
Source: Wikipedia
Photo: Reddit.com
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