Carc des Chevaliers (Qal'at al-Hosn)

Carc des Chevaliers

Akef D. Sibai

The most famous medieval citadel in the world, Qal'at al-Hosn is 65 km west of Homs . It is 650 m above sea-level. It was built in order to control the so-called "Homs Gap", the gateway to Sryia. It was through this passage that Syria communicated with the Mediterranean .

 In ancient times the importance of this strategic corridor was immense. It was of crucial importance to the Crusaders and other foreign invaders in their conquest of the coast. Conflict over the Crac des Chevaliers continued through the ages. It was a fierce and bloody dispute, but in the end, Sultan Beybars managed to recover it in 1271 through a military trick and one month of fighting.

The castle has walls 100' thick, with seven guard towers 30' in diameter. King 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 (Lawrence of Arabia) believed  des Chevaliers was the greatest of the Crusader castles and "the most wholly admirable castle in the world." Today, the fortress is owned by the Syrian government, and it is designated as a World Heritage Site along with Qal’at Salah El-Din (Fortress of Saladin). The fortress is one of the few sites where Crusader art (in the form of frescoes ) has been preserved

 Carc des Chevaliers was built on the site of a former castle erected by the emirs of Homs to accommodate Kurdish garrisons; "Carc" is a modification of the Arab word "Qal'a". The citadel covers an area of 3000 square meters and has 13 huge towers, in addition to many stores, tanks, corridors, bridges and stables. It can accommodate 5000 soldiers with their horses, their equipment and provisions for five years.

The Middle East was always a meeting place for many different civilizations, notably the Babylonians , the Egyptians , the Hittites , the Hebrews , the Romans , the Persians , the Byzantines , the Arabs , the Kurds , the Ottomans , the Seljuk Turks , and the Franks . Such a smorgasbord of different cultures led to the creation of the unique architecture preserved in the Krak des Chevaliers.

Many conflicts were fought out between different nations in the general area surrounding the Krak, including the famous Battle of Kadesh . The Romans, and then the Byzantine Empire following the East-West Schism , constructed many different fortresses of Hellenic design to resist Persian military pressure in that area, which led to the architectural design used by the Islamic armies after their conquest of the area in 634 to 639 .

The original fortress at the location had been built in 1031 for the emir of Aleppo .

During the First Crusade in 1099, it was captured by Raymond IV of Toulouse , but then abandoned when the Crusaders continued their march towards Jerusalem . It was reoccupied again by Tancred, Prince of Galilee , in 1110 . In 1144, it was given by Raymond II , count of Tripoli , to the Hospitallers, contemporaries of the Knights Templar .

The Hospitallers rebuilt it and expanded it into the largest Crusader fortress in the Holy Land , adding an outer wall three meters thick with seven guard towers 8-10 meters thick, to create a concentric castle . The Grand Master of the Hospitallers lived in one of the towers, and the fortress may have held about 50-60 Hospitallers plus up to 2000 other foot soldiers. In the 12th century, the fortress had 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.

n 1163, the fortress was unsuccessfully besieged by Nur ad-Din , after which the Hospitallers became an essentially independent force on the Tripolitanian frontier. By 1170, the Hospitallers' modifications were complete. In the late 12th and early 13th century numerous earthquakes caused some damage and required further rebuilding.

Another failed siege was made by Saladin in 1188 , during which the Castellan was captured, and taken by Saladin 's men to the castle gates where he was told to order the gates opened. He reportedly spoke a dual message, first telling his men in Arabic, the language of his captors, to surrender the castle, but in French he told them to hold the castle to the last man.

In 1217, during the Fifth Crusade , the Hungarian king Andrew II strengthened the outer walls and financed the guarding troops.

In 1271, the fortress was recaptured by Baibars on April 8 , 1271 , after they had tricked 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 . Written by Akef D. Sibai.