Baghras
| Baghras | ||
|---|---|---|
 The castle in the Amanos Mountains |
||
| Alternative name (s): | Bagras or Gaston | |
| Creation time : | around 1134/1137 | |
| Castle type : | Rock castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Ötençay | |
| Geographical location | 36 ° 25 '37 " N , 36 ° 13' 30" E | |
|
||
Baghras ( Turkish Bakras , also Bagras or Gaston / Gastin , from Latin Castron ) was a medieval castle in the border area between the Principality of Antioch and the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia , today in the Turkish province of Hatay . They defended access to Syria from the north.
location
The ruin lies on a steep rock above the Orontes plain and controlled the trade route between Alexandrette (now İskenderun ) and Antochia (now Antakya ). The castle was supplied with water through an aqueduct .
history
Baghras fell to the Templars in 1134 or 1137 . This made the fortress, along with Roche Roussel and Darbsak, one of the earliest Templar possessions in the Holy Land.
Baghras then came into the possession of the Byzantines and finally to the Rubenids Thoros II. Emperor Manuel I commissioned Renaud de Châtillon to recapture the fortress, but this was defeated by Thoros at Alexandretta . Thoros returned Baghras to the Templars, who in return agreed to support him. From 1160 to 1161 Baghras belonged to the Principality of Antioch . In 1170 Prince Mleh of Lesser Armenia took the fortress from his former co-religionists, which they could only take possession of again after his death in 1175. It is now occupied as the northern headquarters of the Knights Templar.
In 1188 Saladin took Baghras.
Fulk von Bouillon conquered the fortress for his cousin, Prince Levon II of Armenia (from 1198 King Leo I of Armenia). He resided here in 1191 and had important construction work carried out. In 1193 he was able to capture Bohemond of Antioch here , allegedly with the help of his wife. It was only through repeated intervention by Pope Innocent III. Leo promised the return of the entire Templar property in 1212, and they actually got the castle back in 1216. In 1266 the castle resisted a siege by the Sultan of Aleppo .
After the Mamluk Sultan Baibars took and destroyed Antioch in 1268 , the Templars dragged Baghras and gave it up without a fight.
See also
literature
- Kristian Molin: Unknown crusader castles . London, Hambledon and London, 2001
- Steven Runciman: History of the Crusades . Munich, 1986
Web links
- Baghras on templiers.org (French)