Chastellet
| Chastellet | ||
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 Chastellet ruins, 2008 |
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| Alternative name (s): | Chastellet du Gué de Jacob, Metzad Ateret, Qasr al-'Atra | |
| Creation time : | 1178 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 33 ° 0 '16.2 " N , 35 ° 37' 40.3" E | |
| Height: | 75 m | |
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The Chastellet or Chastellet du Gué de Jacob ("Burg an der Jakobsfurt"; Latin: Vadum Jacob , Hebrew: Metzad Ateret (מצד עתרת), Arabic: Qasr al-'Atra , Bayt al-Ahzan (بيت الاحزان)) is a former Crusader castle in today's Israel .
location
The castle is on the west bank of the Jordan , north of the Sea of Galilee . The castle was built on a partly natural, partly artificially raised hill.
history
After the victory of the Crusaders over Sultan Saladin in the Battle of Montgisard in November 1177, King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem began building a mighty castle at the “Jakobsfurt” in October 1178. This ford was the safest Jordan crossing between Acre and Damascus and was therefore of particular strategic value. The castle was intended as a defensive bulwark to secure the northern flank of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and exert pressure on Saladin's city fortress Damascus. The first construction phase was completed by April 1179 and a garrison of the Knights Templar was occupied.
Saladin learned of the work soon after the start of construction, but was initially unable to militarily prevent it, as his main force was tied up by Muslim uprisings in northern Syria. So Saladin decided to offer Baldwin money. He offered 60,000 dinars if he would stop construction. When Baldwin refused, the Sultan increased his offer to 100,000 dinars. The king refused again and continued the expansion of Chastellet. In the summer of 1179, the castle is said to have had a massive, ten-meter-high curtain wall and a tower and construction work continued.
Saladin then gathered his army and marched against Chastellet. King Baldwin was at that time in Tiberias, half a day's march away . The bold aim of the attackers was to conquer the castle before Baldwin would advance with a relief army. After about six days of siege, the Muslims succeeded on August 30, 1179 in undermining the castle wall and breaking a breach through which they stormed the castle. On the same day, King Baldwin and his relief army appeared before Chastellet, too late to save the soldiers and construction workers in the castle, all of whom were killed or enslaved. Baldwin withdrew and Saladin had the castle systematically destroyed.
From 1993 onwards, trenches and remains of the roughly rectangular foundation wall were uncovered during excavation work; there was no trace of towers.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Alan V. Murray: "Jacob's Ford." In: The Crusades An Encyclopedia. 2006. p. 649
- ↑ See Pringle, p. 85
swell
- William of Tire : Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. Book XXI, Chapter XXVI ff.
literature
- Denys Pringle: Secular Buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. To Archaeological Gazetteer. Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0521460107 .
- Hans Wolfram Kessler / Konrad Kessler: Knights in the Holy Land: Crusader sites in Israel . Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3805345521
Web links
- maxime.goepp.free.fr (French)