Krak des Chevaliers

Timeline

1. c. 1031–1142Krak des Chevaliers heights · SyriaThe site was originally a Kurdish local fortress and changed hands several times after the Crusades. In 1142 Raymond II granted the castle to the Knights Hospitaller, who made it the key eastern frontier stronghold of the County of Tripoli and began systematic expansion.
2. c. 1142–1170Krak des Chevaliers · SyriaThe order added outer curtain walls, towers, and ditches, forming two concentric defensive rings; the inner keep contained a hall, chapel, and a vast underground cistern capable of sustaining a long siege. The castle controlled traffic through the Homs Gap, could garrison about two thousand men, and became one of the strongest Crusader fortresses in the Levant.
3. c. 1170–1250Krak des Chevaliers · SyriaAfter Saladin's recapture of Jerusalem, Krak des Chevaliers became a key Frankish stronghold in the Syrian interior. The castle repeatedly withstood Ayyubid and Mamluk attacks and conducted raids in coordination with coastal positions. Its defensive system was praised by contemporary chronicles, becoming the material high point of the concentric castle concept.
4. 1271Krak des Chevaliers · SyriaIn 1271 Mamluk sultan Baybars applied pressure with trebuchets and negotiation; the Hospitaller garrison withdrew under threat of cut-off supplies, and the castle fell. It was subsequently altered during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, and is now a World Heritage site, a core site for studying Crusader military architecture.