Krak des Chevaliers and the Order of Knights Hospitaller
November 4, 2020 ☼ history ☼ krak des chevaliers ☼ knight order
In 1218, King Andrew II of Hungary visited the magnificent Krak des Chevaliers and proclaimed it “key of the Christian lands”.
Almost 800 years later, in 2016, the Hungarian archaeologists teamed up with Syrian ones to perform extensive works on it. FORMIDABLE !
As I love history in general and castles in particular, I will write some info I compiled.
What is Krak des Chevaliers ?
The Krak des Chevaliers (located in modern Syria, close to the border with Lebanon) was among most important strongholds and administration centre in the Crusader States .
In 1142, Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, granted it to the Order of Knights Hospitallers, so the latter could not only defend Tripoli, but to protect the military/economic routes of the Crusaders and, of curse, the pilgrims (same as the more famous Templar Knights).
In the next 30 years, the Hospitallers drastically expanded and improved the castle (known as “Crac de l’Ospital” - the current name Krak des Chevaliers being coined in the 19th century)
In 1271 Mamluk Sultan Baibars captured Krak des Chevaliers after a siege lasting only 36 days. Although almost invulnerable to a direct attack, it fell either due betrayal or, most accepted, as a result of a trickery (the besiegers conveyed a fake surrender order to the garrison, supposedly coming from the Grand Master in Tripoli, which was 50 miles in southwest)
Few words about the Order of Knights Hospitaller:
Their history is rich and spectacular, so I oversimplify: they were “born” in similar conditions as the more famous Order of Knights Templar, in the beginning of 12th century, during the Crusades. They never reached the formidable complexity of the latter in financial techniques and politics, but greatly benefited from their demise: when the infamous Philip IV of France and his puppet, Pope Clement V, destroyed the Templars in 1314 (kudos to #Portugal, the only nation who refused to kill them !!), a large part of Templars’ huge fortune was given to the Hospitallers.
Their name is linked not only with the Crusades, but also with Malta, Tripoli and Rhodes. The former became their home in 1530, when the glorious Emperor Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Lord of Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy, King of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia) gave them Malta, Gozo and Tripoli in perpetual fiefdom in exchange for an annual fee of a single Maltese falcon…
As protectors of Malta, they led one of the most formidable Europeans battles: the Great Siege of Malta (1565), when Sultan Suleiman’s army of 40.000 men could not break 700 knights and 8000 soldiers - and after 4 months they retreated. (Voltaire said: “Nothing is better known than the siege of Malta.”) Actually their capital, Valleta, is named in memory of the Grand Master who had withstood the siege.
Fun fact, if you are #Romanian
One of the Moldavian Prince was actual Hospitaller: Iacob Heraclid, also known as Despot Vodă. (Wiki: “He is remembered as a pioneer of the Protestant faith in Eastern Europe, a champion of Renaissance humanism, and a founder of academic life in Moldavia.”)