The fortifications were strong but the Muslims attacked over terrain the Crusaders had assumed was impassible with siege weapons. After the walls were breeched by catapults the castle fell to the Muslim assault. I was standing in the dry moat when I took this photograph.
Among the foliage you can still see some of the stone missles here and there, but I was more interested in the foliage!
The current state of the castle's keep. The castle was possibly built by the Knights Hospitaler, a Crusader religious order. I think Prince Charles is a current member, and they do charity work.
Some of the Muslim religious orders of the Crusades still exist as Sufi Tariqah, and many branches have remained true to the same traditions of meditation and prayer in use at the time, and still perform the same religious music composed by those who witnessed the rise of Salah ud-Din. Some of their mosques in Halab still contain the arms of this period. The martial arts of the 12th Century Muslims are mainly used for display at weddings these days.
We are near the sea and the Orontes river. The landscape is quite lush in the area, and the mountains are heavily wooded and cool. The Crusaders must have felt comfortable here where there were few Muslims living and the climate was more European. I wonder how it felt to be awakened one day by boulders hurling themselves at you out of the dark forest. The sound of stressed timber and the impact and shattering of stones must have made it seem as though the mountains themselves were lashing out in anger.
I can more easily imagine the euphoria at seeing the previously invincible and rather arrogant Franks having the tables suddenly turned on them after over 100 years of unpopular occupation.
A group portrait of some of the castle's current residents. The flowers have proved a tenacious army and are on good terms with the local population. Many Muslims see the rose as a symbol of the Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w.), and it is considered pious for a man to wear rose perfume. It was with great difficulty I parted with the habit upon returning to America. Rose is also a popular flavor in nearly all types of Syrian sweet.
Is this the quarry were the Crusaders took some of their stones from? I wonder if stones from the same quarry were used against them. You see this beautiful multi-colored stone in many of the old Syrian buildings.
I wonder how a Crusader who had been garrisoned here would feel if I showed them this photograph from the future. Would they be able to see the beauty I see in it? Or would they just see an image of disappointment, a reminder of lost friends and impossible dreams? How much of the beauty I think I see is due to my nostalgia for a seemingly better time from a Muslim's point of view? Was it really a better time? Probably depends on the individual case, as always! But it would be nice to have someone effective as well as reasonable like Salah ud-Din representing Islam instead of those fringe characters modern Americans think of as our celebrities.
The castles are destroyed, but several churches and monasteries built by the Crusaders have functioned without interruption and are active today.
You can just make out the edge of the Mediterranean in the distance here, almost lost in the mist. The slang term among the Franks for their little state was "Outremer". It means "The land beyond the sea". From the viewpoint of those for whom this is home, the sea lies beyond the land.
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