In 1095 at a Church council in Clermont in Auvergne France, Pope Urban II announced a crusade aimed at capturing the Holy Land from the Muslims. On July 15, 1099, after a five-week siege, the crusaders captured Jerusalem and declared the establishment of the 1st Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was to last until 1187, when it was captured by Saladin.
Several years later, a new crusader force landed on the shores of Eretz Israel and began a series of conquests. Although Jerusalem was not captured, a 2nd kingdom of Jerusalem was established, with acre as its capital. It was a diminished kingdom, which experienced ups and downs as a result of wars and treaties. During the era of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Jerusalem itself was taken by the crusaders for a period of some 20 years.
The
Mamlukes began dispossessing the Crusaders from the land in 1250, and on August
14, 1291, the crusaders abandoned the last of their fortresses at Athlit and
retreated to Cyprus. With this, a chapter lasting some 200 years of Crusader
rule in Eretz Israel comes to end. One of the by-products of the crusades was
the establishment of the monastic military network whose main orders were the
Hospitalrs, the Templars, and the German-Teutonic, among others.
Crusaders Citadels and fortresses
The crusaders in Eretz Israel left behind impressive remains in the forms of churches, chapels and above all archeological remnants of fortified cities and fortresses.
The
format of the crusader fortifications was influenced by Byzantine-Muslim and
Armenian military architecture of that time. Fortification was a prime
strategic necessity for the crusaders, as they constituted a minority in
control of vast landholdings. Four of the dozen s o such fortresses that dot
the Eretz Israel landscape are featured in series of stamps.
Caesarea
Caesarea
was a fortified port in the Mediterranean, one of the most imported in Israel.
The moat at thr foot of the eastern wall of the city is lined with stonework
obn both sided, as it was embedded in unstable sand dunes. Its propose was to
block modern siege equipment from reaching the walls, while allowing sorties to
the bottom of the moat through access openings. The moat didn't contain water.
The walls of Caesarea wee alternately destroyed and rebuilt. Its excavators dated the visible fortification to the reign of Saint Lois (Lois IX), who rebuilt them in the mid -13th century. The excavation of these fortifications was led by M. Avi-Yona and A. Negev during 1960-64. The reconstruction of the gate aside the moat and wall was led by M. Yaffe 19 1964.
Atlit
This fortress, built in 1218 during the period of the 2nd Kingdom with the help of crusader pilgrims, was called therefore, Chateau Pelerins (the Pilgrims fortress). It was built on a rocky promontory jutting out into the sea. Following the capture of Acre, capital of the Kingdom, in May 1291, the Templer knights who held the chateau decided to abandon Atlit, sailing away to Cyprus in August 1291.the fortress was partially excavated by S.N. Jones in 1935.
Belvoir (Kokhav Hayarden)
This fortress was called Belvoir (beautiful view) because the panoramic landscape it commands. It originated as fortified farm that belonged to the crusader of Velos family of Tiberias in the mid-12th. In 1168 it was sold to the Knights Hospitalers order, which used the site to build its main fortress in the northern part of the country, overlooking and guarding the major crossroads in the region. The site, a flat plateau, offered ideal conditions for this purpose. The design and construction of the fortress epitomize the essence of military architecture. In 1187, Saladin laid siege to the fortress. Its defenders, resisting bravely, surrendered a year and a half later. This site remained deserted until the early 19th century, when a small village was established there. The fortress is the only one of its kind in Israel that has been fully excavated to date. The excavation and preservation work was led by archeologist M. Ben-Dov in 1966-68.
Monfort
This fortress was originally built as a fortified farm in the center of the Kziv stream in the western Galilee on an isolated promontory. The name Montfort means in French strong mountain. The farm was acquired during the second Kingdom y the Theutonic Order and was reconstituted as an impressive fortress. It served as the center of the order and the seats of its leaders, with its archives transferred there from the capital, Acre, and its original name replaced by the German word for strong mountain- Starkenberg. Its advantage was its shielded location in Kziv riverbed, isolated from its surroundings. However, because it was not built at a crossroads, its strategic status was minimal. Part of the fortress was excavated by an expedition sponsored by New York's Metropolin Museum of Art during 1925-1926.
