06.19.05
The Crusader Castle Cruise
Ajloun
The
evening after Jerash we went to the castle at Ajloun: Qal’at
ar-Rabadh. On the top of a hill (as are most castles) it It was built
about 1184 by an Arab general and close relative of Saladin to
protect the local Iron mines and limit crusader expansion. It was
also one of a number of stops in a pigeon post chain that could get
news between the Euphrates frontier and the Cairo Headquarters in
twelve hours. It was ransacked by Mongols, rebuilt by Baybars
and occupied by the Ottomans during the 17th and 18th
centuries. Earthquakes took their toll, but it has been rebuilt a
good deal since. Not a bad castle. We apparently didn’t take any
pictures, but it is almost exactly what you think of for “Small
Castle”. Two or three stories, some rooms a dungeon, all clean
cut stone and cement. The view up top was nice.
Karak
The next day on the way south to Petra we visited Karak which was
a small town on top of a hill (with sheer cliffs on 3 sides) enclosed
by walls with a castle in it. The location is a defensive stronghold
referred to as far back as the Old Testament. The construction that
is there today was started by knights of the First Crusade in 1142.
The most interesting occupant was Raynald of Chatillon who arrived
with the Second Crusade in 1147. A vicious ruler he took pleasure in
enclosing the heads of prisoners in a wooden box (think helmet) and
tossing them off the castle walls. The helmet helped ensure they were
still concious when they hit the rocks below.
In 1180 he robbed a caravan on the King’s Highway in violation of
a truce between King Baldwin and Saladin. It wasn’t until 1183
that Saladin was able to launch an offensive; arriving right
when Raynald was celebrating the wedding of his son. His wife sent
plates of food from the banquet out to the Muslim army. In return
Saladin inquired which tower the newly weds were occupying and
made sure his men didn’t catapult that one.
Karak survived the siege but the Crusaders were defeated at the
Battle of Hattin in 1187 partly due to the strategic ineptitude of
Raynald. Saladin spared the lives of the Lords and King, but
personally decapitated Raynald of Chatillon.
The castle is very large. There are over 7 layers dug into and
built above the hill. The construction isn’t as clean as Ajloun’s
(althought that might be partly Ajloun’s reconstruction). This castle
is awesome to roam about. There is some barbed wire and some guard
rails blocking the less obvious dangers, but for the most part you
are on your own. There are lots of halls and rooms to explore. Calvin would love this (and the next) castle; his
Mom would be nervous.
Standing on the keep. I
din’t really want to climb to the very top (not really visible in
that photo), it would have been scrambling up rocks about 3 feet wide
with a choice of a 15ft drop on one side and a 300ft drop on the
other. Did I mention the constant 25MPH Wind?
Shobak Castle
From there we continued to drive south on the King’s Highway (past the ominous black extinct volcano) south to Shobak Castle.
The castle sits rather impressively upon the hill. It was the first to be built by the crusaders in Jordan, and the last to fall. It was taken over by the Mamluks who rebuilt it complete with calligraphic stones and catapult balls.
This was another great castle to roam about in. It even has a couple of secret passageways. Stories say it goes down 375 steps into the mountain to get to water; unfortunately it was getting late and all I had was Laura’s keychain flashlight with which to explore so I didn’t get very far into it.
All the info from this post comes from the Rough Guide to Jordan.