Everything about Roche-guillaume totally explained
La Roche-Guillaume was a medieval fortress of the
Knights Templar located near the
Syrian Gates in what is now the
Hatay Province of
Turkey. Its exact location is the subject of debate.
Origin
The date that the Templars first took possession of the fortress is unknown, but it's known that the fortress was previously occupied by the de la Roche family.
Legend states that in
1188,
Saladin placed the castle under siege because
Jehan Mange, a knight against whom he sought revenge, was there.
Years prior, Mange had been
excommunicated from the
Christian community for murder and had found refuge with Saladin in
Muslim territory. Saladin charged Mange with the education of his nephew, but wanting to regain his standing among the Christians, Mange turned over Saladin's nephew to the Templars, driving Saladin to vengeance. Saladin may have taken Roche-Guillaume, but news from
Palestine that King
Guy de Lusignan had led knights into
Tripoli as forebearers of the
Third Crusade brought an early end to his siege of the castle. However, they were not successful, and soon, the fortress of Roche-Guillaume, the last Templar stronghold in Antioch, was lost to the Muslims.
[
]Characteristics
The fortress occupies a strategic location on a rocky precipice above the plain of Karasu Çayı. The castle also controlled the road that led to Antioch and the plain below.
Today, little remains of Roche-Guillaume but ruins. These, however, show that the constructors of the fortress used the rock upon which the castle was built as a cut foundation. The castle's remains suggest that the structure may be Byzantine in origin, or at the very least it was maintained at some length by the Byzantines.
The best-preserved portion of the fortress is the chapel, which was common in fortresses of military orders. The presence and current state of the chapel further suggests Byzantine custodianship.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Roche-guillaume'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://roche-guillaume.totallyexplained.com">Roche-Guillaume Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
