Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (138 page)

193 Though the fortress is of considerable importance due to its location on the main route that leads south to Ayās, it is seldom mentioned in the sources. The nine-month siege conducted by the Mamluks in 1375 is recordnotesed only by the Armenian Chronicler. Edwards,
Fortifications
, 125, n. 17.

194 Ibid., 39–41.

195 Ibid., 41.

196 Ibid., 42.

197 Marco Polo,
The Travels of Marco Polo
, trans. R. Latham (London, 1958), 15; Chahin, M.,
The Kingdom of Armenia
(New York, 1987), 289–90; Yule, H.,
The Book of ir Marco Polo the Venetian
(London, 1871), 41–3.

198 Ashtor,
Trade
, 57–9.

199 Ibid., 56–7.

200 Jackson, P.
The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410
(Harlow, England, 2005), 295–298

201 Morgan,
Persia
, 83–84.

202 Ashtor,
Trade
, 63, 101.

203 Bar Hebraeus,
Chronography
, 465.

204 Abū‘l-Fidā’,
Syrian Prince
(Holt), 44–5.

205 Har-El,
Ottoman-Mamluk War
, 39–59.

206 Ayalon, D., “The Muslim city and the Mamluk military aristocracy,” in
Studies on the Mamluks of Egypt 1250–1517
(London, Variorum,1977), VII, 311–29. See especially pages 319–20.

207 Humphreys, R. S., “The politics of the Mamluk Sultanate: a review essay,”
MSR
9/1 (2005): 223.

208 Cahen, C., “Ayyubids,”
EI
²
1:796–807; Humphreys, R. S., “Ayyubids, Mamluks and the Latin East in the thirteenth century,”
MSR
2 (1998): 4–6.

209 According to Humphreys there was no notion of solidarity in the Ayyubid federation and in their policy towards the Frankish infidels. They seldom managed to unify their ranks and confront the Franks. Humphreys, “Ayyubids,” 7.

210 Humphreys, R. S., “Politics and architectural patronage in Ayyubid Damascus,” in
The Islamic World,
eds C. E. Bosworth, C. Issawi, R. Savory, and A. L. Udovitch (Princeton, NJ, 1989), 163.

211 Even in Islamic cities that had citadels, these usually did not serve as the residence of the ruler until the eleventh century. Most rulers built and lived in palaces outside the urban centers. It was only towards the end of the eleventh century that rulers moved to live in urban citadels. Bacharach, J. L., “Administrative complexes, palaces and citadels, changes in the loci of medieval Muslim rule,” in
The Ottoman City and Its Parts
, eds I. Bierman, R. A. Abou-Al-Haj and D. Preziosi (New York, 1991), 111–28.

212 The fortresses listed by Morray are Sahyun, Blantus, Shayzar, Qal’at Munqidh, Shughar and Bakās in the Orontes valley. Morray, D.,
An Ayyubid Notable and his World
(Leiden, New York and Cologne, 1994), 3.

213 Humphreys,
Saladin
, 114–15; Tonghini,
Jabar
, 21.

214 Maqrīzī,
Sulūk
, vol. 1, 149–50.

215 Ibid., vol. 1, 114–15.

216 Streck, M., “Biredjik,”
EI
²
1:1233–4.

217 Humphreys,
Saladin
, 310.

218 Humphreys, “Latin East,” 3.

219 Edwards,
Fortifications
, 42.

220 Northrup,
Qalāwūn
, 212

221 Ibid., 113.

222 A map showing a partial distribution of Ayyubid fortresses can be seen in Eddé,
Ayyubide
, fig. 64.

223 For a detailed map of the Crusader fortresses see Kennedy,
Castles
, 1.

4

Mamluk power on display

1 Ellenblum, R., C
rusader Castles and Modern Histories
(Cambridge, 2007), 231–57; Marshall, C. J.,
Warfare in the Latin East, 1192–1291
(Cambridge, 1996), 98–111; Kennedy, H.,
Crusader Castles
(Cambridge, 1994), 120–79.

2 Deschamps, P., L
es Châteaux des Croisés en Terre-Sainte: La Défense du Royame de Jérusalem
(Paris, 1939), vol. 1, ch. 2, “Kérak et les châteaux de la Terre Oultre le Jourdain,” 35–98, ch. 5: “Le Chateau de Subeibe près de Banyas,” vol. 2, 147–74 (plans and plates). Ibid.,
Les Chateaux des Croisés en Terre-Sainte: le Carac des Chevaliers
(Paris, 1934), 2 vols.

3 De Vries, B., “
in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods,” in
Hesban after 25 Years,
eds D. Merlin and L. T. Geraty (Berrien Springs, MI, Andrews University, 1994), 151–66; Walker, B. J. and LaBianca, Ø. S., “The slamic Qusūr of Tall
: preliminary report on the 1998 and 2001 seasons,”
ADAJ
47 (2003): 449; Walker, B. J. “Militarization to nomadization: the middle and late Islamic periods,”
NEA
62/4 (1999): 212; Walker, B. J., “Mamluk investment in Southern Bilād al-Shām in the eighth/fourteenth century: the case of
,”
JNES
62 (2003): 241–61.

4 Brown, R. M., “Summary report of the 1986 excavations in late Islamic Shobak,”
ADAJ
32 (1988): 225–54; ibid., “Excavations in the 14th century Mamluk palace at Karak,”
ADAJ
33 (1989): 287–304.

5 Edwards, R.W.,
The Fortifications of Armenia Cilicia
(Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1986); ibid., “Bagras and Armenian Cilicia: a reassessment,”
Revue des Etudes Arméniennes
17 (1983): 415–35.

6 Several fortresses that are not part of this study are shown on Figure 4.1 in order to give the reader a better idea of the extent of Mamluk fortifications.

7 Vitruvius spent most of his life in the military. Julius Caesar employed him as a military engineer; he specialized in building fortifications and siege machines.
Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture
, trans., prefaced & annotated by R. Reich (Tel-Aviv, 1997), 12–14. [Hebrew]; Boardman, J., Griffin, J. and Murray O.,
The Oxford History of the Classical World
(London, 1988), 772.

8 Rabbat, N., “Perception of architecture in Mamluk sources,”
MSR
6 (2002): 155–76. See especially 158–9.

9 Ibn
(Riyad, 1976), 93.

10
did not have a moat around it and
walls were not in need of any repair since they did not suffer any damage at the hands of the Mongols. These two sites are discussed in greater detail in this chapter.