 The Crac des Chevaliers (an Arabic/French combination meaning "Castle of the Knights") was built at Qal'at al-Hisn by the Knights of St. John, who occupied it from 1142 until 1271 when it fell to the great Mamluk leader Sultan Baybars. At it's peak, the garrison at the Crac consisted of over 2000 men and it's extensive underground storerooms could have held provision enough for very long sieges.
Map provided by Velerefontis. Article by Velerefontis, Victor the Great, Earl Listibald, Dragonheart Killer and Aubergine. Photos from authors unless stated otherwise.
Built on the side of an ancient fort called the "castle on the slope", later renamed "the Kurdish castle" because a Kurdish garrison was built there in 1031 by the Emir of Homs, Crac des Chevaliers is 65km (40 miles) west of Homs (additional link for Homs) in Syria. It is the greatest of all Crusader castles, and one of the greatest sights of Syria. Note: "Crac des Chevaliers" is sometimes spelt as "Krac des Chevaliers" which is incorrect. Crac is a modification of the Arab word "Qal'a", which means citadel. The citadel covers an area of 3000 square meters and has 13 huge towers, in addition to many stores, tanks, corridors, bridges and stables.
Here, all that was best in both European and Middle Eastern military design combined to produce a supreme castle. In the first half of the 13th century, the Hospitallers "principality" of Crac was the only significant inland area of the Christian states which remained constantly in Frankish hands: this clearly demonstrates the value of a great castle.
Without doubt, it is one of the greatest masterpieces of military architecture in the world, showing the full flowering of the Hospitallers’ style (knights of St. John), which went far beyond the stolid adaptations of Byzantine models that had previously influenced the castles of the first half of the 12th century.
The young T.E. Lawrence, long before he aquired the "of Arabia" epithet, visited the Crac as part of his undergraduate studies of medieval military architecture. He described it as being "...undoubtably the most impressive fortress in the world." This was not a castle designed for comfort or pomp - it was simply the quintessence of defensive military engineering.
Panoramic view of the castle
Zoomed-in panoramic view
Bird's-eye view of the game map
The towers on the southern wall (near the moat) strengthen that wall. The weakest of them was occupied by the Master (the Grand Master of the Order). There is a spiral staircase that takes you up into his room that is round and has a cross-ribbed vault, which is supported by columns. It is linked to the bastion by a two-story lodging that is of Gothic architecture, which was being used in France at the time.
The Homs Gap
To the north of the Coastal Range are steep inaccessible cliffs on the Orontes side, and a mass of valleys and ravines running straight down to the sea.
To the south the Lebanon Range is even more impressive, with the 3,088 meters Kornet as-Saouda - its snow-covered peak glittering in the summer sunshine.
Thus between Antakia (Antioch) and Beirut, a distance of 250 kilometers, there is only one place at which the mountain barrier can be easily crossed all the year round. This is the Homs Gap, cut by a coastal river, the nahr al Kabir, in whose fertile valley lies the frontier between Syria and the Lebanon.
Its is through this passage that inland Syria communicates with the Mediterranean world during the Crusades. In ancient times the importance of this strategic corridor was immense. To control the Homs Gap was to control Syria by isolating its hinterland from its maritime outlets. It was of crucial importance to the Christians in their conquest of the coast and surrounding lands. Crac Des Chevaliers was its most important stronghold.
A Brief History
In 1011, the Emir of Homs took over a small fortress called the "Castle on the slope" and garrisoned it with Kurdish soldiers to protect the Syrian interior from invasions from the Mediterranean coast.
In June 1110 the small fortress then called Hosn el-Akrad (Castle of Kurds) was occupied by the Crusaders who expanded it before ceding it to the Order of Hospitaler Knights in 1180.
Damage by several earthquakes in 1157, 1170, 1201 and 1202 provided as many occasions to further develop and improve the fortifications and accommodations for a powerful 2000 man garrison.
Nur ed-Din, Sultan of Damascus, tried to attack it in 1163. The great Saladin (Salah ad-Din Yusuf) examined its defences in 1188, but renounced taking it and walked away.
The Crac was thought impregnable but in 1271 king al-Zaher Baybars besieged it for a month with huge mangonels throwing 600kg stones before breaking into the fortress' outer perimeter.
The 300 defenders had supplies for 5 years but they capitulated in exchange for safe conduit after being tricked by a forged letter from the count of Tripoli ordering them to do so. Trickery and lies were a part of war in those days as they are now in 2003. The only difference is that in those days leaders would lie to the enemy, not to their own people!
You can find lots more information in the word documents that accompany the downloadable map (see end of this article).
Castle Provisions
The farms in the fertile plain of la Boquée which connects with the upper part of the Kabir valley served to maintain a garrison of over two thousand men, their servants and horses.
Small farms and village from the game map
The south side of the castle faces on to what could be called "terra firma" as it resembles a small peninsula. Here are the most massive defenses - a large round tower and a square tower that juts out from the ramparts to defend the castles' aquaduct.
Aquaduct defended by large towers
Note: The large square tower does not appear in the game map as it was constructed at a later date after the fall of the castle to the Mamluk forces (see history of the castle later in this article). In addition, the aquaduct is used as a bridge in the game map to improve gameplay. Though there were ample cisterns inside the fortress for storing water against a siege (not to mention the moat - see later), the heavily protected aquaduct seen here running into a small opening in the outer wall provided additional water supplies.
The castle also had large storerooms below the courtyard allowing enough provisions to be stored within the castle to enable the occupants to survive sieges - it can accommodate 5000 soldiers with their horses, their equipment and provisions for five years! Here are some pictures courtesy of Flat3:
Storeroom below courtyard
Very dark (and cold) storeroom below courtyard
The picture above shows one of the deep storerooms below the level of the courtyard. Illumination came from some small windows and a breach in one of the inside walls. Light levels were so low that the picture needed a 20 minute exposure at f16. The curious curved bowls in the right foreground are the remnants of oil flasks. To protect against fire, the clay flasks were buried up to their necks in mortar which in the foreground has broken away.
Castle Tour
The castle is large and complex so here is a quick guided tour of some of the key locations that we've not mentioned above. Walls would generally have been made of compacted earth faced with stone to prevent mining by the enemy sappers (tunnelers). In the Crac however, the inner wall rising from the moat is built of stone right down to the bed-rock. Moreover, the stone slabs are remarkably smooth and fit together perfectly to give an unclimbable surface.
Outer wall (courtesy of Flat3)
The outer walls that surround the castle are lower than the inner walls allowing troops on the inner walls to see all the surrounding land. The picture above is taken from one of the inner bastions looking down over the outer wall and across the valley to the terraced fields beyond. The harsh limestone hills around the Crac provide excellent olive-growing conditions. The olive orchards are represented in the game map by apple orchards (as shown earlier) although due to limitations in map size there are only limited orchards in the game map.
Inner walls
The angle of the slope on the wall is such that archers firing from the rounded bastion had a clear line of fire at any point. There was literally nowhere for an attacker to hide!
Outer and Ineer walls from the game map
T.E. Lawrence, while visiting the Crac as an undergraduate tried several times to scale the slope but never got more than a third of the way up before sliding back down again. Of course the presence of defenders above dropping rocks and molten lead would not have made the task any easier! This slope is one of the Crac's most formidable defensive features and was in part responsible for its reputation as the best defended castle in Christendom.
Unfortunately, in the game map, there was no way to create the sloping smooth walls other than using stairs which would have made the walls easily climbable!
As mentioned earlier, between the southern inner and outer walls a moat can be found:
Moat which doubles as a reservoir
As well as being an excellent defensive feature of the castle, this moat also doubled as a reservoir to provide drinking water during sieges should the aquaduct which supplied it be cut off.
The moat in the game map
The castle also contains a chappel and the picture below shows alterations made in 1272 by Baibarsto convert it in to a mosque - all that remains of the mosque is a mihrab and three minbars.
The Crusader's Chappel
The castle had a great hall which was connected to the courtyard by a large corridor:
The Great Hall (courtesy of Flat3)
The Great Hall, aslo known as the Knight's Hall, was used as a reception area and for important meetings such as those of the King's Chapter. The hall contained, amongst other things, a well, a bakery and latrines.
The large corridor between the Great Hall and the courtyard (courtesy of Flat3)
The following picture shows the view of the large corridor (on the left) and the chappel from the courtyard (square building on the right):
View of large corridor and chappel from courtyard
The North-western tower is known as the "Tower of the King's Daughter" - the lower part dates back to the 12th centuary while the upper part is from the Arab period.
Tower of the Daughter of the King (courtesy of John's site)
There are many other areas in the castle so take a look at the related websites later towards the end of this article to find out more.
In the game map, there are several slight variations in the design of the castle:
 Although the real castle does not have a Keep, Valefrontis (the map's designer) added a Keep to the playable map to improve overall gameplay.
The Crusader chapel is represented by two small towers near the top-left of the picture. A chappel could not be used due to space limitations in the map.
The "Esplanade" (a courtyard above the pillars room) is shown where the monks are standing.
Near the Keep, the large meeting room (Great Hall) and it's adjacent corridor are represented by several small towers.
The storage areas below the courtyard are represented by two granaries and these are accessed by some stairs.
Related Websites
There are loads of websites on the Internet full of information on this castle, but we were particularly impressed with the following sites:
Download the Map
You've read about the castle, now play the map! As you can see from the overview diagram and the minimap pictures below, it's a very accurate representation of the castle on the whole:
 
So, without hesitation, download one of the finest maps in the Velerefontis Collection - Crac des Chevaliers (for Stronghold Crusader) and experience this great castle yourself from the comfort of your own computer!
The download also includes hits and tips for playing the map and two documents containing more information on the castle and it's history.
Related Tutorials
We've already hyperlinked in a few tutorials in the text throughout the article, but here are a few more of the tricks used to make this map:
Note: Map available for download!
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