Margat
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2008-07-16T21:57:23Z
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{{unreferenced|date=July 2008}}[[Image:Margatview.jpg|250px|right|thumb|View of Margat from ground level]]
[[Image:Margat.jpg|thumb|250px|Path leading to Margat]]
'''Margat''', also known as '''Marqab''' (from the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] ''Qalaat al-Marqab, قلعة المرقب,'' "Castle of the Watchtower") is a [[castle]] which was a [[Crusade]]r fortress in what is now [[Syria]], and one of the major strongholds of the [[Knights Hospitaller]].
Margat is located on a hill about 500 metres above sea level, formed by an extinct [[volcano]] on the road between [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]] and [[Latakia]], overlooking the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. It was probably an ancient fortress, but earliest existing defences were built in [[1062]] by the [[Arabs]], who continued to hold it within the Christian [[Principality of Antioch]] in the aftermath of the [[First Crusade]]. When the Principality was defeated at the [[Battle of Harran]] in 1104, the [[Byzantine Empire]] took advantage of their weakness and captured Margat from the Muslims. A few years later it was captured by [[Tancred, Prince of Galilee]], regent of Antioch, and was incorporated into the Principality.
In the [[1170s]] it was controlled by Reynald II Mazoir of Antioch as a [[vassal]] of the [[County of Tripoli|count of Tripoli]]; the fortress was so large that it had its own household officials and a number of [[vavasour|rear-vassals]]. His son Bertrand sold it to the Hospitallers in [[1186]] as it was too expensive for the Mazoir family to maintain. After some rebuilding and expansion by the Hospitallers, it became their headquarters in Syria. Under Hospitaller control, its fourteen towers were thought to be impregnable; [[Saladin]] besieged the castle in [[1188]] but was unable to capture it, and it was one of the few remaining territories left in Christian hands after Saladin's conquests.
By the beginning of the [[13th century]] the Hospitallers controlled the surrounding land and roads and made a large profit from travellers and pilgrims passing through. [[Isaac Comnenus of Cyprus]] was imprisoned there after [[Richard I of England]] captured [[Cyprus]] from him during the [[Third Crusade]]. The bishop of nearby Valenia also used Margat as his headquarters after around 1240. Margat was second in size in power only to the other Hospitaller fortress to the south, [[Krak des Chevaliers]].
The [[Mameluk]] [[sultan of Egypt]] [[Qalawun]] [[siege|besieged]] it beginning on [[April 25]], [[1285]], and captured it after a month when [[sapper]]s mined the north wall. Qalawun respected the size of the fortress and the courage of its defenders, and allowed the Hospitallers to leave with everything they could carry. Rather than destroy it as he did with other fortresses, he placed a [[Mameluk]] garrison in it.
It is located around 2km from the Mediterranean coast, approximately 6km south of [[Baniyas]]
== Photos ==
<gallery>
Image:Marqab2.jpg|View of the Citadel
Image:Marqab1.jpg|Sea view from inside Marqab Citadel
</gallery>
==External links==
{{Commons|Category:Forteresse de Margat}}
*[http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=35.151249,35.950066&spn=0.008579,0.013497&t=h&om=1 photograph on Google Maps]
{{coor title dms|35|09|04|N|35|56|57|E|region:SY_type:landmark_source:dewiki}}
[[Category:Crusader castles]]
[[Category:Castles in Syria]]
[[Category:Knights Hospitaller]]
[[Category:Mameluk castles]]
[[Category:History of Syria]]
[[Category:Hill forts]]
[[cs:Marqab]]
[[de:Margat]]
[[fr:Qalaat Marqab]]
[[it:Qala'at Marqab]]
[[ja:マルガット城]]