La Roche-Guillaume (perhaps modern-day ''Çalan Kalesi'') was a medieval fortress of the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

located near the

Syrian Gates The Belen Pass ( tr, Belen Geçidi), known in antiquity as the Syrian Gates ( grc-gre, Συρίαι πύλαι, ''Syríai Pýlai''; la, Syriae Portae), is a pass through the Nur Mountains located in the Belen District of Hatay Province in sout ...

in what is now the

Hatay Province Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of A ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Origin

The date that the Templars first took possession of the fortress is unknown, but it is known that the fortress was previously occupied by the de la Roche family. Legend states that in 1188,

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

placed the castle under siege because Jean Gale, a knight against whom he sought revenge, was there. Years prior, Gale had been

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

from the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

community for murder and had found refuge with Saladin in

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

territory. Saladin charged Gale with the education of his nephew, but wanting to regain his standing among the Christians, Gale turned over Saladin's nephew to the Templars, driving Saladin to vengeance. Saladin may have taken Roche-Guillaume, but news from

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

that King

Guy de Lusignan Guy of Lusignan (c. 1150 – 18 July 1194) was a French Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of Lusignan and as such born of the House of Lusignan. He was king of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem, and King o ...

had led knights into

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

as forebearers of the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...

brought an early end to his siege of the castle. In 1203, the king of

Lesser Armenia Lesser Armenia ( hy, Փոքր Հայք, ''Pokr Hayk''; la, Armenia Minor, Greek: Mikre Armenia, Μικρή Αρμενία), also known as Armenia Minor and Armenia Inferior, comprised the Armenian–populated regions primarily to the west and n ...

took the castle, but it was reclaimed by the Templars in 1237, around the same time as they launched a campaign to recapture the castle of

Trapessac Trapessac ( tr, Darbı Sak Kalesi) is a medieval fortress located 4 km north of the town of Kırıkhan in Hatay Province, Turkey. Trapessac was constructed in the 12th century by the Knights Templar and, together with the nearby fortress at Bag ...

, located about 15 kilometers away. Roche-Guillaume was reconquered by the Muslims in 1298–99, when the

sultan of Egypt Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally i ...

sent an army to invade northern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. The castle of

Servantikar Sarvandikar ( hy, Սարվանդիքար), also spelled ''Sarvanda k'ar'' ( tr, Savranda). It was the Frankish castle of ''Savranda'' and is officially known today as Savranda Kalesi. The site is a medieval castle in the former Armenian Kingdom ...

was also seized in the campaign. In 1298 or 1299, the military orders—the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

and

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

—and their leaders, including

Jacques de Molay Jacques de Molay (; c. 1240–1250 – 11 or 18 March 1314), also spelled "Molai",Demurger, pp. 1-4. "So no conclusive decision can be reached, and we must stay in the realm of approximations, confining ourselves to placing Molay's date of birth ...

Otton de Grandson Otto de Grandson (c. 1238–1328), sometimes numbered Otto I to distinguish him from later members of his family with the same name, was the most prominent of the Savoyard knights in the service of King Edward I of England, to whom he was the cl ...

and the Great Master of the Hospitallers, briefly campaigned in Armenia, in order to fight off an invasion by the Mamluks.Demurger, pp. 142–143 However, they were not successful, and soon, the fortress of Roche-Guillaume, the last Templar stronghold in Antioch, was lost to the Muslims.

Location and Characteristics

The authors have disagreed with the exact location of this castle. According to

Paul Deschamps Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

, it would be Çalan Kalesi, but Claude Cahen argued that Çalan might be

Roche de Roissel F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...

, another Templar castle. However, they all agreed to place it in the

Amanus The Nur Mountains ( tr, Nur Dağları, "Mountains of Holy Light"), formerly known as Alma-Dağ, the ancient Amanus ( grc, Ἁμανός), medieval Black Mountain, or Jabal al-Lukkam in Arabic, is a mountain range in the Hatay Province of south ...

, on the border of what was the Principality of Antioch and Lesser Armenia. Others placed it further east, on a plateau at rocky precipice above the plain of Karasu Çayı, near the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

. 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 The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

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 A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, which was common in fortresses of military orders. The presence and current state of the chapel further suggests Byzantine custodianship.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Alain Demurger, ''The Last Templar'' * * *

Newman, Sharan Sharan Newman (born April 15, 1949 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is an American historian and writer of historical novels. She won the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery in 1994. Biography Newman's father was a USAF captain; her mother was a psychol ...

(2006). Real History Behind the Templars. Berkley Publishing Group. . * * {{coord, 36, 39, 34, N, 36, 19, 33, E, display=title Castles and fortifications of the Knights Templar Castles and fortifications of the Knights Hospitaller Forts in Turkey Ruined castles in Turkey