The term Crusades refers to the wars promoted by the Christian authorities of Europe to take the Holy Land. They were different campaigns between the end of the 11th century and the end of the 13th century, but with consequences even much later. Because of their relative proximity and place of passage to the Holy Land, these wars involved some regions of what is now Turkey. And the result is that even today there are still surprising vestiges of the castles of the crusaders in Turkey, as well as the memory of other events in which they played a leading role. In this article we make a brief review.
Main crusader castles in Turkey
Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the political map of the Anatolian peninsula became very complex. Although two great powers (Byzantines and Seljuks) were consolidated, it was a period of constant uncertainty, especially due to the threat and hostility of third parties. Among them, the Crusaders, who came to take Jerusalem and founded different Christian kingdoms around it.
Some of these kingdoms were located in the territory of present-day Turkey, mainly on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, also known by the term ‘crusader states’: the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, the County of Edessa and the Principality of Antioch. Therefore, many of the Crusader castles in Turkey are located precisely here: some were built directly by these Christian forces for defensive purposes, while others existed before and were reused by them.
Among these crusader castles in Turkey we can mention Anazarba, Amouda, Bagras, Koz, Kızkalesi, Silifke, Tece, Tokmar or Yaka, in the current provinces of Adana, Cilicia, Mersin and Osmaniye, among others. Because of its importance, we can also mention that of Antioch, although practically nothing is preserved.
Special mention deserves that of Bodrum, whose construction is much later: 1402, a time when the capital of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem was based on the nearby island of Rhodes and, taking advantage of a moment of weakness by the Turcomongol threat of Tamerlane, these knights received the Ok from Sultan Mehmet I to build the castle, with many ashlars of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. In 1522 they were expelled by Suleiman the Magnificent, but its structure is preserved in very good condition.
In addition to all this on Turkish soil, the nearby Greek Islands preserve many other vestiges of that period, including the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, something you can discover firsthand if you take an Aegean cruise.
Constantinople, also with the ‘crusader footprint’.
When speaking of the crusaders in Turkey, it is inevitable to mention the Fourth Crusade, which, although its objective was to reach Egypt, ended up diverting and focusing on Constantinople, despite the fact that at that time it was ruled by the Byzantine Empire, of the Orthodox Christian religion.
Due to political clashes between the weak and conspiratorial ruling dynasty (Angelo) and the kingdoms promoting the crusade (Venice, France, Holy Roman Empire), it was decided to invade Constantinople in 1204, which led to the establishment of the so-called Latin Empire, in force until 1261. Unfortunately, however, this crusade became famous for the sacking of the city by the Crusaders, who razed some of the most symbolic monuments of Constantinople at that time. Among them, the famous sculptures of horses, located at the entrance gate of the Hippodrome (now Sultanahmet Square), taken to the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice.
In fact, today practically nothing remains of the Hippodrome, and the explanations of the city’s guides when they stop at the aforementioned Sultanahmet Square usually give a good account of this.
