Kerak Castle is a large Crusader castle located in al-Karak, Jordan.

It is one of the largest

crusader castles in the Levant. Construction of the castle began in the 1140s,
under Pagan and Fulk, King of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak
in Moab", as it is frequently[when?] referred to in history books

Pagan was also Lord of Oultrejordain and Kerak Castle became the centre of his power,
replacing the weaker castle of Montreal to the south. Because of its position east of
the Dead Sea, Kerak Castle was able to control bedouin herders as well as the trade
routes from Damascus to Egypt and Mecca. His successors, his nephew Maurice
and Philip of Milly, added towers and protected the north and south sides with two deep
rock-cut ditches (the southern ditch also serving as a cistern). The most notable
Crusader architectural feature surviving is the north wall, into which are built immense
arched halls on two levels. These were used for living quarters and stables, but also
served as a fighting gallery overlooking the castle approach and for shelter against
missiles from siege engines.
In 1176 Raynald of Châtillon gained possession of Kerak Castle after marrying Stephanie
of Milly, the widow of Humphrey III of Toron (and daughter-in-law of Humphrey II of
Toron). From Kerak Castle, Raynald harassed the trade camel trains and even
attempted an attack on Mecca itself. In 1183 Saladin besieged the castle in response to
Raynald's attacks. The siege took place during the marriage of Humphrey IV of
Toron and Isabella I of Jerusalem, and Saladin, after some negotiations and with
a chivalrous intent, agreed not to target their chamber while his siege machines
attacked the rest of the castle. The siege was eventually relieved by Baldwin IV of
Jerusalem.
Saladin besieged Kerak again in 1184. Saladin attempted to fill the ditches that
prevented siege engines from getting in range of the castle wall. However, just like the
first siege of Kerak, Saladin and his men left before a reinforcing crusader army could
come to the castle’s aid. This siege only lasted four weeks.[1]
The last siege of the 12th century was led by Sa’d Al-Din, Saladin’s nephew, in 1188.
Unlike the sieges before it, the Muslim army was not under the threat of crusader
reinforcements. The year before Saladin had defeated an outnumbered crusader army
at the Battle of Hattin and therefore the crusaders could not gather enough troops to
reinforce Kerak. The Muslim army cut off supplies to the castle, and Kerak surrendered
several months after. When the castle had fallen, it is believed that it was due to lack of
arms, not a lack of food. With the fall of Kerak, the Castle of Montreal, which had been
replaced as the centre of the lordship by Kerak, surrendered soon afterward. [1]
In 1263, the Mamluk Sultan, Baibars, enlarged and built a tower on the northwest corner.
Under the Ayyubid Dynasty, Kerak served as the Administration centre for all of the
regions of Jordan. When Saladin's brother, al-'Aldil was awarded control of the castle,
he made it the site of one of his treasuries. Kerak would continue to serve as the home
of a royal treasury for the remainder of the Ayyubid Dynasty. During some internal
conflict by members of the Ayyubid Dynasty in the 1230s and 40s, Kerak was one of the
three princedoms that was able to remain independent. The castle was retaken by the
Egyptian Sultan al- Salih Ayyub in 1249.[2] Kerak was so important to the Ayyubids that it
is recorded that only the governors of Kerak and Damascus were allowed to carry their
official correspondences on red paper. By 1263, Kerak was under the rule of the
Mamluk Sultan Baybars.[2] Under the Mamluks, Kerak continued to remain an important
administrative centre. Ibn 'Abd al-Zahir stated that the castle held four ministries: the
ministry of the army, the ministry of finance, the ministry of Kerak and the chancery.
Due to the castles importance, it also maintained a significant military force, which
under the rule of al-Mughith, contained at least 700 horsemen.[2]
Kerak Castle was besieged again in 1834 by a rebel leader of the peasants' revolt in
Palestine. In 1840, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt captured the castle and destroyed much of its
fortifications. In 1844, his troops, who did not have control over the surrounding
countryside, came under siege. They were eventually starved out and many were
killed.[3]
During the Ottoman Empire, it played an important role due to its strategic location on
the crossroads between the Arabian Peninsula, Egyptand Greater Syria.
In 1893, the Ottoman authorities reestablished control over the area by appointing
a mutasarrıf (governor) resident in Kerak Castle with a garrison of 1400, including 200
cavalry. Parts of the castle were reused. Some of the destruction that had occurred to
the structure was due to locals removing stones containing potassium
nitrate ("saltpetre"), which is used to make gunpowder.[4] Medieval historian Paul
Deschamps studied Crusader castles in the 1920s. Amongst the important research
done by Deschamps, in 1929 he and architect Francois Anus created the first accurate
plans of Kerak Castle.[5]
On December 18, 2016, the castle was the site of a terrorist attack. Fourteen people
were killed and 34 were injured, the majority being Jordanian security forces and local
civilians. A Canadian tourist was also killed.[6
Kerak Castle is an example of one of the first castles built by the Franks that used a
fortified tower structure and is a notable example of Crusader architecture, a mixture of
west European, Byzantine, and Arab designs. Many early Frankish castle that predate
Kerak were merely towers built along the crusader states during the early years of
crusading. In the second half of the twelfth century, the growing Muslim threat made
crusaders update their castle design and prioritize defensive elements. [7] Kerak Castle
is a prime example of a spur castle, a castle built on top of a mountain to take advantage
of the natural topography, as it is built on the southern end of a plateau surrounded on
three sides by steep hills. This had the advantage during a siege of concentrating an
attack on only one side of the castle, so the defenders could locate most of their
manpower there.[7] Spur castles also took advantage of "glacis," a sloping hill that
exposed attackers to the defenders.[8] The steep hills around Kerak are characteristic of
a glacis.
The castle also used man-made fortifications, including ditches and thick stone walls.
Because Muslim armies started to move with Siege weapons such as siege engines,
Frankish castles started adapting by building thicker and more solid walls. [9] A
"Byzantine ditch", a ditch to keep siege engines at a safer distance, was constructed
near the castle. There is another ditch near the town which is much deeper but less
wide, to the West of the castle (now almost completely filled-in).[10] The crusaders used
rough-shaped volcanic stone to build large walls around the perimeter of the castle.
After Sa'd al-Din captured Kerak, the Muslims used limestone from nearby quarries to
repair and expand the castle.[10] Both the Muslim and Christian stonework show signs
of draft masonry, stone blocks which are smooth on the edges, but the centre portion is
left rough and raised.[11]
The castle walls are strengthened with rectangular projecting towers, pointing to the fact
that it was one of the earlier castles constructed by crusaders, it was only later on in the
crusades that the transition to round towers in the curtain wall was made to help with
visibility. At Kerak, the towers are much closer together than at other castles,
theoretically to help with visibility problems. The towers were also placed at regular
points along the wall; this is called the Byzantine tower structure - the square towers at
Kerak are identical to the ones used by the Byzantine empire. [10]
While Kerak Castle is a large and strong castle, its design is less sophisticated than that
of concentric crusader castles like Krak des Chevaliers, and its masonry is comparatively
crude. Many of its Defenses were destroyed and rebuilt during its conquest by the
Ayyubid and Mamluk Dynasties.[5] Under al- Nasier Dawud, much of the defenses of
Kerak were expanded and improved in 1244-45.[2] In 1227, the Sultan of Damascus al-
Mu'azzam 'Isa, commissioned the construction of a subterranean tunnel that ran from
the castle into the town.