- Bagras
Bagras or Baghras is the name of a town and nearby castle in present-day
Turkey , in theAmanus Mountains.The castle, properly known as Gastun (or Gaston, Guascon, Gastim) provided a base for a force to cover the
Syrian Gates , the passes betweenİskenderun andAntioch . It was built in two levels around a knoll, the fortification resembling Armenian work, and with water supplied byaqueduct s.cite book | author=Kennedy, Hugh | title=Crusader Castles | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2001 | id=ISBN 0-521-79913-9 | pages=142–144]It was built about 1153 by the
Knights Templars and held by them or by thePrincipality of Antioch until it was forced to capitulate toSaladin on 26 August 1189. It was retaken in 1191 by the Armenians (under Leo II), and their possession of it became a major point of contention between them and the Antiochenes and Templars.After much negotiation, it was finally returned to the Templars in 1216. According to the Armenian chronicles, it withstood a siege by the forces of
Aleppo at about this time. [cite web | url=http://www.rbedrosian.com/css15.htm | title=Smbat Sparapet's Chronicle | accessdate=2007-01-29] After the fall of Antioch toBaibars in 1268, the garrison lost heart, and one of the brothers deserted and presented the keys of the castle to him. The remaining defenders decided to destroy what they could and surrender the castle. Despite the loss of the castle,Hethum II of Armenia andLeo IV of Armenia soundly defeated aMamluk raiding force in the nearby pass in 1305. [cite book | title=A History of Armenia | first=Vahan M. | last=Kurkjian | publisher=Armenian General Benevolent Union of America | year=1958 | chapter=The Kingdom of Cilician Armenia — Mongol Invasion | chapterurl=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Asia/Armenia/_Texts/KURARM/30*.html | accessdate=2007-01-29]External links
* [http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/8a576e19.html Picture of Bagras today]
References
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