Artah
Artah (Arabic: أرتاح; modern-day Reyhanlı)[1][2] was a medieval town and castle located 25 miles east-northeast of Antioch, to the east of the Iron Bridge on the Roman road from Antioch to Aleppo.
During the First Crusade, a number of key sites were captured, including Artah, which were key to the success in the Crusaders' siege of Antioch. Ralph of Caen, in his Gesta Tancredi, described Artah as the "shield of Antioch" and Albert of Aachen describes it as "very well fortified with a wall and ramparts and a turreted fortress".[3] From Marash, a detachment under Robert of Flanders went in October 1098 to the southwest to capture Artah. Robert's force numbered 1000 armed men.[4] Their mission was aided by the Armenian Christian population that had defeated the Islamic garrison housed there and supplied the crusaders with food. The town was then briefly besieged by a force from Antioch but this force retreated upon arrival of the main crusader forces. After this, the crusaders moved via the Iron Bridge to Antioch and the town was most likely left to its inhabitants.[5]
After the capture of Antioch, Bohemond of Tarento, who had contributed significantly to the fall of the city, founded the principality of Antioch and thus broke with the Byzantine Empire which had backed the crusaders. The new principality included next to Antioch the port St Simeon, Alexandretta and Artah.[6] Artah became a bishopric in 1099 and in 1100 Bohemond decided to replace the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, John IV, due to his connection to the Byzantine Empire, with the newly appointed bishop of Artah, Bernard of Valence.[7]
Two other major battles occurred at Artah during the Crusades. The first took place in 1105 between the forces of Tancred, Prince of Galilee, who was acting as regent for Bohemond, and Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan, the emir of Aleppo, in which the Crusaders were victorious.[8] The second, or Battle of Harim, was fought in 1164 in which a force of Latins were crushingly defeated by Nur ad-Din Zangi.
References
- Citations
- ^ Aubrey Dax; St. Albert (of Aachen) (2007). Albert of Aachen: Historia Ierosolimitana, History of the Journey to Jerusalem. Clarendon Press. p. 183. ISBN 9780199204861.
- ^ T.A. Sinclair (1990). Eastern Turkey: An Architectural & Archaeological Survey, Volume IV, Band 4. Pindar Press. p. 338. ISBN 9781904597797.
- ^ Asbridge 2000, p. 24-25.
- ^ Asbridge 2000, p. 24.
- ^ Asbridge 2000, p. 25.
- ^ Asbridge 2000, p. 46.
- ^ Asbridge 2000, p. 196.
- ^ Asbridge 2000, p. 57.
- Sources
- Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1951
- Asbridge, Thomas S. (2000). The Creation of the Principality of Antioch, 1098-1130. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 0851156614. Retrieved 29 April 2022.