This castle is probably the most perfectly preserved medieval fortress in the world. It was heavily re-built and restored by the French mandatory government of Syria. I would like to have a conversation in this thread not only of this castle but also of other crusader architecture and towns, of modern (and traditional) scholarship with regard to the crusader states. Let us have something in this thread other than the usual accepted wisdom of how cruel the crusaders were, how small were their numbers and how base was their enterprise. In other words something other than the litany of: race, gender, and class. There is a lot of work going on in this field. Go look for it.
Some possible bibliography:
Something basic
- Runciman's three volumes "A History of the Crusades"
- Zoe Oldenbourg's "The Crusades"
Something on life in the crusader states
- Anything by Joshua Prawer
- Anything by RC Small
Something new
-"Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem" Ronnie Ellenbaum
-"The First Crusaders 1095-1131" Jonathan Riley-Smith
pl
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