Crusader Atlas

Crusader sites in Syria and Lebanon — the County of Tripoli and Principality of Antioch

North of the Kingdom of Jerusalem proper, the Crusader Latin East included two further great Frankish states: the County of Tripoli (founded 1102 by Raymond of Saint-Gilles) and the Principality of Antioch (founded 1098 by Bohemond of Taranto). Together with the County of Edessa further inland, they formed a long coastal arc from the Negev to the Taurus mountains.

The Phoenician coast was studded with great Crusader ports — Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Jubail, Tortosa — each combining a fortified town with substantial citadel. Inland, in the mountains of the County of Tripoli, the Hospitaller Order built Krak des Chevaliers, the most famous castle of the Latin East and almost certainly the best-preserved Crusader castle anywhere. The Principality of Antioch held Saone (Sahyun), a vast clifftop stronghold cut from the natural rock, and the capital city of Antioch with its great walled citadel. After the fall of Acre in 1291, the last Templar outpost on the mainland was on the Syrian island of Ruad, holding out until 1302.

Sites covered (35)