Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (97 page)

Several sources mention the treasury that
kept at Karak. Ibn
claims it contained a substantial sum though he does not give an exact figure.
¹⁹⁶
Ibn al-Jawzī, describing affairs at Karak in 609/1212, says that the fortress and all that was in it, i.e. horses, supplies and money amounted to a million dinars.
¹⁹⁷
Whatever the treasury contained, according to Ibn Shaddād it was left to
. The construction work, whether in the town or the citadel, did not suffer from a shortage of funds.

Though written evidence of Ayyubid construction exists, and the fortress was reinforced or repaired during the Ayyubid period, their work is either waiting to be unearthed or was simply swallowed by the large scale Mamluk building phase, leaving no trace at all or no remains above ground.

Mamluk construction work

When Baybars took Karak it was enlarged by adding an area equivalent to almost half the existing Crusader fortress. A large complex of vaulted galleries was built along the west and a massive keep was built in the south. Although Ibn
does not give much information regarding the buildings constructed by Baybars, he opens the chapter concerned with the conquest of Karak with the following comment:

¹⁹⁸

And the sultan had taken along with him from Egypt a group of masons, builders, carpenters and craftsmen in order to build
(Mount Tabor) … and they set out for
Jālūt. The sultan made it known that all this was done in order to build a mosque for the sake of al-Karak.

It seems a surprise attack against Karak was planned; the sultan was no doubt trying to conceal his true intentions until the army arrived at the fortress. The company of skilled workers was intended first and foremost to prepare for the siege and to build
manjaniqāt
(siege engines). The builders
banā’in
) and craftsmen (
) were no doubt to be employed at a later stage, to repair the damage caused during the siege and build up the fortress as the sultan saw fit. In actual fact, the fortress was handed over to Baybars without the necessity of a siege.

Karak’s administrative hierarchy seems to have been highly regarded by Baybars. The sultan’s only new appointment was that of the governor
al-Dīn Aydakīn al-Shihābī, chosen from amongst his personal Mamluks.
¹⁹⁹

The western galleries

The two levels of barrel-vaulted galleries ran along 200m (
Figure 4.26
). They are entered via an interesting portal which can be described as a mock main gate. It is set in the center of the western wall (
Figure 4.27
). The actual entrance is at the bottom of a deep recess with a blind arch.

One of the earliest gates of this type is found at
Kharana (c. ad 710), an Umayyad palace on the Jordanian steppe.
²⁰⁰
It is a form rare in twelfth- and thirteenth-century military architecture probably because it has few defensive qualities. At Karak it is exposed to enemy fire and its only protection from siege engines is provided by the slope that runs below it. Later civil and religious Mamluk architecture used this form quite frequently.
²⁰¹
Once you entered through the portal you went up a steep staircase; at the top you stood under a domed chamber lit by an oculus. From here it was possible to enter the upper gallery or climb up to the court yard. In addition, another entrance was constructed in the northwest corner of the gallery.