The Knights TemplarsAddison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet)
History
The Knights Templars
Addison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet)
Templars
that the cities of Tyre, Acre, and Jaffa, with all the sea-coast
between them, should belong to the Latins, but that the fortifications
recently erected at Ascalon should be demolished. Immediately after the
conclusion of peace, king Richard, being anxious to take the shortest
and speediest route to his dominions, induced Robert de Sablè, the
Grand Master of the Temple, to place a galley of the order at his
disposal, and it was determined that, whilst the royal fleet pursued
its course with queen Berengaria through the Straits of Gibraltar to
Britain, Cœur de Lion himself, disguised in the habit of a Knight
Templar, should secretly embark and make for one of the ports of the
Adriatic. The plan was carried into effect on the night of the 25th of
October, and king Richard set sail, accompanied by some attendants, and
four trusty Templars. The habit he had assumed, however, protected him
not, as is well known, from the cowardly vengeance of the base duke of
Austria.[95]
In the year 1194, Robert de Sablè, the Grand Master of the Temple,
was succeeded by Brother Gilbert Horal or Erail, who had previously
filled the high office of Grand Preceptor of France.[96] The Templars,
to retain and strengthen their dominion in Palestine, commenced the
erection of several strong fortresses, the stupendous ruins of many of
which remain to this day. The most famous of these was the Pilgrim’s
Castle, which commanded the coast-road from Acre to Jerusalem. It
derived its name from a solitary tower erected by the early Templars
to protect the passage of the pilgrims through a dangerous pass in the
mountains bordering the sea-coast, and was commenced shortly after the
removal of the chief house of the order from Jerusalem to Acre. A small
promontory which juts out into the sea a few miles below Mount Carmel,
was converted into a fortified camp. Two gigantic towers, a hundred
feet in height and seventy-four feet in width, were erected, together
with enormous bastions connected together by strong walls furnished
with all kinds of military engines. The vast inclosure contained a
palace for the use of the Grand Master and knights, a magnificent
church, houses and offices for the serving brethren and hired soldiers,
together with pasturages, vineyards, gardens, orchards, and fishponds.
On one side of the walls was the salt sea, and on the other, within
the camp, were delicious springs of fresh water. The garrison amounted
to four thousand men in time of war.[97] Considerable remains of
this famous fortress are still visible on the coast, a few miles to
the south of Acre. It is still called by the Levantines, _Castel
Pellegrino_. Pocock describes it as “very magnificent, and so finely
built, that it may be reckoned one of the things that are best worth
seeing in these parts.” “It is encompassed,” says he, “with two walls
fifteen feet thick, the inner wall on the east side cannot be less than
forty feet high, and within it there appear to have been some very
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