KeghartFrankish chroniclers emphasize the participation of Armenian and Greek builders in the constructing of fortresses and churches in the Crusader era. British historian and specialist on the Crusade Runciman points out, Armenians were great experts on fortifications and military architecture. T.S. R. Boase, an expert on Crusader buildings, enumerates the Armenian contributions to fortress architecture. He sees, the most outstanding example, the Castle of Anamur with its thirty-six towers and stresses that “horse=shoe towers are Armenian in inspiration.” They showed a high degree of ingenuity and skill in developing an elaborate system of communication which was applied in castles and fortresses all over the Crusader Kingdom.
E. Rey, an authority on Crusader era castles and fortresses, says that at the fortress of Lampron in Cilicia, “Armenians designed circular openings for nocturnal signaling, some sort of optical telegraphy. Armenians had excellent knowledge of siege machinery. An Armenian called Avedik devised a siege machine and in 1124 was summoned from Cilicia to offer his expert services in the siege of Tyre, Lebanon.
Crusader era Armenians were considered “as the most accomplished military architects in the Levant at the time of the First Crusade, and were known as excellent designers of bent entrances, machicolations and concealed posterns. Two experts of the time have written: ”It is safe to say that their knowledge and skill were among the causes which made the military architecture of the Levant the most advanced of its time, according to Robin Fedden and John Thomson (“Crusader Castles”), London, 1957, pp. 55-56.
Frankish chroniclers emphasize the participation of Armenian and Greek builders in the constructing of fortresses and churches in the Crusader era. British historian and specialist on the Crusade Runciman points out, Armenians were great experts on fortifications and military architecture. T.S. R. Boase, an expert on Crusader buildings, enumerates the Armenian contributions to fortress architecture. He sees, the most outstanding example, the Castle of Anamur with its thirty-six towers and stresses that “horse=shoe towers are Armenian in inspiration.” They showed a high degree of ingenuity and skill in developing an elaborate system of communication which was applied in castles and fortresses all over the Crusader Kingdom.
E. Rey, an authority on Crusader era castles and fortresses, says that at the fortress of Lampron in Cilicia, “Armenians designed circular openings for nocturnal signaling, some sort of optical telegraphy. Armenians had excellent knowledge of siege machinery. An Armenian called Avedik devised a siege machine and in 1124 was summoned from Cilicia to offer his expert services in the siege of Tyre, Lebanon.
Crusader era Armenians were considered “as the most accomplished military architects in the Levant at the time of the First Crusade, and were known as excellent designers of bent entrances, machicolations and concealed posterns. Two experts of the time have written: ”It is safe to say that their knowledge and skill were among the causes which made the military architecture of the Levant the most advanced of its time, according to Robin Fedden and John Thomson (“Crusader Castles”), London, 1957, pp. 55-56.
Keghart
Keghart