Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (76 page)

The most informative of the thirteenth-century Mamluk sources for this subject is the
written by Ibn Shaddād (d. 684/1285).
¹⁴
This gives a much more detailed account than any other contemporary source. True, the descriptions are often brief, but they appear to be accurate and reliable. Professor Rabbat maintains that Ibn Shaddād’s descriptions are factual and no political motives of any kind are perceptible in this author’s work.
¹⁵
Occasionally he gives a more comprehensive and thorough picture, as in the case of Safad.
¹⁶
Ibn Shaddād may have visited the site after the work was completed. It is difficult, however, to follow or distinguish how or why certain fortresses receive a full and long account, while others no less important are barely acknowledged. Immediately after the lengthy report on the rebuilding of Safad, Ibn Shaddād goes on to
where his report is completed in five short lines.

Maqrīzī (d. 845/1442) is not a contemporary source and he often relies heavily on Ibn al-Furāt and Ibn
.
¹⁷
Nevertheless, his descriptions occasionally present important and interesting details that are not mentioned elsewhere.

When strongholds are described, it is often done from the perspective or view of a person standing in the besieging camp, who observes the outer walls, towers and gates. The buildings inside the fortress walls are rarely given any consideration. Thus the main sources for structures such as water cisterns, storage houses and the like are inscriptions, archaeological excavations and surveys. Mosques are possibly the only buildings within the fortresses that are mentioned both by chroniclers who paid some attention to architecture and by those who almost ignored it and concentrated solely on historical events. The construction of mosques and the conversion of churches into mosques are almost always spoken of as an important part of the general restoration work carried out by the Mamluk sultans.
¹⁸
Again, architectural details of the mosques are usually omitted and the reference is more of a political statement concerning the bringing of yet another fortress under the rule of Islam.

Architectural terminology found in the sources

The vocabulary used to describe fortresses in the chronicles is generally very simple and straightforward. The following section concerns the basic architectural terminology and some of the problems that may arise from the texts due to the several meanings that some terms carry.

The most common words for fortress are
or
.
Other words for fortress which I have only seldom come across are
,
¹⁹
and
.
²⁰
On a few occasions fortresses on the frontier are distinguished as such by the term
thughūr
(singular
thaghr,
).
²¹

Occasionally the landscape, steep ravines, mountains and riverbanks are given some consideration if they are regarded as an important part of the fortress defenses. However, the most common opening in many accounts is “this was a strong fortress”
,
²²
or “this is one of the most impregnable fortresses” (
hādh
).
²³
An early fourteenth-century chronicle repeatedly describes fortified sites as “a fine fortress”
.
²⁴