Military architecture of the crusades

Abstract

One of the main products of the crusades was the influence which fortifications came to assume in the strategy of war. The peculiar conditions of the Latin East created a battleground where military power was highly dependent on the instrument of walled strongholds and, as a result, provided the catalyst for the development and perfection of fortress design. Crusader fortifications, whether walled towns or castles, became both crucial weapons of invasion and indispensable elements of frontier defence and places of refuge for the outnumbered Frankish settlers. The military orders of knighthood that came into existence during the crusades were quick to appreciate the significance of powerful strongholds in the struggle for the control of Latin East and used them extensively to build their own power bases.