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09-06-2010, 14:14
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חבר מתאריך: 25.12.05
הודעות: 17,294
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מצודת עמק משה נבנתה ע"י בלדווין הראשון, בסביבות 1115 לספירה – ככל הנראה במטרה לחלוש על הדרך מדמשק לקהיר וחצי האי ערב. באמצע המאה ה-12 נכבשה ע"י שליטי דמשק והבדואים המקומיים, שחיסלו את חיל המצב. מסע כיבוש מחדש, של צבאו של בלדווין השלישי הגיע למצודה וצר עליה: לאחר שנכשלו נסיונות הפריצה, עברו הצלבנים לשיטה אחרת: חיסול שיטתי של המטעים ועצי הפרי שבאזור – מקור המחיה של הבדואים המקומיים. לבדואים זה הספיק והם מצאו את הדרך לסיים את המצור בהסדר. מאוחר יותר באותה המאה עוד עמד המבצר במצור מוסלמי ויכל לו, עד שב 1188 נכנע, לאחר מצור, לסלאח א דין, ששחרר את מגניו.
סקירה מקיפה על המבצר, כולל תיאור שלו, מצוטטת כאן, כתרגום טכסט שנמצא באתר צרפתי מעולה שעוסק במבצרי המזה"ת:
History
The Franks of Jerusalem quickly realized the strategic importance of territories east of the Dead Sea. The implications of these possessions was twofold: to settle along the land of Moab and path of Edom returned to gain control of the main caravan route between Damascus and Egypt to the holy places Islam. To this was added the commercial possibility of isolating each of the adversaries of the kingdom - the Fatimids in Egypt and the Turks in Syria - by reducing the likelihood of joint actions.
In fact, it was Damascus - "Port of the Desert" - which suffered the most, Egypt accommodating positions of the interposition of CHF through its Red Sea ports, while Baghdad restored runway Desert Palmyra Deir ez-Zor-Ma'an ...
In Damascus felt so threatened in March 1107, the atabeg Toghtekin sent in Transjordan Sabâwû Turkmen leader at the head of a contingent of 3,000 men - probably because this dark horse Turkoman adventurer is known to us in reviews under the title of Amir al-Ispahbad, that is to say, chief of cavalry - in order to create a core of Muslim resistance, giving back to the Bedouins of the raw courage to face the irresistible Franks. The King Baudouin I and his companions had indeed already done at their first recognition of successful raids in the region, and the signs suggest that a larger expedition was preparing towards the Mount of Olives ...
When Baldwin I learned a fortress built in the Wadi Musa - literally the "Valley of Moses", a legend that the prophet Moses to have discovered a source, Ain Musa - to block the caravan route to the Franks, rose rapidly troop of light cavalry and took the desert road towards the wadi, guided by a native priest named Theodore. With the complicity of Christians in the region, the arrival of the Frankish troops was not stale. Theodore, using the ruse, the Turks appeared only as a victim of Frankish invasion, announcing at the same time fearful of the imminent arrival of Malik Bardawil with considerable force ... The next day, Baldwin peacefully occupied the site and the environs of Petra, while the Bedouins who had called on Turks to their aid were to all intents and purposes, smoky like foxes in the caves where they sought refuge ...
The soldiers of Christ were to return again in this wadi they began to familiar in 1112, to remove a large caravan had left Damascus for Egypt.
With these repetitive penetrations in the heart of the Jordanian desert, Baldwin I in 1115 took the decision to settle permanently: a new expedition of a different magnitude (200 horsemen and 400 infantry soldiers), witnessed the birth of the fortress of Montrealconsiderable work to receive a large garrison.
This first step accomplished, he went one year for a second expedition is launched to the south, towards the Red Sea. Two other forts were built then: the castle of Val Moses, and, probably, Aqaba.
On the first site, it had already been fortified in earlier times, and we think that the Crusaders began by reoccupy old Nabatean and Roman structures. Located outside the ancient city of Petra, three kilometers north-east, the position controlled one of the few valleys more or less fertile region.
The work of fortifying the most important seem to have been carried out by Pagan the Butler in 1142, probably after he had finished the titanic fortress of Kerak.
In 1144, aided by some local Bedouin tribes, a large force of Turks took the position shortly after it during a surprise attack and massacred the garrison. The timing was inopportune for the kingdom of Jerusalem who had lost his King Fulk. His son, Baldwin III, inexperienced and only 13 years old, saw this as an opportunity yet to start his first expedition. It brings the army of Jerusalem to reclaim the space. With the approach of the Franks, Bedouins and Turks took refuge in the fortress walls, and filled, seemed to defy any attack. The seat also turned short, and the Franks were forced to use methods that are less academic: they began to cut some plantations of olive and fig trees tinged with green area and ensured the sole livelihood of the locals. Faced with this threat of destruction that whatever happens to condemn the famine and the exodus, the Bedouins demanded grace, while the Turks were able to get sound in their land. The castle of Val Moses then received a strong garrison, who resisted valiantly in 1158 against the troops of Fatimid and in 1188, going after a long siege to Saladin's victorious troops.
Description
A few miles from Petra and his cohorts of tourists, the castle of "Vaux of Moses" still stands, discreet, opposite the road leading to the modern village of Wadi Musa. Built on a series of hills traversed by deep wadis, the fortress proved to be highly original, given its configuration and daring implemented by its designers to strengthen the complex rock formation site.
It is possible to distinguish two sets of fortifications: one enclosure enveloping very widespread and diffuse, the other a dominant speaker, concentrating the most important fortified devices.
The external speaker, marrying the best of convolutions massive sandstone, is punctuated by a dozen turrets quadrangular, often perched on mounds, and which one is more than the basics. Many of these towers are visible and the north, real observation posts overlooking the "bowl" of Petra. Some defensive installations are also located at the bottom of the gorge (rock cut, framed curtain wall, walkway) no one can really establish continuity between these devices.
The enclosure for its internal form an irregular parallelepiped flanked by several prominent towers. One of these towers remain the northwest corner facing the road. Rectangular, it is provided with only one archer to splay simple arches covered with broken barrel. In its northern extension, the remains of the curtain wall enclosing the barnyard spin on the edge, punctuated every five meters of loopholes in recess.
The church bailey, occupying the northeast corner of the fortified nucleus, was, as in Montreal, part of the defenses. Largely ruined, the latter also served as a tank, if one may judge by the huge reservoir is home to its foundations.
Tombs dating from the Frankish period have been located near the ramp leading to the southern entrance to the church (recalling that the necropolis near the CrusaderChurch of the Holy Sepulchre in Mont Pelerin Tripoli).
The northern front of the dominant chamber was separated from the lower court by a ditch dug in the rock, clearly visible below the level of the church and tower northwest, despite the landslide. It seems that a door has been previously formed at the center of the curtain, connected to the lower court by a movable bridge.
The main entrance to the citadel was at the southwest corner of the enclosure. As a highly original, it was defended by a tower-door behind the other side of the ravine. At this point, a rocky outcrop has been drilled in its center, thereby providing a passage in the thickness of the rock (a similar development is found in the fortress of al-Ismaili Khaf Syria, or to bile in the County of Edessa). Structures are easily detectable on the sides and top of that outcrop, making plausible the hypothesis of a shuttering of the whole. This entry was acting barbican, leaving room for a ramp leading to the S nucleus castle.
One note on the whole site a collection and distribution of water, which can be attributed to the Nabataeans.
מול המבצר, מעבר לנקיק, רכס קטן של גבעות עגולות סחופות רוח, שנותנות רקע יפה למצודה:
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ראשי
צ'אט
מחמלי, אחיי גיבורי התהילה ,כל הרפאים , משל"ג עד 2000
מצב כלאיים
