Castles of the Templars in Italy. Templar legacy in art and life

One of the most famous Templar castles is located in the Portuguese city of Tomar. True, this castle is not entirely Templar - or not only Templar.

Tomar Castle (Convento de Cristo) was built around 1160 and was the main stronghold of the Templars in Portugal. The Moors besieged the castle, but to no avail. Rock!

However, with the dissolution of the Knights Templar (1312, for a minute), the fate of the castle a little bit hung (like all the other Templar possessions), but the enterprising Portuguese monarch Dinis fussed and created the Order of Christ, and, moreover, he chatted with his father to transfer the Templars to this new order (which included the former Templars who were left idle).

Pretty soon (1357) the Tomar castle was chosen as the main stronghold of the Order of Christ. It was later converted to a monastery, and today it is an object of cultural heritage of UNESCO. The architecture is incredibly beautiful there.

In Tomar’s castle (and at the same time in Tomar), I, together with my friend Vovka from St. Petersburg, spent the whole day on the road from Porto to Lisbon (a train ticket from Porto to Tomar costs from 20 euros and it takes about three hours to sit on a train (moreover, you will have to change trains a place called Entroncamento), and Tomar - Lisbon: 9-10 euros and sawing about two hours).

The town itself is very tiny, so cute, European. One sadness is quite far from the big water. There is a river in the city, but not at all convincing.

Tomar castle is, of course, the main attraction of Tomar, however, on the way from the railway station to the castle, you can taxi to a couple more pleasant places. Somehow a church, a park, a cemetery ...

Okay, in order.

First, we passed a beautiful cemetery, alas, closed by a deadbolt.

Next was the church (Church of Santa Maria do Olival) with a veryoooo talkative uncle (it seems even not a priest). He told in acceptable English almost the whole history of Catholicism in Portugal, and also told a bunch of all sorts of features of this church. A person far from religion in life would not have noticed all these trifles, but when they are pointed out and explained, it is quite interesting to listen.

True, we, distinguished by special ingenuity, noticed that something was wrong, only after an hour. Accordingly, back to the treasured fork with a lapel to the castle they stomped another hour. My legs were already buzzing ...

But then they saw the castle ...

Oh yes, how I love castles! Especially outside. Alas, inside they are not at all what I would like to see them. There is no spirit of the Middle Ages there. Half of all the castles were inhabited almost to this day - and accordingly the design of the interior apartments changed with fashion (porcelain figurines, stoves on elegant legs ... Ugh!), And the second half is worse: whitewashed and completely uninteresting (Dracula's castle, yeah) .

Tomar castle, in principle, is also much more impressive outside than inside. However, all sorts of courtyards, from which the towers are always visible, somewhat rehabilitate it in my eyes.

What is especially pleased - there are few tourists. No crowds and queues. Portugal at that time was generally incredibly pleasant in terms of the absence of visitors.

Most pleased with the tower with “windows”, which is framed by magnificent stone carving. Manuelino. Turrets, curls ... Somewhere I saw, heard a phrase, which I then searched for explanation and confirmation on the net, but to no avail that, they say, British roofing felts, Spanish roofing felts, the king was ready to forgive Portugal for her entire debt for this window. How all this was supposed to happen, and whether all this is true - alas, could not be found out. Tell if anyone knows.

In general, this window (Janela do Capítulo) is considered one of the best works in the style of Manuelino. I have not seen all the works in this style, but I agree anyway!

We stumbled around the castle for a very long time and only the realization that the evening was coming, and with it the extreme train to Lisbon made us get out of there.

On the way to the station under the soft evening sun, it was nice to see the details of houses in the narrow streets of Tomar. By the way, Tomar - in plan, the city itself - appeared later than the fortress (which is logical for all cities where there is a fortress ...).

Total, I really liked the place! By and large, this was the only place I really wanted to get to in Portugal (I was a terrible fan of chivalry at that time. Ah, youth!). Of course, there is nothing to do for a long time there, but it’s worth to roll for a day and see absolutely magical stone carving on the towers of the Tomar castle!

In the Principality of Antioch, these were the castles of Rosh-Guillaume, Port Bonnel and Trepesac, which controlled the Baylan pass;

in Tripoli County - the powerful fortress of Tortosa (or Antartu), Arima Castle, Fort Bertrandimir, Safita Castle, called Chastelle Blanc (White Castle), the fortified settlement of Eltefah west of Tortosa plus commando in Tripoli;

in the personal possessions of the King of Jerusalem - part of the towers and ramparts of Jericho, the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem and the Chateau Rouge (Red Castle), which controlled the road from Jerusalem to Jericho;

in Jaffa and Ascalon - Gaza Castle (Gadres) and Natron Castle, which controlled the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem;

in the county of Caesarea - the Shako fortress and the famous Chastel-Peleren (Atlit);

in the Principality of Galilee and on the land of Trans-Jordan - the castle of La Fev, which towered over the plain of Esdrelon, or Fev, the great command of Safet, who owned the estates, the tower of Sephoria and the castle of Ge de Jacob;

in Acre and Tire - command.

Many of these castles were lost as a result of a crushing defeat at Hattin, since there were not enough defenders to withstand the onslaught of the soldiers of Saladin. Here is what his secretary, Imad al-Din, writes about the siege of La Fev castle in The History of the Conquest of Syria and Palestine by Saladin:

“Al-Fula was a very beautiful and well-fortified citadel, with a large garrison and ample supplies. This castle belonged to the Templars. It is impregnable and is a reliable strong point, equipped with a source of water and food. The Templars lived here in winter and summer, giving a warm welcome to the guests, here they kept their horses, it was important to walk around, the streams of their troops pulled out from here, their brothers gathered here, their demon quenched their thirst here, their cross was erected here, their troops flocked here , their warlike ardor flared up here, ”etc.

In Trebesak (Darbask - in the transcription of the scribe Saladin) “we found an extremely high castle, well above the constellation Gemini. He seemed to connect heaven and earth. It was a nest, or rather, a lair of the Templars. For a long time they held out their hands and poked their noses out of this castle in order to commit violence. ”

About Bagras Castle (Gaston): “Bagras is a castle that responded to the call of neighboring Antioch, which was in trouble. We saw him unshakably towering on an indestructible hill that seemed to be in contact with the sky, reaching the constellation Gemini; spreading in hollows and climbing mountains, he, damp from fogs, suspended from the sun and moon, wrapped his walls in clouds ... Nobody dreamed of going up there. It was the Templar’s \u200b\u200bcastle, the lair of hyenas, a forest inhabited by a wild beast, a home for tramps, a den of robbers, a refuge where all the misfortunes came from, the cause of which they were, the place where the disasters came from, the quiver of their arrows ”, etc.

Tortosa belonged to the Knights of the Temple since 1165. From the sea, they built a huge dungeon flanked by two square towers. The total length of this structure was 50 meters. A wide and deep moat separated the fortress from the territory with which it was connected by a narrow road. The moat communicated with the sea, but it was impossible to fill it, as well as to dig under the walls. The thickness of the walls erected from stone blocks of excellent quality was truly extraordinary. It was truly an impregnable place, about which in 1188 Saladin the Victor broke his teeth. Inside the walls were a chapel and a large hall decorated with human figures. It was in this dungeon, which is a bit similar to the Parisian one, that the Templars kept their archives and military treasury and gathered for chapel meetings in rare periods of calm. The residence of the master and his deputies was also located here.

Shastel Peleren (Pilgrim Castle) was similar in location to Tortosa. It was built by the Templars in 1218 at Cape Atlit, south of Haifa. Like Tortosa, it was almost completely isolated from the land by a wide moat filled with sea water. Yakov Tyrsky, who visited this castle, tells about his structure: “Two towers of square, well-hewn stone blocks are built in front of the facade of the Pilgrim Castle. Their sizes are so large that two bulls can hardly pull a wagon loaded with one block. Each of these towers is 100 steps long (approximately 33 meters) and 74 steps wide (approximately 24 meters). Due to their size, they contain two ballista in their bowels. As for their height, they exceed the level of the cape. Between the two towers is built a huge battlement fortress wall. With remarkable skill, a staircase is arranged inside it, along which knights can raise and lower their weapons. At a short distance from the towers, another wall extended from one edge of the sea to the other, fencing a well with life-giving water. On both sides, the cape is surrounded by newly rebuilt walls, rising almost to the height of the cliffs. In the southern part between the wall and the sea there are two wells, which supply the castle with fresh water in abundance. Inside the walls of this castle are a chapel, a palace and a large number of houses ... ”The author forgot to mention that the chapel had a hexagonal shape, and the main hall of the castle, like in Tortos, was decorated with large heads of knights, partially bearded and partially beardless.

Safita, also called Chastelle Blanc (White Castle), towered on a hill 380 meters high between Tortosa and the Castle of the Hospitallers, dominating the valley. This is perhaps the most eloquent and characteristic example of the Templar strongholds that existed in the East, for the donjon, located inside two concentric zones of the walls, was at the same time a church. This massive structure has a height of 28 m, a width of 18 m and a length of 31 m. Its lower floor is a chapel. In thick walls made windows for archery. The structure is blocked by a vault, divided into three double arches. The upper hall reaches 25 meters in height and 12 meters in width. The location of the windows for archers allowed firing from top to bottom. Below - the roofs of houses and streets, scattering in rays, like spokes in a wheel, the hub of which is a dungeon, so overwhelming with its power that Saladin did not dare to attack him. Safet was restored by the Templars in 1240, when the Franks again occupied Galilee. He controlled the valley at the foot of the Upper Galilee mountains and the large caravan route from Damascus to Acre. This stronghold could compete with the huge Castle of the Hospitallers and their Magrat fortress. A thousand captured Muslims worked to restore it after it was destroyed in 1218. Located at an altitude of 818 meters, Safet includes two huge oval-shaped walls, separated by a wide moat cut into the rock to prevent the possibility of undermining. His dungeon was the largest in the whole kingdom, reaching 34 meters in diameter. Seven towers complemented the defensive system. The first stone of this castle was laid by the Bishop of Marseilles, Benoit d "Alinyan, because then there were prelates who were not afraid to accept the cross and make a risky pilgrimage to the Holy Land! 50 knights, 35 ministerial brothers, 800 squire and mercenaries, 300 ballisters, 50 turklov, Apart from the various auxiliary warriors, they constituted a permanent garrison of this castle.In the event of a military conflict, two thousand people took up arms.When the sultan Beibars managed to seize the Safet after a siege, he ordered the entire garrison of the fortress to be executed. they say that the severed head of one brother continued to sing the hymn “Save Queen”, which she began when the executioner's sword separated her from the body.

Beaufort Castle offset the losses suffered by the Templars during this long struggle. Julien de Sauget, broke, sold them to him in 1260, and until 1268 the Beaufort belonged to the Order. This Julien was married to Euphemia, the daughter of the king of Armenia, who accused the templars of providing interest to her husband for the purpose of taking possession of the fortress. But Julien sold them also Sayda (Sidon), and in the end he himself entered the Order. Beaufort defended the Valley of Nar and covered Sidon, a coastal citadel, which was one of the last strongholds of the templars before they left the Holy Land.

J. Bordonov “Everyday life of the Templars in the XIII century”

In its cultural wealth, Spain is rightfully considered the pearl of the Mediterranean. Moreover, not only the Moors left their unique heritage here. So the great interest of tourists coming to Spain is also caused by the numerous castles that once belonged to the noble knights of the Knights Templar. The route through the castles of the Templars - one of the first religious military orders - is one of the most unusual and interesting routes in Spain.

One of the most important castles in Catalonia can be called a castle Miravet. This Templar stronghold in the Ebre Valley is one of the best examples of Romanesque, religious and military architecture of the order. Miravet is a medieval castle, the walls of which are remembered by the rule of Muslims, and the times of the great Templars, and the years of the civil war in Spain. The castle stands on a cliff 100 m high and with its walls offers a beautiful view of the city and surroundings.

A little better preserved castle of Itch in Tortose. For the first time it was mentioned in the II century. BC, at a time when the city was the Roman conquerors an important strategic point and bore the name of Dertos. Later, in the 9th century, the city of Tortosa became a Saracen fortress, but control over it was lost in 810, a period of progress and prosperity. Tortosa at present is the history and culture of many centuries, in which Romanesque, Spanish and Muslim traditions were woven together, whose traces are still visible today. It is interesting that the hotel operates in the fortress, so everyone can spend the night in a real old castle.

Peniscola - This is one of the largest spa centers in Valencia. Here is the symbol of Peniscola - the magnificent Papa Luna Castle, which is surrounded by massive ramparts. The castle got its name thanks to Pope Benedict XIII, who was hiding here in 1411 after accusing him of heresy and turned the place into his palace. Recognized by UNESCO as the historical and artistic world heritage in 1922, and as a historical and artistic monument in 1931, the castle gained fame due to the filming of the movie El Cid in 1961.

In the region of Castile and Leon, there is the Templar castle in Ponferrada. Built in the IX-XIV centuries, he guarded the road to Santiago de Compostela. In the Middle Ages, it was one of the largest fortresses in northwestern Spain. Currently, every year, on the first full moon of July, modern Templars gather here and arrange a holiday.

Castle Monzon   - This is a castle-fortress, which is located in the place of the same name (province of Huesca, Aragon). The construction of the castle dates back to the 10th century, and in 1143 it passed to the Templar Order and was supplemented and rebuilt a bit. After the collapse of the order and until the 19th century, the castle served as a defensive structure, was constantly strengthened and acquired its modern appearance only in the 18th century. Since its inception, various legends and fables have always been associated with the castle. Now Monzon Castle is recognized as a national monument.

Caravaca de la Cruz   (province of Murcia) - the fifth of the holy cities (Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela, Camalegno). In 1998, the municipality of Caravaca de la Cruz was included in the top five Holy Cities of the Roman Catholic Church, thereby gaining the right and privilege to celebrate the Holy Year every seven years - a special year when a great pilgrimage to the holy places for the remission of sins is made. This is a place of religious worship, a bastion of faith and centuries-old traditions. Here is stored a unique Christian relic - the True Cross - according to legend, a particle of the very Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.

The city lies at the foot of a heptagonal hill, on which towers a castle with fourteen towers and a baroque sanctuary. The roots of the castle are of Islamic origin, but as we see it now, it became under the Order of the Templars in the XIII-XV centuries. The castle is associated with the annual holiday of the city. According to legend, during the Arab siege, the defenders of the castle, having gone for water, mixed up and brought wine. The drunk wine spurred Christian forces and helped them completely defeat the Moors. Every year, in early May, on the streets of Karawaki, the river pours wine and goes to everyone.

In Europe and in the East, templars built many castles and fortresses and created more than a dozen monastery farms. In addition, the Knights of the Order of the Temple are credited with introducing a number of financial transactions - from check settlements to double-entry bookkeeping and loans at compound interest. But the main traces of the Templar Of course, left in the artistic culture.

The economic heritage of the Templars

Some historians believe that it was the followers of the Order of the Temple of Solomon who created check accounts. This invention was connected with the mission of protecting pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem, for the sake of which the organization was created. Since it was physically impossible for each traveler to provide personal accompaniment, and travelers were afraid to move with gold or silver, they made a financial or property contribution to the treasury of the Templars. In exchange, customers were given the usual note on a piece of leather on which the financial obligations of the order were indicated. According to this document, they could receive any amount of money in branches from Europe to the Middle East.

If the money in the depositor’s account ran out, they could be borrowed. The Templars are believed to have played no less than the Jewish community in the development of banks and usury. Their financial activities were clearly thought out and separated from the military. If the latter was more often occupied by knights, the former was assigned to the so-called sergeants. For their services, they took a certain commission, sometimes on the principle of “compound interest”, and all transactions carried out were recorded in accounting reports. The accumulation of significant funds by the templars, followed by the use of these savings in economic activity, some historians called one of the important forerunners of capitalism.

Castles and fortresses of the Templars

The Templars left behind an architectural heritage. They built many castles and round chapels in the Romanesque style in Europe, built and restored a number of fortresses and temples in the Middle East and North Africa. A number of researchers note that, in a couple of hundred years, the Templars created more than a hundred architectural structures on European lands, mainly in France, Germany, and Italy. According to some reports, some of their buildings survived in Scandinavia and the Baltic states. In Ukraine there are ruins of the Srednensky castle, which the knights of the order erected in the XII century.

In the Holy Land there are several dozen castles that were built or restored by the Templars. Some of them, such as the Chateau de Pelerin fortress in Atlite, tourists usually can only watch from afar. The reason is the ongoing military conflicts in Haifa. The Templar Castle Beaufort in Lebanon in the 20th century also became a military base and passed from the hands of one terrorist organization to another (from the PLO Yasser Arafat to the IDF and Hezbollah). But besides those fortresses that are in the zone of military conflicts, there are other Templar castles in the Middle East - for example, Castel Blanc in Syria, which is usually open to visitors.

Reflection of the image of the Templars in culture

The legacy of the Templars remained in the works of art. There are both positive (in M. Druon’s novels “Cursed Kings”) and negative (in W. Scott’s novel “Aivengo”) examples of their artistic images. In the Umberto Eco novel “The Foucault Pendulum,” the legend of the treasures of the order becomes one of the main parts of the plot canvas. These are only some of the most famous literary works. There is also a mass of fantastic literature, the plot of which is built on the myths of the Holy Grail   or secret organizations of medieval knights.

In popular culture, the legends of the Templars found a new sound after filming in the cinema. The film “The Da Vinci Code” and the series “The Last Templar” raised the question of whether the order exists today. The scandal surrounding the first picture, which was associated with an incorrect interpretation of the person of Christ, further popularized the famous legend of the Templars. And many computer games - from Deus Ex and Knights of the Temple to the famous Civilization of Sid Meyers - probably left no one who had not heard anything about these medieval knights.

Ksenia Zharchinskaya

One of the most famous castles in, built in the XII century. It is located about 140 km from Lisbon in the city of Tomar, which, in fact, has grown precisely around this grandiose structure. Today, the Templar castle is quite popular among tourists, not only due to its historical heritage, but also due to its unique architecture. It is included in the version of our site.

The castle itself is also known as Convento de Cristo. It contains the legacy of the Templars or followers of the Order of Christ. With the advent of the Templars, who were then called persecuted templars, new crosses appeared on the walls of the Tomar castle. Today, the fortress and all the structures inside it are worthily aging and growing with a noticeable moss, which looks good against a background of gray stone. Especially popular with tourists is a huge rectangular window decorated with a cross and royal symbols.

A round church, the “rotunda,” built in the style of the Israeli Church of the Holy Sepulcher, has been preserved behind the fortress walls. It is noteworthy that the castle withstood a powerful siege at the end of the XII century from the side of the Moor leader Yakub al-Mansur. One of the most significant figures in the development of the Order of Christ in Portugal was King Manuel I. Even before accession to the throne, he set about expanding the fortification complex in Tomar.

The attraction is located on a hill, so it can be seen long before the entrance to the city. Trains run regularly from Santa Apolonia Station in Lisbon to Tomar.