The castle of Amouda Crusader castle, formerly in the

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Middle Armenian: , '), also known as Cilician Armenia ( hy, Կիլիկեան Հայաստան, '), Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia ( hy, ...

, and today close to the village of

Gökçedam Gökçedam (also known as Hemite) is a village in the central district of Osmaniye province, Turkey. The village is inhabited by Turkmens. It was the birthplace of the famous Turkish novelist of Kurdish origin Yaşar Kemal. Its most conspicuous fea ...

in the Turkish Province of

Osmaniye Osmaniye () is a city on the eastern edge of the Çukurova plain in southern Turkey and the capital of Osmaniye province. Backed by the foothills of the Nur Mountains, Osmaniye lay on one of the old Silk Roads and was always a place of strategic ...

. The castle was deeded by the Armenian king Levon I to the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

in 1212 (Barber 2008) and rebuilt by them in the 13th century. It earned revenue for the Teutonic Order from the surrounding land. According to contemporary sources, the castle provided shelter for 2,200 people during the invasion by the

Mamluks Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') i ...

in 1266.

Architecture

In 1987 an archaeological and historical assessment of the site, as well as a surveyed plan, were published. From atop the outcrop this castle has clear inter-visibility with at least five others forts. Based on an analysis of the masonry, there were at least three major periods of construction and/or repair, with the most prominent contribution from the Crusader occupation. Unlike Armenian designs, it has a simple rectangular plan dominated at the southwest by a four-story keep with cisterns in the lowest level. The design of Amouda is similar to the Teutonic Knights's castle at Montfort with a

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

guarding the entrance (Molin 2001).

References

* ''Unknown crusader castles'' by Kristian Molin, Hambledon Continuum, 2001 * The Military Orders: History and heritage By Malcolm Barber, Victor Mallia-Milanes. 2008
Extensive photographic survey and plan of Amouda / Amuda Castle
Castles of the Teutonic Knights Crusader castles Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia Castles in Turkey {{crusades-stub