Montferrand Castle at Ba’rin

A castle hill above the town of Ba’rin, on the Homs–Masyaf road 40 kilometres west of Hama. The crusaders built it in 1126 and called it Montferrand; it was the forward post on the eastern edge of the County of Tripoli, and they held it for about ten years. What stands today is the ditch, stretches of curtain wall and the bases of the towers.

Getting there

Ba’rin is the largest town in the Masyaf district and the Homs–Masyaf road runs through it. Masyaf Castle is 15 kilometres north-west, Krak des Chevaliers 25 kilometres south-west; all three fit one day. Leave the car in the town and walk up.

What to see

The ditch that rings the hill is more than 10 metres deep and cut sheer on the side facing the wall. The curtain is built of large blocks of basalt and limestone, with square towers set on sloping glacis on the east, north and south, and a round tower on the west overlooking the ditch. Two levels can be read inside: the inner castle on top and a wider enclosure below it. A house from the Ottoman period also stands within the ruin.

Why the castle was pulled down

Montferrand went up in 1126 while the combined forces of Jerusalem, Tripoli and Antioch were besieging Rafaniya, to close the blockade; Rafaniya fell at the end of that month. In 1137 Zengi, atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo, laid siege to the castle. Raymond II of Tripoli was taken prisoner, King Fulk of Jerusalem took refuge inside, and when the food ran out the horses were eaten. Fulk knew nothing of the relief army on its way, and accepted a ransom of 50,000 dinars and the surrender of the castle. The crusaders never took Ba’rin again; in 1142 Raymond II handed his claims over to the Knights Hospitaller to persuade them to recover it, and nothing changed. Al-Muzaffar Mahmud, the Ayyubid emir of Hama, had the citadel razed in 1238.

What most people miss

Rafaniya. The town two kilometres south-west of the castle was the base of the Roman Legio III Gallica; it was from here that the fourteen-year-old Elagabalus was proclaimed emperor in 218. Rafaniya is also the reason Montferrand exists: the castle was built to besiege the town, then kept to hold it.