Montfort and the early castle of the Teutonic Order

• Applicant: Dr. Thomas Biller
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2013 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 241795051

Montfort, near Akko, has been commonly regarded since the 19th c. as the "first' castle of the Teutonic Order, which is not quite correct, because the order had previously acquired existing castles in Palestine. But according to our results as well, Montfort was in fact the ftrst castle to be erected by the order, already in 1226 when the order was only 35 years old (Th. Biller). Whether this special status produced extraordinary architectural designs or functions which possibly influenced the order's impressive 14th c. castles in Prussia has yet to be clarified, especially in the light of older assertions, some of which have since been disproved, while others persist without evidence.Destroyed in 1271 by Sultan Bybars after only 45 years of existence, the ruined castle is a good object for researching historical architecture and construction because most of it was excavated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (N. Y.) already in 1926. Although this considerably reduces the value ofMontfori in terms of modem archeology, the conditions for analyzing the architectural remains are favorable because the walls are almost entirely exposed. The excavators of 1926 could not adequately interprete the clues to the building phases, and later publications only lightly improved this situation. So the point of departure for our work is to analyze the architectural remains to establish first of all their relative chronology. The dating of the building phases will be based on an analysis of the ornamental styles and technical criteria, as well as a detailed evaluation of all written sources relating to the castle. By clarifying the architectural development we can achieve new insights about the functions of the building parts and their stylistic derivation, which was - in contrast to older interpretations - in no way 'Gemian."We will incorporate in our assessment the architectural evidence coming from new excavations by A. Boas (Haifa) in the small pari of the main castle that has until now been buried under rubble. Excavations in the lower ward have staried and are expected to take quite some time. So far, insights about this pari of the castle are rather lim'tted for the moment. Our cooperation with A. Boas will start wah the publication ofan abridged English translation of our exposition. Beyond Montfort castle, our interest also extends to all the castles and houses of the Teutonic Order dating up to the year 1300. First ofall, the castles in Cilicia will be examined in detail; in most cases clarification is still needed as to which of their parts can be attributed to the order Especially Haruniye, until now understood to have been constructed by Härün al-RashTd (r 786-809), was most probably a new construction of the order, contemporary with Montfort and similar in concept (T. Radt).The eariy houses ofthe Teutonic Order in the Occident are being investigated by D. Burger, primarily using historical methods since the architectural remains are rather scarce. These results also emphasize the prominence of Montfort and the other castles of the Teutonic Order in the eastem Mediten-anean as the eariiest architectural expression of one ofthe most important orders of chivalry.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants