Edesse

History

The city of Edessa (modern-day Şanlıurfa) occupies a strategic position at the crossroads of routes linking northern Syria, Armenia and Mesopotamia. Over the centuries, this location gave it particular importance in exchanges between the Mediterranean and Eastern worlds, but also exposed it to rivalries between the powers competing for control of the region.

Although the city's origins remain poorly understood, its refoundation during the Hellenistic period is generally attributed to Seleucus I, who is said to have named it after a city in Macedonia. As the capital of Osrhoene, Edessa successively came under Roman, Parthian, Sasanian and Byzantine influence. Having fallen under Muslim rule in the seventh century, it was recaptured by the Byzantines in 1031 before passing under Turkish control in the second half of the eleventh century.

When the Crusaders arrived, the city was governed by Thoros, a Christian prince of Armenian origin who sought to preserve his authority against the neighbouring Turkish powers. Feeling threatened, he appealed for help to Baldwin of Boulogne, brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, who was then taking part in the First Crusade. Welcomed favourably by the population in February 1098, Baldwin was soon adopted by Thoros and designated as his heir. This arrangement, however, proved short-lived. In early March, a revolt broke out against Thoros, who took refuge in the citadel before being captured and killed. Baldwin's precise role in this uprising remains a matter of debate, but he was its principal beneficiary: having become master of Edessa, he established the first of the Crusader states in the East. In 1100, he left the county to assume the crown of Jerusalem, entrusting his principality to his cousin Baldwin of Bourcq.

Shortly after the Frankish disaster at the Battle of the Balikh in May 1104, which resulted in the capture of the new Count of Edessa, Baldwin of Bourcq, and Joscelin I of Courtenay, the city was besieged by forces from Mosul. Its defence fell to Tancred, who was then acting as regent of the county.

Despite the small number of troops at his disposal, Tancred succeeded in organising the city's resistance, in which its inhabitants played an active part. After several days of siege, a sortie by the defenders, combined with the arrival of reinforcements led by Bohemond of Antioch, forced the attackers to withdraw. Edessa had thus escaped a first major Muslim attempt at reconquest.

In the spring of 1110, Mawdūd, atabeg of Mosul, again besieged Edessa at the head of a coalition of Muslim princes. Count Baldwin of Bourcq appealed for assistance to King Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who assembled an army with the support of Frankish and Armenian forces. The approach of this coalition brought the siege to an end, but revealed the vulnerability of the county's possessions east of the Euphrates. The Franks therefore decided to evacuate part of the Christian population from the most exposed rural areas in order to protect them from enemy raids. In 1112, Mawdūd reappeared before Edessa and attempted to take the city by surprise with the complicity of some of its inhabitants. The attempt failed, notably thanks to the vigilance of Joscelin I of Courtenay, then lord of Turbessel and future Count of Edessa.

In November 1144, while Count Joscelin II, son and successor of Joscelin I, was absent from his capital, Zengi, atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo, took advantage of the weakness of its garrison to lay siege to Edessa. In the count's absence, the defence was organised by Hugh, the Latin archbishop, assisted by the Armenian and Syriac prelates. Despite insufficient forces and limited supplies, the inhabitants offered prolonged resistance to the attackers. The latter deployed siege engines and began mining the walls. After almost four weeks of siege, part of the northern city wall collapsed, opening a breach which the defenders vainly attempted to close with a hastily erected wall.

The city was captured on either 23 or 24 December 1144, while the citadel continued to resist for several more days. The capture was accompanied by massacres and acts of violence, which Zengi nevertheless quickly brought to an end, seeking to preserve a city whose position was essential for communications between his possessions in Mosul and Aleppo. The indigenous Christian communities were relatively spared from reprisals, unlike the Latins, whose rule over Edessa had come to an end.

Zengi's assassination in September 1146 offered Joscelin II one last opportunity to attempt to recover his former capital.

With the support of part of the Armenian population, the Franks succeeded in entering Edessa at the end of October 1146. They regained control of the city but were unable to capture the citadel, whose Muslim garrison continued to resist. On learning of the situation, Nūr al-Dīn, Zengi's son and ruler of Aleppo, rapidly marched on Edessa, trapping the Franks between his troops and the defenders of the citadel.

Joscelin II was forced to evacuate the city on the night of 2–3 November, accompanied by numerous Christian inhabitants who feared reprisals. The retreat turned into a disaster: pursued by Nūr al-Dīn's forces, the fugitives suffered heavy losses, while many inhabitants were massacred or taken captive. The chroniclers speak of several tens of thousands of victims, figures which convey the gravity of the catastrophe in contemporary accounts but cannot be regarded as reliable counts. The city subsequently suffered severe destruction and deportations, dealing a decisive blow to its Christian communities.

The definitive loss of Edessa marked the disappearance of the county's principal stronghold east of the Euphrates. Its first fall, in 1144, had already caused profound shock in the West and prompted the call for the Second Crusade, preparations for which were already underway at the time of the catastrophe of 1146.

Description

Despite its former importance, Edessa today preserves few remains of its medieval fortifications. Of the extensive city walls, once strengthened by numerous towers, only a few sections and one gate survive. The citadel, however, standing on the rocky heights south of the city, remains an imposing fortified complex overlooking the modern town.

The fortress occupies an elongated plateau whose irregular outline determines the course of its curtain walls. Long attributed to Justinian, it is in fact the result of numerous phases of construction and reconstruction, from the Byzantine to the Ottoman period. Recent archaeological studies have identified several major building phases, including a significant extension of the enceinte, probably carried out between the sixth and eleventh centuries. The curtain walls are flanked by quadrangular towers and beaked towers, while successive medieval building campaigns substantially transformed the defensive works.

One of its most spectacular features is the great rock-cut ditch, which isolates the fortress along its eastern and southern fronts. Excavated and deepened in several stages, it now reaches a maximum depth of approximately 18 metres. In its southern section stands an isolated rock-cut pier of approximately rectangular cross-section (3 × 4 m), probably intended to support a bridge giving access to the citadel. This arrangement recalls those found at Saône and Nephin, where masses of rock left standing within the ditch likewise formed part of the means of crossing the obstacle.

The citadel underwent considerable alterations after the Frankish period. The rebuilding campaigns of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, particularly under the Mamluks, followed by major works undertaken in the fifteenth century under the Aq Qoyunlu, transformed its defences. Powerful projecting towers were notably erected along the northern front, while the entrance system was reorganised during the Ottoman period.

The interior of the citadel, now largely devoid of ancient structures, preserves two ancient columns with Corinthian capitals, traditionally associated with the so-called "Throne of Nimrod". One bears a Syriac inscription dating from the third century. These remains may have belonged to the palace of the rulers of Osrhoene, whose presence on this height is mentioned in ancient sources.