Just off
the King's Highway 190 km south
of
Amman and less than an hour
north of
Petra stands an impressive
castle as a lonely reminder of
former
Crusader glory dating from
the same turbulent period as
Kerak, crowning a cone of rock,
which rises above a wild and rugged
landscape dotted with a grand sweep
of fruit trees below.
It is today known as Shobak, but
to the Crusaders it was
Mont Real
(Crak de Montreal) or Mons Regalis,
the Fortress of the Royal Mount. It
was built in 1115 by King Baldwin I
of
Jerusalem to guard the road from
Damascus to Egypt, and was the
first of a string of similar
strongholds in the Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem.
Salahuddin
Al-Ayyoubi (Saladin) attacked
it on several occasions, finally
capturing it in 1189 (only 75 years
after it was raised) when the
Crusaders were losing their foothold
throughout the Holy Land.
Inscriptions by Saladin's proud
successors appear on the castle
wall. In 1260, it passed to the
Mamluks whom restored it in the
following century, adorning its
walls and towers with
Arabic
inscriptions which testify to
their work. Since then it has lain
largely untouched, gradually falling
into greater disrepair.
The castle's exterior is
impressive, with a forbidding gate
and encircling walls
three layers
thick. The walls and projecting
towers are still reasonably intact,
but inside the castle consists
mainly of tumbled stones with a few
walls and arches. One of the most
fascinating remains is the ancient
well-shaft
cut deep into the rock, with 375
steps leading down to the water
supply at the bottom.
There are several small villages in
the area, for there are abundant
springs and fertile valleys where
olives, grapes, figs, and apricots
are grown, as well as grain crops.
Earlier this century the castle
itself was occupied by a few local
families, and there was a market
within its walls which served all
the villages. Before 1948 trade
links were mainly with Palestine,
and the villagers would make regular
trips to Beersheba to sell livestock
and ghee (camel butter), and to
Hebron and
Jerusalem to buy sugar, oranges
and cloth. Today they have to go to
Ma'an.
