Trapessac is a medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 fortress located 4 km north of the town of Kırıkhan

Kirikhan

Kırıkhan is a town and district in the northeastern part of Hatay Province, Turkey. The name Kırıkhan means “broken inn” in the Turkish language, perhaps a reference to one of the many lodgings that once lined the road...

 in Hatay Province

Hatay Province

Hatay Province is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast. It is bordered by Syria to the south and east and the Turkish provinces of Adana and Osmaniye to the north. The province is part of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region that covers the provinces of...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Trapessac was constructed in the 11th century by the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 and, together with the nearby fortress at Bagras

Bagras

Bagras or Baghras is the name of a town and nearby castle in İskenderun district of present-day Turkey, in the Amanus Mountains.The castle, properly known as Gastun provided a base for a force to cover the Syrian Gates, the passes between İskenderun and Antioch...

, guarded the Syrian Gates

Syrian Gates

The Belen Pass , also known as the Syrian Gates, is a mountain pass located in the Belen District of Hatay Province in south-central Turkey...

, the principle pass between the coastal region of Cilicia

Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

 and inland Syria

Greater Syria

Greater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....

.

The castle fell to Saladin

Saladin

Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...

 in 1188 after a bitterly-fought, two-week siege. Lying as it did at a key point in the Amanus

Nur Mountains

The Nur Mountains , also known as Gâvur Mountains , the ancient Amanus , is a mountain range in the Hatay Province of south-central Turkey, which runs roughly parallel to the Gulf of İskenderun....

 marches between the Principality of Antioch

Principality of Antioch

The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade.-Foundation:...

 and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , also known as the Cilician Armenia, Kingdom of Cilician Armenia or New Armenia, was an independent principality formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia...

, both the Templars and the Armenians were eager to retake the castle. Leo I of Armenia attempted to seize it in 1205 but was repelled by the defenders. The Templars also launched an expedition to recover it in 1237, but were ambushed and badly defeated, suffering grievous losses.

It was reoccupied by Hetoum I in 1261 after the Mongols captured it in their invasion of Syria. However, the Armenians were not to hold it long. After the defeat of the Armenian army at the Battle of Mari

Battle of Mari

The Battle of Mari, also called the Disaster of Mari, was a battle between the Mamluks of Egypt and the Armenians of Cilician Armenia on August 24, 1266....

 in 1266, Hetoum agreed to surrender the fortress to the Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

s to ransom his son Leo. It passed into the hands of Baibars

Baibars

Baibars or Baybars , nicknamed Abu l-Futuh , was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. He was one of the commanders of the forces which inflicted a devastating defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France and he led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked...

 in 1268.

In 1280, the fortress was temporarily regained by Abaqa Khan

Abaqa Khan

Abaqa Khan , also Abaga , or Abagha Khan, was the second Mongol ruler of the Persian Ilkhanate. The son of Hulagu Khan and Yesuncin Khatun, he reigned from 1265–1282 and was succeeded by his brother Tekuder Khan...

 when he advanced to sack Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, but abandoned it when they withdrew from Syria.