Mi'ilya
Castellum Regis
Castellum Regis ( castle of the king; French Château du Roi ) is a former Crusader castle in Mi'ilya ( Mhalia ) in Galilee in northern Israel.
Location
The ruins of the Crusader castle in the mountains of Galilee, about 22 km north-east of Acre, about 2 km south-east of the castle Montfort. Today, the residential areas of the town Mi'ilya extends right up to the castle.
History
The first mention of the castle in 1160, when King Baldwin III. Jerusalem of the castle as a hereditary fief to John of Haifa, son of Gambre, forgave. 1182 was Baldwin III. Jerusalem of the castle to his uncle, the disempowered in Edessa Count Joscelin III. The castle was doing " the new castle in the mountains of Acre " called, possibly comes from the fact that it was newly built in 1179.
End of 1187 the castle fell to Saladin, but was recaptured a few years later.
The husband of Joscelin heiress, Otto von Botenlauben, sold the castle in 1220 to the Teutonic Order. The purchase was challenged by Jakob von Mandale ( Amigdala ), the son of the youngest daughter of Joscelin, Agnes, who was a share of Joscelin discount stressed and eventually paid out in 1228 by the Teutonic Order. At this time the castle had already lost its importance to the nearby castle of Montfort.
The castle was finally conquered 1266-1271 by the Mamluks.
Plant
Castellum Regis was built as a hill fort on top of a hill. It has a rectangular floor plan and at each corner a projecting square tower, from which attackers could also be shot at wall base. The outer walls are about 3 m thick, and enclose an area of just 40 square meters. Further down the hill, there are some brick, some of the rock -cut remains of a bailey with church and houses.