BODRUM CASTLE of St. PETER
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The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (to give their full name) was
originally established in 1085 as a community of monks responsible for looking
after the sick at the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem. They later became a
military order, defending crusader territory in the Holy Lands and
safeguarding
the perilous routes taken by medieval pilgrims. The Knights were drawn
exclusively from noble families and the Order acquired vast wealth from those it
recruited and later from the ill-gotten gains of their privateering.The Order of
the Hospital was not only the first military-religious order of chivalry, but
indeed the first order of knighthood of any kind. Previously, knights did not
serve in corporate bodies other than the armies of particular sovereigns. The
Order of the Temple, the Teutonic Order and the Order of Saint Lazarus were
founded soon after the Order of the Hospital. Each of these orders had its own
purposes, of which military defence was but one. Until this time, most knights
had been minor feudatories obliged, as part of the feudal system, to undertake
military service for a prescribed number of days each year; some were full time
soldiers who served in garrisons.The
Order was ruled by a Grand Master who was answerable only to the Pope. Knights
were chosen from the aristocratic families of France, Italy, Spain, England and
Portugal. On acceptance into the Order they were sworn to celibacy, poverty and
obedience.
Few
lived up to these ideals; many were very wealthy and the Knights' standoffish
attitude towards the locals does not always seem to have applied when it came to
temptations of the flesh.
After erecting a castle on the island of Cos, the Knights needed a stronghold on
the mainland of Asia Minor. In 1374 they acquired Symrna (where the city of
Izmir now stands), which a league of Christian powers had conquered earlier from
the Seljuks and built a castle there. The Mongol leader Tamerlane had his hordes
destroy this edifice in 1402, however, starting off a century-long struggle
between the Knights and the Ottoman Turks. The search for a new site led the
Knights to a small island set between two sheltered bays, (water once completely
surrounded the Castle). Ruins showed evidence of an ancient castle, now known to
have been erected during Doric Times (1110 BC), as well as a small Turkish
castle from the 11th CAD. Just 1 km to the north stood one of the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World, the Tomb of King Mausolus (now called The Mausoleum)
reduced
to ruins by an earthquake.In an area where successive groups of people have
lived for thousands of years, each new group tends to use building materials
left behind by previous inhabitants. The careful observer walking through the
backstreets of Bodrum will see many old houses with ancient blocks and column
pieces embedded in their walls. Not ones to waste useful building materials
themselves, the Knights instructed their builders to remove any usable portions
from the Tomb of King Mausolus when Castle construction began in 1402. Much of
the Mausoleum was built with a green colored rock, pieces of which now adorn the
Castle walls. Visitors can also see column bases in the sides of several towers.
In 1846, Sir Stratford Canning, British Ambassador to Istanbul, took from the
Castle 12 marble reliefs depicting the battle between the Greek and the Amazons
(which the Knights took from the Mausoleum) and sent them to London. The Vatican
attached great importance to the building of the Castle and send Christians to
work there. In 1409 the Papal Office issued a decree that all those who assisted
in the construction would receive a guaranteed reservation in Heaven. German
Architect Heinrich Schlegelholt supervised construction of the Castle, seeing to
it that it incorporated the latest in castle design. The French had developed
the art of cannon foundry by this time, so gun embrasures were built along the
top of the Castle's walls, especially those facing landward. The Crusaders had a
powerful fleet of warships, so they had little fear of attack from the sea (the
walls facing the mainland were also built much thicker than those facing the
sea). Also, the Knights decided a second and third line of defense were
necessary, resulting in a more complicated moat system than that of most
castles.Castle
construction continued throughout the 15th Century, with the first walls
completed by 1437. The Chapel, (which still stands in its original place inside
the Castle) was one of the first completed structures. The Knights also built a
watchtower overlooking the bay from a hill opposite the Castle, the remains of
which stand, sporting a Turkish flag, above the present-day Turkish military
resort. In the inner Castle, wide areas were excavated in
the natural rock to from cisterns for collecting rainwater (including the one
under the chapel there are 14). These cisterns, some of which are still in use,
supplied the Knights with water when the Castle was under siege.
In 1409 the Papal Office
issued a decree that all those who assisted in the construction would receive a
guaranteed reservation in Heaven.
The Knights began
referring to the town as Mesy, unaware of its ancient name, and the new Castle
of St. Peter soon became the Knights' most important position outside Rhodes. In
conjunction with the castle of Antimahia on the island of Cos, it oversaw the
most heavily used shipping route of the day. The fortress became known as the
Castle of St. Peter The Liberator because it served as the sole place of refuge
for all Christians on the west coast of Asia Minor. The Knights kept a special
breed of dog in the Castle, who could track down refugees and bring them to
safety, much like the famous St. Bernard. Life in the Castle was rather slow in
between battles, so the Knights had plenty of time to adorn the walls with
hundreds of coats of arms and carved reliefs. Coats of arms were first used by
the Crusaders during their conquest of Jerusalem. The heat of the Middle East
made it impossible to fight with their normal heavy armor, so the Knights, like
their Muslim Foes, emblazoned their surcoats and shields with colorful symbols.
The various coats of arms spread throughout the Castle have lost the brilliant
colors they once wore, making it more difficult to identify who or what they
once stood for. The arms in general show lions, dragons, crosses and horizontal
and vertical bands. Each knight had his own design, and others signified certain
countries, religious figures, Castle commandants and grand masters of the Order.
A total of 249 separate designs remain.
Other
historical records have helped to identify most of these symbols. For example,
above each of the seven gates in the Castle lie the arms of several known
knights and
grand
masters, while the Royal Arms of France adorn the north wall of the inner moat.
Religious motifs were also included, such as one on a high western wall
depicting the Virgin Mary and the Apostle Peter holding the keys of Heaven to
his breast. For over a century the Castle of St. Peter served as an integral
stronghold in the Knights' community. The Ottoman Empire continued to grow,
however, and in 1453 Mehmet II, Sultan of Turkey, conquered Constantinople and
announced his aggressive intentions towards the Knights' holdings. The Knights
resisted his attack, however, as well as another in 1480. By 1521, Turkish
leader Süleyman the Magnificent was ready to challenge the Order's headquarters
in Rhodes. After an exchange of letters with Grand Master Fabrico del Carretto
war was declared. In June 1522, 200.000 Turkish soldiers gathered in the Bay of
Marmaris. The Knights withstood the siege for six months, but were forced to
surrender in January 1523. The Castle of St. Peter soon followed. Sultan
Süleyman spared the Knights' lives and they sailed to the island of Crete.
The Castle underwent several different uses under Turkish care. In the 17th
Century villagers erected several houses within the Castle. In the Greek revolt
of 1824 the Turks used it and the town as a military base. Later in the 19th
Century Turkish builders installed a public bath and converted the chapel to a
mosque by adding a minaret. And in 1895, the Castle was fortified and used as a
prison. In the First World War a French warship fired on the Castle, damaging
several towers and toppling the minaret. After the war the Italians, who
occupied the Anatolian shore from Kusadasi to Antalya, put a garrison in the
Castle. They also repaired the Italian and French towers and tried to establish
good relations with Turkey. When it became obvious that the war of independence
led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk would be won by the Turks, the Italians withdrew in
1921.The Castle stood empty for almost 40 years, until the Turkish government
decided to use it as a storeroom for underwater findings from several recent
shipwreck excavations. In 1962 the government decided these findings were
worthy of a separate museum, and the castle changed into one of the biggest
museums in Mediterranean.
