Rumkale

Rumkale (lit. 'Roman Castle'; Armenian: Հռոմկլա, romanized: Hromgla), also known as Urumgala, is a ruined fortress on the Euphrates, located in the province of Gaziantep and 50 km west of Şanlıurfa.

Rumkale
Yavuzeli, Gaziantep Province, Turkey
The Rumkale Fortress
Rumkale
Coordinates	37°16′19″N 37°50′17″E
Type	Fortress
Site history
Events	Council of Hromkla in 1179

Although Rumkale is sometimes linked with places mentioned in ancient sources, the foundations of the structure can be traced back to the Byzantine rule the earliest, when the fortress was the seat of a Syriac Orthodox bishopric. Rumkale evolved into a town when its Armenian civilian population grew in the 11th century. The fortress slipped away from the Byzantine rule when Philaretos Brachamios (r. 1071–1087), a Byzantine general of Armenian origin, usurped control of the region amidst the political turmoil caused by the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Rumkale then came under Kogh Vasil, whose adoptive son and successor Vasil Dgha was tortured by Baldwin II of Edessa and forced to relinquish his lands, including Rumkale, to the Crusader states in 1116. Sometime between 1148 and 1150, Catholicos Grigor III Pahlavuni purchased the fortress making it the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church, although it continued to house Syriac Orthodox and Catholic representatives. The town later became part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, and by 1268, became isolated from the rest of the Cilician domains.

In 1292, the castle was besieged and captured by the Mamluk Sultanate. From then on, it served as a significant outpost on the border with the Ilkhanate, a breakaway state of the Mongol Empire. In 1516, Rumkale surrendered to the Ottoman army without a siege following the Mamluk defeat at the Battle of Marj Dabiq.

In 1831, the fortress was depopulated after the Ottoman forces suppressed the rebellion led by the local tax collector. The next year, Egyptian general Ibrahim Pasha bombarded the fortress during the Egyptian–Ottoman War.

Names

In Syriac sources, the site was attested to as Šūrō d'Rūmoyē, and by the 11th century, Qal'ah Rūmoytō and Ḥeṣnō d'Rūmoyē.

History

Antiquity

Rumkale's strategic location was already known to the Assyrians, and it is possible that it was fortified by the Romans, no remains of periods earlier than 1000 CE have been identified at the site. Rumkale has been suggested to correspond to Shitamrat, which was taken by Shalmaneser III (r. 859 – 824 BC) in 855 BC, due to Rumkale's location on a cliff, which is an uncommon feature among other structures in the region. It is said that John, an apostle of Jesus, lived in Rumkale during Roman times. Rumkale became then a part of the Byzantine Empire.

Early medieval period

From what remains of the fortress, the foundations may be traced back to the Byzantine rule. The structure was potentially guarding the Byzantine frontier and the Roman road following the right bank of the Euphrates. The fortress housed a Syriac Orthodox bishopric during the 5–6th-centuries. Among its bishops were Uranius, who attended the Council of Antioch in 445, Maryiun, who took part in the consecration of Severus of Antioch and was later banished by Justin I (r. 518–27), and John, appointed by Jacob Baradaeus in mid-6th century. The site likely evolved into a settlement in the 11th century with the immigration of Armenians from the north as the Byzantine forces displaced a significant population from their lands.

By the 1080s, the region was under Philaretos Brachamios (r. 1071–1087), a Byzantine-Armenian general who carved up parts of the empire with the defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Later, Hromgla became one of Kogh Vasil's domains, who was based in Kaysum to the north, and probably bore allegiance to Philaretos. Despite Kogh Vasil's wish to ally with the Crusader states, his adopted son and successor Vasil Dgha was captured, tortured, and forced to relinquish his lands to Baldwin II of Edessa in 1116. The fortress likely was part of the Lordship of Marash until the downfall of the County of Edessa between 1144 and 1151.

With an Armenian bishop already present during that time, it was purchased by Gregory III from Beatrice of Turbessel in 1148 or 1150 to obtain a safe settlement for the Armenian Catholicosate. Gregory's brother Nerses IV was elected as Armenian Catholicos here in 1166 and it seems that at this time a very considerable settlement existed there during his time that also housed representatives of the Syriac Orthodox and the Catholic Church.

Manuscript produced in Rumkale in 1166, kept in Matenadaran.

Armenian Cilician period

The castle became then part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. In the 1170 and 1172, theological conferences exploring a union of churches were held at Hromgla between the Armenian Church and the Byzantine Church with the Syrian Orthox (Jacobite) Church sending observers. In 1179, a synod of 33 Armenian bishops took place in Hromgla came up with a compromise and sent a profession of faith to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, but he died in September 1180 before it reached him. From 1203 to 1293, it served as the residence of the Catholicos of the Armenian Church. The site became an important center for manuscript production, reaching its artistic peak under the Catholicos Constantine I who employed Toros Roslin, whose stylistic and iconographic innovations had profound influence on subsequent generations of Armenian art.

Hromkla within the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

By 1268, Hromgla was isolated from the remainder of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia and was attacked by a force of Mamluks of Egypt, which destroyed the town while it was unable to conquer the citadel.

Mamluk period

In 1292, the castle was captured following a protracted siege by the Mamluks under al-Ashraf and its garrison massacred while the clergy and other population were made prisoners or enslaved. Al-Ashraf also had the castle rebuilt and renamed it to Qal'at al-Muslimin. On several occasions, contemporary sources referred to the castle as a strategic base of the Mamluks for raids or intelligence in the lands of the Ilkhanate. It was not of the same importance as Bahasni to the north and Ayntab to the west. The castle was damaged by Timur's forces in 1400–1, but the structure was repaired again by the Mamluks.

Mamluk governors of Rumkale

Name	Year(s)
Kijli	1326
Anas	1348–1349/50
Sharaf al-Din Musa	1349–?
Taydamur al-Isma'ili	1350–?
Tuqtamur al-Kalatayi	?
Aqbay al-Ashrafi	1389
Kumushbugha al-Ashrafi	?–1392
Taghanji	1394–?
Tughan	?–1413
Damurdash al-Zahiri	1413
Janibak al-Hamzawi	1414–1415/16
Abu Bakr al-Babiri	?–1417
Mankli Khuja	1417–?
Ayaz al-Shamsi	?
Timraz al-Qirmishi	?–1423
Mughulbay al-Bajasi	?–1452
Nasir al-Din Muhammad	1452–?

In 1466, the Mamluk-controlled fortress fell to the Dulkadirid ruler Shah Suwar (r. 1466–72). However, much of Shah Suwar's new possessions were later regained by the Mamluks, and he was caught and executed in 1472.

In 1516, the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate engaged in a war that would facilitate the downfall of the latter. Although the Ottoman forces camped 25 km west of Rumkale near the Merziman Stream, they did not lay siege to the town and began advancing towards Ayntab. The garrison of the town handed over control to the Ottomans, who marched in the direction of Dabiq.

Ottoman period

Rumkale, along with other Mamluk fortresses and towns west of the Euphrates, surrendered to the Ottoman forces following the defeat of the Mamluk Sultanate at Battle of Marj Dabiq the same year. In 1517, Rumkale became the center of its namesake sanjak with Omer Beg-oghlu Idris as its sanjak-bey as part of the new Damascus-based Vilayet-i Arab (lit. 'Arab Province') of the Ottoman Empire. However, Rumkale was shortly demoted to the status of kaza of the Sanjak of Birejik sometime between 1518 and 1520.

All residents of Rumkale recorded in the Ottoman defters during the 16th-century were Muslim. The site was later repopulated by some Armenians, who were allowed to use the old catholical church on occasions.

Est. pop. of Rumkale in the 16th-century

	Neighborhoods
Year	Qattan	Qizilja	Rumlulu	Hajji Halil	Total
1536	388	318	622	583	1911
1552	322	268	328	605	1523
1570	313	296	363	566	1538
1584	337	414	450	661	1862
Notes	Estimates are calculated by multiplying hane (household) by 5 and adding the number of mücerreds (single people).

Desertion

Following the 1831 rebellion led by Bekirzade Mehmed Bey, the voivode (tax-collector, warlord) of Rumkale, the Ottoman government decreed the depopulation of the town and the destruction of the homes to prevent the fortress from harboring any future rebels.

1835–37 drawing of Rumkale.

The remaining few intact buildings were bombarded by Ibrahim Pasha in 1832 during the Egyptian–Ottoman War, which forced the residents to relocate to the village of Kasaba, while influential families moved to the town of Halfeti on the opposite (eastern) side of the Euphrates or the city of Aintab in the west.

View of Rumkale from the north dated before 1890.

Architecture

Churches

Thirteenth-century Syriac primate and writer Bar Hebraeus noted at least two Syriac Orthodox churches in Rumkale: a small church likely located in the town and built at the end of the 12th century and a larger one constructed in the lower neighborhood during Patriarch Ignatius III David's tenure (1222–52). Rumkale included a church erected by Rabban Isho, an Assyrian monk and copyist, who died in 1247 and was buried there.

Mosques

In the 16th-century Ottoman records detailing the population of Rumkale, historian H. Basri Karadeniz identified two mosques in the town, the Grand Mosque (Ulu Camii) and the Castle Mosque (Kal'a Camii). In addition to both two mosques, historian Ali Yılmaz listed 3 mosques Horos, Mehmed Saruji, and Zeytun, as well as 4 masjids, Kubbeli, Han, Hajji Osman, and Diremli. According to Yasin Taş, these mosques were potentially located in the neighboring villages, and the town contained only the first two mosques based on the same records, which attested to the presence of a smaller clergy community in Rumkale: 1 hatib, 2 imams, 2 muezzins, and 1 duagu. In parallel, 17th-century traveler Evliya Çelebi mentioned one mosque and another in the suburbs in his seyahatnâme (travelogue).

Ak Masjid was likely built in late 17th century as it was first attested to in January 1697 and continued to be mentioned in Ottoman records through 1844. Abu'l-Qays Mosque first appeared in January 1726 with the appointment of a trustee and stopped being mentioned by mid-19th century. Ikiyollu Masjid was the only Islamic place of worship whose location is known to be in a specific neighborhood, Qizilja, from the Ottoman records. It was later known as Ghnana Masjid from its potential founder Abdulghani dubbed as Ghnana Dede. However, the masjid's construction year is unknown and it was first mentioned in February 1697. Oluk Mosque was recorded once in February 1697. Hizir Ilyas Mosque differs from the rest as it was not found in any archival records but is identified in a photo dated back to late 19th century.

Photo of Hizir Ilyas Mosque during the reign of Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909).

Schools

The Rammahiya Madrasa was most likely located in the Rumlulu neighborhood. Historian Muhsin Soyudoğan points out that Zamahiya, the transliteration put forward by Yılmaz and Karadeniz in prior publications, is a result of the misreading of the shaddah, Arabic diacritic equivalent of double consonants, as a dot above the first letter, rāʾ, (ر‎) so that it was zāy (ز‎). The name of the institution was inevitably tied to the Ramah Spring. According to Soyudoğan, the name may be alluding to Syrian chemist Hasan al-Rammah, who died 3 years after Mamluk acquisition of Rumkale. In addition to a madrasa, the complex also included a primary school and a masjid. As opposed to the riverside, the complex was located inside the fortress, possibly near a famous well, since the institution's expenses listed in the Ottoman documents included ropes (rasan) and buckets (dalv) used for extracting water from wells.

Well potentially near Rammahiya.

Access

The fortress, now situated across a peninsula created by the reservoir of Birecik Dam and within the administrative boundaries of Gaziantep's Nizip district, is currently accessible by boat either from the neighboring site of Zeugma or from the town of Halfeti. As of March 2017, it was not possible to land at the site; extensive (re)building is underway inside the fortress and on the external walls.

Gallery

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  Eastern gate
• 
  Western gate
• 
  Inside the western gate
• 
  Boats around Rumkale

Bibliography

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