The Surrender of Gaston and the Rule of the Templars

'The Templars abandoned two castles, Gaston and Roche La Roussel': so the continuator of William of Tyre tells us. ¹ And it is all he tells us of the surrender of Gaston – one of the most important Templar strongholds in the Principality of Antioch – in 1268, to the Mamluk sultan, Baybars. Other Western sources are no more informative except, that is, the account written by the Templars themselves and contained in the Barcelona manuscript of their Rule. After a description of the castle's geographical location, its strategic importance to all parties in the region and a brief history from the time Gaston was granted to the Templars up to 1268, this paper will examine the major contemporary Arabic sources in conjunction with the Rule of the Templars, and attempt to indicate the importance of this often-neglected source not only to the history of the crusades in general, but also to an understanding of the military order itself.