ABSTRACT
In Marshall's opinion, the aim was not the occupation of Montfort or the other sites targeted, but the conquest of the Templar fortress of Safed. It would appear that the 1266 siege of Montfort was a cataclysmic event, which although it did not bring about the immediate fall of the castle, certainly appears to have been carried out with that intention, and no doubt contributed to the final conquest five years later. The fact that the outer fortifications of the castle were under reconstruction in 1271 and therefore in an indefensible state would explain how when Baybars assaulted Montfort for a second time in the summer of 1271, he managed to overcome them within three days. Ongoing excavations have thrown light on events not described in written sources and the Arabic sources contain a great deal of information about the history of Montfort Castle and its sieges that has been overlooked in past studies.
