Castles and the Frontier: Theorizing the Borders of the Principality of Antioch in the Twelfth Century

Abstract

The principality of Antioch was a medieval frontier polity of great complexity, one whose territorial extent waxed and waned considerably during the twelfth century. Subject to interest from several external polities, the principality’s ruling Frankish elites had to adopt a dynamic approach to relations with their neighbors in order to maintain their status and power. This article seeks to shed new light on the means by which they did so through the prism of Thomas Nail’s 2016 Theory of the Border, and so to explore what this new critical lens can offer to the study of premodern borders and frontiers. By examining, in particular, the role of castles in defining and maintaining Antioch’s extremities, it argues that, as key points for directing the flow of human movement, fortresses could indeed act as distinct, if not impermeable, borders, and that a new approach to understanding what a border could be provides important new avenues for studying medieval frontiers.