T. E. Lawrence’s Undergraduate Dissertation – Page 188

The mason-work of the tower is quite like that of the great sloping wall, but nothing parallel with these ... machicoulis is known in Syria: and in Europe very few exist of the same pattern. They ought to be immensely superior to the ordinary tiny machicoulis, for the size would allow if necessary of a whole beam of wood being thrown down. It was perhaps less stable ... the destruction of the lower part of the but- tresses might cause the whole to collapse .... but whether for this or other reason it never found favour. In this particular instance a postern is concealed behind it. Markab is much more French even than Crac. The outer work on the east was rebuilt by Kelsoun, but all the rest might be a part of unrestored Carcassonne. The narrow lists between the walls, the Chapel, and the great round tower are simply typical of the best period of French architecture. To describe it is not necessary, for Rey's plans and drawings present a faithful picture of the main features of the castle: and he also emphasises the thirteenth century character of the whole. It was only right that the creator of the "last word in Syrian castle-building" should return to the West both for the general design of his fortress..., and the particular architectural details, just as the first builders, the men of Saone or Safita,had done. The only people wholly indepen- dent of Europe had been the Templars, and their style was practised only by themselves, and died with them. All the