Termini
It is claimed that a castle of Arab origin was standing at Termini
around 970 when Al-Muqaddasi stated that Tirmah was a Sicilian
city. Obviously a city does not mean a castle actually stood
here, though such a scenario is possible. A castle would seem
to be standing in the city by 1130 when Termini was a civitas and
castellum. In the Book of Roger of 1154 the castle was
described as the fotress of Tirmah standing on a rock above the sea
near the remains of the ancient city. In 1185 Ibn Gubayr
noted that Termini was a large settlement with mosques and an elevated
and defensible fortress. In 1274 the castle, as castrum
thermarum, was held for the Angevin King Charles (d.1285) by solely a
gatekeeper. By 1281 he had been upgraded to a squire, who was
not to hold property in the kingdom. The next year the castle
passed to the Aragonese, but on 19 June 1338 the Angevins returned and
laid siege to the fortress until they were chased away by the Sicilian
army. In 1393 it was recorded that Gisperto Talamanca had the
job of guarding the royal castle.
Description
Unfortunately the castle was totally destroyed in the decades following
1860 and now only the site remains in a commanding position on an
isolated cliff which now houses a water plant.
Why not join me at other Sicilian
castles? Information on this and other tours can be found at Scholarly
Sojourns.
Copyright©2019
Paul Martin Remfry