The lost castle of count rodrigo gonzalez

This article suggests that a castle called Toron built in 1137 by Count Rodrigo of Lara, and granted to the Templar Order was in Summil, where remains of a Crusader castles are still visible (ca. 25 km from Ascalon, in south west Israel). This opinion opposes a consensual view that the castle built by Count Rodrigo was in Latrun, midway between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. This identifi cation is based on names’ similarity and on the universal opinion that Latrun was a Templar castle. In this article it is demonstrated that the geographic setting of Summil fi ts the Count’s castle, whereas Latrun does not; that Toron was a common name in the Crusader Kingdom; and, moreover, it is not certain that Latrun was a Templar castle. The article also suggest that there was a village near the castle, called Casale Sancti Salvatoris, and also discusses Frankish fortifi cation and settlement policy during the twelfth century.