Nicolas Lorgne

Artist's impression in 1871 of the Castle of Crac, showing its 13th century Zwinger system around the inner ward

A knight, Lorgne was for many years the castellan of the crusader castle of Crac, where he made improvements in the mid-13th century. An inscription records that he had a barbacane built, probably a reference to the zwinger system around the castle, which can be dated to around 1250. About the year 1270 this was improved and extended, but nevertheless in 1271 the Muslims under Sultan Baibars I captured Crac after a four-week siege.[1]

In 1277, Lorgne succeeded Hugues de Revel as Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, at a time when the situation of the Order in the Levant was desperate, and soon a truce for ten years was agreed. In 1281 Lorgne wrote to Edward I of England and others to appeal for help, but little came. Despite the truce, the Sultan Qalawun of Egypt began a siege of the castle of Margat on 17 April 1285, and on 25 May 1285 the castle surrendered. Within weeks, Lorgne died, to be succeeded by Jean de Villiers.[2][1]