Editing Corfu (section)

===Angelokastro===
{{main|Angelokastro (Corfu)}}
[[File:Angelokastro (Corfu).jpg|thumb|The Byzantine castle of [[Angelokastro (Corfu)|Angelokastro]] in Corfu with the Ionian Sea in the background]]

Angelokastro ({{langx|el|Αγγελόκαστρο}} (Castle of Angelos or Castle of the Angel); {{Langx|vec|Castel Sant'Angelo}}) is a [[Byzantine]] [[castle]] on the island's northwest coast.<ref name="StamatopoulosAngelocastro">{{harvnb|Stamatopoulos|1993|pp=163–165, 325}}: "On a precipitous rocky peak dominating a wide range of coastline around Palaeokastritsa stand the crumbling walls and battlements of the twelfth-century Byzantine Fortress of Angelokastro, not far from the village of Krini." (p. 163); "After a siege lasting a year the invaders were finally driven away by the defenders of the fortress who were helped by the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. Again, during the first great siege of Corfu by the Turks in 1537, Angelocastro successfully resisted attack. About 3,000 villagers had sought refuge within the fortress to escape the fate of the inhabitants of other parts of the island who were ... In 1571, when they once more invaded Corfu, the Ottomans again unsuccessfully attacked, Angelocastro, where 4,000 people had taken refuge. During the second great siege of the city by the Ottomans in 1716, Angelokastro once again served as a refuge for the ... During the course of the centuries Angelocastro played an important part in the defence of the island. In 1403 a force of Genoese soldiers, under the command of the French condottiere Boucicaut, landed at Palaeokastritsa and attacked ... The fortress existed in 1272 when it was formally taken over by the Italian Giordano di San Felice in the name of the Angevin rulers of Naples, who held the island of Corfu from 1267 to 1386." (p. 164); "...&nbsp;Angelocastro was probably built during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comnenos (1143 - 1180)." (p. 164); "This was used as a hermitage and was converted into a chapel, probably around the end of the eighteenth century" (p. 165); "From the top of Angelocastro the view sweeps far and wide over the hills across the breadth of Corfu, to the town, the Eastern Channel and the mountains on the mainland, over a sheer drop of a thousand feet to the sea below" (p. 325).</ref><ref name="Kordōsēs1981">{{cite book |author=Michaēl S. Kordōsēs |title=Symvolē stēn historia kai topographia tēs periochēs Korinthou stous mesous chronous |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kmE_AQAAIAAJ&q=%CE%92%CF%85%CE%B6%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BD%CE%BF+%CE%91%CE%B3%CE%B3%CE%B5%CE%BB%CF%8C%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%83%CF%84%CF%81%CE%BF |access-date=19 September 2013 |year=1981 |publisher=Vivliopōleio D.N. Karavia |page=140 |quote=Ή ύπαρξη βυζαντινών έρειπίων στή θέση Πατίμα δείχνει πιθανότατα ότι στό σημείο αύτό ύπήρχε βυζαντινός οικισμός. Δέν άποκλείεται, σέ δυσκολότερα χρόνια, ό πληθυσμός νά μετοίκησε άπό τή θέση αύτήστσν οχυρωμένο λόφο. Εκτός άπό τό βυζαντινό φρούριο, στήν περιοχή τοϋ Άγγελοκάστρου παρουσιάζουν ένδιαφέρον καί δυό παλιές έκ- κλησίες, πού ...Ο Buchon, που επισκέφθηκε το καστρο, υποθέτει οτι χτιστηκε ατα τελη του ΙΒ' αιώνα από καποιο μελος της οικογενειας των Αγγελων Κομνηνων, σε μια ταραγμένη εποχή που ευνοουσε προσωπα με κυρος να γινονται ανεξαρτητα απο το κεντρο. Τα τειχη του, γραφει, μαρτυρουν βιαστικη κατασκευή.}}</ref> It is located at the top of the highest peak of the island's shoreline, near [[Palaiokastritsa]], and built on particularly precipitous and rocky terrain. It stands {{cvt|1000|ft|0}} on a steep cliff above the sea and surveys the [[Corfu (city)|City of Corfu]] and the mountains of mainland Greece to the southeast and a wide area of Corfu toward the northeast and northwest.<ref name="StamatopoulosAngelocastro" /><ref name="BowmanKerasiotis2012">{{cite book |author1=John S. Bowman |author2=Peter Kerasiotis |author3=Sherry Marker |title=Frommer's Greece |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2C9QJ5Ie0kAC&pg=PA567 |access-date=11 February 2013 |date=10 January 2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-20577-8 |page=567}}</ref>

Angelokastro is one of the most important fortified complexes of Corfu. It was an acropolis which surveyed the region all the way to the southern [[Adriatic]] and presented a formidable strategic vantage point to the occupant of the castle.

Angelokastro formed a defensive triangle with the castles of [[Gardiki Castle, Corfu|Gardiki]] and [[Kassiopi Castle|Kassiopi]], which covered Corfu's defences to the south, northwest and northeast. The castle never fell, despite frequent sieges and attempts at conquering it through the centuries, and played a decisive role in defending the island against pirate incursions and during three sieges of Corfu by the Ottomans, significantly contributing to their defeat. During invasions it helped shelter the local peasant population. The villagers also fought against the invaders playing an active role in the defence of the castle. Angelokastro, located at the western frontier of the Empire, was instrumental in repulsing the Ottomans during the first great siege of Corfu in 1537, in the siege of 1571 and the second great siege of Corfu in 1716 causing the Ottomans to fail at penetrating the defences of Corfu in the North. Consequently the Turks were never able to create a [[beachhead]] and to occupy the island.<ref>{{harvnb|Stamatopoulos|1993|pp=164–165}}: "Again, during the first great siege of Corfu by the Turks in 1537, Angelocastro ... and After a siege lasting a year the invaders were finally driven away by the defenders of the fortress who were helped by the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. In 1571, when they once more invaded Corfu, the Turks again unsuccessfully attacked, Angelocastro, where 4,000 people had taken refuge. During the second great siege of the city by the Turks in 1716, Angelokastro once again served..."</ref>