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 218 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES IV 
14. Plan of Clermont 
stretching down the hillside to the north and west (pl. LXIa; fig. 14). The
hexagon is a walled courtyard with living accommodation built on the inner
side, including chambers vaulted with high-pitched ovoid barrel vaults of
an unusual type, carefully planned and worked but severely plain and undecorated.
Built by Geoffrey I of Ville hardouin in the years 1220 to 1223, it has been
little altered by later occupiers. The enceinte seems to belong to the same
building stage as the hexagon. The courtyard enclosed by living quarters
had already been used in the first design of Krak des Chevaliers; in a polygonal
form it is found at the castle of Boulogne (1228-1234); and it reaches its
most splendid manifestation in Frederick II's Castel del Monte, near Andria,
begun in 1240. Whether Clermont was influ enced from the east or from the
west cannot be determined, but as the greatest castle of the Morea it must
have enjoyed some renown and made its own contribution to the development
of castle design.'1 
11. Traquair, "Laconia; I. Mediaeval Fortresses, "Annual of the British School
at Athens, 
XII (1906), 272-276; A. Bon, "A Propos des châteaux de plan polygonal,"
Revue archéologique, ser. 6, XXVIII (1947), 177-179; Andrews, op.
cit., pp. 146-158.