Lordship of Toron | |
|---|---|
 Lordship of Toron in 1187 | |
| Status | Vassal ofKingdom of Jerusalem |
| Capital | Toron |
| Common languages | Latin,Old French,Italian (alsoArabic andGreek) |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism,Eastern Catholicism,Greek Orthodoxy,Syriac Orthodoxy,Islam,Judaism |
| Government | Feudal monarchy |
• c.1100 | Godfrey of Bouillon |
• 1110 | Hugh I of Jaffa |
| Historical era | High Middle Ages |
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Toron, nowTibnin or Tebnine insouthern Lebanon, was a majorCrusadercastle, built in theLebanon mountains on the road fromTyre toDamascus. The castle was the centre of the Lordship of Toron, a seigneury within theKingdom of Jerusalem, actually arear-vassalage of thePrincipality of Galilee.
The castle was built byHugh of Fauquembergues, prince ofGalilee, in 1106 AD to assist in capturing Tyre.[1] After Hugh's death, the surroundings of Tibnin were raided by 'Izz al-Mulk, who killed the populace and made off with booty.[1] Tibnin was made an independent seigneury, given toHumphrey I before 1109.[citation needed]
After Humphrey I of Toron, the castle andlordship of Toron successively passed to his descendantsHumphrey II andHumphrey IV.Banias, which had been given toBaldwin II by theAssassins in 1128, was inherited by Toron in approximately 1148 when Humphrey II married the daughter of Renier Brus, lord of Banias and Assebebe. Humphrey II sold parts of Banias andChastel Neuf to theKnights Hospitaller in 1157. Banias was merged with Toron until it fell toNur ad-Din Zangi on 18 November 1164, and when it was recovered it became part of the Seigneury ofJoscelin III of Edessa (see below).[citation needed]
Humphrey IV was also the prince ofOultrejourdain. Toron remained in Crusader possession until 1187, when it fell to the forces ofSaladin after theBattle of Hattin in which Saladin all but destroyed theCrusader states. Ten years later, in November, 1197, Toron was besieged by theGerman contingent of theCrusade of 1197 and would have fallen. However, the Muslim garrison by the tribesmen of El-Seid and Fawaz held out until relief arrived fromEgypt.[citation needed]
In 1219 Sultanal-Mu'azzam secretly had the defences of Toron, and of other castles, dismantled.[2][3] This was done because the forces of theFifth Crusade had captured the more crucial defences atDamietta on theNile Delta and were now threateningCairo. Sultan al-Mu'azzam was prepared to exchange the strongholds in Palestine for the ones in Egypt, but wished not to give strong defendable cities to the Crusaders if he could avoid it. Although the exchange proved unnecessary, the geographical position of the sites remained important for the Crusaders who were interested in recovering Jerusalem from Muslim control.[citation needed]
Indeed, despite their destruction, Toron,Safed andHunin were recovered through a treaty in 1229, just two years after al-Mu'azzam's death on November 11, 1227, byFrederick II from Sultanal-Kamil. As Toron was sold in 1220 to the Teutonic Knights together with the territories called theSeigneury de Joscelin, it came to a dispute between them andAlice of Armenia, the niece of Humphrey IV and heiress of the lordship of Toron. Alice successfully claimed her rights before the High Court and Frederick II assigned the lordship to her. But it seems the Franks were not able to take possession of the territories,[4][5] In 1239, when the treaty ended, Toron fell back to theAyyubids. Two years later, in 1241, it was restored to the Crusaders due to a treaty betweenRichard of Cornwall and Sultanas-Salih of Egypt.[citation needed]
In 1244, the castles held out against theKhwarezmian army and accomplished their objective of disrupting the Muslim attack on Jerusalem. Nonetheless, Jerusalem eventually fell to the overwhelming number of the Khwarezmian and the primary mission of the castles became obsolete. However, Toron tenuously remained in Crusader hands and was periodically under siege by the Mamluks until thejihad ofBaibars further isolated it. Following a brief siege, Baibars in a rare display of mercy allowed the small Crusader contingent to evacuate in exchange for surrender, which they accepted.[citation needed]
The lords of Toron tended to be very influential in the kingdom; Humphrey II was constable of Jerusalem. Humphrey IV was married toIsabella,King Amalric I's daughter (Toron passed into theroyal domain during their marriage but its title was returned to Humphrey IV after their divorce). It was also one of the few to have a straight hereditary succession in the male line, at least for a few generations. The lords of Toron were also connected to the Lordship of Oultrejourdain by the marriage of Humphrey III and the maternal inheritance of Humphrey IV. Toron was later merged with the royal domain of Tyre, which went to a branch ofAntioch, then their heirs fromMontfort.[citation needed]
Toron had two vassals of its own, the Lordship ofChastel Neuf and the Lordship ofMaron. Chastel Neuf was built by Hugh of Falkenberg around 1105 but was later given to the Hospitallers, until it fell to Nur ad-Din in 1167. Maron was given in 1229 to theTeutonic Knights in exchange for their claims on Toron.[6]
The castle of Toron occupies a steep hill, in fact a Bronze Agetell, north to the village of Tibnin, at a height of 725 metres (2,379 ft) above sea level. It is oval in shape with its outline following the contours of the tell. It once had twelve rectangular towers with one of them - to the south - having been the donjon. The castle, razed in 1266 by the Mamluks was rebuilt 500 years later in the mid-18th century by the Shiite sheikhNasif al-Nassar during his struggle against the Ottoman rule. He used the ruins of the medieval walls as a basis for his rebuilding campaign and thus the castle today mainly appears as an Ottoman construction. The castle was then used as the home and base of the House ofEl-Assaad, the family of Nasif.[citation needed]
In 1881 it was noted that it was the residence of the localGovernor, and that about twenty Muslims lived there.[7]
The castle wasdamaged during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in late 2024, and one of the medieval walls collapsed.[8]
33°11′44.57″N35°24′44.37″E / 33.1957139°N 35.4123250°E /33.1957139; 35.4123250
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Also See:Castles in Lebanon | ||
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