Belvoir Castle (Israel)

Belvoir Castle
	The remains of Belvoir Castle. Note the two circuits of defensive wall, one inside the other (concentric castle)
	Shown within Israel
Location	Israel
Region	Northern District
Coordinates	32°35′44″N35°31′17″E/ 32.59556°N 35.52139°E
Site notes
Condition	Ruin

Belvoir Castle,also calledCoquetby theCrusaders,^[1]alsoKochav HaYarden(Hebrew:כוכב הירדן,lit. 'Star of the Jordan') andKawkab al-Hawa(Arabic:كوكب الهوا,lit. 'Star of the Wind'), is aCrusader castlein northernIsrael,on a hill on the eastern edge of theIssachar Plateau,on the edge ofLower Galilee20 kilometres (12 mi) south of theSea of Galilee.Gilbert of Assailly,Grand Masterof theKnights Hospitaller,began construction of the castle in 1168. The castle ruin is located inBelvoir National Park,officially Kochav HaYarden National Park. It is the best-preserved Crusader castle in Israel.^[2]

Strategic location

Standing 500 metres (1,600 ft) above theJordan River Valleylevel, the plateau commanded the route fromGileadinto theKingdom of Jerusalemvia a nearby river crossing.^[3]To the north is theSea of Galilee,and to the west are hills. The site of the castle dominated the surrounding area, and in the words ofAbu Shama,the castle is "set admidst the stars like an eagle's nest and abode of the moon".^[4]

History

Roman and Byzantine periods

The Hebrew name, Kochav Hayarden, meaning 'Star of the Jordan', preserves the name of Kochava – a Jewish village which existed nearby during theRomanandByzantineperiods.^[5]In the Crusader church, there is a repurposed basalt stone that bears anAramaicdonation inscription using theJewish script.It originally adorned a synagogue lintel.^[6]

Crusader period

Belvoir from southwest

TheKnights Hospitallerpurchased the site from Velos, a French nobleman, in 1168.^[3]

As soon as the Knights Hospitaller purchased the land, they began construction of castle. While Gilbert of Assailly was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, the order gained around thirteen new castles, among which Belvoir was the most important.^[7]The castle of Belvoir served as a major obstacle to theMuslimgoal of invading the CrusaderKingdom of Jerusalemfrom the east. It withstood an attack by Muslim forces in 1180. During the campaign of 1182, theBattle of Belvoir Castlewas fought nearby between KingBaldwin IV of JerusalemandSaladin.

FollowingSaladin's victory over the Crusaders at theBattle of Hattin,Belvoir was besieged. The siege lasted a year and a half, until the defenders surrendered on 5 January 1189. An Arab governor occupied it until 1219 when the Ayyubid ruler in Damascus had itslighted.In 1241 Belvoir was ceded to the Franks, who controlled it until 1263.^[8]

Ottoman and British Mandate periods

During the Ottoman period it became an Arab village,Kawkab al-Hawa,whose inhabitants fled the village in anticipation of an advancement of the Zionist forces during the1947–48 civil warphase of theFirst Arab–Israeli war.After a military assault byYishuvforces.^[8]

Israel

The Arab buildings on the site were demolished during archaeological excavation by the Israeli authorities between 1963 and 1968.

Excavations were carried out at Belvoir Castle between 2013 and 2016.^[9]

Architecture

Plan of Belvoir Castle

After the end of the Second World War, the study of Crusader castles experienced a lull. Syria, for instance, declared independence in 1946 and had little money to spare for archaeology. In Israel, the study of Crusader castles developed underJoshua Prawer.Its most significant discovery was made at Belvoir. Between 1963 and 1968 theIsrael Department of Antiquitiescarried out excavations at the castle. Before the investigations, it had been assumed that Belvoir was a simple castle, with just a single enclosure. Excavations in the 1960s demonstrated the complex nature of early military architecture in theKingdom of Jerusalem.^[10]Belvoir's design bore similarities to that of aRoman castrum:the inner enclosure was rectangular with towers at the corners, and large gatehouse in the middle of one wall, in this case the west.^[11]

Belvoir is an early example of theconcentric castleplan, which was widely used in later crusader castles. The castle was highly symmetric, with a rectangular outer wall, reinforced with square towers at the corners and on each side, surrounding a square inner enclosure with four corner towers and one on the west wall. According to historian H. J. A. Sire, the principle of concentric design used at Belvoir "was to influence castle design for the next several centuries."^[7]Vaults on the inner side of both walls provided storage and protection during bombardments. The castle was surrounded by a moat 20 metres (66 ft) wide and 12 metres (39 ft) deep.^[2]

References

Notes

^Pringle, Denys(1997)."Belvoir Castle (46)".Secular Buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: An Archaeological Gazetteer.Cambridge University Press. pp. 32–33.ISBN 0521460107.Retrieved24 April2024.
^^a ^bNational Parks Authority of Israel
^^a ^b"Belvoir: A Crusader Fortress Overlooking the Jordan Valley".Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.17 November 1999.Retrieved2011-11-25.
^Kennedy 1994,p. 59
^Hans-Günter Semsek; Carmella Pfaffenbach (1996).Israel.Nelles Verlag.p. 178.ISBN 9783886184125.
^"CLI. Kokhav Ha-Yarden nos. 7532-7533",Corpus inscriptiorum Iudaeae/Palaestinae,vol. 5/Part 2 Galilaea and Northern Regions: 6925-7818, De Gruyter, pp. 1651–1653, 2023,doi:10.1515/9783110715743-037,ISBN 978-3-11-071574-3,retrieved2024-02-07
^^a ^bSire 1994,p. 17
^^a ^bColum Hourihane (ed.),The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture,Oxford University Press, Vol. 2, 2012 p.298
^Baud & Poisson 2023,p. 2
^Kennedy 1994,p. 8
^Platt 1982,p. 46

Bibliography

Baud, Anne; Poisson, Jean-Michel (2023-01-01)."Introduction".Medievalista(33): 1–3.doi:10.4000/medievalista.6236.ISSN 1646-740X.
Kennedy, Hugh (1994),Crusader Castles,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN 0-521-42068-7
Platt, Colin (1982),The Castle in Medieval England and Wales,Secker & Warburg,ISBN 0-436-37555-9
Sire, H. J. A. (1994),The Knights of Malta,New Haven: Yale University Press,ISBN 978-0-300-05502-3

External links

Belvoir National Park- official site
Cochav Hayarden (Belvoir)at the Israeli Parks Authority site.
Photos of Belvoir castle

32°35′44″N35°31′17″E/ 32.59556°N 35.52139°E/32.59556; 35.52139

[DP-1] Pringle, Denys(1997)."Belvoir Castle (46)".Secular Buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: An Archaeological Gazetteer.Cambridge University Press. pp. 32–33.ISBN 0521460107.Retrieved24 April2024.

[national_park-2] National Parks Authority of Israel

[mfa-3] "Belvoir: A Crusader Fortress Overlooking the Jordan Valley".Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.17 November 1999.Retrieved2011-11-25.

[4] Kennedy 1994,p. 59

[5] Hans-Günter Semsek; Carmella Pfaffenbach (1996).Israel.Nelles Verlag.p. 178.ISBN 9783886184125.

[6] "CLI. Kokhav Ha-Yarden nos. 7532-7533",Corpus inscriptiorum Iudaeae/Palaestinae,vol. 5/Part 2 Galilaea and Northern Regions: 6925-7818, De Gruyter, pp. 1651–1653, 2023,doi:10.1515/9783110715743-037,ISBN 978-3-11-071574-3,retrieved2024-02-07

[Sire17-7] Sire 1994,p. 17

[Colum-8] Colum Hourihane (ed.),The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture,Oxford University Press, Vol. 2, 2012 p.298

[9] Baud & Poisson 2023,p. 2

[10] Kennedy 1994,p. 8

[11] Platt 1982,p. 46

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