Toron

Lordship of Toron
Lordship of Toron in 1187
Status	Vassal ofKingdom of Jerusalem
Capital	Toron
Common languages	Latin,Old French,Italian(alsoArabicandGreek)
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

1857 sketch ofKalat Tibninbyvan de Velde

Crusader castle in the village of Tebnine

View from the Toron castle

Toron,nowTibnin or Tebnineinsouthern Lebanon,was a majorCrusadercastle,built in theLebanonmountains on the road fromTyretoDamascus.The castle was the centre of the Lordship of Toron, a seigneury within theKingdom of Jerusalem,actually arear-vassalageof thePrincipality of Galilee.

Lordship of Toron

The castle was built byHugh of Fauquembergues,prince of Galilee, in 1106 AD to assist in capturing Tyre.After Hugh's death, the surroundings of Tibnin were raided by 'Izz al-Mulk, who killed the populace and made off with booty.Tibnin was made an independent seigneury, given toHumphrey Ibefore 1109.

After Humphrey I of Toron, the castle andlordship of Toronsuccessively passed to his descendantsHumphrey IIandHumphrey IV.Banias,which had been given toBaldwin IIby theAssassinsin 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 Neufto theKnights Hospitallerin 1157. Banias was merged with Toron until it fell toNur ad-Din Zangion 18 November 1164, and when it was recovered it became part of the Seigneury ofJoscelin III of Edessa(see below).

Humphrey IV was also the prince ofOultrejourdain.Toron remained in Crusader possession until 1187, when it fell to the forces ofSaladinafter theBattle of Hattinin which Saladin all but destroyed theCrusader states.Ten years later, in November, 1197, Toron was besieged by theGermancontingent of theCrusade of 1197and would have fallen. However, the Muslim garrison by the tribesmen of El-Seid and Fawaz held out until relief arrived fromEgypt.

In 1219 Sultanal-Mu'azzamsecretly had the defences of Toron, and of other castles, dismantled.This was done because the forces of theFifth Crusadehad captured the more crucial defences atDamiettaon theNile Deltaand 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.

Indeed, despite their destruction, Toron,SafedandHuninwere recovered through a treaty in 1229, just two years after al-Mu'azzam's death on November 11, 1227, byFrederick IIfrom 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,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 Cornwalland Sultanas-Salihof Egypt.

In 1244, the castles held out against theKhwarezmianarmy 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 thejihadofBaibarsfurther 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.

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 domainduring 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.

Lords of Toron

• Humphrey I of Toron(before 1109–after 1136)
• Humphrey II of Toron(before 1137–1179)
  • (Humphrey IIIpredeceased his father)
• Humphrey IV of Toron(1179–1183)
• Royal domain(1183–1187)
• Humphrey IV (restored) (1190 – c. 1192)
  • occupied by Muslims until 1229 and the title not used
• Alice of Armenia(1229– after 1236), granddaughter of Humphrey III
• Maria of Antioch-Armenia(after 1236–1239), granddaughter of Alice and great-granddaughter ofIsabella of Armenia,daughter of Humphrey III.
  • occupied by Muslims from 1239 until 1241
• Philip of Montfort(1241– before 1257)
• John of Montfort(before 1257–1283), Lord of Tyre. It was lost again in 1266
• Humphrey of Montfort(1283–1284), Lord of Beirut, Lord of Tyre
• Amaury of Montfort(1284–1304)
• Rupen of Montfort(1304–1313), Lord of Beirut
• Humphrey of Montfort(d. 1326), constable of Cyprus, titular lord of Beirut
• Eschiva of Montfort(d. bef 1350), wife ofPeter I of Cyprustitular lord of Beirut

Toron had two vassals of its own, the Lordship ofChastel Neufand 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 Knightsin exchange for their claims on Toron.

The castle

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-Nassarduring 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.

In 1881 it was noted that it was the residence of the localGovernor,and that about twenty Muslims lived there.

See also

• Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

Bibliography

• Conder, C.R.;Kitchener, H.H.(1881).The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology.Vol. 1. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

External links

• Article and panorama images at 360 degrees