Toron

From Freepedia

Toron, Tibnin today, was a major Crusader castle, built in the mountains on the road from Tyre to Damascus.

It was the centre of the Lordship of Toron, a seigneury within the Kingdom of Jerusalem, actually a rear-vassalage of the Principality of Galilee through the Lordship of Beirut. The castle was built by Hugh of St. Omer, second prince of Galilee, in 1105 to help capture Tyre. After Hugh's death it was made an independent seigneury, given to Humphrey I in 1107.

After Humphrey I of Toron, the castle and lordship of Toron successively passed to his descendents Humphrey II, Humphrey III, and Humphrey IV. Banias, which had been given to Baldwin II by the Assassins in 1128, was inherited by Toron around 1148 when Humphrey II married the daughter of Renier Brus, lord of Banias and Assebebe. Humphrey II sold parts of Banias and Chastel Neuf to the Knights Hospitaller in 1157. Banias was merged with Toron until it fell to Nur ad-Din in 1164, and when it was recovered it became part of the Seigneury of Joscelin III of Edessa (see below).

Humphrey III and Humphrey IV also were princes of Oultrejordain. Toron remained in Crusader possession until 1187 when it fell to the forces of Saladin after the Battle of Hattin when Saladin all but destroyed the Crusader states. Ten years later, in November, 1197, Toron was besieged by the German contingent of the Third Crusade and would have fallen; but the Muslim garrison was warned, by the Christian lords of Outremer, that the Germans could not be trusted, and would slaughter them if they surrendered. This gave the garrison the courage to hold out against the Germans, until relief arrived from Egypt.

Toron was dismantled by Sultan al-Mu'azzam in 1219 along with the defences of Jerusalem and the castles of Safed and Banyas. This was done in case it was necessary to exchange these for Damietta on the Nile Delta, which had been captured by the forces of the Fifth Crusade who were now threatening Cairo. Al-Mu'azzam was not prepared to give strong defendable cities to the Crusaders if he could avoid it.

Although the exchange proved unnecessary, Al-Mu'azzam's caution was justified. In 1229, just two years after al-Mu'azzam's death on November 11, 1227, Frederick II recovered Toron in a treaty with Sultan al-Kamil. Frederick then had the fortifications of Toron and Montfort rebuilt. Toron tenuously remained in Crusader hands until it was finally lost, almost without a struggle, to the Mameluke armies of the Sultan Baibars, in 1266.

The lords of Toron tended to be very influential in the kingdom; Humphrey II was constable of Jerusalem, as was Humphrey III. Humphrey IV was married to Isabella, King Amalric I's daughter (Toron passed into the royal 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 Oultrejordain 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 of Antioch, then their heirs from Montfort.

Lords of Toron

Toron had two vassals of its own, the Lordship of Chastel Neuf and the Lordship of Toron Ahmud. Chastel Neuf was built by Hugh of St. Omer around 1105 but was later given to the Hospitallers, until it fell to Nur ad-Din in 1167. Toron Ahmud remained in the Lordship of Beirut until John of Ibelin sold it to the Teutonic Knights in 1261.

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