Belvoir Castle
| Belvoir Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 Belvoir from the southwest |
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| Alternative name (s): | Kokhav HaYarden; Kaukab al-Hawa; le Coquet | |
| Creation time : | around 1150 | |
| Castle type : | Rock castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 32 ° 35 '44 " N , 35 ° 31' 17" E | |
| Height: | 312 m | |
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Belvoir Castle is the ruin of a crusader castle in present-day Israel .
Name of the castle
The French crusaders called the castle Belvoir ("beautiful view") or le Coquet ("the coquette"). In Hebrew, the castle ruins are called Kochav ha-Jarden ("Star of the Jordan"). The name is reminiscent of a Jewish settlement Kochav ("star"), which was located near the later castle grounds in Roman and Byzantine times. In Arabic the castle is called Kawkab al-Hawâ ("Star of the Winds").
location
The castle ruins of Belvoir are located about 20 km south of the Sea of Galilee on a hill of the Naphtaliplateau above the Jordan Valley . Today it is an Israeli national park in the immediate vicinity of which there is also a breeding station for vultures . Especially due to its location about 550 m above the Jordan, it is one of the most beautiful crusader castles in Israel.
history
The castle was probably built in the mid-12th century by a French nobleman named Velos, a vassal of the Prince of Tiberias . In 1168 he sold the complex to the Order of St. John , who built one of the most powerful castles in the Holy Land on the site .
After the defeat of the Christian army in the Battle of Hattin in 1187, the garrison of Belvoir withstood an 18-month siege by Saladin's troops . In the event of a failure, the besieged succeeded in killing the commander of the besiegers, whereupon Saladin, after the capture of Safed , arrived personally with reinforcements in front of Belvoir and took over command of the besiegers. After miners had collapsed part of the southern outer wall, handover negotiations began. On January 5, 1189, the crusaders handed the castle over to the Muslims without a fight, but they were allowed to withdraw to Tire unmolested .
Between 1217 and 1218, Belvoir, like most other crusader castles, was razed by the Muslim rulers, fearing the Fifth Crusade could recapture them. In view of the successes of the 1218 crusade in Egypt, Sultan al-Kamil of Egypt finally intended to cede the region to the crusaders in order to buy a peace with them. Here too he wanted to avoid letting intact castles fall into the hands of the crusaders. But the crusade army was defeated and there was no cession.
In 1240, during the crusade of Theobald IV of Champagne , Belvoir finally fell back into the hands of the crusaders through a treaty. However, they did not have the means to restore the castle and as early as 1245 Belvoir was finally conquered again by the Muslims.
In the 18th century, Arabs founded a village called Kaukab el-Hawa (Star of the Winds) on the castle grounds. During the Israeli War of Independence , the castle was taken in May 1948 by soldiers of the Golani Brigade fighting against Iraqi forces.
investment
Even today, the imposing remains of the almost square castle consisting of several concentric rings give an impression of its former strength. In particular, the moat, which is almost 20 meters wide and about 10 meters deep, is particularly remarkable. The basalt rock obtained during the excavation was used to build the castle complex.
While the outer facilities were made of black basalt , the inner courtyard, the castle chapel and the commander's rooms were partly made of white marble. The castle had its own bath house, the remains of which can still be seen today. The water supply for the castle garrison was secured by at least one large cistern .
In the foreground of the castle there is now a sculpture garden with works by the Israeli sculptor Igael Tumarkin.
literature
- Thomas Biller: The Johanniterburg Belvoir on the Jordan. On the early castle building of the knightly orders in the Holy Land . In: Architectura. Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Baukunst, 19 (1989), pp. 105-136. [basic to architecture]
- Hugh Kennedy: Crusader Castles . Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-521-79913-9 .
- Hans Wolfram Kessler / Konrad Kessler: Knights in the Holy Land: Crusader sites in Israel . Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3805345521
