Gibelacar

Gibelacar (Hisn Ibn Akkar)
Gibelacar (Hisn Ibn Akkar)
Akkar District, Akkar Governorate, Lebanon
	Gibelacar (Hisn Ibn Akkar)
Coordinates	34°31′30″N 36°14′30″E / 34.5250°N 36.2417°E
Site information
Condition	Ruined
Site history
Built	ca. 1000 (first construction)
Built by	Muhriz ibn Akkar (first construction)

Gibelacar, also known by its original Arabic name Hisn Ibn Akkar or its modern Arabic name Qal'at Akkar, is a fortress in the village of

Sayfa clan, whose members, chief among them Yusuf Pasha, served as the governors and tax farmers of the Tripoli Eyalet and its sanjaks

from 1579 through the mid-17th century.

Location

Gibelacar is located in Jabal Akkar,[1] the northernmost slopes of the Mount Lebanon range. It is 27 kilometers south of the Krak des Chevaliers in Syria, at the opposite end of the Homs Gap.^[2] Gibelacar is situated on a narrow ridge formed by the two ravines of the Nahr Akkar stream.^[1] Though largely ruined, the remains of the fortress extend the entire length of the 200-meter ridge.^[2] Its tower, which stands at the southern end of the ridge,^[2] is still well-preserved.^[1] The site has an elevation of 700 meters above sea level and has a commanding view over the mountain road leading to the fortress.^[1]

History

Arab origins

Gibelacar was referred to by the

Seljuk ruler of Damascus, Tutush I, captured the fortress in 1094.^[5]

Crusader control and constructions

By the time of the

Nur ad-Din.^[2]

In January 1169 or between December 1169 and January 1170, the Crusaders recaptured Gibelacar and imprisoned its Zengid governor Qutlug al-Alamdar.

Knights Hospitallers with instructions to restore its fortifications.^[8] However, this assignment may not have been official as contemporary court records indicate Gibelacar was still directly under the jurisdiction of the County of Tripoli.^[8]

At the beginning of the 13th century, control of Gibelacar passed to the Crusader lord of

Nephin, Raynouard III, who acquired it as a result of his marriage in 1203/04 to an Isabelle, daughter of Gibelacar's previous lord, a certain Astafort.^[8] Raynouard's control was confirmed by Raymond III, who had since been restored as the count of Tripoli.^[8] However, because the transfer was done without the approval of Raynouard's lord, Bohemond IV of Antioch, the latter opposed the move and a civil war ensued.^[8] Bohemond razed Nephin, captured Raynouard and released him in exchange for handing over Gibelacar in 1205. Raynouard subsequently left for Cyprus, where he died.^[8]

Mamluk capture

The fortress remained in the hands of Bohemond IV's royal successors until the

Baybars wrested control of it soon after capturing the Krak des Chevaliers on 8 April 1271.^[2] Baybars personally commanded the march toward Gibelacar on 28 April and experienced great difficulty in transporting his siege engines through the mountainous forests surrounding the fortress.^[2] The Mamluks' bombardment commenced on 2 May and during the fighting, a Mamluk emir, Rukn al-Din al-Mankurus al-Dawadari, was killed by a Crusader projectile while praying.^[2] By 4 May the defenders were virtually defeated, but held out until surrendering on 11 May in exchange for safe passage to Tripoli.^[2] Baybars had his signature leopard emblem sculpted on a frieze on Gibelacar's main tower.^[9]

Headquarters of the Sayfa clan

In the 1520s Yusuf Sayfa, an Ottoman levend (irregular soldier) of Turkmen origins, or his family, established themselves in Hisn Ibn Akkar, which had become the fortified center of its own village by then.^[10] From there the family became a local power, subordinate first to the Shu'aybs, lords of Arqa, later the Assafs, Turkmen lords of Ghazir.^[11] In 1579 Yusuf was appointed governor of a new eyalet (province) centered in Tripoli and grew increasingly independent of the Assafs. In addition to his lack of a strong local following in the area of the type possessed by the long-established Assafs and his intimate familiarity with the local chieftains, Yusuf was also appointed because of the relative ease of access of his Hisn Ibn Akkar stronghold from the major cities of the Syrian interior through the Homs Gap; the Ottomans would thus have the ability to intervene against Yusuf or his family in case they became recalcitrant, unlike other local chiefs whose strongholds were nestled deep in the Mount Lebanon range. Hisn Ibn Akkar was one of several targets of an Ottoman imperial expedition in 1585. The assault was led by Yusuf's replacement as governor of Tripoli, Ja'far Pasha. Afterward, the Sayfas became once again fiscally subordinate to the Assafs until Yusuf had the last Assaf chieftain Muhammad assassinated in 1590.^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Gibelacar". www.orient-latin.com (in French). Fortresses d'Orient. 2014. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Kennedy, pp. 67–68.
^ Salibi, p. 28.
^ Kennedy 1994, p. 20.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Deschamps 1973, p. 307.
^ ^a ^b Zakkar, Suhayl (1971). The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004–1094. Aleppo: Dar al-Amanah. pp. 100–101.
^ Salibi, Kamal S. (1977). Syria Under Islam: Empire on Trial, 634–1097, Volume 1. Delmar: Caravan Books. p. 108.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Deschamps 1973, p. 308.
^ Deschamps 1973, pp. 308–309.
^ Abu-Husayn 1985, pp. 12.
^ Abu-Husayn 1985, pp. 14–15.
^ Abu-Husayn 1985, pp. 17–20.

Bibliography

Abu-Husayn, Abdul-Rahim (1985). Provincial Leaderships in Syria, 1575-1650. Beirut: American University of Beirut.
Deschamps, Paul (1973). Les châteaux des Croisés en terre sainte III: la défense du comté de Tripoli et de la principauté d'Antioche (in French). Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner.
Kennedy, Hugh (1994). Crusader Castles. Cambridge University Press. p. 67.
ISBN 0-521-79913-9
.