Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (15 page)

(who was now a Mongol captive) persuaded the governor to surrender the fortress.
⁶⁸
Once
was delivered to the Mongols it was razed to the ground, according to the source, although the archaeological remains, as in many other sites, show no signs or evidence of massive destruction.

One more point should be made here. Thee is a great difference between the characteristics of Ayyubid urban fortifications and those of rural and frontier fortresses,
the principal one being: the scale of construction. The existence of a large civil population dictated the nature and scale of military urban fortifications. Muslim cities in this period were well established as the seats of rulers and their armies. Urban fortifications and citadels developed along different lines to those built in the periphery. A brief look at political and military affairs in the region shows that the large cities in central Syria, such as Damascus and Aleppo, were besieged mainly by armies belonging to princes of various ranks in the Ayyubid family.
⁶⁹
Thus, the main threat to the Syrian cities during the last decade of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century was not Frankish. This may have had an effect on the construction of the fortifications as compared with fortresses built to stand against Frankish armies.

The making of the Ayyubid fotress at Mount Tabor

The fotress on Mount Tabor is one of the largest extant Ayyubid fortresses in the region (
Figure 1.1
). As well as the fairly rich contemporary historical sources, the archaeological remains are well preserved.

The religious importance attributed to Mount Tabor by Christianity, the fact that it was the site of one of the first fortified monasteries built by the Franks in the early twelfth century, the size of the fortress built by the Ayyubids, and the circumstances under which it was constructed drew attention of both Latin and Muslim historians, who have left a more detailed picture of it than most other sites seem to offer. Between them, the historians give a clear outline of what led to the building of the fortress, the Frankish siege of 1217 and a few insights on the logistics of constructing a fortress and running a building operation on such a grand scale. I have therefore chosen Mount Tabor to open this section, although chronologically it is neither the earliest nor the most advanced example of Ayyubid military architecture.

Mark Twain, who visited Mount Tabor in 1869, was obviously not over-impressed with the ruins. But he describes the scenery in great detail and was very taken with the view spread out below him.

Thee is nothing about Tabor (except we concede that it was the scene of the Transfiguration), but some old gray ruins, stacked up there in all ages of the world from the days of stout Gideon and parties that flourished thirty centuries ago to the fresh yesterday of Crusading times. It has its Greek Convent, and the coffee there is good, but never a splinter of the true cross or bone of a hallowed saint to arrest the idle thoughts of worldlings and turn them into graver channels.
⁷⁰

Mount Tabor provides an excellent view over the lower Galilee and the northeastern parts of the Jezrael valley. It rises from the flat surrounding landscape to a height of 588m above sea level and dominates the region and the main roads that run from the Mediterranean coast to the Galilee and further north. The mountain slopes are covered with a dense green growth of Mediterranean forest, creating an illusion of a possible source of water or of high rainfall. In reality there is no natural spring at the summit and water was collected in cisterns that were built within the fortress walls.

Figure 1.1
Ayyubid fortresses from the late twelfth to the early thirteenth centuries drawn on the same scale

The strategic importance of Mount Tabor either escaped the Franks’ notice or they may have simply decided to rely on the smaller forts that dotted the area such as Safforie,
⁷¹
Jezrael
⁷²
and La Fève,
⁷³
to guard the important roads that were crucial for communication between the coastal plain and the Galilee (
Map 1.3
). Tancred (c.1076–1112), who conquered the Galilee, built a new monastery run by the
Benedictines near the existing Greek monastery dedicated to Elijah. Later a third monastery was established and dedicated to Moses. Although Tancred did not provide the monasteries a garrison, the main church was well fortified, as attested by the Russian traveler Daniel who visited the site in 1106–7. According to his description a wide wall of dressed stone blocks with doors of iron surrounded the large church of the Transfiguration.
⁷⁴
William of Tyre, describing the Ayyubid attack of 1182 on the monasteries and village of Dabbūriya at the foot of the mountain, says that both the monks and the villagers who escaped from the Muslim army found refuge in the monastery that was protected by a wall and towers.
⁷⁵
Ibn
says that there was a Crusader fortress on Mount Tabor and that the Muslims destroyed it after taking Acre (1187).
⁷⁶
If there was a Crusader fortress besides the monasteries it may well have been destroyed during
’s conquest (although it is very doubtful that he would have destroyed it so completely as to remove all evidence of its existence). Another possibility is that the construction of the new Ayyubid fortress in 1211 covered whatever remains may have survived. From the existing archaeological evidence visible to the naked eye, and without further excavations, it looks as if the Muslim chronicler Ibn
regarded the fortified monasteries as a Frankish fortress. According to Abū Shāma, the Muslims took Mount Tabor soon after the battle of
.
⁷⁷
It was probably then that the monks abandoned the monasteries.

About a year before
’s death (589/1193) it was decided that the Galilee would be given to his son
. Important towns and fortresses were distributed among a number of
’s own mamluks, while some were given as
to new amirs. The loyalty of
’s governors in both towns and fortresses thus