Tiberias Crusader Era
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| Hebrew: | |
|---|---|
| טבריה בתקופת הצתבנים | |
| Pronunciation: | |
| T’ver-ia | |
| Other Names | |
| Tiberias of the 11th - 13th centuries | |
| Description: | |
| The Crusaders captured Tiberias without a struggle in 1099 |
The Fatimid dynasty ended when the Crusaders captured Tiberias in 1099 and ushered in a new era.
Contents |
[edit] Crusader Conquest
The Jews of Tiberias had contended with a breakdown in order and security under the Fatimids but by the 11th century, the situation seemed to be balancing itself. The Arab geographer al Muqqadasi wrote about seeing a city with a strong economy. He wrote that he saw carpet-weavers, paper-makers, fishermen and artisans.
The Crusaders arrived in the northern region of the Land of Israel and conquered Tiberias without a battle. The Arab residents of the city, who had heard about the Crusader massacres in Jerusalem, fled to Damascus but the Jews, who fled to the mountains when the Crusaders entered the city, returned to Tiberias and existed side by side with the Crusaders. Benjamin of Tudella, a Jewish traveler who visited Tiberias in 1171 relates that he found 50 Jewish families living in Tiberias at that time as well as the Synagogue of Caleb ben Jephunneh.
[edit] Tiberias Under the Crusaders
Tiberias became the Crusaders’ Galilee administration center/ The Crusaders moved the city northward after destroying the old sections of the city. They built a fortress whose excavated walls and gate can now be seen in central Tiberias along the Lake Kinneret promenade. In building their fortress they incorporated Roman-era artifacts such as a decorated crossbeam from a Roman public building, a large lintel with inscribed floral patterns a wreath of Heracles, cornice stones and capitals, a basalt ashlar inscribed with a five branch candelabrum relief, fragments of Italian marble, column drums and other limestone and basalt elements. These, archaeologists believe, may have been taken from ruined synagogues and other sites of the area and brought to the Tiberias fortress. The fortress also included a moat and a three meter wide gate.
During the Crusader era visits to the Hammat hot springs ceased.The Christian population grew.
[edit] Defeat of the Crusaders
On July 2, 1187 Salah a-Din, a Mameluke commander, besieged the Tiberias fortress with his army. Crusaders from nearby Sipporis (Tzippori) heard about the siege and began to travel to Tiberias to assist their brethern in the city. Salah a-Din and his army met the Crusaders outside Tiberias at a mountain juncture, the Horns of Hittin. The Mamelukes defeated the Crusaders and captured Tiberias, together with the entire northern region. Salah-a-Din destroyed the Crusaders’ fortress along with large sections of the city.
[edit] Late 13th century
In 1239 the Crusaders recaptured the Galilee but by 1291 they were finally defeated and left the Land of Israel entirely. Attacks by Bedouin and bandits, wars between the Crusaders, Turks and Mamelukes and social and political upheavals left fewer than 500 Jewish families in all of Israel by the beginning of the 14th century.
New Jewish immigrations, however, were beginning, especially among Jews from France and England who were fleeing persecutions in their countries. Some of these immigrants moved to Tiberias and the new Jewish Quarter of Tiberias was built on the ruins of the destroyed Crusader fortress.