Tibnin (, also romanized Tibnîn, Tebnine etc.) is a municipality spread across several hills (ranging in altitude from 700m to 800m (2,275 ft to 2,600 ft) above sea level) located about east of Tyre, in the heart of what is known as "Jabal Amel" or the mountain of "Amel". "Jabal Amel" designates the plateau situated on either side of the Litani river, a region strongly associated with its long-established Twelver Shia community.
Etymology The name "Tibnîn" is derived from a personal name.Palmer (1881), p. 34.
History Prehistory In 1966, Lorraine Copeland and Peter J. Wescombe published the discovery of prehistoric artifacts from two sites in Tibnin: Acheulean bifacial axes on the road from Tyre, which are preserved at The American University of Beirut, dated to the Lower Palaeolithic; and Stone Age megaliths from the road between Tebnin and Beit Yahum, records of them being preserved at the in Paris.
Classical antiquity Adolphe Chauvet wrote in 1891 that the village history dates back to the Canaanites, but unfortunately did not cite a reference for this assertion.
Scholars have identified Tibnin as the town of Tafnis (תפניס) mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as a northern border of the kingdom of Judah.Revue des études juives volume 46 / École des hautes études en sciences sociales (1903); page 126: "Tibnin peut plutôt être comparée avec Tafnis du talmud..."
Early Crusader period (1099–1187)
Frankish chronicler Guillaume de Tyr (William of Tyre) refers to the town as Tibénin (..nomen priscum Tibénin..).
Hugh of Fauquembergues,Charles Du Cange, Familles d'Outremer, published by Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey, Imprimerie Impériale, Paris, 1869, pages 468-476. who participated in the First Crusade, built the castle of ToronFrom a personal name, according to Palmer 1881, p.29 in 1106 and died in a skirmish near Damascus.Pringle (1998), p. 367 In early 1107, Izz al-Mulk, Sunni governor of Tyre, raided the village and massacred its inhabitants.
King Baldwin I of Jerusalem elected one of his knights whose first name was "Onfroi" or "Henfred" to be the new lord of Tebnine. Humphrey I of Toron started the dynasty at Tebnine in 1107; most of what we know of the man comes from chroniclers of the era who never mention his origin or last name. He took the name of the castle that he was entrusted with and his offspring all carried the surname "de Toron". It is not hard to guess the identity of Humphrey, as chroniclers only mention two knights with that name who participated in the First Crusade: "Humfroy de Montcayeux" and "Humfroy fils de Raoul".
The locals enjoyed a rather stable and semiautonomous life under Frankish rule as noted by Ibn Jubair in 1185: "The Muslim population between Tibnine and the coast enjoyed considerable rights of self-administration and enjoyment of their own customs."Smail (1995), p. 54le Strange (1890), pp. 545-546Ibn Jubayr (1884), p.448
British historian Jonathan Riley-Smith mentions that the customs house below the castle levied no duty on merchants travelling with Ibn Jubair because they were travelling towards the port of Acre, and hence concluded that King Baldwin III's officials were stationed there, even though the fortress was not in his royal domain,Riley - Smith, 1973, pp. 28, 65, 168, 171; cf. Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, trans. R.J.C. Broadhurst. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 316 which meant that Tibnin was an important stop on the roads between Tyre, Damascus and Jerusalem. The fertile land of Tibnin made it one of the granaries of the Crusader kingdom, and under Humphrey III of Toron (died 1173), the lordship had its own coinage, minted of red copper and stamped "CASTRI TORONI".
Late Crusader period (1187–1266) Saladin's conquest and aftermath After the Battle of Hattin in 1187, Saladin saw no threat of a Christian army in the foreseeable future and sent his nephew and most celebrated general, Al-Muzaffar Umar, north to besiege the castle of Toron for three days. Toron's garrison was cut off, weak, and unprepared with no leader as its lord Humphrey of Toron was captured at Hattin. Soon the Frankish nobles conceded the surrender of the castle, and Saladin allowed them five days to make a safe passage to Tyre with their fortunes and families. Muslim prisoners were freed and many of the crusaders were taken hostage. Subsequently, Saladin asked his nephew to rebuild the castle and El-Seid tribesmen who were direct descendants of Muhammad and who were trusted confidantes to Saladin, allowed other tribesmen of Fawaz tribe, adepts of Sufism to live in the Land of Tibnine.
Crusade of 1197 On 28 November 1197, while most of Syria expected the amalgamate of crusaders from the Duchy of Brabant, German forces, and knights of the king Amalric II of Jerusalem to head towards Jerusalem or Damascus, the crusaders laid siege to the castle of Tibnin to give Christian Tyre a breathing space. The siege was carried out with great energy and as the Christian forces managed to dig a small hole in the great walls of the castle, the Muslim garrison feared a fate like that of Maarat al-Numaan which was still fresh in the memory of Syrians, and offered to surrender. Despite the mild objections of the ruler of Tebnine (Husam El-Din Beshara),Humphreys, 1977, p. 107 representatives of the families of Tebnin came down the hilly side of the castle to the Frankish camp and asked for safety (Al-Aman) in exchange for the liberation of 500 Christian slaves. Ibn al-Athir, the famous Arab historian, winks that a lot of the rumors circulating in Tebnine about what the crusaders would do if the castle was taken by assault, came from none other than other Frankish lords who were not very happy to see a successful campaign led by king Amalric II of Jerusalem, added to the fact that most of them had forged alliances with the sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt and were in no hurry to see it obliterated over some revolting massacres committed in Tebnin. The Germans would hear of no surrender. Tebnine promised pillage and fortune as well as glory to the knights who will return it to hand of the Christians. Chronicler Ernoul describes how the crusaders refused the Muslim offer and admits that it was a mistake not to accept the honorable offer of surrender.Les Alemans se fient moult en lor force et en lor fausse vertu, ne n'orent pitié des esclas crestiens que l'on lor devoit rendre, ne ne conurent le bien el l'onor qui lor avenait Their arrogance made them parade the messengers in front of the secret dig that the crusaders were working under the wall of the castle. Tebnin's garrison was more resolved to resist than ever. It was indeed the site of that dig that witnessed the fiercest fight that day. The warriors of Tebnine fought so ferociously that the dig was rendered useless, and the crusaders forced to retreat from their attack. The siege continued, and the besieged thought that another offer to capitulate, made from a stronger position, would yield a more positive outcome. Once more, representatives of Tebnine families carried the offer of surrender as long as their lives are spared, and once more the response was less than polite from the German chancellor. When the messengers were back in the castle, they informed the garrison of the insulting reception that they received from the Franks, and the will to fight was again strong. Towards the evening, carrier pigeons brought news of reinforcements on the way dispatched by the sultan Al-Kamil. In February 1198, under the threat of the looming Ayyubid army, and the war of succession in Germany between Philip of Swabia and Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, the German forces ended the siege of Tibnin when the Chancellor and his princes abandoned their men to their fate outside the gates of Toron, as described by Helmold von Bosau.Le chancelier et les autres princes, abandonnant le siêge, ont secrètement fait leurs bagages, constitué un convoi and sont partis pour Tyr. Aussitot l'armée en fait autant et qui å cheval, qui å pied, reprend dans le plus grand désordre et le plus grand abattement le chemin de Tyr. And so, it was at the walls of Tibnine that the German crusade of 1197 ended in disgrace.
Sixth Crusade to Mamluk conquest (1229-1266) In 1229, under the pressure of king Frederick II's Sixth Crusade, Egyptians sultan Al-Kamil who was Saladin's brother, returned the Seigneurie (lordship) of Toron (Tibnin) to the Franks. Ahmed Sheir says that the Teutonic Knights supported by Emperor Frederick II tried to add Toron ( Tibnin) to their possession being "a part of the possessions of Joscelin of Courtenay in 1120," that they had bought. However, the High Court of the Kingdom of Jerusalem forced Emperor Frederick II to admit the rights of Alice of Armenia, "being the niece of Humphrey IV and heiress of the fief of Tibnīn. "Accordingly, the rule of Humphrey I's dynasty at Tibnīn was restored by Alice in 1229. In the charter dated in November 1234, Alice of Tibnīn "Alis, princesses et dame de Toron", confirmed the donation of 30 bezants to the monastery of Saint-Lazare, which had been granted to this monastery by Humphrey II of Tibnīn in 1151. It is estimated that Alice ruled Tibnīn until 1239." This placed the lordship of Tibnin in the hands of the French baron Philip of Montfort, who arrived in Upper Galilee as one of the few knights to make it to the Holy Land in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, which had been initially launched under the leadership of Theobald of Champagne and had ended by conquering Constantinople. Montfort married Maria of Antioch-Armenia, the last remaining heiress to the Toron family, and seized the riches of Tibnin and its castle and imposed a tax on caravans using the spring beneath the castle. It was from Tibnin that Philip of Montfort would contemplate ways to seize Tyre from the hands of Richard Filangieri, who was the confidant of Frederick II.
Mamluk conquest and aftermath
After the conquest by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in 1266, the Fawaz and Sayed families were entrusted with the defense of the land.
Crusader imprint on population? Many of the existing families of Tibnin have a background makeup of Phoenician, European and Arab due to ranging influences in the region over centuries. Adolphe Chauvet noticed with surprise that a lot of the town folk in 1891 looked as blond as Germans, but gave no explanation for that: (Je suis surpris de voir passablement de blonds et de blondes, comme chez les Allemands. Le docteur Lortet a fait aussi, je crois, la mème remarque.) Early Irish troops in Tebnin made the same observation many years later.The legacy of foreign invasions cannot just be seen in the stones of Tibnin castle. The eyes and hair of some of today's inhabitants show the stamp of an alien presence in the hills. One of the most unusual sights for a first-time visitor to the Irish battalion area is the number of local people with blue eyes and blonde or red hair. Crusader chronicler Foucher de Chartres (Fulcher of Chartres) gave a poignant explanation: "Nam qui fuimus occidentales, nunc facti sumus orientales", 'We who were Occidentals, became Orientals.'
Ottoman period Early Ottoman period In 1596, it was named as a village, Nafs Tibnin, in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 148 households and 13 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a taxes on cultural products, such as s wheat, barley, summer crops, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 8,900 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 180Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9