The Castle
The site of Ibelin had been occupied since ancient times; the Romans called it Iamnia. The crusader castle was built in 1141 between Jaffa and Ascalon, near Montgisard and Ramla. At that time Ascalon was still controlled by Fatimid Egypt, and Egyptian armies marched out every year from Ascalon to attack the crusader kingdom. Ibelin was constructed in order to contain these attacks to a smaller area. The original castle, built by King Fulk of Jerusalem, had four towers.
Read more about this topic: Ibelin
Famous quotes containing the word castle:
“He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.”
—14th-century French proverb, first recorded in English in A. Barclay, Gringore’s Castle of Labour (1506)
“Let me be at the place of the castle.
Let the castle be within me.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)