Maronite Mummies - Analysis - Dating of The Mummies - Historical Overview

Historical Overview

Between 1102 and 1289, Mount-Lebanon including Hadath El Jebbeh fell within the confines of the County of Tripoli. Tripoli was one of the four fundamental city units of the Crusaders Kingdom of Jerusalem the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, and the Royal Territories. Meanwhile the Mamelukes overtook Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, and set out to conquer Lebanon and expel the Crusaders. As modern scholars have pointed out, the Maronites, who constituted the majority population of that County, presented a constant obstacle to the Mamluk: "in fact, the effective military assistance rendered by the Maronites to the Franks of Tripoli must have been one of the factors that helped the County face repeated Muslim attacks successfully and outlast the other Crusader states." It was not long before the Mamluks realized that in order for them to capture Tripoli, they must first subdue the Maronites.

The Mamluks launched several assaults against the highland of Tripoli devastating Gibbet Bsharri, Baqufa, Kfarsaroun, Hasrun, al-Hadath and others between 1250 and 1289. One particular raid was recorded in Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir's chronicle during his service as Secretary of the Court of three Mamluk Sultans (1223-1292 AD). Under the title of "the Account of Capturing the Patriarch of al-Hadath from the Region of Tripoli", he wrote: "It happened that a Patriarch of the region of Tripoli annoyed, behaved insolently, became haughty, and frightened the governor of Tripoli and all the Francs. He led astray these people of those mountains and the people of those valleys who are of the strayed people. And this continued until he was feared by every neighbor. He entrenched himself in al-Hadath and held his nose high with arrogance and no one succeeded in tricking him... It happened that the governors of the Sultan ambushed him several times but did not find him. Then the Turkmans sought him in his place and tricked him so that they captured and blind-folded him and took him prisoner. The Patriarch was one of the infidels and their impious ones, hence the Muslims were relieved of him and were spared his wickedness. His capture was a great conquest, greater even more than the conquest of a stronghold or a fortress..."

Reports similar to that of Ibn 'Abd az-Zahir are to be found in the margins of two Bibles from the al-Hadath region near the Monastery of 'Mar Aboun' (Monastery of Saint Anthony of Qozhayya). The two Bibles were discovered by Patriarch Istephan Duwayhi during his research and writing of Tarikh al-Azmina between 1670 and 1704. The first Bible contains a note written in 1283 by an anonymous Christian who witnessed these events. The account contained in the second Bible is a copy of the first one, and it is dated 1504 AD. These accounts testify to the dramatic events unfolding in 'Asi al-Hadath during the 13th century. The witness and writer of the original account of 1283 tells us that: ‘’’ "On August 22, 1283 the Muslim soldiers headed toward al-Hadath where the inhabitants took refuge in a magnificent and inaccessible grotto called al-'Asi. The grotto was besieged for seven years. The soldiers received it through the Aman _ a pledge of security and a promise of protection given by Muslim(s) to non-Muslim(s) (Jews and Christians) belonging to dar al-harb (Abode of War) for a specific period of time. Those non-Muslims who belong to dar al-salam (Adobe of Islam) fall under the dhimmi status., then burned its prefecture (the al-Hadath village) by fire and took the women captives." ‘’’

These two references are testimonies about a tragic event that occurred in al-Hadath. The accounts coincide in time, place, and action, and confirm an offensive against al-Hadath, thereby providing some historical context for our understanding of this archaeological discovery.