Krak

Who holds it

Name

Geoffroy de Donjon

Title

Master of the Hospital of St John

Since

January 1193 (elected at a general chapter held at Margat)

Confidence

high

Origin uncertain (Picardy or Auvergne); first named in 1185 as a simple brother in the Holy Land. His mastership is full of disputes, and of agreements, with the Templars. In the summer of 1202 he works with the legate Soffredo to settle the war over Antioch; he dies at Acre in 1202 or early 1203.

What it holds

• Krak des Chevaliers and the plain below it (the Buqaia)
• Other frontier settlements granted in 1142 (names not pinned in the sources read)
• Claims to Montferrand and Rafaniya, lost to Zengi in 1137 and not recovered

How it was acquired

Raymond II's grant of 1142.

How things stand that morning

Held.

Wealth

The farms of the plain and the frontier traffic through the Homs gap; dues from neighbours are not pinned for 1200.

Threats

• Ayyubid Homs and Hama if the truce breaks
• The earthquake of 20 May 1202 (beyond 1200)

Advocates and rivals

The count of Tripoli; the Ayyubid lords of Homs and Hama across the frontier; the Templars of Chastel Blanc.

Places of note

• Krak des Chevaliers: Hospitaller castle over the Homs gap

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The campaign notes do not cover the Latin East; everything here is added research. The 1142 grant is from Wikipedia (Raymond II; Knights Hospitaller). The Krak des Chevaliers article could not be read (rate limit).

On the map: The castle's district is drawn as a capped town territory; the true bounds are not pinned.

Primary sources for Tripoli

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer, Ernoul, squire of Balian of Ibelin, and later compilers (the 1187 core soon after the event; the whole in its present form 1227 to 1232). The Ibelin household's version of events in Outremer. Read online
• The Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (Eracles), Anonymous continuators, the earliest drawing on Ernoul (about 1220 to 1277; the first continuation (1184 to 1197, the Lyon Eracles) compiled about 1230 from material of the 1190s). For the Latin East at 1200 it narrates the aftermath of the Third Crusade: the truce of 1192, the succession to Jerusalem through Queen Isabella's marriages to Henry of Champagne (died September 1197) and Aimery of Lusignan, Aimery's rule as king of Jerusalem from 1198 while king of Cyprus, the German crusade of 1197 to 1198 and the recovery of Beirut and Sidon, the truce with al-Adil of 1198, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond IV and Leo of Armenia, and the Pisan plot against Aimery. Read online
• Calendar of the Acts of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Various, calendared by Reinhold Rohricht (documents 1097 to 1291; calendar published 1893, Additamentum 1904). A chronological calendar of every charter, letter and treaty of the Latin East then known, with date, parties, witnesses and the edition where each is printed. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• General Cartulary of the Order of the Hospital, Various, edited by Joseph Delaville Le Roulx (documents 1100 to 1310; published in 4 vols, Paris, 1894 to 1906). Volume 1 (1100 to 1200) and volume 2 (1201 to 1260) print in full the Hospital's charters: royal and baronial grants in Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch and Cilicia, papal bulls, the order's European priories and its agreements with the Temple and the Italians. Read online
• The Rule of the Templars: the Latin Rule, the French Rule and the hierarchical statutes, Anonymous (the Council of Troyes and the order's chapter) (Latin rule 1129; French translation about 1140; hierarchical statutes (retrais) about 1165; further statutes to about 1260). Not a chronicle but the constitution of the Temple as it stood in 1200: the hierarchical statutes describe the master, seneschal, marshal and the commanders of Jerusalem, Tripoli and Antioch, the drawing up of the line of battle, the convent's discipline and the horses, squires and tents allowed to each rank. Read online
• The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, Benjamin of Tudela (about 1173). A generation before 1200 but the only survey of its kind: the Jewish communities and their heads from Navarre through Provence, Italy, Constantinople and the Aegean, Antioch, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, Mosul and Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, with notes on rulers, trades, the exilarch at Baghdad, the Assassins of Syria and Persia, and hearsay on India, Ceylon and China. Read online