Ayn al-Habis

Cave de Sueth (medieval French name; in modern French: Cave de Suète), known from medieval Latin sources as Cava de Suet, as Habis Jaldak in medieval Arabic and as 'Ain al-Habis in modern Arabic, was a 12th-century cave castle built into the southern cliffs of the Yarmouk River gorge, across from the southern foothills of the Golan Heights. It was located at the edge of the Terre de Suète region (al-Sawad in Arabic).

History

The fortress was established in 1109 by Tancred among the ruins of a Byzantine lavra-type monastery following the destruction of the castle al-Al. In 1109, a truce was declared between Baldwin I and Toghtekin, the Burid atabeg of Damascus, and the surrounding area, Terre de Suète, was supposed to be ruled as a condominium by Jerusalem and Damascus. Nevertheless, the castle was attacked by Toghtekin in 1111, killing its Frankish garrison, but was retaken by the Franks two years later. The Muslims captured the castle in 1118 only to lose it in the campaign of Baldwin II that resulted in capture of the entire Yarmouk valley. Nur ad-Din besieged Cave de Sueth in 1158, but retreated with the approach of Baldwin III. In 1182 the castle was captured by Farrukh Shah, the nephew of Saladin, only to return to Frankish control later that year, where it remained until shortly before the conquests of Saladin in 1187.

References

• Baldwin, Marshall W., and Setton, Kenneth M, A History of the Crusades: Volume One, The First Hundred Years, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969, pgs. 522, 542, 642.
• Kennedy, Hugh, Crusader Castles, Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 40, 52-53
• Murray, Alan V., The Crusades—An Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, 2006, pp. 233, 1157-1158
• Nicolle, David, Ain al-Habis: The Cave de Sueth, Archéologie médiéval 18 (1988), 113-140
• Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, Volume Two: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187, Cambridge University Press, London, 1952, pp. 95-96.