Development of Jacob's Ford
He began fortifying a strip of raised ground on the west bank of the River Jordan, beside an ancient ford north of the Sea of Galilee. With swamps upstream and rapids to the south, this ford was the only crossing of the Jordan for 50 miles and, as such, acted as a gateway between Latin Palestine and Muslim Syria.
'It stood in a frontier zone contested by both Baldwin and Saladin - a kind of no-man's-land between their respective realms'
But Jacob's Ford did not lie on the Crusader's side of a literal border line. Instead it stood in a frontier zone contested by both Baldwin and Saladin - a kind of no-man's-land between their respective realms. Add to this the fact that Jacob's Ford was just one day's march from Damascus, and it becomes clear that Baldwin was, in 1178, adopting an audacious, even visionary, strategy.
His new castle was designed to be a defensive tool as well as an offensive weapon, to severely inhibit Saladin's ability to invade the Latin kingdom while simultaneously undermining the sultan's security in Damascus. If completed, this fortress could thwart Saladin's ambitions for an empire stretching into northern Syria and Mesopotamia.
Baldwin took his new project at Jacob's Ford exceptionally seriously, committing practically the entire resources of his realm to its construction. Between October 1178 and April 1179 he actually moved his seat of government to the building site to be on hand as supervisor and protector. He also enlisted the aid of the Templars, a military order that combined the ideals of knighthood and monasticism in the sacred pursuit of the Holy Land's defence
Published: 2006-01-12