Shaqif Arnun in the context of Nabatieh Governorate


Shaqif Arnun in the context of Nabatieh Governorate

⭐ Core Definition: Shaqif Arnun

Beaufort or Belfort Castle, known locally as Qal'at al-Shaqif (Arabic: قلعة الشقيف, romanizedQalʿat al-Shaqīf) or Shaqif Arnun (شقيف أرنون, Shaqīf Arnūn), is a Crusader fortress in Nabatieh Governorate, Southern Lebanon, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the south-south-east of the village of Arnoun. There was a fortification on the site before it was captured by Fulk, King of Jerusalem, in 1139 and construction of the Crusader castle probably began soon after. Saladin captured Beaufort in 1190, but 60 years later Crusaders re-took it. In 1268 Sultan Baibars finally captured the castle for the Islamic forces.

Beaufort provides one of the few cases in which a medieval castle proved of military value and utility in modern warfare as well, as shown by its late 20th-century history, especially during the 1982 Lebanon War.

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Shaqif Arnun in the context of Fakhr al-Din II

Fakhr al-Din Ma'n (Arabic: فَخْر ٱلدِّين مَعْن, romanizedFakhr al-Dīn Maʿn; 6 August 1572  – 13 April 1635), commonly known as Fakhr al-Din II or Fakhreddine II (Arabic: فخر الدين الثاني, romanizedFakhr al-Dīn al-Thānī), was the paramount Druze emir of Mount Lebanon from the Ma'n dynasty, an Ottoman governor of Sidon-Beirut and Safed, and the strongman over much of the Levant from the 1620s to 1633. For uniting modern Lebanon's constituent parts and communities, especially the Druze and the Maronites, under a single authority for the first time in history, he is generally regarded as the country's founder. Although he ruled in the name of the Ottomans, he acted with considerable autonomy and developed close ties with European powers in defiance of the Ottoman imperial government.

Fakhr al-Din succeeded his father as the emir of the Chouf mountains in 1591. He was appointed over the sanjaks (districts) of Sidon-Beirut in 1593 and Safed in 1602. Despite joining the rebellion of Ali Janbulad in 1606, Fakhr al-Din remained in his post and the Ottomans recognized his takeover of the Keserwan mountains from his rival Yusuf Sayfa. Seven years later, an imperial campaign was launched against him for allying with Tuscany and garrisoning the strategic fortresses of Shaqif Arnun and Subayba. He escaped and became an exile in Tuscany and Sicily. Upon his return in 1618, he resumed control of his former domains and within three years took over northern Mount Lebanon, which was predominantly Maronite.

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