Conventional Long Name: | Lordship (County) of Sidon |
Common Name: | Sidon |
Era: | High Middle Ages |
Status: | Vassal of Kingdom of Jerusalem |
Event Start: | First Crusade |
Year Start: | 1110 |
Event End: | Conquered by Baibars |
Year End: | 1268 |
P1: | Fatimid Caliphate |
S1: | Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) |
Flag S1: | Mameluke Flag.svg |
Capital: | Sidon |
Common Languages: | Latin, Old French, Italian (also Arabic and Greek) |
Religion: | Roman Catholicism, Greek Orthodoxy, Syriac Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism |
Government Type: | Feudal monarchy |
Leader1: | Eustace I Grenier |
Year Leader1: | 1110–1123 |
Leader2: | Julian Grenier |
Year Leader2: | 1239–1260 |
Title Leader: | Lord/Count |
The Lordship of Sidon (French: Saete/Sagette), (Later County of Sidon) was one of the four major fiefdoms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem,[1] one of the Crusader States. However, in reality, it appears to have been much smaller than the others and had the same level of significance as several neighbors, such as Toron and Beirut, which were sub-vassals.
Sidon was captured in December, 1110 and given to Eustace I Grenier. The lordship was a coastal strip on the Mediterranean Sea between Tyre and Beirut. It was conquered by Saladin in 1187 and remained in Muslim hands until it was restored to Christian control by German Crusaders in the Crusade of 1197. Julien Grenier sold it to the Knights Templar after it was destroyed by the Mongols in 1260 before the Battle of Ain Jalut. One of the vassals of the lordship was the Lordship of the Shuf.
The Schuf was created out of the Lordship of Sidon as a vassal around 1170. It was centred on the Cave of Tyron. Julian of Sidon sold it to the Teutonic Knights in 1256.