The maronites and their role in the first crusader campaign 1099

Abstract EN

The Maronites had played an important role in the Lebanese history, in general, and in the First Crusader Campaign, in particular.

In spite of the abstention of the primary sources from bringing out this role, the scattered references in the books demand studying it, for they have formed over the periods of history their own religious and cultural identity keeping their self-independence.

The religious discord between the Maronites and the other oriental Christians had played a great role in granting them a special identity by making use of the nature of the region that they had controlled in Mount Lebanon and the tolerant policy of the successive Islamic states toward them as well as toward the other Christian confessions.

This study has meant to shed light on the Maronite role in the first Crusader campaign, in its shape, motives and consequences as based on the general status of the Maronites and their relationship with the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic State.