page_title: Tyre, Lebanon
section_title: Crusader period (1124–1291)
hierarchical_section_title: Tyre, Lebanon / History / Crusader period (1124–1291)
caption_attribution_description: English: Tyre being blockaded by the Venetian fleet and besieged by Crusader knighthood
context_page_description: Tyre is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, though in medieval times for some centuries by just a tiny population. It was one of the earliest Phoenician metropolises and the legendary birthplace of Europa, her brothers Cadmus and Phoenix, as well as Carthage's founder Dido. The city has many ancient sites, including the Tyre Hippodrome, and was added as a whole to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1984.
  The historian Ernest Renan noted:
  One can call Tyre a city of ruins, built out of ruins.
  Today Tyre is the fifth largest city in Lebanon after Beirut, Tripoli, Aley and Sidon, It is the capital of the Tyre District in the South Governorate. There were approximately 200,000 inhabitants in the Tyre urban area in 2016, including many refugees.
context_section_description: On 7 July 1124, in the aftermath of the First Crusade, Tyre was the last city to be eventually taken by the Christian warriors – a Frankish army on the coast and a fleet of the Venetian Crusade from the sea side – following a siege of five and a half months that caused great suffering from hunger to the population. Eventually, Seljuk leader Toghtekin negotiated an agreement for surrender with the authorities of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem 
  "on condition that those citizens who wished to be allowed to depart freely with their wives and children and all their substance, while those who preferred to remain at Tyre should be granted permission to do so and their homes and possessions guaranteed them."
  Under its new rulers, Tyre and its countryside were divided into three parts in accordance with the Pactum Warmundi: two-thirds to the royal domain of Baldwin and one third as autonomous trading colonies for the Italian merchant cities: mainly to the Doge of Venice, who had a particular interest in supplying silica sands to the glassmakers of Venice and in the sugar-cane plantations on the mainland. In addition, there were a Genoese quarter, and a Pisan neighbourhood.
  In 1127, Tyre was reportedly shaken by a heavy earthquake that caused many casualties. It was followed by the 1157 Hama earthquake and the 1170 Syria earthquake. Although the loss of lives were reportedly small, some towers were damaged in the latter.
  Nevertheless, Tyre became one of the most important cities of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as it opened the Silk Road to the Western kingdoms. There was much commercial activity, especially glassware by the Jewish community, Sendal silk cloth, purple dye, and sugar factories. The new rulers also continued to mint "Tyre Dinars" that imitated the Fatimid coins.
  
  The city was the see of a Roman Catholic archbishopric, whose archbishop was a suffragan of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem; its archbishops often acceded to the Patriarchate. The most notable of the Latin archbishops was the historian William of Tyre, who held the office from 1175 to 1184 and was also chancellor of the kingdom.
  While the Venetians quickly constructed the church of San Marco in their quarter and the Pisans built a church of San Pietro, the Saint Mark Cathedral of Tyre was erected upon the ruins of the Fatimid Grand Mosque – which in turn had probably been constructed upon or at least the near the ruins of several iterations of Christian churches, and on the lowest level the ancient Temple of Melqart.
  Despite this Christian domination, there was peaceful coexistence of religion: the Jewish community was estimated to number some 500 members, many of whom were arabised. Muslims continued to follow Islam, most prominently Um Ali Taqiyya, "one of the first Tyrian women who excelled in poetry and literature". There were reportedly even still followers of the ancient religion of Melqart. Contemporary estimates put the number of residents at around 25,000.
  After the loss of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187, many crusaders escaped to Tyre with its strong fortifications: "The refugee barons of Palestine were now crowded in the city." Saladin put on the Siege of Tyre twice but gave up on New Year's Day 1188. Thanks to Frankish military and naval reinforcements, Conrad of Montferrat was able to organise an effective defense.
  Subsequently, Tyre's Cathedral became the traditional coronation place for the kings of Jerusalem and a venue for royal marriages. While the Venetian influence was considerably weakened, their privileges infringed and Fiefs conifiscated, the position of Genoa and Pisa got strengthened as a reward for their support to Conrad.
  
  When the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, also known as Frederick Barbarossa, drowned in 1190 in Asia Minor while leading an army in the Third Crusade, his bones were reportedly buried in the cathedral of Tyre.
  Tyre remained for four years the only city of the Latin Kingdom under Frankish rule - until the reconquest of Acre by Richard I of England on 12 July 1191, when the seat of the kingdom moved there.
  On 27 April 
caption: The 1124 siege of Tyre, 12th century illustration by William of Tyre
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