All about Vadum Yacob, Israel (1)
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The Templar Castle of Vadum Iacob: ["Jacobs' ford"]
[Arabic: Bayt al-Ahzan "The House of Grief"; Hebrew: Metzad Ateret - castle of abundance; Old French: Le Chastellet? - the small castle]. A very nice site on a little Crusader castle, next to the Jordan river, which was build, besieged and destroyed between October 1178 and August 1179. About the archaeoseismological excavations and research as the castle was build on a fault.

The Crusader Castle of Vadum Iacob dominates the only possible crossing of the Jordan River between its sources and the Sea of Galillee and is located on the main branch of the Via Maris leading to Damascus.
The castle was built and destroyed within 11 months: The knights Templars convinced king Baldwin IV to make a general call to arms and to launch a building expedition which commenced in October 1178. Saladin offered the Franks a huge sum of 100.000 gold coins for the cessation of the works but the Franks boldly rejected the offer, claiming that the cost of the initial construction was much higher. The Muslims attacked the castle after the failure of the negotiations in April 1179 and after it was handed over to the knights Templars, but were unable to prevent the Franks from continuing their works. According to the Latin and Arabic detailed sources the site was a rectangle which was constructed with 20,000 huge stones each of which was 7 feet long. The destruction of the castle: (more)
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