County of Jaffa and Ascalon
| County of Jaffa and Ascalon | ||||||||||
| Vassal of Kingdom of Jerusalem | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Jaffa | |||||||||
| Languages | Latin, Old French, Italian (also Arabic and Greek) | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism, Eastern Catholicism, Greek Orthodoxy, Syrian Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism | |||||||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | |||||||||
| Count | ||||||||||
| • | c.1100 | Roger and Gerard | ||||||||
| • | 1266-1268 | James of Ibelin | ||||||||
| Historical era | High Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | First Crusade | 1100 | ||||||||
| • | Conquered by Baibars | 1268 | ||||||||
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The double County of Jaffa and Ascalon was one of the four major seigneuries comprising the major crusader state, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, according to 13th-century commentator John of Ibelin.
Jaffa was fortified by Godfrey of Bouillon after the First Crusade in 1100, and was unsuccessfully claimed by Daimbert of Pisa, the first Patriarch. It remained part of the royal domain until it was given to Hugh of Le Puiset in 1110. When Hugh II rebelled against King Fulk in 1134 the county was divided into a number of smaller holdings, and Jaffa itself became a royal domain. Soon it was designated as the apanage of Fulk's second son, Amalric. In 1153, Fulk's first son King Baldwin III conquered Ascalon, and it was added to the territory of his brother Amalric.
It passed in and out of direct royal control when its holders were husbands or close relatives of the then-reigning Monarch or royal heir, or its usufruct went to a member of the royal family. In that period, it usually produced income for one or several members of Amalric's first family. In 1221 it was given to Walter IV of Brienne by his uncle King John, Walter being married to a granddaughter of King Amalric II, who had held the county as successor of his brother King Guy. Around 1250 it was given to a branch of the Ibelin family. With the capture of Jaffa by Baibars in 1268, the county became titular. It was bestowed anew upon John Perez Fabrice by James II of Cyprus and Jerusalem.
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