Tripoli the largest city in
northern Lebanon and the second – largest city Lebanon.
Situated 85 kilometers (53 miles) north of the capital Beirut.
Even though the history of Tripoli dates back at least to the 14th century
BCE, the city is famous for having the largest Crusader fortress in
Lebanon (the Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles), and it has the second
largest amount of Mamluk architectural heritage on earth (behind Cairo
in Egypt)
The County of Tripoli (1109 – 1289) was the last of the Crusader states. It was founded in the Levant, that is, the modern day region of Tripoli, northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria which supported an indigenous population of Christians, Druses and Muslims.
When the Crusaders, (Christian, mostly Frankish forces), captured the region in 1109, Bertrand of Toulouse became the first Count of Tripoli. He was a vassal of Baldwin I of Jerusalem. From that time, rule of the county was decided not strictly by inheritance but by factors such as military force ,favour and negotiation. In 1289, the County of Tripoli fell to Sultan Qalawun of the Muslim Mamluks of Cairo. The county was absorbed into the Islamic Empire.
The Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles, also known as Qala'atSanjil in Arabic, is a citadel and fort in Tripoli, Lebanon. It takes its name from Raymond de Saint-Gilles, the Count of Toulouse and Crusader commander who started its construction on a hilltop outside Tripoli in 1103 in order to lay siege to the city. Later, Raymond enlarged the fortress, which he named Mont Peregrinus (a natural ridge, which he named "Mons Peregrinus" 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Tripoli)
Another theory considers that the citadel was founded by Arab commander Syfan bin MajidaLAzdi in thr 10-11th centuryAD, later in the 11st century the Fatimids
constructed a mosque inside the fortresses.