Hugh of FauquemberguesCharles Du Cange, Familles d'Outremer, publiées par Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey, Imprimerie Impériale, Paris, 1869, pages 468-476. who participated in the First Crusade built the castle of ToronFrom a personal name, according to Palmer 1881, p.29 in 1106 and died in a skirmish near Damascus.Pringle, 1998, p. 367 In early 1107, Izz al-Mulk, Sunni governor of Tyre, raided the village and massacred its inhabitants. King Baldwin I of Jerusalem elected one of his knights whose first name was "Onfroi" or "Henfred" to be the new lord of Tebnine. Humphrey I of Toron started the dynasty at Tebnine in 1107, most of what we know of the man comes from chroniclers of the era who never mention his origin or last name. He took the name of the castle that he was entrusted and his offspring after all carried the surname "De Toron". It is not hard to guess on the identity of Humphrey the first as chroniclers only mention two knights with that name who participated in the First Crusade: "Humfroy De Montcayeux" and "Humfroy fils de Raoul". The locals enjoyed a rather stable and semiautonomous life under Frankish rule as noted by Ibn Jubair in 1185: "The Muslim population between Tibnine and the coast enjoyed considerable rights of self-administration and enjoyment of their own customs".Smail, 1995, p. 54le Strange, 1890, pp. 545-546Ibn Jubayr, 1884, p.448 British historian Jonathan Riley-Smith mentions that the customs house below the castle levied no duty on merchants travelling with Ibn Jubair because they were travelling towards the port of Acre, and hence concluded that King Baldwin III's officials were stationed there, even though the fortress was not in his royal domain,Riley - Smith, 1973, pp. 28, 65, 168, 171; c.f. Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, trans. R.J.C. Broadhurst. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 316 this meant that Tibnin was an important stop on the roads between Tyre, Damascus and Jerusalem. The fertile land of Tibnin made it one of the granaries of the Crusader kingdom, and under Humphrey III of Toron, the lordship had its own coinage: Forged from red copper and stamped "CASTRI TORONI".
