This article is about a historical region in modern Lebanon. For the eponymous administrative district in modern Lebanon, see Keserwan District.
The Kisrawan or Keserwan is a region between Mount Lebanon and the Mediterranean coast, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut and south of the Ibrahim River. It is administered by the eponymous Keserwan District, part of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate.
In the 12th–13th centuries it was a borderland between the Crusader states along the coast and the Muslim governments in Damascus. Its inhabitants at that time were Twelver Shia Muslims, Alawites, Druze and Maronite Christians. While the Kisrawanis acted independent of any outside authority, they often cooperated with the Crusader lords of Tripoli and Byblos. Soon after the Sunni Muslim Mamluks conquered the Crusader realms, they launched a series of punitive expeditions in 1292–1305 against the mountaineers of the Kisrawan. The assaults caused wide scale destruction and displacement, with Maronites from northern Mount Lebanon gradually migrating to depopulated villages in the region.
The Mamluks established Turkmen settlements in the coastal part of the Kisrawan to keep guard over the region. Their chiefs from the Assaf dynasty continued to rule the Kisrawan with the onset of Ottoman rule in 1517. In alliance with the Maronite Hubaysh family, whose members served as their stewards and agents, the Assafs patronized Maronite settlement and prosperity in the region. The last Assaf emir was killed in 1591 by Yusuf Sayfa, the governor of Tripoli, who proceeded to take over the Kisrawan and kill the Hubayshes. After a number of struggles with the Druze Ma'ns over control of the Kisrawan, the Sayfas permanently lost their hold over the region to them in 1616. Under the patronage of the Ma'nid emir Fakhr al-Din II, the Maronite Khazen family gradually came to dominate the area, purchasing large tracts of land from Shia Muslim villagers. Their activities fostered the overwhelming Maronite majority of the region that persists until the present day.
The Khazens lost their grip over the region during a peasants' revolt led by Tanyus Shahin, who declared a republic over the Kisrawan in 1859. Although the Kisrawani militia played a key role sparking the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war, the area largely avoided the bloodshed and destruction of that conflict. Shahin was defeated and disbanded the republic after his defeat by Youssef Karam in 1861. During the Lebanese Civil War of 1975–1990, the Kisrawan was a stronghold of the Maronite-dominated Lebanese Forces militia.
The Kisrawan or Keserwan is a region between Mount Lebanon and the Mediterranean coast, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut and south of the Ibrahim River...
Keserwan District (Arabic: قضاء كسروان, transliteration: Qaḍā' Kisrawān) is a district (qadaa) in Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon, to the northeast...
Hashemite family, since 1523), the El-Khazen (since 1545), the Hubaysh of Kisrawan and the Douaihy of Zgharta. Other families who are nowadays addressed or...
gifts and releasing prisoners. In 1299, Kisrawan mountaineers attacked the fleeing Mamluk army, which brought Kisrawan back to Mamluk priority, prompting a...
the 13th century. The Kisrawan campaigns were a series of Mamluk military expeditions against the mountaineers of the Kisrawan, as well as the neighboring...
Amir Kisra of Baskinta was a Maronite Muqaddam and Malik of Kisrawan, whose namesake comes from him, and later Malik of Mount Lebanon. Kisra was born sometime...
century, the eyalet extended from the border with Egypt to the Bay of Kisrawan, including parts of modern Israel and Lebanon. Depending on the location...
issued a ruling to wage jihad against the Shias of Kisrawan and personally fought in the Kisrawan campaigns himself, accusing Shias of acting as the fifth-columnists...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
church Benjamin of Hardin, Maronite muqaddam who fought and died in the Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) "Hardine". Les Plus Beaux Villages du Liban. "20...
sanjak were under the control of the Turkoman ‘Assaf emirs of Ghazir in Kisrawan. When the eyalet was reconstituted in 1579, a new Turkoman family was put...
French embassy. The LAF under General Elie Hayek began moving South from Kisrawan and East from Beirut into the Metn and Baabda. Following the battle for...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
2020 Beirut explosion By city and region Beirut Chouf Kfarsghab Sidon Kisrawan Tyre Tripoli By century 1st century 2nd century 3rd century 4th century...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
exercised Iltizam taxation rights in the Shuf, Gharb, Jurd, Matn, and Kisrawan districts of Lebanon. Mulhim's forces battled and defeated those of Mustafa...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
Shu'ayb Holy days Eid Al Adha Ziyarat Al Nabi Shu'ayb History Wadi al-Taym Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Tanukh (Buhtur) dynasty Ma'n dynasty Mount Lebanon...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
Shu'ayb Holy days Eid Al Adha Ziyarat Al Nabi Shu'ayb History Wadi al-Taym Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Tanukh (Buhtur) dynasty Ma'n dynasty Mount Lebanon...
Haidar fled with his two sons and some of his followers to Ghazir in Kisrawan where his allies, the Khazen and Hobeish families from the Qaysi party...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
Córdoba Bashmurian revolts Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Early modern French Revolution Revolt in the Vendée...
Shu'ayb Holy days Eid Al Adha Ziyarat Al Nabi Shu'ayb History Wadi al-Taym Kisrawan campaigns (1292–1305) Tanukh (Buhtur) dynasty Ma'n dynasty Mount Lebanon...
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