The Ibelins claimed to be descended from the viscounts of Chartres, but Peter W. Edbury suggests this could perhaps be a fabrication and that Barisan may have been from northern Italy.
[1] According to Jonathan Riley-Smith, however, he may have indeed been connected to Chartres, as the brother of Hugh of Le Puiset, Count of Jaffa; he would then have also been a cousin to the Montlhéry family of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem.
In 1120 he was present at the Council of Nablus, where the first laws of the kingdom were promulgated, perhaps representing the new, underaged Count of Jaffa, Hugh II.
[4] In 1148 Barisan inherited the nearby lordship of Ramla, through his wife Helvis.
[5] That year, Barisan was also present at the council convened at Acre after the arrival of the Second Crusade, at which it was decided to attack Damascus.