Belvoir Castle, also called Coquet by the Crusaders,[1] also Kochav HaYarden (Hebrew: כוכב הירדן, lit.

Gilbert of Assailly, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, began construction of the castle in 1168.

[4] The Hebrew name, Kochav Hayarden, meaning 'Star of the Jordan', preserves the name of Kochava – a Jewish village which existed nearby during the Roman and Byzantine periods.

[5] In the Crusader church, there is a repurposed basalt stone that bears an Aramaic donation inscription using the Jewish script.

While Gilbert of Assailly was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, the order gained around thirteen new castles, among which Belvoir was the most important.

[7] The castle of Belvoir served as a major obstacle to the Muslim goal of invading the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem from the east.

During the campaign of 1182, the Battle of Belvoir Castle was fought nearby between King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Saladin.

[10] Belvoir's design bore similarities to that of a Roman castrum: the inner enclosure was rectangular with towers at the corners, and large gatehouse in the middle of one wall, in this case the west.