History of Kfarsghab

However, like most villages in the Qadisha valley, Kfarsghab's history began with the settlement of the Maronites in Mount Lebanon during the 10th century.

The existence of pagan temples is attested to in a Greek inscription mentioning the date 272 AD found in the Mar Mama church in Ehden.

Then, he (Ibn Al Şabĥa) repented of his bad actions and returned and constructed the Monastery of Hawqa close to the fort for the housing of the monks.

At the beginning of the 13th century, three main powers existed more or less peacefully in the Middle East: the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Ayyubid Sultans in Cairo, Egypt.

The failure of the Seventh Crusade and the defeat of the Mongols heralded the rise of a new power, the Mamluks of Egypt, from 1250 AD.

Profiting from the troubles in Jebbet Bsharri (or maybe called upon for help by the Jacobites), the Muslim Muqaddams of the neighbouring region of Ďanniyeh attacked Ehden in 1489 hoping for a quick victory.

The inhabitants of Ehden and of the neighbouring villages, including Kfarşghab, despairing of the help of the Muqaddam of Bsharri, ‘Abdel Mon‘em, pushed back the attackers.

[7] The tax money amounted to 1,600 Akçes[8] and its payment reserved to the Waqf of the heirs of Saad Al Moulouk.

This decrease is attributed to the economic difficulties of the 16th century in the Middle East, but also to the struggle between Maronites and Jacobites.

Kfarsghab stands in the middle of four historical centers of Jacobites in the region: Bqoufa, Bane, Hadshit and Bsharri.

[13] The priest at the time of the 1598 synod, Ibrahim of Qaryat Moussa, was an important aide of the then Patriarch Youssef AlRizzi (1596–1608).

At the end of the 16th century, the emergence of a first autonomous Lebanese Emirate in the southern Mount Lebanon had important impacts in Jebbet Bsharri.

In political terms, it ended in 1621 the role of the Muqaddams of Bsharri as the traditional lords of the region being the official representatives of the Ottoman Governor of Tripoli.

Given the instability, the people of Jebbet Bsharri insisted in 1654, on the Governor of Tripoli to appoint as governor of their region, Sheikh Ahmad Hamadeh, a member of the powerful Shiite Hamadeh family, rulers of the Byblos District and Batroun District regions.

[17] The Hamadeh did not succeed in establishing stability before the end of the century as they were continuously challenged by the local sheikhs and by members of their own clan.

The Patriarch Estephan El Douaihy encouraged the founders and established them in the Monastery of Mart Moura in Ehden.

In the coming two centuries, the Order will represent a major attraction for the young people of Kfarsghab who will join massively its ranks.

[18] In the beginning of the 18th century, the Jebbet Bsharri region was in a very poor state following the conflicts that had taken place in the past 70 years.

It is between 1677 and 1704 that the family Abou Mansour Al Bahri arrived in Jebbet Bsharri from the coast of the Batroun District.

They established themselves in Kfarsghab merging slowly with the few surviving natives, possibly from the Saliba family as recorded by the tradition.

[21] Those records show that, Another reference to Sheikh Hanna is found on a religious book copy stating that Deacon Hanna son of Father Youssef Al Bahri finished copying the Reesh Qoryan with Fr Ibrahim Jilwan AlSamrani on July 3, 1754.

[25] In the property deed established between the two men, Assaad Hamadeh referred to Abou Youssef Elias as our beloved and not with the title Sheikh.

This conflict was eventually settled by the Vatican by the election of Simaan Awwad and the confirmation of the consecration of Bishop Abdallah Habqouq.

In 1763, the ambitious Emir Youssef Al Shihabi (ruled afterwards Mount Lebanon from 1770 to 1789) installed in the Byblos region and being himself in conflict with the Hamadeh, profited from the difficulties of the Bourgeois Sheikhs and maneuvered to take from them the collection of taxes in Jebbet Bsharri.

He contracted an alliance with the Bourgeois Sheikhs and confirmed their privileges in the tax collection of their districts as well as their right to claim the abandoned properties of the Hamadeh (Baklik).

The Emir Youssef Al Shihabi, and his Shihabis successors, will have the direct rule of Jebbet Bsharri for almost one century from 1763 till 1844, helped by the new generation of Bourgeois Village Sheiks of Jebbet Bsharri: El Douaihy, Estephane, Awwad and Daher, but also Khattar and Issa Al Khoury.

The foundation in 1748 and then extension of Morh Kfarsghab on the Baklik land of the Hamadeh [34] was necessary for the silkworm industrial development, especially during wintertime, as the European demand for Lebanese silk was important in that century.

[38]It is explained by a surge in the number of births in Kfarsghab in the 1830s due to the improvement of the economic conditions favoured by the development of silk.

[41] Still in 1900, Kfarsghab counted 13 monks among its sons, representing 4% of the adult male population compared to 0.8% for the average of the region of Jebbet Bsharri.

The special status of Mount Lebanon during the Regime of Mutasarrifiah (1861–1914) changed the administration of Kfarsghab which was attached to the distant district of Batroun.