Castle of al-Al

Not to be confused with Iaal Fortress.

The Castle of al-Al, also ʿAlʿāl (Arabic: قلعة العال, "Qal'at al-'Al") was, according to contemporary Damascene chronicler Ibn al-Qalanisi, a short-lived castle built in 1105 near al-‘Al on the Golan Heights by Hugh of Saint Omer, the man put in charge of the Galilee by King Baldwin I. The location is described as "between the Sawad and al-Bathaniya". Israeli historian Moshe Sharon considers it to be a mere legend rooted in a popular etymology, with no historical base.

Al-Qalanisi, a politician and historian from nearby Damascus, is the only contemporary chronicler of the castle's existence and history. H. A. R. Gibb, Qalanisi's first English translator, claims that the Damascene Chronicle is an accurate chronology of events. According to Sharon's 1997 theory, all medieval Muslim chronicles after al-Qalanisi are sourced on him and therefore do not prove the castle's existence.

The identification with the ruins at the site of Qasr Bardawil was abandoned after it being classified as a Bronze Age site.

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