ABSTRACT
The Frankish castle of Vadum Iacob (Jacob's Ford) was recently interpreted by Malcolm Barber as being part of a military frontier. 1 Barber believes that the history of the castle supports Deschamps's claim that castles were built to defend frontiers, refuting Smail's hypothesis that they were built to dominate areas and maintain Latin rule over them. 2 Barber argues that during the second half of the twelfth century the military orders compelled the Latin kingdom to adopt a new, coherent frontier policy and that an equivalent policy was adopted by the Muslims as well.
