In the Crusader period, Mi’ilya was first mentioned in 1160, when it and several surrounding villages was transferred to a Crusader named Iohanni de Caypha (Johannes of Haifa).
In 1179 Viscountess Petronella of Acre sold the houses, vineyards and gardens of Mi’ilya to Count Jocelyn III, uncle of Baldwin IV, and in 1183, Baldwin IV transferred a house that he had bought in Mi’ilya from the scribe, John of Bogalet, in addition to other possessions in the vicinity of Mi’ilya to the same uncle, Jocelyn III.
However, in 1187 Mi’ilya (including its castle) fell to Saladin. In 1188 it was granted by Conrad of Montferrat to the Pisans who were defending Acre, but it is unclear if they ever took control of it.
In 1220 Jocelyn III’s daughter Beatrix de Courtenay and her husband Otto von Botenlauben, Count of Henneberg, sold Mi’ilya to the Teutonic Knights on 31 May, for the sum of 7000 marks of silver. This included Mi’ilya with its dependencies, and a third of the fief of St. George. In 1228, Jocelyn III’s grandson James of Mandale sold his part to the Teutonic Knights
