The Fifth Crusade 1218 - 1221
In the second decade of the 13th century, crusade enthusiasm was running high, but Jerusalem itself was still in Muslim hands. European commitment made possible the most ambitious crusades of the period and their aim was simple: ensure the survival of the crusader states by conquering Egypt itself, their notion being that this was the seat of Muslim power in the East.
It was the great ambition of Pope Innocent III to recapture the Holy City and in April 1213 he called for a new crusade to the East. He died in July 1216 before he could see his plans come to fruition. Three days after Innocent's death a new pope was elected, Honorius III. He immediately took up where Innocent had left off, writing letters to the monarchs of Europe. Few answered the call, and those who did sent only very small armies. Response was better among the French and German barons, and the Frisians agreed to provide a fleet.
Duke Leopold VI of Austria was one of the first rulers to depart, joined soon afterwards at Acre by King Andrew of Hungary, King Hugh I of Cyprus and by smaller contingents from throughout Western Europe. The crusaders spent the winter of 1217-1218 in Palestine fighting small-scale operations against the Muslims. Some of these contingents only signed up for a limited period of crusading and the Christian forces were weakened considerably when King Andrew of Hungary left for home in January 1218. However, reinforcements including large fleets from Northern Europe arrived in the spring. Buoyed by the presence of a significant military force, the crusaders devised a bolder plan than retaking Jerusalem: the invasion of Egypt.
King John of Jerusalem knew perfectly well that there was no point in attacking Jerusalem as long as Egypt was strong, whereas with Egypt under Latin control, the Muslims would not hold Jerusalem for very long. The great wealth of Egypt must also have been an attraction.
The Crusaders left Acre on May 24, 1218, bound for Egypt.
The immediate objective was Damietta, a town in the Nile delta that guarded the main route up river to Cairo. Alexandria was the other great city of Egypt, but it would certainly fall to whichever force was the stronger. Cairo was the residence of the Sultan; capture his capital and the rest of Egypt would surely fall. Damietta was the first, crucial step in this expedition.
Initially the crusaders captured a small bridgehead on an island west of Damietta. The town was two miles up river, protected on west and east by water. A chain blocked the navigable channel, secured on one side by the city walls and on the other by a defensive tower on an island close to the shore. It took the Crusaders nearly a month to capture the fortress, but it fell on August 17, 1218. Despite Egyptian counter-attacks, the tower remained in Crusader hands and they were now able to cut the chain and move up river to attack Damietta.
During this time, the Egyptian commander in the field, al-Kamil, had raised an army and marched it close by, but he was not strong enough to risk a direct attack. He was forced to content himself with occasional harassment of the crusader troops. The crusader army wasn’t particularly strong at this point though and decided to wait for reinforcements. Troops from Italy were expected to arrive shortly, but the Frisians departing for home certainly was not. This greatly angered the crusaders and it seemed for a short time that this was to be another failed attempt by the armies of Europe.
But the Christians were cheered to learn that the Sultan had died. Al-Adil was in his seventies and evidently the news of Damietta's peril was more than he could bear. He died on August 31, succeeded by the commander in the field, al-Kamil.
The expected reinforcements arrived in early September. A number of counts and other lords came with their forces, but the most significant and influential arrival was Cardinal Pelagius, a papal legate. Honorius agreed fully with Innocent's opinion that a Crusade would succeed only when it was led by the Church rather than by lay lords, and he had sent a strong and forceful representative in Pelagius. Despite grumbling from the barons, Pelagius quickly established himself in the councils of war.
With their numbers now greatly increased, the Crusaders advanced to the walls of Damietta and dug in. It was September, 1218.
In October, al-Kamil tried twice to break the Christian camp. He was on the west side of the Nile, the Crusaders were on the east side, the side where Damietta stood. Twice the Egyptians were able to cross the Nile and launch an attack, but both times they were driven off with heavy losses. After the second battle, al-Kamil concentrated more on defending his position (and so protecting Damietta) than with trying to oust the Christians. He built barricades and defence works. He also sank ships in the river to keep Christian ships from sailing past the city.
To a degree, he succeeded. By November it was clear that the Crusaders were not going to be able to work their way up the Nile. Frustrated by this tactic they tried to re-open a canal that had long been abandoned. Their plan was to sail their ships up this canal to a point well above Damietta and thus attack the city from two sides. They succeeded in their dredging, but a terrible storm in late November flooded the Christian camp causing great destruction, followed by disease.
After a terrible winter which saw conditions in the crusader camps deteriorate, Cardinal Pelagius emerged as a new joint-leader with King John. A change in tactics and leadership seemed necessary at this time.
The fall of Damietta was undoubtedly key in the progress of the fifth crusade. Indeed it did fall to the crusaders in November 1219, but not through force. Conditions inside Damietta were growing desperate. With the city cut off since February 1219 and a failed flood affecting all of Egypt, al-Kamil tried to get supplies into the town but was thwarted by the crusaders each time. On the night of 4th November Christian sentries noticed an unoccupied tower in the city walls. After investigation a large force was dispatched immediately. The armies took a gatehouse and rushed into the town in a swift move, but what they found inside was something of a surprise. The expected massacre never happened, largely because there were few people remaining. Of the 80,000 or so people originally inhabiting Damietta, only 3,000 or so remained, many of them sick.
The Sultan offered to surrender the entire territory of the kingdom of Jerusalem if the crusaders left Egypt. King John wanted to accept the offer and was backed by the barons of Outremer and the French. However, Cardinal Pelagius rejected the offer and he in turn was supported by the Italians and the Grand Masters of both the Temple and the Hospital. Squabbling broke out, with the Italians driving the French from the city and in response to this, the Templars and Hospitallers drove out the Italians. A degree of peace resumed, but not fully until King John departed in 1220 to resume interests in the throne of Armenia.
This prolonged period of squabbling probably saved Cairo. Shattered at the loss of Damietta, the Sultan had time to build up his forces once more, from a temporary winter camp at Mansourah into a full-fledged military city.
Pelagius waited for Emperor Frederick II, a true military leader, who signed a vow of crusading in 1221. Pelagius was by no means a general and preferred to use the knowledge of Frederick before commanding the next stage of his plan. Frederick never arrived, but most of his army did, and saw probably the largest crusader army since the first crusade. Estimations were given at 5,000 knights and approaching 41,000 foot soldiers.
Pelagius marched on and the tactics were to take the Muslim camp quickly. All did not go to plan. Insufficient supplies were taken and once they saw the fortifications at Mansourah they realized a swift victory was not necessarily a foregone conclusion. They attempted to fortify their position and crossed a dry river bed. Yet this was approaching the flooding season and before long the river had swollen, effectively cutting off the crusaders from their supplies down river. Seeing this, al-Kamil broke the banks of a canal nearby and in a complete turnaround flooded the crusader camp. With the armies in disarray and having to wade through mud and gulleys of water, al-Kamil attacked. Resistance to this attack was of little use and Pelagius saw his armies were beaten. On 28th August 1221, the crusaders surrendered. The terms offered by the Sultan this time weren’t as generous. Pelagius was not in a position to barter and although Damietta had been refortified and was expecting reinforcements by ship, al-Kamil only requested that the crusaders leave Egypt. They did just that, and marked the end of the Fifth Crusade.
Plenty of blame was waved around the courts of Europe, maybe as a result of the mission coming so close to success. Emperor Frederick was naturally at the forefront of these discussions, but either way this was the last great crusade of a combined European force to take back the Holy Land. And poignantly, whilst the Fifth Crusade did come close to success, it achieved nothing as a result.
* denotes a former staff member.