The History of the Crusades (vol. 3 of 3)

by J. Fr. Michaud

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No. 33.

Letter of St. Louis upon his Captivity and Deliverance.

Louis, by the grace of God, king of the French, to his beloved and faithful prelates, barons, warriors, citizens, burgesses, and all the other inhabitants of his kingdom, to whom these present letters may come, salutation!

For the honour and glory of the name of God, desiring, with all our soul, to pursue the enterprise of the crusade, we have thought proper to inform you all that after the taking of Damietta, which our Lord Jesus Christ, by his ineffable mercy, as by miracle, gave up to the power of the Christians, as you have no doubt learnt, by the advice of our council, we set out from that city the 20th day of the month of November last. Our armies of land and sea were united; we marched against that of the Saracens, which was gathered together, and encamped in a place vulgarly called Mansourah. During our march, we sustained the attack of the enemy, who constantly experienced considerable loss. Upon one day among others, many men belonging to the Egyptian army, who came to attack ours, were killed. We learnt by the way that the Sultan of Cairo had just terminated his unhappy life; that before dying he sent for his son, who was in the eastern provinces, and made all the officers of his army take the oath of fidelity to this prince; and that he had left the command of all his troops to one of his emirs, named Fakr-eddin. Upon our arrival at the spot I have named, we found the news true. It was on the Thursday before the festival of Christmas that we arrived there; but we were not able to approach the Saracens, on account of a stream of water, which was between the two armies, called the river Thanis, a stream which separates itself at this spot from the great river of the Nile. We placed our camp between these two rivers, and it extended from the greater to the lesser one. We had there some engagements with the Saracens, who had many of their men killed by the swords of ours, but a great number of them were drowned in the waters. As the Thanis was not fordable, on account of the deepness of its waters, and the height of its banks, we began to throw a causeway across it, in order to open a passage for the Christian army; we worked at it for many days with great labour, dangers, and expense. The Saracens opposed all the efforts of our toil: they built machines to act against our machines; and they broke to pieces with stones, and burned with their Greek fire the towers and timbers which we placed upon the causeway. We had almost lost all hope of passing over by means of the causeway, when a Saracen fugitive informed us of a ford by which the Christian army might cross the river. Having called together our barons, and the principal leaders of the army, on the Monday before Ash-Wednesday, it was resolved that on the following day, that is to say, the day of Carême penant (three days before Lent), we should repair early in the morning to the place pointed out for crossing the river, leaving a small part of the army to guard the camp. The next day, having ranged our troops in order of battle, we proceeded to the ford, and crossed the river, not without incurring great dangers; for the ford was deeper and more difficult than it had been represented to us. Our horses were obliged to swim, and it was not easy to get out of the river, on account of the elevation of the banks, which were besides very muddy. When we had crossed the river, we arrived at the place where the Saracens had raised machines in face of our causeway. Our vanguard, attacking the enemy, killed a vast many people, and spared neither sex nor age. Among the number, the Saracens lost a general and several emirs. Our troops having afterwards dispersed themselves over the country, some of our soldiers passed through the camp of the enemy, and arrived at the village named Mansourah, killing all they met with; but the Saracens perceiving the imprudence of our men, resumed their courage, and fell upon them, surrounding them on all sides, and overwhelming them with numbers. A great carnage ensued of our barons and warriors, ecclesiastics as well as others, whom we have with reason deplored, and whose loss we still continue to deplore. There we lost also our brave and illustrious brother, the count d’Artois, worthy of eternal remembrance. It is with bitterness of heart we recall the memory of that painful loss, although we ought to rejoice at it; for we believe and hope that having received the crown of martyrdom, he is gone into the heavenly country, and that he there enjoys the reward accorded to holy martyrs. On that day the Saracens pouring down upon us from all parts, and piercing our troops with showers of arrows, we withstood their fierce assaults till the ninth hour, although we were entirely without the assistance of our cross-bowmen.[171] In the end, after having a great number of our warriors and horses killed and wounded, with the help of our Lord, we preserved our position, and having rallied, we went that same day and pitched our tents close to the machines of the Saracens. We remained there with a small number of our people, and made a bridge of boats, that those who were on the other side of the river might come to us. The next day many of them crossed, and encamped near us. Then the machines of the Saracens being destroyed, our soldiers were able to go and come freely, and safely, from one army to the other, over the bridge of boats. On the following Friday, the children of perdition having collected their forces from all parts, with the intention of exterminating the Christian army, came to attack our lines, with much audacity, and with infinite numbers. The shock was so terrible on both sides, that it is said never was such a one beheld on these shores. With the help of God, we stood our ground on all sides; we repulsed the enemy, and made a great number of them fall beneath our blows. At the end of a few days, the son of the late Sultan, returning from the eastern provinces, arrived at Mansourah. The Egyptians received him as their master, and with transports of joy. His arrival redoubled their courage; but from that moment, we know not by what judgment of God, everything on our side went contrary to our desires. A contagious disease broke out in our army, and carried off men and animals, in such a manner that there were very few who had not to regret companions or attend upon the sick. The Christian army was, in a very short time, much diminished. There was such a scarcity of food, that many died of want and hunger; for the boats of Damietta could not bring to the army the provisions embarked upon the river, because the vessels of pirates and of the enemy cut off the passage. They even captured many of our boats, and afterwards took, successively, two caravans, which were bringing us provisions, and killed a great number of sailors and others who formed part of it. The extreme scarcity of food and forage spread desolation and terror throughout the army, and with the losses we had experienced, forced us to quit our position, and to return to Damietta, if it were the will of God; but as the ways of man are not within himself, but in Him who directs his steps, and disposes all things according to his will, whilst we were on the road, that is to say, the 5th of the month of April, the Saracens, having got together all their forces, attacked the Christian army, and by the permission of God, and on account of our sins, we fell into the power of the enemy. We and our dear brothers, the counts of Anjou and Poictiers, and the others who were returning with us by land, were all taken prisoners. The greater part of those who were returning by the river were, in the same manner, either taken prisoners or killed. The vessels on which they were aboard were mostly burnt with the sick who were in them. Some days after our captivity, the sultan proposed a truce to us; he demanded earnestly, but without threats, that Damietta and all that it contained should be given up to him without delay; and that he should be indemnified for all the losses and all the expenses he had incurred up to that day, from the moment the Christians entered Damietta. After many conferences, we concluded a truce with him for ten years, on the following conditions:—

The sultan will deliver from prison, and allow to go whither we will, ourselves and all that have been made prisoners since our arrival in Egypt, and all other Christians, of whatever country they may be, who have been made prisoners since the sultan Kamel, grandfather of the present sultan, made a truce with the emperor; the Christians retaining in peace all the lands they possessed in the kingdom of Jerusalem, at the time of our arrival. On our part, we consent to give up Damietta, with eight hundred thousand Saracen byzants, for the liberty of the prisoners, and for the losses and expenses of which we have just spoken (we have already paid four hundred), and to deliver all Saracen prisoners which the Christians have made since we have been in Egypt, as well as those who had been made captives in the kingdom of Jerusalem, since the truce concluded between the aforesaid sultan and the aforesaid emperor. All our household goods, and those of all others who were at Damietta, shall be, after our departure, placed under the care of the sultan, and be transported into the country of the Christians when an opportunity shall offer itself. All the Christian sick, and those who shall remain at Damietta to sell what they possess there, shall be in equal safety, and shall depart either by land or by sea, when they shall please, without obstacle or molestation.—The sultan was bound to give safe conduct to the countries of the Christians to those who should wish to depart by land.

This truce, concluded with the sultan, had just been sworn to on both sides, and the sultan had already set forward on his march to go with his army to Damietta, and fulfil the conditions which had been stipulated, when, by a judgment of God, some Saracen warriors, doubtless with the connivance of the greater part of the army, rushed upon the sultan at the moment he was rising from table, and wounded him severely. The sultan, in spite of this, came out of his tent, hoping to be able to escape by flight; but he was killed by sword-cuts, in presence of almost all the emirs, and of a multitude of other Saracens. After this many Saracens, in the first moments of their fury, came with arms in their hands to our tent, as if they wished, and as many among us feared, to slay both us and the other Christians; but divine clemency having calmed their fury, they pressed us to execute the conditions of the truce. Their words and their requests were, however, mingled with terrible threats: at last, by the will of God, who is the father of mercies, the consoler of the afflicted, and who listens to the lamentations of his servants, we confirmed by a new oath the truce which we had made with the sultan. We received from all, and from each one in particular of them, a similar oath, sworn according to their law, to observe the conditions of the truce. The time was fixed for the giving up of the prisoners and the city of Damietta. It had not been without difficulty that we agreed with the sultan for the giving up of that place; it was not without difficulty again that we agreed afresh with the emirs. As we could have no hopes of holding it, after what we were told by those who came back from Damietta, and who knew the true state of things; by the advice of the barons of France, and of many others, we judged it would be better for Christendom, that we and the other prisoners should be delivered by means of a truce, than to retain that city with the remains of the Christians that were in it, ourselves and the others remaining prisoners, exposed to all the dangers of such a captivity. For this reason, on the day fixed, the emirs received the city of Damietta, after which they set us at liberty, ourselves, our brothers, the counts of Flanders, Brittany, and Soissons, and many other barons and warriors of the kingdoms of France, Jerusalem, and Cyprus. We had then a firm hope that they would render up and deliver all the other Christians, and that, according to the tenor of the treaty, they would keep their oaths.

This done, we quitted Egypt; after having left the persons charged to receive the prisoners from the hands of the Saracens, and to take care of the things we could not bring away, for want of vessels to convey them in. Upon our arrival here, we sent vessels and commissaries into Egypt, to bring away the prisoners; for the deliverance of these prisoners is the object of all our solicitude; and the other things which we had left behind, such as the machines, arms, tents, a certain number of horses, and several other articles; but the emirs detained our commissaries a long time at Cairo, to whom they have, at length, only delivered four hundred prisoners out of twelve thousand that there are in Egypt. Some of these were only liberated upon the payment of money. As to the other things, the emirs would restore nothing; but what is most odious, after the truce concluded and sworn to, according to the account of our commissaries and captives worthy of credit, who have returned from that country, they have chosen from among their prisoners some young men, whom they have forced, the sword held over their heads, to abjure the Catholic faith, and embrace the law of Mahomet, which many have had the weakness to do; but others, like courageous athletes, rooted in their faith, and constantly persisting in their firm resolution, have not been moved by either the threats or the blows of the enemies, and have received the crown of martyrdom. Their blood, we do not doubt, cries to the Lord for the Christian people; they will be, in the heavenly court, our advocates before the Sovereign Judge; and they will be more useful to us in that country than if we had been able to keep them upon earth. The Mussulmans likewise slaughtered many Christians who were left sick in Damietta. Although we should have observed the conditions of the treaty that we have made with them, and were always ready to observe them, we had no certainty of seeing the Christian prisoners delivered, or of having that restored which belonged to us. When the truce was concluded, and our deliverance had taken place, we had a firm confidence that the country beyond the sea, occupied by the Christians, would remain in a state of peace until the expiration of the truce; and we had both the desire and the intention to return to France. We were already making preparations for our passage; but when we clearly perceived, by that which we have just related, that the emirs were openly violating the truce, and, in contempt of their oath, did not fear to make a sport of us and Christendom, we assembled the barons of France, the prelates, the knights of the Temple, of the Hospital, of the Teutonic order, and the barons of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and we consulted with them upon what was best to be done. The greater number were of opinion that if we were to return at this moment, and abandon this country, which we were upon the point of losing, it would be exposing it entirely to the attacks of the Saracens, particularly in the state of misery and weakness to which it was reduced, and we might consider the deliverance of the Christian prisoners now in the power of the enemy, as lost and hopeless. If, on the contrary, we remained, we had hopes that time would bring about something favourable, such as the deliverance of the captives, the preservation of the castles, and the fortresses of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and other advantages for Christendom; particularly as discord had sprung up between the sultan of Aleppo and those who governed at Cairo. The sultan has already, after gathering together his armies, got possession of Damascus, and some castles belonging to the sovereign of Cairo. It is said he is about to come into Egypt, to avenge the death of the sultan, whom the emirs killed, and to make himself master, if he can, of all the country. In consequence of these considerations and compassionating the miseries and degradation of the Holy Land, we who came to succour it, pitying the captivity and the sorrows of our prisoners, although many dissuade us from remaining longer beyond the seas, we have preferred putting off our passage, and continuing still some time in Syria, to abandoning entirely the cause of Christ, and leaving our prisoners exposed to so many and such great dangers. But we have determined upon sending back into France our dear brothers, the counts of Poictiers and Anjou, for the consolation of our dear lady and mother, and of the whole kingdom. As all those who bear the name of Christian ought to be filled with zeal for the enterprise we have formed, and you in particular, who are descended from the blood of those whom the Lord chose as a privileged people, for the conquest of the Holy Land, which you ought to look upon as your property, we invite you all to serve Him who served you upon the cross, shedding his blood for your salvation; for this criminal nation, in addition to the blasphemies they vomited in the presence of Christian people against the Creator, beat the cross with rods, spat upon it, and trampled it under-foot, in hatred of the Christian faith.

Courage, then, soldiers of Christ! arm, and be ready to avenge these outrages and these affronts. Take example of your ancestors, who distinguished themselves among all nations by their devotion, by the sincerity of their faith, and filled the universe with the fame of their noble actions. We have gone before you in the service of God. Come and join us. Although you arrive late, you will receive from the Lord the recompense which the father of the family, in the Gospel, accorded without distinction to the labourers who came to labour in the vineyard at the end of the day, as to the labourers who came at the beginning of it. They who shall come, or who shall send succour whilst we are here, will obtain, in addition to the indulgences promised to Crusaders, the favour of God and of man. Make, then, your preparations, and let them whom the virtue of the Most High shall inspire to either come themselves or send assistance, be ready by the month of April or of May next. As for such as cannot be prepared for the first passage, let them at least be in a situation to make that which will take place about the festival of St. John. The nature of the enterprise requires promptness, and every delay must produce fatal consequences. For you, prelates and others, faithful servants of Christ, help our cause with the Most High by the fervour of your prayers; order it so that this be done in all places under your direction, so that they may obtain for us from divine clemency the blessings of which our sins render us unworthy.

Done at Acre, the year of our Lord 1250, in the month of August