History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 149, the crusade against the Cathars, to the end of the year 1213. Hello again.

Last week we took a look at the immediate consequences of the rebel defeat at the Battle of

Muray.

At the end of last week's episode Simon de Monfort was in carcass on planning a winter

campaign and the rebels were hold up inside the city of Toulouse.

Understandably, at this time, the rebel cause was looking a little desperate.

They had lost their one hope of victory in King Peter II of Aragon, and their priority in the aftermath of Muray was to find a replacement for him. It occurred to the rebel leaders that the obvious

replacement for the crown of Aragon was the crown of England. King John of England had promised to come to their assistance with his army earlier in the year,

but had been prevented from doing so by unfavorable wins.

That was in high summer and everyone knows that the winds are fickle

in summer. Really it was no wonder that the English fleet couldn't set sail.

Well, now it is autumn and the equinoxial gales were starting to blow.

Surely with those winds behind them the English ships full of eager English

knights could head to southern France and help them defeat Simon de Monfort.

It sounded like a fine plan.

King John's former brother-in-law,

Count Raymond the sixth and his son were delegated with the task of traveling to England to meet with King John to seek his assistance.

Of course, what Count Raymond wasn't to know was that when King John stated that he couldn't set sail for France due to unfavourable wins,

what he was actually saying was,

I can't set sail and come to your aid because I'm almost universally loathed by my subjects

and when I ordered the knights of my realm to muster and board ships to sail to France to help you out, no one came.

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