History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 94, Louis's Crusade Roman numeral 4.

Hello again.

We ended last week's episode on a cliffhanger.

After Damietta fell into their hands,

King Louis and his Crusaders decided to attack Cairo.

Heading southwards up the river Nile, they took four weeks to reach the city of Mansura

and spent another six weeks fruitlessly trying to build a causeway across the Tannus River,

a waterway they needed to cross to gain access to the city.

Luckily for the Crusaders a local peasant showed them a crossing

point further down the river. King Louis mobilised his army and they prepared to cross the river and attack Mansura.

King Louis's brother, Robert of Artois, led the Vanguard and his section of the Army crossed the river first.

Robert had received strict instructions to wait for the rest of the Army to cross the river before mounting an attack.

However, he decided to disobey this order.

He attacked the Egyptian army which was camped outside the city.

The dawn raid took the Egyptians totally by surprise, giving Robert of Artois an easy victory.

For Kia Al-Din was one of the many Egyptians killed in the attack.

We left last week's episode with Robert deciding to keep ignoring his King's orders and

press his advantage further by attacking the city of Mansura itself. Now remember at this time that Robert has

around 600 knights under his command. The rest of the army is still laboriously making its way across the

river, the unexpectedly deep and difficult fording point slowing the army's crossing down to a crawl.

Boyed by his overwhelming victory and seeing the remnants of the Muslim army flee to the relative safety of Mansura, Robert threw caution to the wind

...