The Last Crusaders Embark

The fleet set sail on the 4th of July, 1270, and in a few days arrived in the road of Cagliari. Here the council of the counts and barons was assembled in the King’s vessel, to deliberate upon the plan of the crusade.

Continuing Louis IX Leads The Last Crusade,
our selection from History of the Crusades by Joseph François Michaud published in 1840. The selection is presented in four easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Louis IX Leads The Last Crusade.

Time: 1270
Place: Egypt

As Louis traversed his kingdom on his way to Aigues-Mortes, where the army of the crusaders was to embark, he was everywhere hailed by the benedictions of his people, and gratified by hearing their ardent prayers for the success of his arms. The clergy and the faithful, assembled in the churches, prayed for the King and his children and all that should follow him. They prayed also for foreign princes and nobles who had taken the cross and promised to go into the East, as if they would, by that means, press them to hasten their departure.

Very few, however, responded to this religious appeal. The King of Castile, who had taken the cross, had pretensions to the imperial crown, nor could he forget the death of his brother Frederick, immolated by Charles of Anjou. It was not only that the affairs of the empire detained the German princes and nobles; the death of young Conradin had so shocked and disgusted men’s minds in Germany that no one from that country would have consented to fight under the same banners as the King of Sicily. So black a crime, committed amid the preparations for a holy war, appeared to presage great calamities. In the height of their grief or indignation, people might fear that heaven would be angry with the Christians, and that its curse would fall upon the arms of the crusaders.

When Louis arrived at Aigues-Mortes, he found neither the Genoese fleet nor the principal nobles who were to embark with him; the ambassadors of Palaeologus were the only persons who did not cause themselves to be waited for; for a great dread of the crusade was entertained at Constantinople, and this fear was more active than the enthusiasm of the crusaders. Louis might have asked the Greek Emperor why, after having promised to send soldiers, he had only sent ambassadors; but Louis, who attached great importance to the conversion of the Greeks, contented himself with removing the apprehensions of the envoys, and, as Clement IV died at that period, he sent them to the conclave of the cardinals, to terminate the reunion of the two churches.

At length the unwilling crusaders, stimulated by repeated exhortations and by the example of Louis, set forward on their march from all the provinces, and directed their course toward the ports of Aigues-Mortes and Marseilles. Louis soon welcomed the arrival of the Count of Poitiers, with a great number of his vassals; the principal nobles brought with them the most distinguished of their knights and their most brave and hardy soldiers; many cities likewise contributed their supply of warriors. Each troop had its banner, and formed a separate corps, bearing the name of a city or a province, the battalions of Beaucaire, Carcassonne, Châlons, Perigord, etc., attracted observation in the Christian army. These names, it is true, excited great emulation, but they also gave rise to quarrels, which the wisdom and firmness of Louis had great difficulty in appeasing. Crusaders arrived from Catalonia, Castile, and several other provinces of Spain; five hundred warriors from Friesland likewise ranged themselves with full confidence under the standard of such a leader as Louis, saying that their nation had always been proud to obey the kings of France.

Before he embarked, the King wrote once more to the regents of the kingdom, to recommend them to watch carefully over public morals, to deliver France from corrupt judges, and to render to everybody, particularly the poor, prompt and perfect justice, so that He who judges the judgments of men might have nothing to reproach him with.

Such were the last farewells that Louis took of France. The fleet set sail on the 4th of July, 1270, and in a few days arrived in the road of Cagliari. Here the council of the counts and barons was assembled in the King’s vessel, to deliberate upon the plan of the crusade. Those who advocated the conquest of Tunis said that by that means the passages of the Mediterranean would be opened and the power of the mamelukes would be weakened; and that after that conquest the army would go triumphantly into either Egypt or Palestine. Many of the barons were not of this opinion; they said that, if the Holy Land stood in need of prompt assistance, they ought to afford it without delay. While they were engaged on the coast of Africa, in a country with which they were unacquainted, the Christian cities of Syria might all fall into the hands of the Saracens. The most redoubtable enemy of the Christians was Beibars, the terrible Sultan of Cairo; it was him they ought first to attack; it was into his states, into the bosom of his capital, that the war should be carried, and not to a place two hundred leagues from Egypt. They added to this, remembrances of the defeats that ought to be avenged upon the very theatre of so many disasters. Contemporary history does not say to what extent Louis was struck with the wisdom of these last opinions; but the expedition to Tunis flattered his most cherished hopes. It had been proposed by the King of Sicily, whose concurrence was necessary to the success of the crusade. It was, therefore, decided that the Genoese fleet should direct its course toward Africa; and two days after, on the 20th of July, it arrived in sight of Tunis and Carthage. At the sight of the Christian fleet, the inhabitants of the coast of Africa were seized with terror, and all who were upon the Carthage shore took flight toward the mountains or toward Tunis. Some vessels that were in the port were abandoned by their crews; the King ordered Florent de Varennes, who performed the functions of admiral, to get into a boat and reconnoiter the coast. Varennes found nobody in the port or upon the shore; he sent word to the King that there was no time to be lost–he must take immediate advantage of the consternation of the enemy. But it was remembered that in the preceding expedition the descent upon the coast of Egypt had been too precipitate; in this it was determined to risk nothing. Inexperienced youth had presided over the former war; now it was directed by old age and ripe manhood, and it was resolved to wait till the morrow. The next day at dawn the coast appeared covered with Saracens, among whom were many men on horseback. The crusaders, nevertheless, commenced their preparations for landing. At the approach of the Christians, the multitude of infidels disappeared; which, according to the account of an eyewitness, was a blessing from heaven, for the disorder was so great that a hundred men would have been sufficient to stop the disembarkation of the whole army.

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