The Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) was the first of the two crusades led by Louis IX of France. Also known as the Crusade of Louis IX to the Holy Land, it aimed to reclaim the Holy Land by attacking the Ayyubid Sultanate, the main Islamic power in the Near East. The crusade was conducted in response to setbacks in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, beginning with the loss of the Holy City in 1244, and was preached by Pope Innocent IV in conjunction with a crusade against Emperor Frederick II, Baltic rebellions and Mongol incursions. After initial success, the crusade ended in defeat, with most of the army – including the king – captured by the Egyptians.
Following his release, Louis stayed in the Holy Land for four years, doing what he could towards the re-establishment of the kingdom. The struggle between the papacy and Holy Roman Empire paralyzed Europe, with few answering Louis' calls for help following his capture and ransoming. The one answer was the Shepherds’ Crusade, started to rescue the king and meeting with disaster. In 1254, Louis returned to France having concluded some important treaties. The second of Louis' crusades was his equally unsuccessful 1270 expedition to Tunis, the Eighth Crusade, where he died of dysentery shortly after the campaign landed.
Background
In the years that followed the Barons' Crusade, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ayyubid dynasty were both beset by internal strife that ultimately proved disastrous for both. The loss of Jerusalem and defeat at Gaza in 1244 ultimately marked the collapse of Christian military power in the Holy Land and led to the rise of the Mamluk sultanate. It is against this backdrop that Louis IX of France and pope Innocent IV began the Seventh Crusade to recover Jerusalem.
Jerusalem from 1241 to 1244
The Barons' Crusade ended in 1241 with the Kingdom of Jerusalem at its largest since 1187 after the negotiations made by Theobald I of Navarre. When Richard of Cornwall completed his negotiations with the Muslims, he then secured the support of the influential family of John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II had been crowned as king in March 1229, and the Ibelins agreed to accept him as regent as long as Simon de Montfort were appointed bailli until Conrad II of Jerusalem was of age and could receive the kingdom. When Richard returned home on 3 May 1241, the kingdom, still based at Acre, seemed to be restored, but suffered from rejection of Frederick and general lack of any central authority.
While waiting for Frederick's answer to Richard's proposal, the barons kept the claim of Alice of Champagne in reserve. Richard Filangieri remained in Tyre while the various barons returned to their fiefs in Syria and Cyprus, and Philip of Montfort, lord of Tyre, remained in Acre. The Templars, unsatisfied with the treaty with Egypt, besieged the Hospitallers at Acre and Hebron in 1241, who, under grand master Pierre de Vieille-Brioude, had supported the treaty. An-Nasir Dā'ūd, a Hospitaller ally, responded by attacking Christian pilgrims and merchants. Taking revenge, the Templars sacked Nablus on 30 October 1242, burning the mosque and killing the native Christians. The Muslims were not unreasonable in their belief that peace with the Franks was impossible.
Some Hospitallers joined with Filangieri in a plot to turn Acre over to the imperialists. The Templars, Philip of Montfort, the Genoese and Venetians put an end to the coup attempt. The main body of Hospitallers, conducting military action at al-Marqab against Aleppo, returned and de Vieille-Brioude disavowed the plot. The city remained under Ibelin control, while Filangieri was recalled to Italy. On 5 June 1243, the High Court ruled that Alice and her current husband Ralph of Nesle were entitled to rule Jerusalem as regents for Conrad II until he could come to the kingdom. Tyre remained occupied by Richard's brother Lothair Filangieri. When Richard was forced back to the harbor by a storm, fell into the hands of the barons and Lothair had to surrender the citadel at Tyre on 10 July 1243 to save him. Balian of Ibelin was appointed royal custodian of Tyre and the lordship was eventually assigned to Philip of Montfort. Jerusalem was essentially a feudal republic administered by the most powerful barons.
After the recovery of Jerusalem and much of Galilee, the kingdom was unable to sufficiently reorganize to counter the threats from the Ayyubids and Mongols. The quarrels between imperialist followers of Frederick II and the Ibelins, between the Templars and Hospitallers, and Acre versus Tyre left the kingdom almost defenseless. The defeat of the imperialists left the Templars in a strong position, negotiating a treaty in 1243 with a coalition of the rulers of Homs, Kerak, and Damascus against Egypt that eased tensions and restored Temple Mount to the order. Grand master Armand de Périgord triumphantly reported the return of the Templars to their original home to the pope. While the treaty promised to enhance Frankish security in Syria, but would prove toothless in light of the impending onslaught.
The Ayyubids and the loss of Jerusalem
Since the death of the sultan al-Kamil in 1238, the political situation in Egypt and the Levant was chaotic, stoked by rivalries between his sons. In early 1240, while making ready to invade Egypt, as-Salih Ayyub, the eldest son, was informed that his half-brother Al-Adil II, then sultan, was being held prisoner by his own soldiers. He was invited to come at once and assume the sultanate. In June 1240, he made a triumphal entry into Cairo and assumed rule of the dynasty. Once installed in Cairo, as-Salih was far from secure, as the dynasty and associated Kurdish clans had divided loyalties. Within Egypt, a powerful faction of emirs were conspiring to depose him and replace him with his uncle, as-Salih Ismail, who had regained control of Damascus. As-Salih took refuge in the Cairo citadel, no longer trusting even the once-loyal emirs who had brought him to power. Kipchak mercenaries became available following the Mongol invasion in central Asia and soon formed the core of his army known as Mamluks. Before the end of the Seventh Crusade, the Mamluks would eventually overthrow the Ayyubid dynasty and take power on their own.
Beginning in 1240, a Central Asian tribe known as the Khwarezmians attacked the territories of Aleppo and would within four years decimate the Levant. Lacking strong leadership since the death of Jalal al-Din Mangburni, they were essentially freebooters operating as a mercenary band. They defeated the Aleppine army of al-Mu'azzam Tūrān-shāh, son of Saladin, near B'zaah on 11 November 1240, before taking Manbij. The emir of Homs, al-Mansur Ibrahim newly installed after the death of his father al-Mujahid, brought forces to bear, eventually defeating the Khwarezmians near Edessa on 6 January 1241, sharing the spoils with Badr al-Din Lu'lu', emir of Damascus. The army of Aleppo then combined with a Seljuk force led by Kaykhusraw II to defeat an Ayyubid army led by as-Salih's son and deputy al-Muazzam Turanshah at Amida. The Khwarezmians then allied with al-Muzaffar Ghazi to mount a counterattack, and were defeated at al-Majdal in August 1242. Kaykhusraw II was then dealt a crushing defeat by the Mongols at the Battle of Köse Dağ in June 1243, threatening the whole of Mesopotamia.
At as-Salih's invitation, the Khwarezmian army advanced through Syria and Palestine and, in the Siege of Jerusalem of 15 July 1244, destroyed the Holy City. The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrendered on 23 August 1244, and the Christian population of the city was expelled or massacred. Later that year as-Salih, again allied to the Khwarezmians, confronted as-Salih Ismail, now allied with the Crusaders, at Gaza in the Battle of La Forbie, marking the collapse of Christian power in the Holy Land. In 1245, as-Salih captured Damascus, and was awarded the title of sultan by the caliph al-Musta'sim in Baghdad. In 1246, he assessed that his Khwarezmian allies were dangerously uncontrollable, so he turned on them and defeated them near Homs, killing their leaders and dispersing the remnants throughout Syria and Palestine. Three years later when the Crusade began, as-Salih was away fighting his uncle in Syria and quickly returned to Egypt where he died on 22 November 1249.
The military orders
The treaty of 1243 with the Ayyubids did not keep the peace for long, but the military orders in the kingdom united to fight at Hirbiya in what is sometimes called the Battle of La Forbie, sometimes known as the Battle of Gaza, from 17 to 18 October 1244. Here the Crusaders, led by Walter IV of Brienne, and a Damascene army met the Egyptian and Khwarezmian armies. In what was to be the final major battle between the Franks and Muslims, 5000 Crusaders died and 800 were taken prisoner. Among the dead were Armand de Périgord, Grand Master of the Temple, and Peter II of Sargines, archbishop of Tyre. Taken prisoner were Guillaume de Chateauneuf, Grand Master of the Hospitaller, and the commander Walter IV of Brienne. Only 33 Templars, 27 Hospitallers, and three Teutonic Knights survived, escaping to Ascalon along with Philip of Montfort and Latin patriarch Robert of Nantes. Jean de Ronay, in an acting capacity for the Hospitallers, and Guillaume de Sonnac, Armand's successor, would go on the support the Seventh Crusade. Both arrived in the Holy Land after the 1244 defeats. Hugues de Revel, lord of Krak des Chevaliers from 1243 to 1248, would become de Chateauneuf's permanent successor in 1258.
Louis IX of France
At the end of 1244, Louis IX of France was stricken with a severe malarial infection. Near death, he vowed that if he recovered he would set out for a crusade. His life was spared, and as soon as his health permitted him, he took the cross and immediately began preparations. The crusade that Louis would lead has been described as "perhaps the only expedition since the days of Godfrey of Bouillon that deserved the name of a Holy War." He had already been much distressed by the plight of John of Brienne during the siege of Constantinople of 1235, and dispatched a mission led by the Dominican André de Longjumeau to acquire Holy relics, including the Crown of Thorns, parts of the True Cross, the Holy Lance, and the Holy Sponge. The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris was begun by Louis whose chapel would hold and display his sacred objects in a large reliquary. (The reliquary and associated vessels were melted down during the French Revolution. The crown is currently in the Louvre, saved from the 2019 fire at Notre-Dame de Paris.) Papal blessing for the Crusade would come later.
Innocent IV
Innocent IV became pope on 25 June 1243, facing both religious and political crusades. At that time, the papacy was engaged in a feud with emperor Frederick II, then under excommunication. Frederick was at first pleased with his election, but it was soon clear that Innocent intended to carry on his predecessors' traditions. Fearing a plan to kidnap him, Innocent IV left Rome in March 1244, pursued by the emperor's cavalry, travelling to Lyons. He wrote to Louis IX, asking for asylum, which was cautiously refused. In exile, the pope presided over First Council of Lyon in 1245. The council directed a new crusade under the command of Louis IX, who had already taken the cross, with the objective of reconquering the Holy Land. With Rome under siege by Frederick, that year the pope also issued his Ad Apostolicae Dignitatis Apicem, formally renewing the sentence of excommunication on the emperor, and declared him deposed from the imperial throne and that of Naples.
From Gregory IX, Innocent IV inherited a Prussian Crusade targeting the Orthodox Russians. Innocent was also the first to seriously face the challenge posed by the Mongol incursion into Europe in the course of 1241. After Lyons, Innocent sent envoys to the Mongols (see below) who also negotiated with Russian princes over church union with Rome. As both Daniel Romanovich of Galicia-Volhynia and Yaroslav II, grand prince of Vladimir, seemed to respond positively, the pope abandoned the idea of an alliance with the Mongols and aimed instead to form a grand alliance with the Russians to counter the Mongol threat. In January 1248, Innocent joined with Heinrich von Hohenlohe, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, in warning Daniel and Yaroslav's son Alexander Nevsky of impending Mongol attacks on Christianity and to unite under papal protection in the defense against the invaders. Both Russian princes accepted the proposal. Eventually, all eastern European rulers still not under Mongol domination had now joined Innocent's alliance, however short-lived. In September 1243, he issued the bull Qui iustis causis, authorizing further Northern Crusades.