Damietta, Siege of

The Siege of Damietta of 1249 is part of the Seventh Crusade.

Louis IX of France lands at Damietta in 1249.

Egypt would, Louis thought, provide a base from which to attack Jerusalem, and its wealth and supply of grain would keep the crusaders fed and equipped.

On June 6, Damietta is taken with little resistance from the Egyptians, who withdraw further up the Nile.

Louis is able to build a stockade for the whole Crusade camp with the wood from 24 captured Egyptian trebuchets.

The flooding of the Nile had not been taken into account, however, and it soon grounds Louis and his army at Damietta for six months, where the knights sit back and enjoy the spoils of war.

Louis ignores the agreement made during the Fifth Crusade that Damietta should be given to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, now a rump state in Acre, but he does set up an archbishopric here (under the authority of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem) and uses the city as a base to direct military operations against the Muslims of Syria.

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