The seventh crusade is the first of both Croisade S undertaken under the direction of Louis IX of France (called “Saint Louis later”). The decision of launching this crusade goes back to 1244.

Unfolding

Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) undertakes a Croisade in 1248 with the blessing of the pope Innocent IV. It starts from Acute-Dead in France in 1248. The crusaders winter with Cyprus, before leaving guerroyer against the Egypt and the Syria. It ends in 1254.

The crusaders easily seize Damiette in 1249. But after these first successes, the army takes Mansourah and is taken there with the trap and victim of an epidemic. Saint Louis, weakened, beats a retreat. It is even made prisoner with two of its brothers. It is obliged, to recover its freedom to pay 400.000 gold besants. Lastly, it is beaten with Fariskur in May 1250.

Once released, it spends four more years in Palestine to consolidate the Christian fortified towns: Jaffa, Saint-Jean-in Acre, Césarée, Sidon. It forces the respect of its adversaries and repurchases the freedom of more than 10.000 Christian knights selected captive.

About return in France, he is concerned with fate of the wounded knights, in particular of the blind men, for whom he founds, with Paris, a specialized hospital: the Hospital of Quinze-Vingts

Principal participants in this crusade

• Robert Ier d' Artois, brother of the king, loses the life in 1250 during the head office of Mansourah.
• Alphonse of Poitiers (1220-1271), brother of the king
• Charles Ier of Anjou, brother of the king
• Jean de Joinville
• Pierre Mauclerc, count de Bretagne
• Guillaume de Salisbury
• Gilles Ier de Mailly and his/her son Jacques de Mailly.
• Dreux V of Mello
• Raoul V Flamenc, future Marshal of France

Sources and bibliography