WHILE the French were encamped at Djedile, and their King was mourning the fate of his kinsman and countrymen, the Saracens evinced the utmost satisfaction with the results of Shrove Tuesday, and proceeded to celebrate the battle of Mansourah as a victory.
It appears that when, on the morning of that eventful day, the van of the crusaders crossed the Achmoum, and seized the camp of the Emir Fakreddin, news of the disaster was carried by a pigeon to the Egyptian capital. Cairo was instantly in consternation. The inhabitants believed the days of Islamism to be numbered, and were eager to escape; but they seemed to think the world was coming to an end, and hardly knew where to go. Many, however, prepared to depart to Upper Egypt; and the gates of the city were left open to admit further intelligence without delay. All night sorrow reigned in the city: but in the morning a second pigeon brought tidings of the defeat of the Count of Artois, and Cairo became the scene of joy. Everything like fear vanished; and everybody rejoiced that the God of Mahomet had declared against the Christians.
Meanwhile Bibars Bendocdar lost no time in pursuing his triumph. On the night of Shrove Tuesday, the Saracens made several attempts to recapture their machines of war; and the crusaders, though wounded ano> fatigued, were repeatedly under the necessity of rousing themselves to energy, and defending their position at the point of the sword. Alarm after alarm was given; and, though the Christian warriors kept the enemy at bay, they felt the peril to which they were exposed; passed hours in preparing for defence; and erected a bridge over the Achmoum, in order to form a junction with the Duke of Burgundy's camp.
While the crusaders were thus employed, Bibars Bendocdar did everything likely to inflame the ardor of his soldiers. A cuirass, covered with fleur-de-lis, and declared to be that of the French King, was publicly exhibited; the heads of several knights were carried about in triumph, as ghastly trophies of the o slaughter at Mansourah; heralds loudly proclaimed that the Christian army was a trunk without life; and the soldiers clamored to be led against the foe.
Bibars Bendocdar was in no mood to baffle a desire so universally expressed; and, on the first Friday in Lent, he formed his men in battle order. But Louis had been warned that an attack was meditated; and when the Mameluke chief marched into the plain, he found his foes under arms, and prepared to resist with the zeal of crusaders and the courage of gentlemen.
Bibars Bendocdar was not dismayed by the prospect of a stern conflict. The formidable front presented by the crusaders greatly increased the Mameluke's importance in his soldiers' eyes, and brought him nearer to the object of ambition on which he had set his heart. Placing his cavalry in the van, ranging his infantry behind, and his reserve in the rear, the bold warrior extended his lines till his host covered the plain.
Having set his men in battle array, and ordered the charge to be sounded, Bibars Bendocdar advanced upon the foe; and the Saracen infantry commenced the conflict by attacking the French under the Count of Anjou. This division, composed of cavalry, was quickly overwhelmed with Greek fire. Surcoats and caparisons were soon in a blaze; and the horses, breaking from their riders, plunged and galloped hither and thither. Availing themselves of the confusion, the Saracen cavalry penetrated within the entrenchments, and the Count was surrounded by countless foes.
When news of the Count's peril was carried to Louis, the King exhibited a courage worthy of his fame. Shouting his battle-cry, Louis immediately spurred to the rescue; and, undismayed by the arrows or by the Greek fire that fell on the caparisons of his horse, he charged, at the head of his knights, right upon the foe, and rescued his brother from a perilous predicament.
But while Louis thus saved the Count of Anjou from destruction, the Count of Poictiers was exposed to equal danger. At the opening of the battle, the Count's division, composed of infantry, gave way before the charge of the Saracen horse; and the Count nad the mortification of seeing his men scattered, and finding himself seized as a prisoner. Luckily, however, for the Count, he was a favorite with the people; and no sooner did the workmen, and sutlers, and camp-followers see him seized, than they rushed impetuously forward and effected his rescue.
Meanwhile, the courage of Louis had wrought wonders. Inspired by the example of the French King, the warriors of the cross resisted with dauntless valor. Fortune still denied Bibars Bendocdar a decisive victory; and against the crusaders the energy of the Mameluke chief, and the enthusiasm of his followers, were exerted in vain. Every minute the resistance became more stubborn. At one point, the crusaders from Cyprus and Syria valiantly resisted the foe; at another point, those of Champagne and Flanders bore up against great odds; at a third, the Templars, though sadly reduced in number by Tuesday's carnage, and depressed by the death of their Grand Master, who had fallen early in the day with several of his knights, exhibited the fine spectacle of a handful of men baffling a host.
Finding that he was wasting his strength in a vain attempt, Bibars Bendocdar drew off'his men. But he had his consolation in leaving the enemy in a condition so perilous, that neither Louis nor his friends knew on what side to turn. The crusaders, in fact, could no longer cherish the idea of advancing to Cairo. A retreat to Damietta was still more than their pride could brook. In their despair, they determined to remain at Djedile.
The calamities of the crusaders now began in earnest. After the two battles, they had neglected to bury the slain; and the bodies, cast into the Achmoum, and raised to the surface of the water, soon caused a pestilence in the camp. The abstinence during Lent added to the horrors of the disease; numbers perished daily; and, ere long, nothing was heard but prayers for the dead and dying.
At length Louis was added to the list of sick; and while all around was death and despair, news suddenly ceased to arrive from Damietta. This circumstance caused the most gloomy forebodings; but a vessel belonging to the Count of Flanders at length reached the camp, and brought tidings that the Saracens, in order to add the evil of famine to that of pestilence, had resolved to interrupt communication; that, with such a view, they had transported a number of galleys overland, and formed an ambuscade; that many French vessels had been taken unawares; and that the Mussulman flag was displayed all along the Nile. The consequence of this soon appeared in the shape of famine: and the crusaders, deeming a truce their sole chance, despatched Philip de Montfort as ambassador.
While the crusaders were suffering, the Saracens, aware of the power of such auxiliaries as pestilence and famine, remained motionless in their camp. Nevertheless, they expressed their readiness to treat with Montfort, and nominated commissioners for that purpose. Everything went smoothly, and the Saracens appeared ready to agree to anything reasonable. But when the question of hostages came to be discussed, and the French offered the Counts of Anjou and Poictiers, the Saracens insisted on retaining the King of France. This proposal terminated the negotiations; and the crusaders, crossing the Achmoum by the bridge they had erected, appointed a day for marching back to Damietta.
On the arrival of the appointed day, the sick, the wounded, the women and the children were embarked on the Nile; and, at the same time, the papal legate, with several French nobles, got on board a vessel. The King was urged to follow their example; but he would not abandon his army. The soldiers, however, endeavored to secure his safety, and ran along the bank shouting to the boatmen not to go till the King embarked.
"Wait for the King! Wait for the King!" was their cry.
"No!" said Louis, touched but resolute. "Go on. I will share weal or woe with my soldiers. I am not such a niggard of life as not to spend it in such good company and in so good a cause."
The boats now began to descend the Nile; but they were not destined to reach Damietta. Attacked by the Saracens, every vessel, save that of the legate, was destroyed, and those on board were sacrificed without mercy. More than thirty thousand crusaders lost their lives. A few men of rank, deemed likely to pay ransom, were spared: and among these was the Sieur de Joinville, whom the Saracens believed to be the King's cousin.
While the boats went down the Nile, the Duke of Burgundy broke up his camp; and at nightfall the crusaders commenced their march towards Damietta. The King brought up the rear; but ho was in no condition to occupy the post of honor. He wore neither cuirass nor helmet; he had no weapon but his sword; and he had scarcely sufficient strength to support himself on his steed. Circumstances soon rendered his position perilous. The French had neglected to break down the bridge across the Achmoum; and no sooner did the King move towards Damietta, than the Saracens, using it to cross the canal, covered the plain on the Damietta side, and charged the crusaders at every turn. The scene that ensued was fearful. Unable, in the darkness, to see their foes, the crusaders were ex-posed to countless disasters; and at length, on reaching the little town of Minieh, they drew up on a hill, with the desperate determination of fighting to the death.
Louis was now utterly exhausted. Weak as a child, the saintly King was lifted from his horse and carried into the town; and all around was consternation and despair, when Philip de Montfort came and proposed to renew negotiations.
"Sire," said the Knight, "I have just seen the Emir, with whom I treated for a suspension of hostilities: and, if it is your good pleasure, I will see him again on the subject."
"Go," said Louis, "and promise to submit to the conditions first required by the Sultan."
Montfort accordingly went; and the Saracens, still feeling some dread of their foes, agreed to treat. Montfort had already given the Emir a ring from his finger, and their hands had met, when a traitor rushed in and interrupted the conference.
"Seigneurs -- noble knights of Rance," he exclaimed, "surrender yourselves all! The King commands you by me. Do not cause him to be killed."
"It is not customary to treat with vanquished foes," said the Emir on hearing the message; and he forthwith terminated the negotiation.
All was now over; and the crusaders, feeling that such was the case, ceased to resist their fate. In truth, the Saracens gave them no time to reflect or rally; for one of the Emirs, entering Minieh, seized the King, his brothers, and his knights, placed chains on their hands and feet, and donducted them in triumph to a boat of war. No generosity was shown towards the vanquished. The oriflamme was paraded with scorn; crosses and images were trampled under foot; and, with trumpets sounding and kettle-drums clashing, the captive crusaders were marched into Mansourah.
While the barons and knights of France were huddled together into an enclosure, and daily decimated by an executioner, the King was confined to the house of a minister of the Sultan, and placed under guard of a eunuch. After some days, Louis was offered liberty on conditbn of surrendering Damietta and the cities of Palestine still possessed by Christians; but he calmly refused to treat on such terms, and listened with passive defiance to threats of perpetual imprisonment. At length his jailors menaced him with violence, and pointed significantly to a frightful instrument of torture known as the "Bernicles." "I am your captive," said Louis with serene dignity, "and you can do with me as you please."
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From John G. Edgar
The Crusades and the Crusaders, 1860
