Volta
Conflict1248 – 1254

Seventh Crusade

Louis IX of France invaded Egypt and took Damietta but was crushed at Mansurah and captured; he was released for a ransom.

Louis IX takes Damietta (1249) — miniature in Joinville’s Life of Saint Louis, 1330–1340
Louis IX takes Damietta (1249) — miniature in Joinville’s Life of Saint Louis, 1330–1340

Mahiet · Public domain · Source

When Jerusalem fell to Muslims again in 1244, Louis IX took the cross. He seized Damietta easily in June 1249, but in February 1250 his cavalry was drawn into street fighting at Mansurah and destroyed, and the king himself was captured during the retreat in April.

In the turmoil the Mamluks, Egypt’s slave soldiers, killed the Ayyubid sultan and took power, founding the Mamluk Sultanate. Released, Louis stayed at Acre until 1254 repairing the walls of the coastal towns.

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States at the time
France · invader
Ayyubid dynasty · belligerent
Mamluk Sultanate · established
Places
Damietta, Mansurah

People

  • Louis IX of France1214 – 1270

    commander · King of France (r. 1226–1270), “Saint Louis”, captured in Egypt on the Seventh Crusade and died of disease at Tunis on the Eighth

Before and after

Earlier
1217 Fifth Crusade
Later
1250 The Mamluk Sultanate

Themes that include this event

  • The Crusades1095 – 1291

    From the Council of Clermont to the fall of Acre — two centuries of war between Latin Europe and the Islamic world over the Holy Land