Battle of Fariskur

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Fariskur


caption=
partof=the Seventh Crusade
date=April 6, 1250
place=Egypt
result=Egyptian Ayyubids victory
combatant1=Egyptian Ayyubids
combatant2=Crusaders
commander1=Turanshah
commander2=Louis IX of FrancePOW
strength1=Unknown
strength2=15,000 men [Konstam, p.178]
casualties1=ca. 100 men [Al-Maqrizi, p.456/vol.1]
casualties2=15,000 men [Al-Maqrizi, p.455/vol.1]
The Battle of Fariskur fought on April 6, 1250 between the Crusaders led by Louis IX King of France (later Saint Louis) [ Louis IX was proclaimed a Saint by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297] and Egyptian forces led by Turanshah.

Background

With the full support of Pope Innocent IV during the First Council of Lyon, King Louis IX of France accompanied by his brothers Charles d'Anjou and Robert d'Artois launched the Seventh Crusade against Egypt. The aims of the crusade were to defeat Egypt, destroy the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt and Syria and recover Jerusalem which the Muslims recaptured in 1244. [Al-Maqrizi, p.447/vol.1 ] .

Battle

On February 27, Turanshah, the new sultan, arrived to Egypt from Hasankeyf and went straight to Al Mansurah to lead the Egyptian army. Ships were transported overland and dropped in the Nile (in Bahr al-Mahala) behind the ships of the crusaders cutting the reinforcement line from Damietta and besieging the crusade force of King Louis IX. The Egyptians used Greek fire and destroyed and seized many ships and supply vessels. Soon the besieged crusaders were suffering from devastating attacks, famine and disease. Some crusaders lost faith and deserted to the Muslim side [Matthew Paris, LOUIS IX`S CRUSADE, p.108 / Vol. 5. ] [Al-Maqrizi, p.446/vol.1] .King Louis IX proposed to the Egyptians the surrender of Damietta in exchange for Jerusalem and some towns on the Syrian coast. The Egyptians, aware of the miserable situation of the crusaders, refused the besieged king's offer. On April 5, covered by the darkness of night, the crusaders evacuated their camp and began to flee northward towards Damietta. Being in panic and haste they forgot to destroy a pontoon bridge that was set up by them over the canal. The Egyptians crossed the canal over the bridge and followed them till Fariskur (فارسكور) where they utterly destroyed them on the 6th of April. Thousands of crusaders were killed and taken prisoners [ Ibn Taghri, pp.102-273/ vol.6 ] [ Abu al-Fida, pp.66-87/year 648H. ] [ Al-Maqrizi, pp. 455-456/ vol.1 ] . King Louis IX and his a few nobles who survived were captured in the nearby village of Moniat Abdallah (منية عبدالله, now Meniat el Nasr) where they took refuge. Louis IX surrendered to a eunuch named al-Salihi after he was promised he would not be killed [Abu al-Fida, pp.66-87/ year 648H. ] [Al-Maqrizi, p.456/vol.1] and together with his two brothers Charles d'Anjou and Alphonse de Poitiers he was taken to Al Mansurah where he was imprisoned in the house of Ibrahim ben Lokman , the royal chancellor, chained and under the guard of another eunuch named Sobih al-Moazami [Ibn Taghri] [Though Louis IX, who was a king, was treated well, he was chained and put under the guard of a slave which was not according to the custom] . King Louis' coif was exhibited in Syria [ Al-Maqrizi,p.456/vol.1 ] [ Ibn Taghri, pp.102-273/vol.6 ] . While the house of Ibrahim ben Lokman was used as a prison for Louis IX and the nobles, a camp was set up outside Al Mansurah to shelter thousands of war prisoners.

Aftermath

The ultimate defeat of the crusaders and the capture of Louis IX in Fariskur caused a shock in France. The crusaders were circulating false information in Europe claiming that king Louis IX defeated the Sultan of Egypt in a great battle and Cairo had been betrayed into his hands [ Lord of Joinville, 170, part II ] [False rumours from Egypt: letters from the bishop of Marseilles and certain Templars spread the rumour that Cairo and Babylon have been captured and the fleeing Saracens have left Alexandria undefended. - Matthew Paris , note. p. 118 / Vol. 5. LOUIS IX`S CRUSADE 1250. ] . When the news of the French defeat reached France a rather hysterical movement known by the name Shepherds' Crusade occurred in France. [Matthæi Parisiensis, pp. 246-253 ]

Louis IX was ransomed for 400,000 dinars. After he pledged not to return to Egypt again and surrendered Damietta to the Egyptians, he was allowed to leave alive on the 8th of May 1250 to Acre with his brothers and 12,000 war prisoners who the Egyptians agreed to release [ Many prisoners were executed. Al-Maqrizi, p. 455/ vol.1.- Ibn Taghri, pp.102-273/vol.6. - The number 12,000 included prisoners from older battles. Al-Maqrizi, p. 460/ vol.1 ] following his queen, Marguerite de Provence , who was suffering from nightmares [ " This news ( the arrest of her husband Louis ) terrified her so much, that every time she fell asleep in her bed, she fancied that her room was all filled with Saracens, and she would scream out, "Help! help!" - ( Lord of Joinville, 201 / Chapter XVII ). ] and left to Acre a few days earlier with her in Damietta born son who was called Jean Tristan (John Sorrow) [ Both Louis IX and his son Jean Tristan died in Tunis in 1270 during the Eighth Crusade. See also the Eighth Crusade. ] .

The National Day of Damiette Governorate on May 8, marks the anniversary of the expelling of Louis IX from Egypt in 1250. [See also Battle of Al Mansurah.]

Historical consequence

[
Güyük to Pope Innocent IV.] The Seventh Crusade met its tragic end at Fariskur in 1250 marking a historical turnpoint for all the regional parties existing on that time. Egypt defeated Louis's crusade and proved to be Islam's citadel and arsenal. The Seventh Crusade was the last major offensive undertaken by the crusaders against Egypt. The crusaders never could recover Jerusalem and the kings of Europe, except Louis IX, began to lose their interest in launching new crusades. But shortly after the battle of Fariskur, the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah was assassinated at Fariskur itself [Al-Maqrizi, p. 458/vol.1] [Ibn Taghri, pp.102-273/vol.6] and the Mamluks, the same victorious champions of Al Mansurah, became the new rulers of Egypt. The power map of the southern and eastern Mediterranean basin became divided among four main dominions . Mamluk Egypt, Ayyubid Syria, Franks of Acre and Syrian Christian beach-heads and the Levantiane Christian state of the Cilician Armenia. While the Mamluks of Egypt and the Ayyubids of Syria turned into two conflicting rivals, the Franks and the Cilician Armenians in addition to the Principality of Antioch were allied. The Mongols, who suddenly erupted out of the Eurasian Steppe, had their armies by 1241 ridden westwards as far as the river Oder and the north eastern shore of the Adriatic and during the Battle of Fariskur they were pentrating deep into all adjoinning regions. who told him that he and the kings of Europe should submit to the Mongols [You must say with a sincere heart: "We will be your subjects; we will give you our strength". You must in person come with your kings, all together, without exception, to render us service and pay us homage. Only then will we acknowledge your submission. And if you do not follow the order of God, and go against our orders, we will know you as our enemy." —From letter of Güyük to Pope Innocent IV, 1246. Lord of Joinville, pp.249-259. ] . In 1253, After his defeat in Egypt, King Louis IX sent from Acre another emissary, the Franciscan friar William of Rubruck who accompanied him earlier in his Egyptian expedition, but the outcome of this trip was also not followed by an effective action [ Toynbee, p. 449 ] . Later, during the era of Sultan al-Zahir Baibars al-Bunduqdari, the Cilician Armanians and the Principality of Antioch had to pay a huge price for their alliance with the Mongols [ Cilician Armania was devastated by Sultan Baibars's commander Qalawun upon the Battle of Mari in 1266. The Principality of Antioch was destroyed by Sultan Baibars in 1268] . After the Battle of Ain Jalut the Mamluks repulsed three more invasions of Syria by the Mongols. Islam survived the combined crusaders and Mongol invasions though it had never been in such great jeopardy at any date since its birth [Toyenbee] . between 1291 and 1292.

ee also

*Berke-Hulagu war
*battle of al Mansurah

Notes

References

*Abu al-Fida, Tarikh Abu Al-Fida, The Concise History of Humanity.
*Al-Maqrizi, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997. In English: Bohn, Henry G., The Road to Knowledge of the Return of Kings, Chronicles of the Crusades, AMS Press, 1969.
*Dupuy, Trevor N "The Harpers Military Encyclopedia of Military History", New York:HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-270056-1
* Hassan, O., Al-Zahir Baibars, Dar al-Amal 1997
*Ibn Taghri, al-Nujum al-Zahirah Fi Milook Misr wa al-Qahirah, al-Hay'ah al-Misreyah 1968
*Qasim,Abdu Qasim Dr., Asr Salatin AlMamlik ( era of the Mamluk Sultans ), Eye for human and social studies, Cairo 2007
*Sadawi, H., Al-Mamalik, Maroof Ikhwan, Alexandria
*Skip Knox, Dr. E.L., The Crusades, Seventh Crusade, A college course on the Crusades, 1999
*Toynbee, Arnold J., Mankind and mother earth, Oxford university press 1976
* The chronicles of Matthew Paris ( Matthew Paris: Chronica Majora ) translated by Helen Nicholson 1989.
*Matthæi Parisiensis, monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica majora By Matthew Paris, Roger, Henry Richards, Longman & co. 1880.
* The Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, translated by Ethel Wedgwood (1906)
* The New Encyclopædia Britannica, H.H. Berton Publisher, 1973
* The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Macropædia,H.H. Berton Publisher,1973-1974
* www.historyofwar.org
*cite book|last=Konstam |first=Angus |title=Historical Atlas of The Crusades |year=2002 |publisher=Thalamus Publishing |isbn=

External links

* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=fariskur&sll=31.181085,31.453857&sspn=0.754282,1.694641&ie=UTF8&ll=31.331279,31.718645&spn=0.023534,0.052958&t=h&z=15&iwloc=addr Map of Fariskur]