[1] As Genoese ambassadors approached the French king Charles VI to subscribe to a crusade, they eagerly supported the plan to fight Muslim pirates from North Africa.

[2] The French force also included some English participants and consisted of 1,500 knights under the leadership of Louis II, Duke of Bourbon.

A relief army reportedly 40,000 men strong was brought up by Hafsid Sultan Abu al-Abbas Ahmad II supported by the kings of Bejaia and Tlemcen who camped nearby, avoided pitched battle, but started to harass the crusaders.

In answer they were told that they were unbelievers who had "crucified and put to death the son of God called Jesus Christ."

In a subsequent encounter with the large relief army the Crusaders killed many but eventually had to retreat exhausted and tired.

[2] Their mistakes of unfamiliarity with the environment, lack of heavy siege equipment, underestimation of the enemy, and internal quarrels were repeated six years later on a grander scale in their fatal last crusade, at Nicopolis.