Battle of Fariskur (1219)

In May 1219, at the suggestion of Cardinal Pelagius of Albano, the crusaders marched on Fāriskūr but the sultan refused to give battle.

[1] After the failure of an attempted assault on the walls of Damietta on 24 August, frustration in the crusader ranks reached a tipping point.

The infantry and the commoners became sharply critical of the leadership and formed a council, which also included clergy and knights.

The goal was to simultaneously march overland and sail up the Nile to attack al-Kāmil's camp and his ships near Fāriskūr, forcing him to retreat further and freeing up the besiegers to concentrate wholly on the city.

According to the Fragmentum de captione Damiatae, the crusader camp was left in the hands of 4,000 infantry and 400 cavalry under Ralph of Saint-Omer.

[3] Francis of Assisi and his companion, Illuminatus of Arce, had arrived in the crusader camp shortly before the decision to attack Fāriskūr.

According to Thomas of Celano's biography of Francis, the future saint had a premonition that the crusaders were marching to defeat.

[4] On 29 August, the main detachment set out for Fāriskūr under the theoretical command of John of Brienne, the king of Jerusalem.

[11] After the army had turned inland, some horsemen, perhaps Bedouin, attacked the women in the rear by the Nile, who were collect water for the troops.

John of Brienne drove them off, but his actions were misinterpreted as a retreat by a contingent of infantry from Rome, who broke and fled.

[12] When the Egyptians realized that the discipline and cohesion of the crusader army was breaking down, they sent a detachment of horse archers to attack the right flank.

This included the Pisans, Templars, the Teutonic Knights and those Hospitallers who had not fled, as well as the contingents commanded by John of Brienne, Ranulf de Blondeville, Walter Berthout [fr], Simon III of Saarbrücken, William I of Holland and George of Wied [de].

[14] During the unorganized retreat, many groups of crusaders were separated from the main army, surrounded and killed or captured.

The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria agrees with the Eracles that 400 knights were lost, but puts the total killed at 2,000.

[18] It was during this truce that, with Pelagius's permission, Francis of Assisi and Illuminatus crossed the lines and visited al-Kāmil in his camp.

Walter Berthout's brother Giles made a donation in September 1219, noting also how the Teutonic Knights cared for the poorer crusaders.