Battle of Fariskur, 6 April 1250
Final battle of the Seventh Crusade. Louis IX, having spent two months camped in front of Mansura, hoping for a crisis in Egypt to save him, finally realised that the only option left to him was to attempt to retreat to the coast. On 5 April the army left camp, and crossed back over the Bahr as-Saghir canal, but the engineers failed to destroy their pontoon bridge, and the Egyptians were able to follow up. After harassing the crusaders all day on 5 April, they attacked in full strength on 6 April. Louis IX had fallen ill the after the exertions of the fifth, and despite the clear desperation of their situation, the French nobles were unwilling to surrender, but were overruled by barons from the crusaders kingdoms. The disaster was total. With Louis in their hands, the Egyptians were able to dictate terms, which included the return of Damietta, the one solid achievement of the crusade, and the payment of the huge sum of 500,000 pounds tournois, a huge sum. Many of the captured crusaders were executed in the week after the battle after the Egyptians found themselves unable to deal with the huge number of prisoners they had captured.
How to cite this article: Rickard, J. (30 September 2001), Battle of Fariskur, 6 April 1250, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_fariskur.html