Battle of Faraskour .. On the day of the capture of the Egyptians by the King of France

Doaa Abdel Latif - Cairo

Say to the Franciscan if he is tempted
An authoritative article by Qul Fasih

I have come to an insistent seeker to take it
It is calculated that the groups are Drum Wind

You and your companions have deposited them
By the ugliness of your actions, the belly of the mausoleum

Fifty thousand do not see them
Only one dead or wounded prisoner

Tell them that they will return
To take revenge or for true intent

The house of Ibn Luqman on her reign
And the rest is kept and the sabbath

The Egyptian poet Jamal al-Din bin Matrouh was the end of the seventh Crusade by the Egyptians in the famous battle of April, the Battle of Faraskur.

"King Louis IX conquered Egypt and invaded Egypt and Egypt became in our hands." The news was then reaching France in a different way. The reality was that while the French were celebrating victory, their king was captured in a small village in northern Egypt, The Seventh Crusade.

Unless the French reached the time that the last battle of the seventh crusade "Battle of Faraskur" ended, on April 6, 1250, killing thousands of their army, which marched to Egypt to occupy it as a gate to control Jerusalem.

The families of thousands of Crusader army, was among the captives of the French king himself, where he remained in the village of Menia Abdullah north of the city of Mansoura, and then transferred to the house of Judge Fakhr al-Din Ibn Luqman, even paid half the amount of ransom 400 thousand dinars, and after his release violated his promise did not pay The remaining amount.

Battle History
After six crusades aimed at the conquest of Jerusalem began in 1096, Europe realized that the success of its invasion of this spot, which was restored by King Salih Najmuddin Ayyub (the Seventh Sovereign of the Ayyubid state) in 1244, was to control Egypt.

The campaign was aimed at attacking Egypt via the Mediterranean Sea, especially from the city of Damietta, which was considered the most important ports of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Crusader armies, estimated to number about fifty thousand troops from the French port of Marseilles to the island of Cyprus and remained there for a while, and then sailed in the spring of 1249 towards the Egyptian coast.

With the knowledge of Saleh Ayoub, ruler of Egypt, the crusader crusade sent an army under the command of Fakhruddin Yusuf, where he was stationed with his troops south of Damietta in a small town called Ashmoum Tanah in Dakahlia governorate.

A temporary victory
In June 1249 the crusader fleet arrived at Damietta Beach. Confrontations broke out with the Egyptian army. The latter withdrew to his camp in Ashmoum. The Crusaders easily occupied Damietta.

The military camp was transferred to Mansoura (the capital of Dakahlia governorate now), and the warships in the Nile joined the city. The campaign was blocked and its supply lines were cut off for six months. Volunteers from Syria and Morocco came to help the Egyptians.

In the wake of the siege, the campaign had only to march towards Cairo, which took place in November 1249. The crusaders left a small garrison in Damietta and set out for Mansoura, which they briefly controlled.

Despite the sudden death of Ayoub during these difficult circumstances, his wife, Shajrat al-Dur, hid his death until the leaders met and pledged to his son Turan Shah, who succeeded in taking over the reins of the crusades.

Battle of Faraskur
In February 1250 the Egyptian army began its offensive attack on the camp of the crusaders, and the campaign suffered heavy losses. King Louis returned to Damietta, but this seemed impossible as the Egyptians cut off the line of retreat. They were able to surround it with warships through a clever trick. On the beauty and fall behind the lines of the Crusader army.

On April 6, 1250, the battle that ended the seventh crusade completely ended, and ended with the capture of the King of France, which resulted in the deaths of about 30 thousand people. And tens of thousands wounded.