February –
Pelagius orders the Crusader army to prepare an attack against the Egyptians but is unsuccessful because of the weather and strength of the defenders. Sultan
Al-Kamil, in command of the Egyptian forces, is almost overthrown by a conspiracy in his entourage. He considers fleeing to the Ayyubid
Emirate of Yemen, ruled by his son
Al-Mas'ud Yusuf, but the arrival of his brother
Al-Mu'azzam, with reinforcements from
Syria, ends the conspiracy. On hearing the news that Al-Kamil and his army is retreating to
Cairo, the Crusaders march to Al-Adiliya. After driving back an assault from the garrison of
Damietta they occupy the town on
February 5.[1]
April – The Crusaders surround Damietta, with the Italian forces to the north,
Knights Templar and
Knights Hospitaller to the east – and King
John I of Jerusalem with his French and Pisan troops to the south. The Frisians and German troops occupy the old camp across the
Nile. A new wave of Crusader reinforcements from
Cyprus arrive led by
Walter III of Caesarea. Meanwhile, Al-Mu'azzam decides to dismantle the fortifications at
Mount Tabor and other defensive positions, as well as
Jerusalem itself, in order to deny their protection should the Crusaders prevail there. Some fanatics wish to destroy the
Holy Sepulchre, but this is refused by Al-Mu'azzam.[2]
April 7 –
Al-Muzaffar II, Ayyubid ruler of
Hama, arrives
Egypt with Syrian reinforcements, leading multiple attacks on the Crusader camp at Al-Adiliya, with little impact. In the meantime, new Crusader forces bring badly-needed supplies. Egyptian attacks continue through May, with Crusader counter-attacks utilizing a Lombard device known as a carroccio, confounding the defenders.[3]
July 8 – Pelagius begins multiple attacks at Damietta, using Pisan and Venetian troops. Each time they are repelled by the defenders, using
Greek fire. A counter-offensive led by Al-Kamil on the Templar camp is repulsed on
July 31 by their new Grand Master
Peire de Montagut, supported by the
Teutonic Knights – where the Crusaders reform and pursue the enemy outside the gates.[4]
August 29 – The Crusaders attack the Egyptian camp in the
Battle of Faraskur and the Muslims pretend a
feigned retreat to
Mansoura. John I advises to camp overnight, because there is no fresh water in the region between the Nile and
Lake Manzalah. Al-Kamil decides to halt the retreat and turns his forces to deliver a smashing attack upon the disorganized Crusaders, losing some 4,300 men.[5]
September –
Francis of Assisi, an Italian preacher, arrives in the Crusader camp and introduces
Catholicism in Egypt. He seeks permission from Pelagius to visit Al-Kamil. After an initial refusal, he sends Francis under a flag of truce to Faraskur. Al-Kamil receives him courteously and offers him many gifts. He accepts a death-bed
baptism, and is escorted back to the Crusader camp.[6]
October – Al-Kamil sends two captive knights as envoys, to renew his former offers of an armistice. If the Crusaders evacuate Egypt, he will return the True Cross (lost in the
Battle of Hattin) and they can have Jerusalem, all central
Palestine and
Galilee. John I advised its acceptance, along with the nobles from
England,
France and
Germany. Pelagius again refuses the peace terms.[7]
November 5 –
Siege of Damietta: The Crusaders enter Damietta and find it abandoned. Seeing the Crusader standards flying from the towers, Al-Kamil hastily abandons his camp at Faraskur and withdraws to Mansoura. Survivors in the city are either sent into slavery or held as hostages to trade for Christian prisoners. On
November 23, the Crusader army captures the city of
Tinnis.[8]
Mongol Empire
Winter –
Genghis Khan sends a Mongol army (some 20,000 men) under his eldest son
Jochi and
Jebe to cross the
Tian Shan mountains ("Heavenly Mountains") to ravage the fertile
Fergana Valley, in the eastern part of the
Khwarezm Empire. The Mongols suffer many losses but slip through the defensive lines and confuse the enemy who thinks this is Genghis' main force.
Muhammad II dispatches his elite cavalry reserve to protect the fertile regions with force. Meanwhile, another Mongol army under his second and third sons
Chagatai and
Ögedei passes through the
Dzungarian Gate, and immediately start laying siege to the border city of
Otrar.[9]
Mongol forces under Chagatai and Ögedei capture Otrar after a 5-month siege. The city becomes the first of many settlements to have its entire population slain or enslaved before it is razed to the ground.
Inalchuq, the Khwarezmian governor of Otrar, is captured and executed by pouring molten silver into his eyes and ears – an unlikely and unnecessarily expensive end.[10]
By letter, Genghis Khan summons
Qiu Chuji (Master Changchun) to visit him, to advise him on the medicine of immortality (the
Philosopher's Stone).
May 2 – King
Leo II (or Levon) of
Armenian Cilicia dies, leaving only two daughters. The elder,
Stephanie, is the wife of John I; the younger,
Isabella, daughter of Princess
Sibylla of Cyprus and Jerusalem, is three years old. Leo has promised the succession to his nephew,
Raymond-Roupen of
Antioch, but on his death-bed he names Isabella as his heir.[12]
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol III: The Kingdom of Acre, p. 133.
ISBN978-0-241-29877-0.
^Moses, Paul (2009). The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam, and Francis of Assisi's Mission of Peace, pp. 16–17.
ISBN978-0-385-52370-7.
^Van Cleve, Thomas C. (1969). The Fifth Crusade: Prelude to the Siege, pp. 412–413. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
^Van Cleve, Thomas C. (1969). The Fifth Crusade: Prelude to the Siege, p. 414. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol III: The Kingdom of Acre, pp. 134–135.
ISBN978-0-241-29877-0.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol III: The Kingdom of Acre, p. 136.
ISBN978-0-241-29877-0.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol III: The Kingdom of Acre, pp. 136–137.
ISBN978-0-241-29877-0.
^Man, John (2011). Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection, pp. 190–191.
ISBN978-0-553-81498-9.
^Man, John (2011). Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection, p. 193.
ISBN978-0-553-81498-9.
^Butkevičienė, Birutė; Gricius, Vytautas (July 2003).
"Mindaugas — Lietuvos karalius". Mokslas Ir Gyvenimas (in Lithuanian). 7 (547). Archived from
the original on May 23, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol III: The Kingdom of Acre, p. 138.
ISBN978-0-241-29877-0.