Fifth Crusade

The Fifth Crusade was preached by Pope Honorious III in 1217. Its aim, as ever, was the retaking, for Christianity, of Jerusalem and other holy sites.

Leopold VI of Austria led a contingent of soldiers, as did Andrew II of Hungary, but they were unsuccessful. In 1218 further contiingents arrived, from Germany led by Oliver of Cologne, and from the Low Countries, led by William of Holland. They allied themselevs with the Sultanate of Rum (in the Cappadocian uplands), and agreed that the Westerners should attack Damietta in Egypt, whilst Rum attacked Muslims in Syria.

Damietta was taken, but a subsequent march south towards Cairo (with the intent of taking the city, and then exchanging it for Jerusalem) failed when supplies ran out. The Egyptian Sultan then counter-attacked, forcing a surrender by the Crusading forces, but an eight-year truce was signed (although the piece of the True Cross which the Sultan promised to return turned out not to exist).