2742

June 23. In Castris Jamas, Egypt. Robertus count of Artois (comes Attrabatensis) informs his mother Queen Blanche of France that King Louis, the queen and her sister are in good health, but that his brother the count of Anjou (comes Andegavensis) has mild quartan fever. He describes the passage from the port of Limassol (Linocium) in Cyprus to Damietta; the council-of-war in the king’s ship (navis) that decided on landing the following day, in spite of defenders, a large army of Turks (Turci) and armed galleys (galeae); the transfer of the army from the large ships (magnae naves) into the galleys and smaller vessels (galeae et minuti vexilli); the landing, accompanied by the legate carrying a relic of the True Cross, and the battle that followed; the retreat of the Muslims (Turks and Saracens; Turci, Sarraceni) and their subsequent withdrawal from Damietta, which was taken [on 6 June]. The city is well provisioned and the king, whose goods were unloaded from his ships, intends to stay until the Nile flood is over, remembering the disastrous effect the flood had (on the Fifth Crusade). He will then occupy the land. Robertus also reports the birth in Cyprus of a son to the countess of Anjou (Comitissa Andegavensis).