ABSTRACT

Charles I of Anjou’s troops suffered from their leader’s avid desire for glory in defence of the rest of the army outside Mansourah; they lost the towers that were guarding the crossing places of the river, and with the towers many lost their lives. The bulk of the army, including the new king Philip III, retreated with Charles to Sicily, and from there made its way back to France. The total abandonment of any expedition to the Holy Land or to Egypt can fairly be laid at Charles’s door. As early as 1271 Michel of Toulouse wrote a letter to Charles’s chancellor Geoffroi de Beaumont, blaming him and his fellows on the Tunisian crusade for having enriched themselves on what was meant to be a mission for God. Salimbene de Adam, writing after Charles’s death and with obvious desire to enhance his hero’s reputation, described an unknown knight from Campania coming to court and insulting the reputation of the French.