ABSTRACT
For all the difficulties inherent in their situation, the crusade’s leaders were anxious to present a ‘united front, dedicated to the successful conclusion of the crusade’.7 But this entailed papering over serious divisions. Such rifts were fed by the lack of a single preponderant figure in Egypt or of ‘a [clear and] decisive command structure’.8 At this stage, in late 1219, the crusade’s commander-in-chief was the King of Jerusalem, John of Brienne.9 However, King John lacked the capacity to dominate the crusader host.
