Fifth Crusade launches toward Egypt

1217

An international host of crusaders sailed south from Acre toward the mouth of the Nile, intending to capture Damietta and leverage it for Jerusalem. They would spend two years in the Delta's mud, undone by floods and the patient cavalry of the Ayyubid sultan. The papal legate Pelagius insisted on marching toward Cairo despite warnings from seasoned Frankish veterans, turning stalemate into disaster.