1270 the last crusade ended in a total disaster. Saint-Louis died, the navy was destroyed and the army returned empty-handed through Italy. A lesson for our time, asks a new book.
La dernière croisade : Saint Louis à Tunis (1270)
By Xavier Hélary
Perrin 2016
ISBN-10: 2262038198
ISBN-13: 978-2262038199
ABSTRACT:
August 25, 1270: Saint Louis dies in the Crusader army camp, near ancient Carthage. A few days later the barons and knights, who had taken the cross following the King of France, departed from Aigues-Mortes and landed in Tunis. Paralyzed by the inaction of the dead king’s brother, the King of Sicily and exhausted by the heat of the Tunisian summer, the group was quickly decimated by the disease that killled the King and several other grand nobles. After some struggles to keep up appearances, the Crusader army sailed back in November. The destruction of the fleet in a Sicilian port in a storm prevented the expedition to continue to the Holy Land. In the end, the Crusaders had no choice but to return to France. At great cost and preceded by many preparations of all kinds, the eighth and final Crusade was a complete failure. The disaster of this escapade from from the Saint Louis took the cross in 1267 and until the return of the Crusader army in the spring of 1271 is told in this book. The author notes that the book has been especially written as a comment to the present tensions and confrontations following the terro atttacks in France, Copenhagen and now beligium last year.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Xiavier Hélary holds a Phd in History and is associated with Université Paris-Sorbonne