Battle of Mansurah (1221)
The battle of Mansurah took place from 26–28 August 1221 near the Egyptian city of Mansurah and was the final battle in the Fifth Crusade (1217–1221). It pitted the Crusader forces under papal legate Pelagius Galvani and John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem, against the Ayyubid forces of the sultan al-Kamil. The result was a decisive victory for the Egyptians and forced the surrender of the Crusaders and their departure from Egypt. Background The Fifth Crusade began as a campaign by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt, ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate. With some minor skirmishes in Syria in 1217 led by Andrew II of Hungary proving inconclusive, the Crusade turned to Egypt. Cardinal Pelagius Galvani arrived as papal legate and de facto leader of the Crusade, supported by John of Brienne and the masters of the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights. The first major action in the Egyptian theatre was the siege of Damietta that began on 23 June 1218, attacking first the fortified tower at the Egyptian port city of Damietta. The siege would last nearly 18 months and, on 5 November 1219, suspecting the city proper