Eighth Crusade
| This article is part of the Crusades series. |
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Second Crusade |
Third Crusade |
Fourth Crusade |
Albigensian Crusade |
Children's Crusade |
Fifth Crusade |
Sixth Crusade |
Seventh Crusade |
Eighth Crusade |
Ninth Crusade |
Northern Crusades |
Louis was disturbed by events in Syria, where the Mamluk sultan Baibars had been attacking the remnant of the Crusader states. By 1265 Baibars had captured Nazareth, Haifa, Toron, and Arsuf. Hugh III of Cyprus, nominal king of Jerusalem, landed in Acre to defend that city, while Baibars marched as far north as Armenia, which was at that time under Mongol control.
These events led to Louis' call for a new crusade in 1267, although there was little support this time; Jean de Joinville, the chronicler who accompanied Louis on the Seventh Crusade, refused to go. Louis was soon convinced by his brother Charles of Anjou to attack Tunis first, hoping to convert the sultan to Christianity and support Charles' interests in the Mediterranean. From Tunis Louis planned to sail to Egypt, the focus of Louis' previous Crusade, as well as the Fifth Crusade before him, both of which had been defeated there. Louis sailed from Cagliari in Sicily, but spent only two months in Tunis before he died in August of 1270.
The English Prince Edward arrived in Tunis after Louis' death, and when Charles of Anjou called off the attack in November, Edward sailed on to Acre. His time spent there is often called the Ninth Crusade.