What the Crusades Accomplished—And What They Didn't
agreed to leave Jerusalem defenseless and allowed Muslims to
remain there without restriction. This made it all but inevitable
that the Muslims would eventually retake the.city. This they did
in1244,killing large numbers of Christians and burning numer-
ous churches, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,
7, TheSeventhCrusade (12=18-1250wasthe best-equipped and
bes t-org ani zed of all the Cru sad es. Itwasled by the pio us
French king LouisIX. He againset his sights on Egypt. and
captured Damietta. However, when attempting to take Cairo,
the Crus ade rs wer e def eat ed at Man sour ah; shor tly
the rea fte r, Louis himself was captured. He was ultimately
ransomed and returned to Europe after a brief period in the
Crusader center of Acre. He even attempted another crusade
later, but accomplishedlittle.
The Crusade r kingdo m lasted a few more decades , Antioc h, wherethe
Crusaders estab lishe d their first kingdo m in1098, fell tothe warri ors
of Jihad in 1268, In 1291. the Muslims took Acre, devastating the
Crusader armyinthe process. The rest ofthe Christian cities of Outremer
fell soon afterward. There were other attemp ts in Europ e to mount
Crusa des, but theycame to littleornothin g. The Crusade r presenc ein
the Middle Eastno more, and would never be restored.
Makingdeals with the Mongols
Just asthe last citie s of Outre mer were facin g extinc tion, an offer of
helpcamefrom a most unlikely source: Arghun, theMongolruler of Persia
anddescendant ?of the great conqueror Kublai Khan, sent an emissary
toEurope in1257 ?Arghun was not simply eccentric: the Mongols had
been at oddswith theMuslims for quite some time. In1258,Hulagu
Khan, the brother of KublaiKhan, toppled the Abbasid caliphate. Two
years later, a ChristianMongolleader named Kitbuka seized Damascus
and Aleppo for the