The‘Crusade of 1210– 11 ’proved notably less successful than had
been expected. It marks the end of a run of small gains that the kingdom
of Jerusalem had made ever since the German expedition of 1197–8. The
crusade’s most important event was a raid on Egypt, following in the
footsteps of a previous naval assault that had been launched in 1204, and
acting as a precursor for the later strategy of the Fifth Crusade. It is
noteworthy that the raid was led by none other than Walter of Montbé-
liard, the former regent of Cyprus. He had lost his position when the
young king, Hugh I, had come of age–and at around the same time,
Hugh married one of Blanche’s nemeses, Alice of Champagne. Walter
promptlyfled to King John, who made him his right-hand man. All of
this marks the start of a lengthy period of bad relations with Cyprus that
persisted until the end of John’s reign, quite in defiance of some of the
hopes that had been invested in him only a couple of years earlier. In
1211, John made a truce with his main enemies, the Ayyubids of Egypt
and Syria, and this allowed them to push ahead with their plans to
Figure 2.1 A rather later image of the coronation of John of Brienne
as king of Jerusalem, taken fromLes chroniques de Jherusalem abregies,
c. 1450. Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek / De Agostini Picture
Library / Bridgeman Images.50 Breakthrough and High Point (c. 1191–1237)