The Knights Templars.

should choose and in whose cases they might think it expedient , from their vow of pilgrimage , or receiving money in return , which money the Pope ^ considered he could spend advantageously for the promotion of the war in Palestine . They ,

how-• ever , met with a cool reception , as it was generally 'believed that money handed to the Pope would remain in his treasury and never see the Holy Land . Succours , however , were sent during the summer of 1221 , the troops of Coradin were defeated

• and driven beyond the Latin frontier , and freed from this dangerous enemy , and De Montagu returned to Damietta to superintend the military ¦ operations in Egypt . Pelagius had now openly ^ assumed the position of commander-in-chief of the

forces , and his natural arrogance increased as reinforcements arrived . He appears to have duped himself into the belief that he was the only general vfit to be trusted with the command , and in spite ¦ ofthe urgent entreaties of De Montagu to the

• contrary , * during the autumn , and when the Nile was rising , he ordered an expedition against Cairo . The disaster which followed this , is told in a letter from De Montagu to Alan Marcel , Master of the Temple in London .

" Brother P . de Montagu , humble Master of the Knights of the Temple , to his well beloved brother in Christ , A . Marcel , holding the office of Preceptor in England , greeting . Although we have from time to time informed you of the prosperity

which attended us in the affairs of Jesus Christ , ¦ we now by this present letter relate to you in the order they have happened the reverses which we owing to our sins have met with in the land of Egypt . The Christian army after the capture of

Damietta having remained quietly at that place for a long time , the people of our side of the water , as well as those of the transmarine provinces , cast reproofs and reproaches on us on that account ; and the Duke of Bavaria having arrived

as lieutenant of the Emperor , explained to the people that he had come for the purpose of attacking the enemies of the Christian faith . A council was therefore held by onr lord , the legate , the Duke of Bavaria , the Masters of the Templars

, Hospitallers , and Teutons , the Earls , Barons , and all the rest , at which it was unanimously agreed by all to make an advance . The illustrious King of Jerusalem also , having been sent for , came with his barons , and with a fleet of galleys and armed

ships to Damietta , and found the army of the Christians lying in their camp outside the lines . After the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul , then his Majesty the King and the legate , with the whole Christian army , proceeded in order both

both by land and water , and discovered the Sultan , with an innumerable host of the enemies of the cross , who , ho ivever fled before them ; and so they proceeded without loss till they arrived at the camp of the Sultan . This was surrounded by the

river which they were unable to cross . The Christian army therefore pitched its camp on the bank , and constructed bridges to cross over against the Sultan , from whose camp we were separated by the river Tamis , which is a branch of the great

river Nile . Whilst we made some stay there great numbers left our army without leave , so that it was decreased by ten thousand men or more . In the meantime , the Sultan by means of a trench constructed previously , when the Nile

rose , sent galleys and galliots into the river to obstruct our ships , that no supplies might come from Damietta to us , we being then destitute of

provisions ; for they could not reach us by land , as the Saracens prevented them . The road by sea and land by which necessary supplies could reach us being thus blocked up , the army held council as to returning ; but the brothers ofthe Sultan , Seraph

and Coradin , the Sultans of Aleppo and Damascus , ancl other Sultans , namely , of Camela , Haman , and Coilanbar , with many Pagan Kings , and a countless host of infidels , who had come to assist them , had cut off our retreat . Our army ,

however , departed by night by land and water , but lost all the provisions in the river , besides a great many men , for when the Nile overflowed the Sultan turned the water in different directions by

means of hidden streams , canals , and rivulets , which had been made some time before to obstruct the retreat of the Christians . The army of Christ , therefore , after losing among the marshes all its beasts of burden , stores , bag-gage ,

carriages , ancl almost all their necessaries , and being destitute of provisions , could neither advance nor retreat , nor had it any place of refuge , neither could it give battle to the Sultan on account of his being surrounded by the river , and it was thus

caught in the midst of the waters like a fish in a net . Being , therefore , in this strait , they , although unwillingly , agreed to give up to the Sultan the City of Damietta with all the prisoners which could be found in Tyre and Acre in exchange for