The Seventh Crusade Was About to Begin . . .
On June 4th 1249—only eight days short of the one-year anniversary of her husband King Louis IX of France taking the pilgrim staff at St. Denis—Marguerite of Provence, Queen of France and one of two main characters in my novel THE SISTER QUEENS—spots the outline of the Egyptian port city Damietta from her ship.
The French fleet had been separated by a storm on their long journey, so only 700 of the 1800 ships that departed together arrived at Damietta on that day, with King Louis, Queen Marguerite and Jean de Joinville (counselor to the King and eventually chronicler of Louis life including the crusades) on one of them. The rest of the ships eventually landed 200 miles away at Acre.
When shore comes into view, Louis thinks he sees the sultan’s main army guarding the beach, when, in fact, he the men he glimpses are only an advance guard led by Fakhr ad-Din the sultan’s best general (and commander in chief of his army to oppose the French).
The sight of the enemy is oddly beautiful—with the sun shining off the golden armor and attire of the sultan’s men. The King makes the decision to attack first thing the next morning, without waiting for the ships that have not yet arrived. The seventh crusade is about to begin.