Seventh Crusade
Battle of Mansourah
Duke Robert was almost immediately successful. The Egyptians were just going about their morning business, unaware that the Christians had crossed the river, so the French were able to burst into the camp almost unopposed. The Egyptians were not formed up, many weren't even armored. Many fled immediately for Mansourah; those who stood and fought, including the Egyptian commander Fakhr ad-Din, were slaughtered.
The Egyptian camp was now in Crusader hands, a very great triumph, but Robert of Artois wanted more. He wanted to pursue the fleeing Egyptians and to capture Mansourah; if that city fell, Cairo could not stand. With Cairo, so fell all of Egypt, and the future of the Holy Land would be assured. It was a crucial moment. But the Crusader forces were badly dispersed in and around the Egyptian camp, and in any case the superiority of the Latin cavalry would be lost in the narrow streets of a city. Both the Grand Master of the Temple, William of Sonnac, and the commander of the English contingent, the Earl of Salisbury, advised Robert to wait for the main Crusader force under King Louis. The Duke dismissed the others as cowards and urged his French forces forward. The Templars and the English reluctantly followed, knowing that Artois would be killed if he went on alone.
King Louis and the bulk of the French army were still crossing the Bahr as-Saghir, unaware of what was happening.