Seventh Crusade
The Captive King
The Egyptians had captured such a large army, they lacked enough men even to guard it. Every day, for the next seven days in succession, three hundred of the weakest were taken aside and decapitated. By these measures the number of Christian captives was reduced to a manageable size.
King Louis was take to Mansourah, both for better security and for better medical care, for his was very sick. Even so, he was kept in chains, even while he was being nursed back to health. The King's health was very important to the Sultan, for he was the biggest bargaining chip.
That there was a bargain to be made at all was due largely to Queen Margaret. Three days after hearing of the surrender of the army and the capture of her husband, Margaret gave birth to a son whom she named Jean Tristan (John Sorrow). That same day she heard that the Italians were planning to abandon Damietta as the city was threatened with a shortage of food. Summoning their leaders to her bedside, she persuaded them to stay by offering to buy sufficient food out of her own purse. Margaret and her son were soon sent to the safety of Acre, and negotiations with the Sultan were taken over by the Patriarch Robert, but the Queen's courage at a crucial moment had saved the city, giving the Patriarch something with which to bargain.