The Fall of Outremer
Crusade of Prince Edward
The West did recognize the danger represented by Baibars. King Louis IX in France began planning a second crusade in 1267. King James of Aragon put together a large fleet in 1269. Prince Edward, representing England on behalf of his father, set sail in 1271.
Nothing worked out. As noted elsewhere, Louis' crusade was diverted by Charles of Anjou and wound up in Tunis, where Louis died (the only monarch to die on crusade).
The Aragonese fleet was hit hard by a storm in the western Mediterranean. James himself and most of the surviving fleet had to turn back. Those ships that could go forward were led by his two sons. They landed at Acre in December, but they had only a handful of ships and nowhere near enough men. They never even left the city, and went home again in the spring.
Edward proved the most effective. 1271 was a rough year for Outremer. Safita finally surrendered, as did the Krak des Chevaliers and Montfort. These were three extremely strong castles and their loss was both significant and dispiriting. Baibars even tried to invade Cyprus, but his invading fleet ran aground near the harbor and several ships were captured.
It was in the midst of all this that Edward arrived, on 9 May 1271. As with the Infanta, though, his army was simply too small to be effective. The original idea was that all these armies—the French, the Aragonese, the English—would have joined forces and have driven back the Muslims. But arriving piecemeal and in tatters, with too few men and too little money, they were hardly more than a passing breeze.
Even so, Edward did make a few demonstrations, and he pursued diplomacy vigorously. Baibars signed a peace in May 1272 that was supposed to last ten years and ten months. In June, an Assassin stole into Edward's tent while he slept and stabbed him with a poisoned dagger. He was not killed, but he was seriously ill for several weeks. He left Outremer in September. He had at least managed to win a respite for the Crusader states.