The Eighth Crusade was the second Crusade launched by Louis IX of France, this one against the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia in 1270. It is also known as the Crusade of Louis IX Against Tunis or the Second Crusade of Louis. The Crusade did not see any significant fighting as King Louis died of dysentery shortly after arriving on the shores of Tunisia. The Treaty of Tunis was negotiated between the Crusaders and the Hafsids. No changes in territory occurred, though there were commercial and some political rights granted to the Christians. The Crusaders withdrew back to Europe soon after.
Despite the failure of the Seventh Crusade, which ended in the capture of Louis IX of France by the Mamluks, the king did not lose interest in crusading. He continued to send financial aid and military support to the settlements in Outremer from 1254 to 1266, with the objective of eventually returning to the Holy Land.
The Seventh Crusade officially ended on 24 April 1254 with the departure of Louis IX of France from the Holy Land. He left Geoffrey of Sergines as his representative with the official post of seneschal to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The bailli of the kingdom was John of Ibelin, succeeding his cousin John of Arsuf in 1254. John of Arsuf returned to Cyprus where he was advising Plaisance of Antioch, the regent to Hugh II of Cyprus who had claim to both kingdoms––Cyprus and Jerusalem. The death of Conrad II of Jerusalem in May 1254 had given the nominal crown of Jerusalem to his two-year-old son Conradin. Prior to his departure, Louis had arranged for a truce with Damascus, to last through October 1256, reflecting the fear that an-Nasir Yusuf, the emir of Damascus and Aleppo, had of the Mongols. Because of this, he had no wish for war with the Franks. Aybak, the sultan of Egypt, also wished to avoid war and in 1255 made a ten-year truce with the Franks. Jaffa was expressly excluded from the truce, with the sultan wishing to secure it as a Palestinian port. The established frontier was hardly secure.
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Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly revered as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VIII, he was crowned in Reims at the age of 12. His mother, Blanche of Castile, effectively ruled the kingdom as regent until he came of age and continued to serve as his trusted adviser until her death.
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to conquer Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries.
The Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) was the first of the two Crusades led by Louis IX of France. Also known as the Crusade of Louis IX to the Holy Land, it aimed to reclaim the Holy Land by attacking Egypt, the main seat of Muslim power in the Near East. The Crusade was conducted in response to setbacks in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, beginning with the loss of the Holy City in 1244, and was preached by Innocent IV in conjunction with a crusade against emperor Frederick II, Baltic rebellions and Mongol incursions.