Shortly before his death, El-Adil, like his brother Saladin, narrowly escaped losing all his glory and the fruits of so many victories.  Pope Honorius III. had successfully aroused the zeal of the Western nations for a new Crusade.  Numerous well-armed and warlike-minded pilgrims—­among whom were King Andreas of Hungary and Duke Leopold of Austria—­landed at Acre in 1217, and King John of Jerusalem led them against the Moslems.  El-Adil hastened from Egypt to the scene of action, but was forced to retreat to Damascus and to give up the whole of the southern district, with the exception of the well-fortified holy town, to be plundered by the Christians.  In the following spring, whilst El-Adil was in Syria, a Christian fleet sailed to Damietta, and besieged the town.  The attacking forces were composed of Germans and Hungarians, who had embarked at Spalato on the Adriatic for St. Jean d’Acre, where they spent a year in unfortunate expeditions and quarrels with the Christians of Syria.  They were joined by a fleet of three hundred boats furnished by North Germans and Frisians, who, leaving the banks of the Rhine, had journeyed there by way of the Straits of Gibraltar, prolonging the journey by a year’s fighting in Portugal.

The Christians then in Palestine had persuaded the Crusaders to begin with an attack on Egypt, and they had therefore chosen to land at Damietta.  This was a large commercial town to the east of one of the arms of the Nile, which was defended by three walls and a large tower built on an island in the middle of the Nile, from which started the chains that barred the river.

The Frisian sailors constructed a castle of wood, which was placed between the masts of two ships, and from which the Crusaders were able to leap to the tower, and thus they were able to blockade and starve the town.  The siege was long, and an epidemic breaking out among the besiegers carried off a sixth of their number.  The sultan tried to succour the besieged by floating down the stream corpses of camels, which were stuffed with provisions, but the Christians captured them.  He then offered to give the Crusaders, on condition they would depart, the True Cross and all he possessed of the kingdom of Jerusalem; but Pelagius, the papal legate,—­a Spanish monk who had himself named commander-in-chief,—­rejected the offer.

El-Adil was so stunned by the news of the success of the Christians that he died a few days after (August, 1218).  El-Kamil, however, was not discouraged; he not only defended Damietta, but also harassed the enemy in their own camp by means of hordes of Bedouins.  Not until he was forced, by a conspiracy of his troops in favour of his brother El-Faiz, to fly to Cairo, did the Christians succeed in getting across the Nile and completely surrounding Damietta.  Order was soon restored in Egypt, owing to the arrival of Prince Muzzain, who had taken over the government of Damascus on the death of his father.  The rebels were chastised,