appears that he had been careful to get rid of such mobs, for, before
embarking, he sent away nearly ten thousand bow-men, Genoese, Venetian,
Pisan, and even French, whom he had at first engaged, and of whom, after
inspection, he desired nothing further. The sixth crusade was the
personal achievement of St. Louis, not the offspring of a popular
movement, and he carried it out with a picked army, furnished by the
feudal chivalry and by the religious and military orders dedicated to the
service of the Holy Land.

The Isle of Cyprus was the trysting-place appointed for all the forces of
the expedition. Louis arrived there on the 12th of September, 1248, and
reckoned upon remaining there only a few days; for it was Egypt that he
was in a hurry to reach. The Christian world was at that time of opinion
that, to deliver the Holy Land, it was necessary first of all to strike a
blow at Islamism in Egypt, wherein its chief strength resided. But
scarcely had the crusaders formed a junction in Cyprus, when the vices of
the expedition and the weaknesses of its chief began to be manifest.
Louis, unshakable in his religious zeal, was wanting in clear ideas and
fixed resolves as to the carrying out of his design; he inspired his
associates with sympathy rather than exercised authority over them, and
he made himself admired without making himself obeyed. He did not
succeed in winning a majority in the council of chiefs over to his
opinion as to the necessity for a speedy departure for Egypt; it was
decided to pass the winter in Cyprus, and during this leisurely halt of
seven months, the improvidence of the crusaders, their ignorance of the
places, people, and facts amidst which they were about to launch
themselves, their headstrong rashness, their stormy rivalries, and their
moral and military irregularities aggravated the difficulties of the
enterprise, great as they already were. Louis passed his time in
interfering between them, in hushing up their quarrels, in upbraiding