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.