Fifth Crusade - Who’s In Charge Here?
Follow the leader. Or don’t have a leader and spin in circles. That’s what happened for the Fifth Crusade.
(this is part seven of twelve about The Crusades as a movie series)
The Fourth Crusade accomplished nothing to retake Jerusalem, so Pope Innocent III started calling for a new crusade in 1213 and made crusading a big deal at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. The next pope made it official, preaching the Fifth Crusade (1217-1221) in 1217.
Again, the plan was to attack Egypt first, then move on Jerusalem. Most modern historians agree that this was a solid strategy. So the question would be: Can they execute the vision? And to execute, the crusaders would need a strong leader. Who was up to the job?
Everyone expected Frederick II Hohenstaufen, King of Germany to lead the crusade, but he was a no-show, busy running half of Europe from Germany to Sicily. Plus, he wanted the pope to elevate him to Holy Roman Emperor, but hadn’t yet gottent the nod. His delay was tactical intransigence. So, no king of Germany to lead this crusade.
King John of England pledged to go on crusade, so he could have been the leader, but he never left England. John probably never actually intended to go on crusade, but technically, no one could attack him if he was technically a crusader. So, no king of England to lead this crusade.
King Philip Augustus of France had joined the Third Crusade ~25 years earlier, so he showed his ticket stub to the usher and headed for the door. Philip wanted to focus all his attention on fighting John to nab his territory in France. So, no king of France to lead this crusade.
The crusaders chose as their leader John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem, a kingdom based in Acre that did not include the city of Jerusalem at that exact moment. A few months later, the pope’s legate arrived and reminded the crusaders that he was in control of the funding, so he should be in charge of the crusade. So, no one strong leader to unite this crusade.
In May 1218, the Crusaders besieged the port city of Damietta in Egypt. The plan was to take the city, then sail up the Nile and take Cairo. Then, onto Jerusalem. Boom, bang, done.
The problem was that Damietta was really well defended by three rings of walls. It’s almost as if the people who lived there knew that the Nile was important and had been the breadbasket of the Mediterranean for untold centuries or something. (Most images of the Fifth Crusade show the imposing tower that guarded the city like in the picture above.)
During the siege, the crusaders were joined by an unlikely ally: Saint Francis of Assisi. This wasn't just a cameo role, Francis wanted to spread the message of peace and convert Muslims through love and dialogue. He got a meeting with al-Kamil, the Sultan of Egypt, who received him warmly, but declined to convert to Christianity. Francis returned home unharmed.
Damietta finally fell in November 1219 after a year-and-a-half siege. Everyone was worn out. Al-Kamil agreed to negotiate. He offered to give them Jerusalem if they would give back Damietta and leave Egypt.
Getting Jerusalem back was the whole point of the crusade, so the crusaders accepted and there was peace in the Middle East. Just kidding, the crusade leaders refused the offer and squabbled among themselves, already greedily imagining the spoils they would get when they conquered Egypt.
They spent the next year and a half bickering about what they should do next. As it turned out, they chose to do diddly-squat and argue. Perhaps you have been at a meeting like this? It is difficult to control any meeting with a large number of participants, and if there’s no leader or no agenda, it’s hopeless. The next time you’re in a huge meeting that gets nothing done, maybe you can take comfort that it was the same dang thing 800+ years ago, except worse, because they didn’t have air conditioning. Or donuts.
Anyway, in July 1221, the crusaders finally got moving and headed up the Nile to attack Cairo. The Egyptian defenders opened up the canals and literally washed the crusader army away. The crusade surrendered in August 1221 and agreed to return to Europe and give back Damietta.
The Fifth Crusade could have won back Jerusalem with the negotiated agreement. Instead, the crusaders got nothing and returned home disgraced. How’s that for a BATNA?
A strong leader is crucial for an organization to execute its strategy. They provide clear vision and direction to motivate the team. Good leaders can make a dadgum decision.
When a movie begins production, the director is highlighted so everyone remembers the films he or she made in the past and speculates on how their vision will drive this new movie. With them in the driver’s seat, you know the end product will be good.
Sometimes due to creative differences, they’ve gotta change directors. It happens, no big deal. But when the director changes more than once, or its big star leaves the project, you know you’ve got a disaster on your hands.
It’s rare for the final movie that gets made to be any good when there’s poor continuity in vision from the leader. But if the studio execs believe there’s’ still money to be made in the franchise, they might bring in a real auteur to direct the next one and hope for a hit…
