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 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.[1] 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. In January 1256, the Mamluk governor of Jerusalem led an expedition in March to punish a band of Frankish raiders, he was defeated and killed. Aybak subsequently made a new treaty with Damascus that was mediated by caliph al-Musta'sim. Both Muslim leaders renewed their truces with the Franks, this time to also cover Palestine and Jaffa.[2]
Latin patriarch Robert of Nantes died in 1255, having been in captivity with Louis IX during the Seventh Crusade. The new patriarch appointed by pope Alexander IV was James Pantaléon, then bishop of Verdun and later appointed as Alexander's successor, taking the name Urban IV. He was experienced in the Prussian Crusades, having helped negotiate the Treaty of Christburg in 1249. He was appointed patriarch in December 1255, and only reached Acre in the summer of 1260. Consequently, the kingdom faced the continued threats from the Muslims and Mongols, as well as internal strife, without the benefit of a senior patriarch.[3]
In addition to the Muslim wars between the Mamluks and Ayyubids, and the Mongol invasions of the Levant, the Outremer states had to contend with the various Italian merchants engaged in the War of Saint Sabas. The three rival Italian cities of Genoa, Venice and Pisa maintained a presence in every Outremer seaport and from these, dominated Mediterranean trade. This commerce was equally beneficial to the Muslim emirs and both sides showed a willingness to sign treaties partially based on the fear of interrupting these sources of profit. Trouble between Pisa and Genoa had long been brewing and in 1250, a Genoese merchant was murdered by a Venetian, resulting in street fighting in Acre. When Louis finally returned home to Europe in 1254, trouble again broke out. In 1256, the commercial rivalry between the Venetian and Genoese merchant colonies erupted over possession of the monastery of Saint Sabas in Acre. The Genoese, assisted by the Pisan merchants, attacked the Venetian quarter and burned their ships, but the Venetians drove them out.[4]
The Venetians were then expelled from Tyre by Philip of Montfort. The Venetians were supported by John of Arsuf, John of Jaffa, John II of Beirut, the Knights Templar, the Teutonic Knights and the Pisans. The Knights Hospitaller supported the Genoese. In 1257, the Venetians conquered the monastery and destroyed its fortifications, although they were unable to completely expel the Genoese. The Genoese quarter was blockaded, who were then resupplied by the Hospitallers, whose complex was nearby. Philip of Montfort also sent food from Tyre. In August 1257, John of Arsuf tried to end the war by granting commercial rights in Acre to the Republic of Ancona, an Italian ally of Genoa, but aside from Philip of Montfort and the Hospitallers, the rest of the nobles continued to support Venice.[5]
Plaisance of Cyprus was both queen of Cyprus and regent to Jerusalem. In February 1258, she and her five-year-old son, Hugh II of Cyprus, came to Tripoli to meet her brother Bohemond VI of Antioch, who escorted her to Acre. The Haute Cour of Jerusalem was convened and Bohemond asked it to confirm the claim of Hugh II as next heir after Conradin, long absent from the kingdom. It was requested that Hugh be recognized as the royal power with Plaisance as regent. Bohemond had hoped that his sister's presence would still the civil war. The Ibelins recognized the claims of Hugh and Plaisance, along with the Templars and Teutonic Knights. The Hospitallers nevertheless declared that no decision was possible in absence of Conradin. Thus the royal family was drawn into the civil war. The Venetians supported Plaisance and her son. Genoa, the Hospitallers and Philip of Montfort supported Conradin, despite the fact that they were in the past bitter opponents of Frederick II. A majority vote acknowledged Plaisance as regent. John of Arsuf resigned as bailli, only to be immediately reappointed. She and Bohemond then returned to Cyprus, instructing her bailli to act decisively against the rebels.[6]
The problems came to a head before the new Latin patriarch could arrive in Acre. While James Pantaleon had shown great ability in dealing with the Prussians, the situation in the Holy Land presented a much larger problem. He supported Plaisance, appealing to Alexander IV to take action. The pope summoned delegates from the three republics to his court at Viterbo and ordered an immediate armistice. The Venetian and Pisan diplomats were to go to Syria on a Genoese ship, and the Genoese on a Venetian ship. The envoys set out in July 1258, actually after the major conflicts had occurred. Genoa had sent a fleet under admiral Rosso della Turca, arriving off Tyre in June and there joining the deployed Genoese squadrons. On 23 June, a fleet set sail from Tyre, while Philip of Montfort's soldiers marched down the coast. The Venetians and Pisan had a smaller force under Lorenzo Tiepolo, who was not a military man and later elected Doge of Venice. The decisive Battle of Acre took place on 24 June 1258, with the Genoese retreating in disorder to Tyre. Philip's advance was halted by the Acrean militias, and the Genoese quarter within the city was overrun. Consequently, the Genoese abandoned Acre and established their headquarters at Tyre.[7]
In April 1259, the pope sent a legate to the East, Thomas Agni, then bishop of Bethlehem and later Latin patriarch, with orders to resolve the quarrel. About the same time the bailli John of Arsuf died and Plaisance came to Acre and appointed Geoffrey of Sargines as bailli. He worked with Agni to secure an armistice. In January 1261, in a meeting between the Haute Cour and delegates of the Italians, an agreement was reached. The Genoese maintained their headquarters at Tyre and the Venetians and Pisans theirs at Acre. The warring nobles and Military Orders were also reconciled. But the Italians never regarded the arrangement as final, with their war soon beginning again, to the detriment of all the commerce and the shipping along the Syrian coast, with naval skirmishes through 1270.[8]
Geoffrey of Sargines restored some semblance of order to the kingdom. His authority did not however extend into the County of Tripoli. There, Geoffrey's vassal, Henry of Jebail, was at war with Bohemond VI. Henry's cousin Bertrand Embriaco had attacked Bohemond in Tripoli itself despite the fact the Bertrand was regent to daughter Lucia of Tripoli. In 1258, the barons marched on Tripoli, laying siege to the city where Bohemond was residing. Bohemond was defeated and wounded by Bertrand and the Templars sent men to rescue him. One day, Bertrand was attacked by unknown farmers and killed. He was beheaded and his head sent as a gift to Bohemond. No one doubted that Bohemond had inspired the murder. The rebels retreated to Jebail and there was now a blood-feud between Antioch and the Embriaco family.[9]
The inconclusive resolution of the War of Saint Sabas had implications beyond Syria. The Latin Empire of Constantinople had prospered with the help of Italian trade. Venice had holdings in both Constantinople and the Aegean islands, and so had a particular interest in the success of the empire. To counter that, Genoa actively supported Michael VIII Palaeologus, emperor of Nicaea. Michael laid the foundations for the recovery of Byzantium in 1259 by his victory at the Battle of Pelagonia where William of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, was captured with all his barons and obliged to cede the fortresses that dominated the eastern half of the peninsula. In March 1261, Michael signed a treaty with the Genoese, giving them preferential treatment throughout his dominions, present and future. On 25 July, with the help of the Genoese, his troops entered Constantinople. The Latin Empire, born from the Fourth Crusade, was dissolved.[10]
Plaisance died in September 1261. Her son Hugh II of Cyprus, then eight years old but with claims to the thrones of Cyprus and Jerusalem, required a regent. Hugh II's father Henry I of Cyprus had had two sisters. The eldest was Marie of Lusignan who had married Walter IV of Brienne, dying young and leaving a son