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XIII 
THE CRUSADE OF 
THEOBALD OF CHAMPAGNE 
AND RICHARD OF 
CORNWALL, 1239-1241 
 he crusade of 1239—1241 was indeed a strange expedition. Prepared
and launched in a maze of confusion and cross—purposes, it was viewed
without enthusiasm, if not actually with distaste, by the two chief potentates
of Christendom, the pope and the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Its two
leaders, Theobald, king of Navarre and count of Champagne, and Richard Plantagenet,
earl of Cornwall, never met during the course of the expedition. The crusaders
spent most of their time peacefully in camp at Acre, Jaffa, and Ascalon,
confining their military activities to two skirmishes — one a minor
victory, the other a disastrous defeat. The crusading barons were divided
by mutual jealousy and paid little or no atten tion to the orders of their
chosen leader. The prelates and barons of the kingdom of Jerusalem and the
masters of the three military orders disagreed with the crusaders on most
questions of diplomacy, strategy, and tactics, and quarreled furiously among
themselves. Many of them were at open war with the official representative
of 
 The chief sources for the crusade of 1 23 9-1 241 are two continuations
of William of Tyre, Le Livre d'Eracles and Le Livre d'Eraclcs, Rothelin manuscript.
The former will be referred to as Eracles, the latter as Rothelin Eracles.
Both are printed in RHC, 0cc., II. Additional useful information may be found
in al-MaqrizI, Akhbar Misr (tr. E. Blochet, "Histoire d'Egypte," ROL, VI—XI,
1898—1908); the anonymous Histoire despatriarches d'Alexandrie, quoted
in footnotes to al-Maqrizi's work; Les Gestes des Chiprois (RHC, Arm., II);
Annales de Terre Sainte (ed. R. Rohricht, Archives de l'orient latin, II);
the chronicle of Aubrey of Trois-Fontaines (MGH, SS., XXIII); the Annalesprioratus
de Dunstaplia in Annales monastici, III (ed. H. R. Luard, Rolls Series, XXXVII);
and Matthew Paris, Chronica majora (ed. H. R. Luard, Rolls Series, LVII).
 The fullest secondary account of the crusade is found in R. Röhricht,
"Die Kreuzzuge des Grafen Theobald von Navarra und Richard von Cornwallis
nach dem heiligen Lande," Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, XXVI (1886),
67—81. A section is devoted to it in R. Grousset, Histoire des croisades
et du rqyaume franc de Jerusalem, III (Paris, 1936), 372—396. This
crusade is discussed in its relation to the career of Peter of Dreux in S.
Painter, The Scourge of the Clergy, Peter of Dreux, Duke of Brittany (Baltimore,
1937), pp. 110—117. There is also a useful account in H. d'Arbois de
Jubainville, Histoire des ducs et des comtes de Cham pagne (Paris, 1861—1865),
V, 277—326. 
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