Page 609

 Ch.XVII THE KINGDOM OF CYPRUS, 1191—1291 609 
dispatch to the east the inadequate forces already collected. It was the
intention of duke Leopold of Austria and king Andrew of Hungary to meet at
Cyprus on September 8, and the pope wrote to archbishop Otto of Genoa instructing
him to direct the crusaders gathered at Genoa to sail for Cyprus if they
would avoid pirates and Saracens. He also wrote the king and patriarch of
Jerusalem, and the masters of the Hospital and Temple, to meet Leopold and
Andrew at Cyprus. These plans do not seem to have materialized. Leopold,
after a swift passage from the Adriatic of only sixteen days, went straight
to Syria, which he reached in mid-September, and Andrew followed in October.28
Hugh I had already crossed with a Cypriote force, including Eustorgue of
Montaigu, Latin archbishop of Nicosia, Walter of Caesarea, constable of Cyprus,
and the Ibelins, who formed part of the Cypriote rather than of the J erusalemite
contingent.29 Without effective leadership, the crusade degenerated into
a series of fruitless attacks. In early January 12 1 8 Hugh accompanied Andrew
from Acre to Tripoli to witness the marriage of Bohemond IV of Tripoli and
Melisend of Lusignan. On January io Hugh died suddenly. Andrew departed for
Hun gary, and most of the Cypriotes seem to have returned home. 
 When the remaining crusaders in Syria decided to transfer their activities
to the Nile, archbishop Eustorgue sailed with the king of Jerusalem, John
of Brienne, to the siege of Damietta. Shortly before the capture of that
city, the constable Walter arrived with a band of one hundred Cypriote knights
and their men-at-arms. During the siege, Cyprus proved a welcome source of
supply to the besiegers, often hard pressed for provisions. When John left
Egypt in the spring of 1220 to uphold his claim to the throne of Armenia,
the Cypriotes also departed. In John's absence, the legate Pelagius left
the sea routes between Acre and Damietta unguarded, with the result that
a Saracen squadron often armed galleys surprised 
 28 Potthast, Regesta, floS. 558 5—5587; Delaville le Roulx, Cartulaire,
nOS. 1580-1582; Pressutti, Regesta Honorii papae III, nos. 672—673;
cf. Mas Latrie, Histoire de l'ile de Chypre, II, 36; Hill, History of Cyprus,
II, 82. Although Hill (loc. cit.) puts Leopold, and Delaville le Roulx, on
the basis of the intentions announced by pope Honorius, puts Andrew on Cyprus
(Delaville le Roulx, Cartulaire, no. 1582: ". . . qui vient de débarquer
en Chypre"; idem, Les Hospitaliers en Terre Sainte et d Chypre (1110-1310)
[Paris, 2904], p. 142), there really is no clear evidence that either stopped
at the island; cf. Mas Latrie, Histoire de l'ile de Chypre, I, 193. Hill's
authority is A. W. A. Leeper, A History of Medieval Austria (Oxford, 1941),
p. 300, which in turn leans on the Annales Claustro-neoburgenses (MGH, SS.,
IX), p. 622, which refers to the swift passage of Leopold without once mentioning
Cyprus. On Andrew's crusade, see above, chapter XI, pp. 386—394. 
 29 See J. L. LaMonte, "John d'Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut, 1177-1236,"
Byzantion, XII 425; seemingly, after the accession of John of Brienne, John
of Ibelin, 
 crowded out of his important position, . . . began . . . to be more interested
in Cyprus than in Jerusalem."