Later Crusades β Northern β Against Christians β End of the Crusader states in the Levant. The Fifth Crusade September - August 29, [ 1 ] was a campaign in a series of Crusades by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt , ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, led by al-Adil , brother of Saladin. An initial campaign in late in Syria was inconclusive, and Andrew departed. A German army led by cleric Oliver of Paderborn , and a mixed army of Dutch , Flemish and Frisian soldiers led by William I of Holland , then joined the Crusade in Acre , with a goal of first conquering Egypt, viewed as the key to Jerusalem.
There, cardinal Pelagius Galvani arrived as papal legate and de facto leader of the Crusade, supported by John of Brienne and the masters of the Templars , Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights. Following the successful siege of Damietta in β, the Crusaders occupied the port for two years.
Al-Kamil , now sultan of Egypt, offered attractive peace terms, including the restoration of Jerusalem to Christian rule. The sultan was rebuked by Pelagius several times, and the Crusaders marched south towards Cairo in July En route, they attacked a stronghold of al-Kamil at the battle of Mansurah , but they were defeated and forced to surrender. The terms of surrender included the retreat from Damiettaβleaving Egypt altogetherβand an eight-year truce.
The Fifth Crusade ended in September , a Crusader defeat that failed to achieve its goals. By , Innocent III had been pope for 14 years and faced the disappointment of the Fourth Crusade and its inability to recover Jerusalem, the on-going Albigensian Crusade , begun in , and the popular fervor of the Children's Crusade of The imperial crown was at first offered to doge Enrico Dandolo , who refused it.
The first Latin Patriarch of Constantinople , the Venetian Thomas Morosini , was contested by the pope as uncanonical. The ongoing situation in Europe was chaotic. Philip of Swabia was locked in a dispute of the throne in Germany with Otto of Brunswick.
