Volta
ConflictJuly – November 1270

Eighth Crusade

Also called: Crusade of Louis IX against Tunis

Louis IX set out again and attacked Tunis in North Africa, but disease swept his camp, the king died and the crusade ended.

The death of Louis IX in the camp before Tunis — early 15th-century French manuscript miniature, Bibliothèque de Toulouse
The death of Louis IX in the camp before Tunis — early 15th-century French manuscript miniature, Bibliothèque de Toulouse

Maître de Troyes (atelier) · Public domain · Source

When the Mamluk sultan Baybars took Antioch (1268) and other crusader strongholds, Louis IX set out once more. In July 1270 he landed not in the Holy Land but at Carthage outside Tunis; explanations range from hopes that the sultan of Tunis would convert to the interests of his brother Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily.

In the summer heat disease, probably dysentery, swept the camp, and Louis died on 25 August. Charles, arriving late, made a treaty with Tunis that brought an indemnity and trading privileges, and withdrew in November.

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States at the time
France · invader
Hafsid Sultanate · invaded
Places
Carthage

People

  • Louis IX of France1214 – 1270

    commander · King of France (r. 1226–1270), “Saint Louis”, captured in Egypt on the Seventh Crusade and died of disease at Tunis on the Eighth

Before and after

Earlier
1248 Seventh Crusade
Later
1302 Philip IV Summons the Estates General

Themes that include this event

  • The Crusades1095 – 1291

    From the Council of Clermont to the fall of Acre — two centuries of war between Latin Europe and the Islamic world over the Holy Land