Barbary Crusade
| Mahdian Crusade | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Crusades | |||||||
 The French army disembarking in Africa, led by the duke of Bourbon, holding a shield bearing the royal arms of France |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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Kingdom of France Republic of Genoa |
Hafsids Zianids Bejaia |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Louis II of Bourbon | Abu al-Abbas Ahmad | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6,000 knights and soldiers 60 ships |
40,000 men | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 274 | Unknown | ||||||
The Barbary Crusade, also called the Mahdia Crusade, was a Franco-Genoese military expedition in 1390 that led to the siege of Mahdia, then a pirate stronghold in Tunisia. Froissart's Chronicles is the chief account of what was one of the last crusades.
During the lulls of the Hundred Years War knights looked for opportunities for glory and honor. As Genoese ambassadors approached the French king Charles VI to subscribe to a crusade, they eagerly supported the plan to fight Muslim pirates from North Africa. These pirates had their main base at Mahdia on the Barbary coast. Genoa was ready to supply ships, supplies, 12,000 archers and 8,000 foot soldiers, if France would provide the knights. The proposal by the doge Antoniotto Adorno was presented as a crusade. As such it would give prestige to its participants, a moratorium on their debts, immunity from lawsuits, and papal indulgence. The French force also included some English participants and consisted of 1,500 knights under the leadership of Louis II, Duke of Bourbon.
It has been estimated that the total force numbered about 5,000 knights and soldiers plus 1,000 sailors. Two priests representing both popes blessed the departing. An armada of about 60 ships left Genoa on July 1, 1390 and landed at the end of July near the town of Mahdi where the soldiers disembarked unchallenged. The crusaders put up their camp and invested the fortified city for the next two months. They had failed to bring sufficient siege engines to breach the walls. A relief army reportedly 40,000 men strong was brought up by Hafsid Sultan Abu al-Abbas Ahmad II supported by the kings of Bugia and Tlemesan, camped nearby, avoided pitched battle, but started to harass the crusaders. The crusaders had to build a wall around their camp and fortify it. The Berbers send out a negotiating party asking why the French would attack them, they had only troubled the Genoese, a natural affair among neighbors. In answer they were told that they were unbelievers who had "crucified and put to death the son of God called Jesus Christ." The Berbers laughed saying it was the Jews not they who had done that. Negotiations broke off.
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Wikipedia