162 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
any pilgrims to sail to the Holy Land and issued orders that
they were to be given no assistance, and Frederick had taken
up the same attitude but for different reasons. The Pope and
the Emperor were in dispute again. Frederick was describing
the Pope as a madman who polluted the sanctuary of the
Church and was like to a roaring lion in his madness, while the
Pope described Frederick as a beast arisen from the sea, full
of blasphemy, with the claws of a bear, the mouth of a lion,
and otherwise like a panther, a beast who blasphemed against
God's name and the saints in heaven. The Emperor would
not consent to a new Crusade because he himself wanted to
lead another expedition to the East as soon as he had settled
his quarrel with the Church; the Pope refused to countenance
a new Crusade because he felt that the faithful would be much
better employed in fighting Frederick.
Both Pope and Emperor were ignored, and the new
Crusade, under Theobald of Champagne, landed in Palestine
(August, 1239), and invited the Franks to co-operate in an
attempt to regain the Holy City. The imperial party would
not risk the anger of the Emperor by supporting the expedi-
tion, but the Templars, the Hospitallers, and a number of the
lords joined Theobald. The Crusaders went to Jaffa and
proposed to press on to Gaza when preparations had been
made for an advance. Part of the army would not wait and
several thousand Crusaders marched out from Jaffa at the
beginning of November. As the Christians passed through a
narrow valley, the Moslems appeared in force on the heights,
and as the Crusaders thought it dishonourable to retreat before
the pagan, almost the whole Christian force was killed or
captured.
This disaster was in effect the end of Theobald's Crusade,
but there still remained a chance of winning something by
negotiation. Damascus and Egypt were at war, and while
the Christian army was small, it might turn the scales if
thrown on one side or the other. Theobald entered into