In 1249, the greatest Crusading expedition ever to set out from the West for the Holy Land was launched. At its head was one of the great figures of medieval history, King Louis IX, a charismatic, energetic and pious man who had assembled a mighty army to recover Jerusalem from the Infidel. What followed was soon to become the most dramatic story of the Crusading epoch. For Louis's french army, supplemented with English troops, was to experience extremes of emotion rarely rivalled in the annals of medieval history. Spectacular triumph was to be followed by equally complete disaster.