Battle of La Forbie The Battle of La Forbie , also known as the Battle of Harbiyah , was fought October 17 , 1244 – October 18 , 1244 between the allied armies ( drawn from the Kingdom of Jerusalem , the crusading orders , the breakaway Ayyubids of Damascus , Homs and Kerak ) and the Egypt ian army of the Ayyubid Sultan as - Salih Ayyub , reinforced with Khwarezmian mercenaries . Prelude . The capture of Jerusalem by the Khwarezmians in August had caused great alarm among both the Christian and the Muslim states . al - Mansur , the Emir of Homs and an - Nasir Dawud , ruling Kerak , joined the Templars , the Hospitallers , the Teutonic Knights , the Order of Saint Lazarus and the remaining forces of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to take the field against the Egyptian Sultanate . The two armies met near La Forbie , a small village northeast of Gaza . On the allied side , Al - Mansur was present in person , commanding about 2 , 000 cavalry and a detachment of troops from Damascus . The overall Christian command was given to Walter IV of Brienne , Count of Jaffa and Ascalon , although the Constable of Jerusalem and Philip of Montfort were also present . The Christian army consisted of about 1 , 000 cavalry and 6 , 000 foot soldiers . The Transjordanian forces were under the command of Sunqur al - Zahiri and al - Waziri , and consisted of about 2 , 000 mounted Bedouin . The Egyptian army was commanded by a Mamluk officer named Rukn al - Din Baibars which was slightly inferior in strength to its opponents . Al - Mansur advised the allies to fortify their camp and take the defensive , waiting for the undisciplined Khwarezmians to disperse and leave the Egyptians at a considerable disadvantage . However , Walter , to whom the overall command had been given , was unwilling to refuse battle when he had the advantage of numbers , a rarity for the Christians of Outremer . The allied dispositions were as follows : Christians on the right wing , near the coast , the Emir of Homs and the Damascenes in the center , the Bedouin on the left . Battle . Battle was joined on the morning October 17 , with the Christian knights repeatedly charging the Egyptians and fighting up and down the line . The Egyptian army held its ground . On the morning of October 18 , Baibars renewed the fight and threw the Khwarezmians against the Damascene troops in the center of the allied line . The center was shattered by their furious attack , they turned on the allied left and cut the Bedouin to pieces . The Emir ' s cavalry held stubbornly , but they were nearly annihilated , Al - Mansur finally rode from the field with 280 survivors , all that remained of his troops . Threatened by the Egyptians in front and the Khwarezmians on their flank , the Crusaders charged the Mamluks facing them and were initially successful , pushing them back and causing Baibars some concern . Their assault gradually lost momentum as the Khwarezmid tribesmen attacked the rear and the flanks of the Christian forces , which were defended by disorganized infantry . The well - armed knights fought on doggedly and it took several hours for their resistance to collapse . Over 5 , 000 Crusaders died , 800 prisoners were taken , including Walter of Brienne , William of Chastelneuf , Master of the Hospital , and the Constable of Tripoli . Of the troops of the knightly orders , only 33 Templars , 27 Hospitallers and three Teutonic Knights survived ; Philip of Montfort and the Patriarch of Jerusalem also escaped to Ascalon . However , Armand de Périgord , the Master of the Temple , the Marshal of the Temple , the archbishop of Tyre , the bishop of Lydda and Ramla ( St . George ) , and John and William , sons of Bohemond , Lord of Botron , were all killed . Aftermath . Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyon in 1245 called for a new Crusade , the seventh , but the Franks were never again to muster major power in the Holy Land . The Kingdom of Jerusalem suffered worst in the aftermath of La Forbie . It had not been able to put so large an army into the field since the Battle of Hattin , and would never be able to undertake offensive operations again . It brought no lasting success to the Ayyubids ; the Khwarezmians were defeated outside Homs by Al - Mansur in 1246 after falling out with the Egyptians . Baibars ( not the known Al - Zahir Baibars who became a sultan ) , joined the Khwarezmians and was later arrested by as - Salih Ayyub and died in prison . While the Battle of Hattin holds great symbolic importance as having led to the fall of Jerusalem , it was La Forbie that truly marked the collapse of Christian power in Outremer .