Samuel II, King of Normandy

Samuel II, King of Normandy Born 1184, Died 1264, was King of Normandy from 1211 to his death in 1264. Samuel II was the eldest son of Edward I, King of Normandy and Constance of Penthièvre, Duchess of Brittany.

Early life
Samuel was born in 1184 in Valenguard, Normandy and was the eldest son of Edward I, King of Normandy and Constance of Penthièvre, Duchess of Brittany. When his father went on Crusade in 1189 leaving his brother, George, Duke of Sussex as Guardian of Samuel. By the time his father returned from the Crusade in 1195, Samuel was 11 years old. He was said to be an intelligent and pious boy with a likeable personality. At the age of 15 he was sent to the court of Robert II, Count of Dreux where he became close friends with Robert III and Peter of House Dreux.

Conquest of Majorca
In 1208, Samuel led the Norman army in the Conquest of Majorca. During the three year war against Muslim forces, Samuel proved himself as able and competent leader. Samuel left Majorca in 1211 along with his brothers after hearing the news of his father had fallen ill.

King of Normandy
Samuel returned to Normandy in November of 1211. Upon his arrival in Valenguard, Edward I, King of Normandy, was terminally ill and died two weeks later. Samuel was crowned King on 22 November 1211 at Rouen. A year later he married Phillipa of Dreux, daughter of Robert II, Count of Dreux.

Fifth Crusade
Samuel agreed to raise an army in preparation for the fifth crusade. Two thousand knights and a further two thousand foot soldiers were place under the command of Robert III of Dreux and departed for the holy land and landed on 9 October in Cyprus from where they sailed to Acre and joined John of Brienne, ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Hugh I of Cyprus, and Prince Bohemund IV of Antioch to fight against the Ayyubids in Syria.

In Jerusalem, the walls and fortifications were demolished to prevent the Christians from being able to defend the city, if they did manage to reach it and take it. Muslims fled the city, afraid that there would be a repeat of the bloodbath of the First Crusade in 1099.

King Andrew of Hungary's well-mounted army defeated sultan Al-Adil I at Bethsaida on the Jordan River on November 10. Muslim forces retreated in their fortresses and towns. The catapults and trebuchets did not arrive in time, so he had fruitless assaults on the fortresses of the Lebanon and on Mount Tabor. Afterwards, Andrew spent his time collecting alleged relics. At the beginning of 1218 King Andrew II, who was very sick, decided to return to Hungary. Andrew and his army departed to Hungary in February 1218, and Bohemund and Hugh also returned home.

In June 1218 the crusaders began their siege of Damietta in Egypt and despite resistance from the unprepared sultan Al-Adil, the tower outside the city was taken on August 25. They could not gain Damietta itself, and in the ensuing months diseases killed many of the crusaders, including Robert of Courcon. Al-Adil also died and was succeeded by Al-Kamil. Meanwhile, Honorius III sent Pelagius of Albano to lead the crusade in 1219. Al-Kamil tried to negotiate peace with the crusaders. He offered to trade Damietta for Jerusalem, but Pelagius would not accept these offers. After hearing this Count William I of Holland left the crusade and sailed home. In August or September, Francis of Assisi arrived in the crusader camp and crossed over to preach to Al-Kamil. By November, the crusaders had worn out the sultan's forces, and were finally able to occupy the port.

Immediately the papal and secular powers fought for control of the town, with John of Brienne claiming it for himself in 1220. Pelagius would not accept this, and John returned to Acre later that year. Pelagius hoped Frederick II would arrive with a fresh army, but he never did; instead, after a year of inactivity in both Syria and Egypt, John of Brienne returned, and the crusaders marched south towards Cairo in July 1221. This march was observed by the forces of Al-Kamil, and frequent raids along the flanks of the army led to the withdrawal of some 2000 German troops who refused to continue the advance and returned to Damietta. Robert III of Dreux also decided to withdraw his troops from the ill fated attack on Cairo and retreated to the Norman city of Alexandria.

By now Al-Kamil was able to ally with the other Ayyubids in Syria, who had defeated Keykavus I. The crusader march to Cairo was disastrous; the river Nile flooded ahead of them, stopping the crusader advance. A dry canal that was previously crossed by the crusaders flooded, thus blocking the crusader army's retreat. With supplies dwindling, a forced retreat began, culminating in a night time attack by Al-Kamil which resulted in a great number of crusader losses and eventually in the surrender of the army under Pelagius.

The terms of this surrender meant the relinquishing of Damietta to Al-Kamil in exchange for the release of the crusaders. Al-Kamil agreed to an eight-year peace agreement with Europe and to return a piece of the true cross. However, the cross was never returned as Al-Kamil did not, in fact, have it.

Al-Kamil then demanded the surrender of Alexandria to which Nicholas, Duke of Alexandria refused. In 1222, a Muslim army led by Al-Kamil besieged Alexandria for six months. On 12 September 1222, the King's brother, William, Duke of Candia, arrived with an army of 8,000 men and defeated Al-Kamil at the Battle of Alexandria and relieved the city of it's siege.

William, then led his army along with Nicholas and Robert III to Damietta where the Muslim army had retreated to. The Normans laid siege to Damietta but after a month were met in battle by a relief army, led by Al-Mu'azzam, brother of Al-Kamil. The Battle of Damietta was fought on 9 February 1223 and the Muslim army was convincingly beaten by the Normans who captured Al-Mu'azzam. Five days later, William signed a treaty with Al-Kamil, where by prisoners were exchanged and Al-Kamil and his army were allowed safe passage out of Damietta in exchange for the city.

Seventh Crusade
In 1249, Samuel sent an army, 8,000 strong, to support King Louis IX of France in the Seventh Crusade. The Norman forces were placed under the command of Prince William, the heir to the Norman throne. William was accompanied by his brothers Hugh, George and Richard. King Louis intended to take Cairo and then march on Jerusalem from Egypt. The Crusader armies landed in the Norman cities of Alexandria and Damietta and then marched south to Cairo.

The Crusade was to prove a disaster for the Crusader army who suffered a number of defeats before King Louis was captured at the of Battle of Fariskur. Prince Richard died at the battle of Gideila and Prince Hugh and George both died at the battle of Al Mansurah. Prince William survived the battle of Fariskur and fled north to Damietta and regrouped the Crusader army where they fought a Muslim army at the battle of Shirbin. William led a heroic victory at Shirbin where his force of 2000 were outnumbered 3-1. William suffered injuries during the battle which he died of two years later in 1252.

After the battle of Shirbin, William signed a treaty with the Ayyubid's, which saw the Norman's retain Alexandria, Rossetta and Damietta.

Later life
Samuel died 14 February 1264 and his fifth son, Henry took the throne.

Issue
Samuel married Phillipa of Dreux in 1212 and had 9 children:


 * William, born 1214, died 1252
 * Hugh, born 1216, died 1249
 * Adelaine, born 1219
 * George, born 1221, died 1249
 * Mary, born 1225
 * Richard, born 1228, died 1249
 * Henry I, King of Normandy born 1230
 * Caroline, born 1231
 * Thomas, born 1236