in the Albigensian Crusade and in Egypt with his cousin John of Brienne during the Fifth Crusade. Refusing to swear fealty to Louis in 1248, Jean embarked from Marseilles with a company of twenty knights. Despite mortgaging his lands, his funds were gone by the time he reached Cyprus. His retinue became mutinous, forcing Jean to enter the king’s service, in return for which he received an immediate grant. This pattern of debt rescued by Louis' aid was widespread, involving even substantial lords such as the royal brother Alphonse, Guy of Flanders and Guy V of Forez. Transportation and supplies The core of the expedition lay in the ships that Louis had hired, sixteen from Genoa and twenty from Marseille. The contracts drawn up in 1246 specified delivery at Aigues-Mortes, a small port with a shallow harbour that had recently become part of the royal demesne, requiring significant upgrading. Guglielmo Boccanegra served as Genoese consul at the port through 1249, later serving as paymaster for the Crusade in Acre. The force of 10,000 strong that sailed with Louis in late August 1248 was of comparable size with that of Richard I of England in April 1191. Others took alternate routes. Jean de Joinville and Raymond VII of Toulouse (who died before he could depart) contracted with shippers at Marseilles. Hugh I of Blois, who also died before setting out from Inverness, while one of the transports for Raymond’s force had to come to Marseilles from the Atlantic coast via the Straits of Gibraltar, a delay that kept the count in port for the winter 1248–1249. Alphonse of Poitiers, running out of money, sailed East in 1249. By the time Louis reached Cyprus, the designated muster point, his agents had spent two years stockpiling vast quantities of food. Other supplies were either purchased in Cyprus or shipped with the army from France. By hiring, paying, buying or manufacturing, Louis appeared determined to leave as little as possible to fate or chance. Political and diplomatic environment Louis' preparations had taken three years. Extraordinary taxes, including on the clergy, were levied to pay for the expedition. The governing of France in his absence needed to be settled, and Louis' mother Blanche was entrusted once more with the regency. The foreign problems were many. Henry III of England had to be trusted to keep the peace. The Venetians, already annoyed at yet another Crusade