Albert as bishop of Vercelli, but who later became archbishop of Pisa. He occupied a position in the Roman hierarchy that was very similar to the esteem enjoined by Albert. The second candidate was the king's own chancellor, Raoul of Mérencourt, who also held the episcopal see of Sidon. He was one of only three bishops installed by Albert during his years as patriarch. The king came down on the side of his chancellor and fellow countryman. Pope Innocent III ratified that choice, and Raoul was installed as patriarch during the Fourth Lateran Council, which took place in November 1215. Fifth Crusade Along with Pope Innocent III, Raoul gave a sermon on the first day of the council (11 November) calling for a new crusade to recover the Holy Land. Further preparations for the crusade (the Fifth) were made on the last day of the council, 30 November. However, for various reasons the crusade was postponed until 1217, after the death of Innocent. Raoul was appointed as one of Honorius III's papal legates, and was escorted back to his see in Acre by John of Brienne, nominal King of Jerusalem. He personally participated in the crusade against Egypt. The assembled crusader armies left Acre for Damietta in Egypt during the last days of May 1218. On the 29 August 1219 an attack on Damietta failed, as St. Francis of Assisi had predicted. The successful taking of Damietta occurred over 4–5 November 1219. It is recounted that at one point the patriarch carried a relic of the True Cross, and prostrated himself with his head buried under the sand in order to ensure the success of the siege at Damietta. The whole crusade came to a disastrous end on 29 August 1221, when the crusading armies were trapped by the flooding waters of the Nile and the combined armies of the sultan, al-Kamil, and his two brothers, al-Mu'azzam and al-Ashraf. The sultan, after allowing the hostages to be ransomed, agreed to an eight-year truce. Preparations for the Sixth Crusade In 1222 the pope summoned the king, Pelagius Galvani, the papal legate, patriarch Raoul and other leaders to attend a meeting with him the emperor Frederick II to be held in Verona on 11 November. The pope's illness forced the meeting to be postponed until 25 March 1223 at the imperial villa in Ferentino. There they struck an agreement to have the