 Although about 300 French knights accompanied him to the Holy Land , no influential noblemen joined him ; they preferred participating in the French <unk> Crusade or did not see him as sufficiently eminent . John 's cousin , Walter of Montbéliard , joined him only after he was expelled from Cyprus . Montbéliard led a naval expedition to Egypt to <unk> the Nile Delta . After most of the French crusaders left the Holy Land , John forged a new truce with Al @-@ Adil by the middle of <unk> and sent envoys to Pope Innocent urging him to preach a new crusade . 
