A negotiation was opened between him and the Sultan Malek-Moaddam, who, having previously freed him from his chains, had him treated with a certain magnificence.

As the price of a truce and of his liberty, Louis received a demand for the immediate surrender of Damietta, a heavy ransom, and the restitution of several places which the Christians still held in Palestine.

"I cannot dispose of those places," said Louis, "for they do not belong to me; the princes and the Christian orders, in whose hands they are, can alone keep or surrender them." The sultan, in anger, threatened to have the king put to the torture, or sent to the Grand Khalif of Bagdad, who would detain him in prison for the rest of his days.

"I am your prisoner," said Louis; "you can do with me what you will." "You call yourself our prisoner," said the Mussulman negotiators, "and so, we believe you are; but you treat us as if you had us in prison." The sultan perceived that he had to do with an indomitable spirit; and he did not insist any longer upon more than the surrender of Damietta, and on a ransom of five hundred thousand livres (that is, about ten million one hundred and thirty-two thousand francs, or four hundred and five thousand two hundred and eighty pounds, of modern money, according to M.de Wailly, supposing, as is probable, that livres of Tours are meant).

"I will pay willingly five hundred thousand livres for the deliverance of my people," said Louis, and I will give up Damietta for the deliverance of my own person, for I am not a man who ought to be bought and sold for money." "By my faith," said the sultan, the Frank is liberal not to have haggled about so large a sum.