the legate Pelagius led a faction in favor of pushing on to take Damietta at all costs, arguing that since the Muslim occupiers of Jerusalem had destroyed the defenses of the Holy City, it would be impossible to hold, and to retreat now would be to fall into a trap and risk ending up with nothing at all. This argument was backed by the Montaigu brothers, and in the short term at least it transpired that they were right.
