The Attack on Damiate, c.1625-35 (oil on wood panel)

The scene depicted is the attack by the Crusaders in 1218-19 on the Nile city of Damiate (the Dutch spelling of Damietta or Damiette) as they attempted to gain control of Jersusalem by way of Egypt. The Saracens had attempted to prevent the Crusaders from entering the delta by hanging a chain between the towers on either side of the river, and, according to legend, a ship provided by the city of Haarlem succeeded in breaking the chain. The ships date to the 17th century, rather than the 13th, and the large rocks seen in the foreground are indigenous to the North Atlantic, but would not be found along the Nile.