THE SUMMONS TO THE FOURTH CRUSADE—CONTRACT WITH VENICE—EGYPT THE
DESTINATION—PHILIP OF SWABIA.
In the year 1198 there came to the papal throne Innocent III., one of
the most astute, tireless, and ambitious of the pontiffs, and, to those
who accept the righteousness of the hierarchical supremacy over the
world, one of the best. The failure of recent enterprises in Palestine
afflicted Innocent’s soul. He announced to the titular Patriarch of
Jerusalem his purpose of massing Europe in another endeavor. His summons
sounded over Christendom: “Arise, ye faithful; arise, gird on the sword
and buckler; arise and hasten to the help of Jesus Christ. He Himself
will lead your banner to victory.” The Pope sent his prelates everywhere
to bid princes cease their mutual quarrels and unite in the common
cause. To all who obeyed he gave the usual promise, in the name of God,
of remission of sins. He especially entreated sinners to mark with the
badge of the cross their moral reformation, and the saintly disposed to
thus add new adornment to their crown of glory. His own earnestness was
illustrated by his melting the gold and silver dishes in his palace into
marketable metal, and replacing them with vessels of clay or wood.
Foreseeing a lack of money for the holy emprise, he bade Christian
people borrow from the Jews, who should be compelled to lend without
interest. If such help of the Lord did not procure any positive blessing
to this accursed people, it would at least prevent the penalty of the
total destruction of their business, which was threatened in case of
their not complying. Even the hated Greeks were to be allowed some part
in this holy warfare. In his appeals to the Emperor Alexius the Pope
predicts, “The pagans will flee before you;” and promises, “You yourself
will share with the others in the pontifical favors.” Lest the heretical
emperor should not feel the need of such patronage, Innocent reminds him
that God had said to the Roman pontiff what He had said of old to
Jeremiah: “I have placed thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to
root out, and to pull down, to waste, and to destroy, to build, and to
plant.” He further compares himself to the sun, and secular princes to
the moon, which shines in borrowed light. The emperor in reply, with
perhaps a premonition of what was about to transpire, reminded the Pope
of the ravages which Western crusaders were accustomed to inflict upon
his realm, and begged him to first rebuke the crimes which these zealots
for God were disposed to perpetrate against their fellow-men.
At this time a French priest, Fulque, was filling the land with his fame
for eloquence. Crowds thronged to his services in the churches and
fields. He denounced sin with the power of an Elijah, and comforted the
penitent with the sweetness of a St. John. He adapted himself
marvellously to all men, leading the lordly profligate to repent at the
incensed altar, and making the boorish peasants kiss the stick with
which he beat them to be quiet as they crowded about him in the fields.
Pope Innocent enlarged this zealot’s commission to be that of another
Peter the Hermit, or Bernard, in preaching the crusade.
Among Fulque’s first converts was Count Theobald of Champagne, to whom
over two thousand knights did homage as his vassals. He was chosen to
command the French contingent. Louis of Chartres and Blois followed, and
soon a host was enrolled representing the nobility and wealth of France.
Among these was Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne, to whom we are
largely indebted as the historian of the events we are about to narrate.
Germany also answered the call. But for the death of Richard of England
(April, 1199), this hero would doubtless have been chosen to lead the
combined host with an English army. The Venetians do not seem to have
volunteered any help; perhaps it was not anticipated. The Pope, in his
call for the crusade, had expressly forbidden Venice to furnish the
Saracens with iron, ropes, wood, arms, ships, or munitions of war; for
in the previous holy adventures they had not regarded trade with the
Infidels as infringing upon their Christian duty.
The military leaders already chosen were averse to another overland
march to the East, since every interjacent country was marked with the
disasters of previous armies; they therefore decided to go by sea. The
commissioners having charge of the expedition therefore sent messengers
to Venice, as the chief maritime power in the West, to negotiate with
Dandolo for transportation of men and furnishing of provisions. After a
week’s deliberation the Council of Venice made answer. Dandolo proposed,
the people approving, that the republic should provide the required
vessels and a definite amount of food, and also an independent fleet,
which Dandolo said he would send “for the love of God.” He, however,
required in payment for such equipment and service eighty-five thousand
silver marks, and that half the cities and lands conquered should fall
to the Venetian possession. This was eagerly agreed to by the
commissioners.
A general assembly was convoked in St. Mark’s in Venice (April, 1201).
Mass was celebrated to secure Heaven’s blessing upon the compact.
Villehardouin thus addressed the people: “The lords and barons of
France, the most high and the most powerful, have sent us to you to pray
you in the name of God to take pity on Jerusalem, which the Turks hold
in bondage. They cry to you for mercy and supplicate you to accompany
them to avenge the disgrace of Jesus Christ. They have made choice of
you because they know that no people that be upon the sea have such
powers as your nation. They have commanded us to throw ourselves at your
feet and not to rise until you shall have granted our prayer.” The
commissioners fell upon their knees and raised their hands in
supplication to the people. The crowd caught the enthusiasm and cried,
“We grant your request.” Dandolo himself overflowed with pious, not to
say politic, emotion. This spectacle of fraternal union in the cause of
Christ drew from all eyes “tears of tenderness and joy.” The Pope, to
whom the compact was submitted, ratified it with the strict condition
that under no circumstances should an attack be made upon any Christian
state.
It was deemed best to land the crusading armies at Alexandria in Egypt;
the voyage thither would be unmolested. Besides, a series of events had
taken place in Egypt which led many to see the hand of Providence
pointing to that country. In 1200 the Nile had for some mysterious cause
failed to give its annual inundation; harvests had failed; famine
afflicted the inhabitants, who were reduced to feeding upon grass, the
dung of animals, and even the carcasses of their fellow-victims. At
Cairo women, in the insanity of starvation, had killed and eaten their
own children. To famine succeeded plague; one hundred and eleven
thousand died of it at Cairo. The unburied lay everywhere; a fisherman
counted four hundred corpses that floated by him during a single day.
The wrappings of dead bodies were as numerous on the waters of the Nile
as lotus flowers in their season. In the language of an Arabian, “The
most populous provinces were as a banqueting-hall for the birds of
prey.” The Roman pontiff urged Europe to take the opportunity of these
terrible visitations to break the treaties between Christians and
Moslems and occupy the land of the Delta. To this advice the military
leaders added the less inhuman consideration that Alexandria would
afford a ready entrepôt for supplies from the West, and a convenient
point from which to strike the enemy; at the same time it would enable
the crusaders to sever the Eastern Infidels from their Saracen
coreligionists along the North African coast. Egypt was thus chosen as
the immediate destination of the crusade.
Shortly after the ratification of the Venetian compact with the
crusaders, Theobald of Champagne, the chosen commander, died. Boniface
of Montferrat was chosen in his stead. The first movement of Boniface is
suggestive in view of the sequel. He spent several months at the court
of Philip of Swabia, the rival of Otho for the German throne. Philip had
married the daughter of Isaac Angelus, a deposed emperor of
Constantinople, who had been blinded by his successor and was now a
captive. A son of Isaac, “young Alexius,” as he was called, to
distinguish him from the reigning monarch of the same name, a lad of
twelve years, was led about by the Emperor Alexius to grace his triumph.
Young Alexius eluded the vigilance of his keepers and, disguised as a
common sailor, or, as some say, in a box as freight, made his way to
Italy and eventually to the court of his brother-in-law, Philip of
Swabia. Philip was undoubtedly pledged by his own interests, as well as
by vengeance on behalf of his kinsman, to forward the project of young
Alexius for the restoration of Isaac to the throne of Constantinople.
Boniface, the commander of the crusaders, was a relative of Philip. He
had also family alliances with the throne of Constantinople. One of his
brothers, Conrad, had married Theodora, a sister of Isaac; another,
Reynier, had married Maria, a daughter of the Emperor Manuel. As the
heir of this latter brother, Boniface regarded himself as _de jure_ King
of Salonica. That he was not averse to the project of Philip and young
Alexius is proved by the fact that on leaving Philip he went to Rome and
endeavored to induce the Pope to declare himself in favor of young
Alexius as a contestant for the throne of Constantinople against the
reigning monarch. It is well to keep these facts in mind if one would
understand the depth of the plot which subsequent events exposed.