arrived at Zara, and addressed the council of the lords and barons,
assembled in the palace of the doge of Venice. “Seigneurs,” said
they, “the puissant king of the Romans sends us to recommend to you
the young prince Alexius, and to place him in your hands, under the
safeguard of God. We do not come for the purpose of turning you aside
from your holy enterprise, but to offer you an easy and a certain
means of accomplishing your noble designs. We know that you have
only taken up arms for the love of Christ and of justice; we come,
therefore, to propose to you to assist those who are oppressed by
unjust tyranny, and to secure at once the triumph of the laws of
religion and humanity: we propose to you to turn your victorious
arms towards the capital of Greece, which groans under the rod of an
usurper, and to assure yourselves for ever of the conquest of Jerusalem
by that of Constantinople. You know, as well as we do, how many evils,
our fathers, the companions of Godfrey, Conrad, and Louis the Young,
suffered from having left behind them a powerful empire, the conquest
and submission of which would have become a source of victories to
their arms. What have you not now to dread from this Alexius, more
cruel and more perfidious than his predecessors, who has gained a
throne by parricide, who has, at once, betrayed the laws of religion
and nature, and whose only means of escaping from the punishment due
to his crime is by allying himself with the Saracens? We will not tell
you how easy a matter it would be to wrest the empire from the hands
of a tyrant hated by his subjects, for your valour loves obstacles and
delights in dangers; nor will we spread before your eyes the riches of
Byzantium and Greece, for your generous souls aim at nothing in this
conquest, but the glory of your arms and the cause of Jesus Christ.”
“If you overturn the power of the usurper in order that the legitimate
sovereign may reign, the son of Isaac promises, under the faith of
oaths the most inviolable, to maintain, during a year, both your
fleet and your army, and to pay you two hundred thousand silver marks
towards the expenses of the war. He will accompany you in person in
the conquest of Syria or Egypt; and if you think proper, will furnish
ten thousand men, as his portion of the armament; and, moreover, will
maintain, during the whole of his life, five hundred knights in the
Holy Land. But that which must weigh above all other considerations,
with warriors and Christian heroes, is that Alexius is willing to
swear, on the holy Gospel, to put an end to the heresy which now
defiles the empire of the East, and to subject the Greek Church to the
Church of Rome. So many advantages being attached to the enterprise
proposed to you, we feel confident you will listen to our prayers. We
see in Holy Writ that God sometimes employed men the most simple and
the most obscure to make known his will to his chosen people; on this
occasion, it is a young prince he has appointed the instrument of his
designs; it is Alexius that Providence has commissioned to lead you in
the way of the Lord, and to point out to you the road you must follow
to render certain the triumph of the armies of Jesus Christ.”
This discourse made a strong impression upon a great number of the
knights and barons, but it did not command the suffrages of the whole
assembly. The doge and the lords dismissed the ambassadors, telling
them they would deliberate upon the proposals of Alexius. Warm debates
then ensued in the council; those that had been averse to the siege of
Zara, among whom the abbot of Vaux de Cernai was still conspicuous,
opposed the expedition to Constantinople with great vehemence; they
were indignant that the interests of God should be placed in the
balance against those of Alexius; they added that this Isaac, whose
cause they were called upon to defend, was himself an usurper, elevated
by a revolution to the throne of the Comnenas; that he had been, during
the third crusade, the most cruel enemy of the Christians, the most
faithful ally of the Turks; as for the rest, the nations of Greece,
accustomed to the change of masters, supported the usurpation of
Alexius without murmuring, and the Latins had not quitted their homes
to avenge the injuries of a people that really did not call upon them
for aid.
The same orators further said, that Philip of Swabia exhorted the
Crusaders to assist Alexius, but was content himself with making
speeches and sending ambassadors; they warned the Christians not to
trust to the promises of a young prince, who engaged to furnish armies,
and had not a single soldier; who offered treasures, and possessed
nothing; who, besides, had been brought up amongst the Greeks, and
would, most likely, some day turn his arms against his benefactors.
“If you are so sensible to misfortune,” added they, “and impatient to
defend the cause of justice and humanity, listen to the groans of our
brethren in Palestine, who are menaced by the Saracens, and who have no
earthly hope but in your courage.” They moreover told the Crusaders,
that if they wished for easy victories and brilliant conquests, they
had but to turn their eyes towards Egypt, the population of which was
at that moment devoured by a horrible famine, and which the seven
plagues of Scripture yielded up to the arms of the Christians almost
without defence.
The Venetians, who had cause of complaint against the emperor of
Constantinople, were not at all affected by these arguments, and
appeared much more inclined to make war upon the Greeks than the
infidels; they were anxious to destroy the warehouses of their rivals
the Pisans, now established in Greece, and to see their ships crossing
the straits of the Bosphorus in triumph. Their doge nourished a keen
resentment on account of some personal offence; and to inflame the
minds of his compatriots, he magnified all the wrongs inflicted by the
Greeks on his own country and the Christians of the West.
If ancient chronicles may be believed, Dandolo was impelled by another
motive, which he did not avow before the Crusaders. The sultan of
Damascus, made aware of a Christian army being assembled at Venice, and
terrified at the crusade that was preparing, had sent a considerable
treasure to the republic, to engage it to divert the Crusaders from
an expedition into the East. Whether we yield faith to this account,
or whether we consider it as a fable invented by hatred and party
spirit, such assertions, collected by contemporaries, at least prove
that violent suspicions were then entertained against the Venetians
by the dissatisfied Crusaders, and particularly by the Christians of
Syria, justly irritated at not being assisted by the soldiers of the
cross.[82] Nevertheless, we feel bound to add that the majority of the
French Crusaders stood in no need of being stimulated by the example or
speeches of the doge, to undertake a war against the Greek empire. Even
those who opposed the new expedition the most strongly, as well as all
the other Crusaders, entertained an inveterate hatred and a sovereign
contempt for the Greeks; and the discussions had only the more inflamed
the general mind against a nation considered inimical to the Christians.
Several ecclesiastics, having at their head the abbot of Looz, a
personage remarkable for his piety and the purity of his manners,
did not accord in opinion with the abbot of Vaux de Cernai, and
maintained that there was much danger in leading an army into a country
devastated by famine; that Greece presented much greater advantages
to the Crusaders than Egypt, and that there could be no doubt that
the conquest of Constantinople was the most certain means of securing
to the Christians the possession of Jerusalem. These ecclesiastics
were particularly fascinated by the hope of one day seeing the Greek
Church united to that of Rome, and they constantly announced in their
discourses the approaching period of concord and peace among all
Christian people.
Many knights contemplated with satisfaction the prospect of the union
of the two churches, likely to be brought about by their arms; but
they yielded further to motives not less powerful over their minds;
they had sworn to defend innocence and the rights of the oppressed,
and they believed they performed their duty in embracing the cause of
Alexius. Some of them, without doubt, who had heard of the vast wealth
of Byzantium, might believe that they should not return from such a
brilliant undertaking empty handed; but such was the spirit of the
lords and knights, that by far the greater number were attracted by
the mere prospect of the perils, and still more by the wonders of the
enterprise. After a long deliberation, it was decided in the council
of the Crusaders that the proposals of Alexius should be accepted,
and that the Christian army should embark for Constantinople at the
commencement of spring.
Before the siege of Zara, the report of the armament of the Crusaders,
and of an expedition against Greece had reached the court of Byzantium.
The usurper of the throne of Isaac immediately sought for means to
avert the storm about to fall upon his states, and hastened to send
ambassadors to the pope, whom he considered the arbiter of peace
and war in the West. These ambassadors were ordered to declare to
the sovereign pontiff that the prince who reigned at Constantinople
was the only legitimate emperor; that the son of Isaac had no right
to the empire; that an expedition against Greece would be an unjust
enterprise, dangerous, and adverse to the great designs of the crusade.
The pope, in his reply, did not at all seek to calm the fears of the
usurper, but told his envoys that young Alexius had numerous partisans
among the Crusaders, because he had made a promise to succour the Holy
Land in person, and to put an end to the rebellion of the Greek Church.
The pope did not approve of the expedition against Constantinople; but,
by speaking in the way he did, he thought that the sovereign who then
reigned over Greece might be induced to make the same promises as the
fugitive prince, and would be more able to fulfil them; he conceived a
hope that they might treat advantageously, without having recourse to
the sword, and that the debates concerning the empire of the East would
be referred to his supreme tribunal. But the elder Alexius, whether
he was persuaded that he had sufficiently interested the pope in his
cause, or whether he deemed it most prudent not to appear alarmed, or,
in short, whether the prospect of a distant danger could not remove his
habitual indolence, sent no more ambassadors, and made not the least
exertion to prepare against the invasion of the warriors of the West.
In another direction, the king of Jerusalem and the Christians of
Palestine never ceased to give vent to their complaints, and to
implore the assistance that the head of the Church had promised them.
The pope, much affected by their prayers, and always zealous for the
crusade he had preached, renewed his efforts to direct the arms of the
Crusaders against the Saracens. He sent the cardinals, Peter of Capua,
and Siffred, into Palestine, as legates of the Holy See, to revive
the courage of the Christians, and announce to them the approaching
departure of the army of Crusaders; but when he learnt that the leaders
had determined upon attacking the empire of Constantinople, he poured
upon them the most bitter reprimands, and reproached them with _looking
behind them_, as Lot’s wife had done. “Let none among you,” said he,
“flatter himself that he may be allowed to invade or plunder the lands
of the Greeks, under the pretence that the empire is not sufficiently
submissive, or that the emperor has usurped the throne of his brother;
whatever crime he may have committed, it is not for you to constitute
yourself the judge of it: you did not assume the cross to avenge the
injuries of princes, but that of God.”
Innocent finished his letter without bestowing his benediction upon the
Crusaders; and, to frighten them from their new enterprise, threatened
them with the maledictions of Heaven. The barons and knights received
the remonstrances of the sovereign pontiff with respect; but did not at
all waver in the resolution they had formed.
Then the opponents of the expedition to Constantinople renewed their
complaints, and employed no sort of moderation in their discourses.
The abbot of Vaux de Cernai, the abbot Martin Litz, one of the
preachers of the crusade, the count de Montfort, and a great number
of knights employed every effort to shake the determination of the
army; and when they found they could not succeed, resolved to leave
them, some to return to their homes, and others to take the route to
Palestine. Those who abandoned their colours, and those who remained
in the camp, mutually accused each other with betraying the cause of
Christ.[83] Five hundred soldiers having thrown themselves on board
a vessel, were shipwrecked and all swallowed up by the waves; many
others, in crossing Illyria, were massacred by the savage inhabitants
of that country. These perished cursing the ambition and errors
which had turned the Christian army aside from the true object of
the crusade; whilst those who remained faithful to their standards,
deplored the tragical death of their companions, saying among
themselves: “_The mercy of the Lord has remained with us; evil be to
them who stray from the way of the Lord._”
The knights and barons regretted in secret that they had not been able
to obtain the approbation of the pope, but were persuaded that, by
means of victories, they should justify their conduct in the eyes of
the Holy See; and that the father of the faithful would recognise in
their conquests the expression of the will of Heaven.
The Crusaders were upon the point of embarking, when young Alexius
himself arrived at Zara. His presence created a fresh enthusiasm for
his cause; he was received amidst the sounds of trumpets and clarions,
and presented to the army by the marquis of Montferrat,[84] whose elder
brothers had been connected by marriage and the dignity of Cæsar,
with the imperial family of Constantinople. The barons hailed young
Alexius as emperor, with the greater joy, that they hoped his future
grandeur would be the work of their hands. Alexius took arms to break
the chains of his father, and they admired in him a most touching
model of Christian piety: he was about to combat usurpation, to punish
injustice, and stifle heresy, and they looked upon him as an envoy of
Providence. The misfortunes of princes destined to reign affect us more
sensibly than those of other men; in the camp of the Crusaders, the
soldiers talked over the story of Alexius among themselves, and they
pitied his youth, and deplored his exile and the captivity of Isaac.
Alexius, accompanied by the princes and barons, went constantly among
the soldiery, and replied by demonstrations of the warmest gratitude to
the generous interest the Crusaders evinced in his favour.
Animated by sentiments which misfortune inspires, and which not
unfrequently terminate with it, the young prince was lavish of vows and
protestations, and promised even more than he had done by his envoys,
without thinking that he placed himself under the necessity of failing
in his word, and drawing upon himself, one day, the reproaches of his
liberators.
The Crusaders, however, renewed every day their vow to place young
Alexius on the throne of Constantinople; and Italy and the whole West
rung with the fame of their preparations. The emperor of Byzantium
appeared to be the only person ignorant of the war declared against his
usurped power, and slept upon a throne ready to crumble from under him.
The emperor Alexius, like the greater part of his predecessors, was
a prince without virtues or character; when he deposed his brother,
he allowed the crime to be committed by his courtiers, and when he
was upon the throne he abandoned to them the charge of his authority.
He was lavish of the treasures of the state, to secure pardon and
oblivion for his usurpation; and, to repair his finances, he sold
justice, ruined his subjects, and plundered the merchant ships that
traded between Ramisa and Constantinople. The usurper scattered
dignities and honours with such profusion, that no one thought himself
honoured by them, and there remained in his hands no true reward for
merit. Alexius had associated his wife Euphrosyne with himself in the
sovereign authority, and she filled the empire with her intrigues, and
scandalized the court by the laxity of her morals. Under his reign the
empire had been several times menaced by the Bulgarians and the Turks;
Alexius occasionally visited the army, but he never faced the enemy.
Whilst the Bulgarians were ravaging his frontiers, he employed himself
in levelling hills, and tracing gardens on the shores of the Propontis.
Abandoned to a shameful effeminacy, he disbanded a part of his army;
and fearing to be disturbed in his pleasures by the din of arms, he
sold the sacred vases, and plundered the tombs of the Greek emperors,
to purchase peace of the emperor of Germany, who had become master of
Sicily. The empire had no navy left; the ministers had sold the rigging
and equipments of the vessels, and the woods that might have furnished
timber for new ships, were reserved for the pleasures of the prince,
and guarded as strictly, says Nicetas, as those formerly consecrated to
the gods.[85]
Such numbers of conspiracies never were heard of; under n, prince
who was rarely visible, the government appeared to be in a state of
interregnum; the imperial throne was as an empty seat, which every
ambitious man aspired to occupy. Devotedness, probity, bravery, were
no longer held in esteem by courtiers or citizens. Nothing was deemed
worthy of public approbation or reward but the invention of a new
pleasure or the fabrication of a fresh impost. Amidst this general
depravity, the provinces knew nothing of the emperor but by the
exaction of taxes;[86] and the army, without discipline and without
pay, had no leaders capable of commanding it. Everything announced an
approaching revolution in the empire; and the peril was the greater
from no one having the courage to foresee it. The subjects of Alexius
never dreamt of obtruding truth upon the imperial ear; birds, taught
to repeat satires, alone interrupted the silence of the people, and
published from the roofs of houses, and in the high streets, the
scandals of the court and the disgrace of the empire.
The Greeks, at the same time superstitious and corrupt, still
preserved some remembrances of ancient Greece and old Rome; but these
remembrances, instead of creating a noble, emulative pride, only
nourished in their hearts a puerile vanity, and their history, of
which they were so vain, only served to render more striking their
own degradation and their empire’s too evident decay. The voice of
patriotism was never heard, and no influence was obeyed but that of
the monks placed at the head of affairs of all kinds, who attracted
and preserved the confidence of both people and prince by frivolous
predictions and senseless visions. The Greeks wasted their time in
vain disputes, which enervated their character, increased their
ignorance, and stifled their patriotism. At the moment the fleet of
the Crusaders was about to set sail, Constantinople was in a state
of ferment with discussing the question whether the body of Jesus
Christ, in the Eucharist, is corruptible or incorruptible; each opinion
had its partisans, whose defeats or triumphs were, by turns, loudly
proclaimed—and the threatened empire remained without defenders.
The Venetians and French left Zara, and the isle of Corfu was appointed
as the place of meeting for the whole fleet.[87] When they landed on
the shores of Macedon, the inhabitants of Duras brought young Alexius
the keys of the city, and acknowledged him as their master. The people
of Corfu were not tardy in following this example, and received the
Crusaders as liberators: the acclamations of the Greek people, in the
passage of the Latins, was a happy augury for the success of their
expedition.
The island of Corfu, the country of the Phœnicians, so celebrated by
the shipwreck of Ulysses and by the gardens of Alcinoüs, afforded the
Crusaders pasturage and abundance of provisions. The fertility of
the island induced the leaders to remain there several weeks; but so
long a repose did not fail to produce evil consequences in an army
supported by enthusiasm, to which no time for reflection should have
been allowed, and, amidst indulgence and idleness, the complaints and
murmurs of the siege of Zara broke out again.
They learnt that Gauthier de Brienne had conquered Apulia and the
kingdom of Naples. This conquest, effected in a few months, by sixty
knights, inflamed the imagination of the Crusaders, and furnished the
malcontents with a fresh opportunity for blaming the expedition to
Constantinople, the preparations for which were immense, the perils
evident, and the success uncertain. “Whilst we are going,” said they,
“to exhaust the resources of the West in a useless enterprise, in a
distant war, Gauthier de Brienne has made himself master of a rich
kingdom, and is preparing to fulfil the promises he has entered into
with us to deliver the Holy Land; why should we not demand vessels of
him? why should we not set out for Palestine with him?” These speeches
prevailed over a great number of the knights, who were ready to
separate themselves from the army.
The chief malcontents had already assembled in a secluded valley
to deliberate upon the means of executing their project, when the
leaders of the army were warned of their plot, and immediately united
all their efforts to prevent the fatal consequences of it. The doge
of Venice, the count of Flanders, the counts of Blois and St. Paul,
the marquis of Montferrat, and several bishops clothed in mourning
habits, with crosses borne before them, repaired to the valley in
which the malcontents were met. As soon as they, from a distance,
perceived their unfaithful companions, who were deliberating on
horseback, they alighted, and advanced towards the place of assembly
in a suppliant manner. The instigators of the desertion, seeing the
leaders and prelates of the army coming thus towards them, suspended
their deliberations, and themselves dismounted from their horses. The
parties approached each other; the princes, counts, and bishops threw
themselves at the feet of the malcontents, and, bursting into tears,
swore to remain thus prostrated till the warriors who wished to abandon
them, had renewed the oath to follow the army of the Christians, and
to remain faithful to the standard of the holy war. “When the others
saw,” says Villehardouin, an ocular witness, “when they saw their
liege lords, their dearest relations and friends thus cast themselves
at their feet, and, so to say, cry to them for mercy, they were moved
with great pity, and their hearts were so softened, they could not
refrain from weeping, and they told them that they would consider of
it together (_Qi’ils s’en aviseraient par ensemble_).” After having
retired for a moment to deliberate, they came back to their leaders,
and promised to remain with the army until the beginning of autumn,
on condition that the barons and lords would swear upon the Gospel to
furnish them at that period with vessels to convey them to Syria. The
two parties engaged themselves by oath to perform the conditions of the
treaty, and returned together to the camp, where nothing now was spoken
of but the expedition to Constantinople.
The fleet of the Crusaders quitted the island of Corfu under the
most happy auspices; the historians who have described its progress
through that archipelago, so full of remembrances of antiquity, have
not been able to refrain from employing the language of poetry. The
wind was favourable, and the sky pure and serene; a profound calm
reigned over the waves; three hundred vessels of all sizes, with
their colours floating from their sterns, covered an immense space;
the helmets and cuirasses of thirty thousand warriors reflected the
rays of the sun; now were heard sounding over the waters the hymns of
the priests, invoking the blessings of Heaven; and then the voices of
the soldiers, soothing the leisure of the voyage with warlike songs;
and the braying of trumpets and neighing of horses, mingled with
the dashing of oars, resounded from the coasts of the Peloponnesus,
which presented themselves to the eyes of the pilgrims. The Crusaders
doubled Cape Matapan, known formerly as Tenara, and passed before
the heights of Malea, without dread of the rocks so much feared by
ancient navigators. Near Cape Malea they met two vessels returning
from Palestine, in which were many Flemish pilgrims. At sight of the
Venetian fleet, a soldier on board one of the two ships, slipped down
a rope, and bade adieu to his companions, saying: “_I leave you all
I have on board, for I am going with people who intend to conquer
kingdoms._”[88]
The Crusaders landed at several islands they fell in with on their
passage; the inhabitants of Andros and Negropont came out to meet
Alexius, and acknowledged him as their emperor. It was the period of
harvest, and the land presented, everywhere, a spectacle of the richest
abundance. The enjoyment of a beautiful climate, the satisfaction at
the submission of the Greeks, so many riches, so many wonders, so many
unknown regions, all daily increased the enthusiasm of the Crusaders.
At length the fleet arrived at the entrance of the Bosphorus, and cast
anchor in the port of St. Stephen, three leagues from the capital of
the Greek empire.
Then the city of Constantinople, of which they were about to effect
the conquest, broke full upon the view of the Crusaders;[89] bathed on
the south by the waves of the Propontis, on the east by the Bosphorus,
and on the north by the gulf that serves as its port, it presented a
spectacle at once magnificent and formidable. A double enclosure of
walls surrounded it in a circumference of more than seven leagues;
a vast number of splendid buildings, whose roofs towered above the
ramparts, appeared to proclaim the queen of cities. The shores of the
Bosphorus to the Euxine and to the Hellespont, resembled an immense
faubourg, or one continued line of gardens. The cities of Chalcedon
and Scutari, built on the Asiatic shore, and Galata, placed at the
extremity of the gulf, appeared in the distance, and crowned the
immense and magnificent picture which lay before the warlike hosts of
the Crusaders.
Constantinople, situated between Europe and Asia, between the
Archipelago and the Black Sea, joins together the two seas and the two
continents. In the times of its splendour, it held at its pleasure the
gates of commerce open or shut; its port, which received the vessels
of all the nations of the world, deserved to be termed by the Greeks,
_the golden horn_, or _the horn of abundance_. Like ancient Rome,
Constantinople extended over seven ascents, and, like the city of
Romulus, it sometimes bore the name of the city of the seven hills; in
the times of the crusades, its walls and its towers were compared to
those of Babylon; its deep ditches were converted at will into a large
and rapid lake, and the city could, at the least signal, be surrounded
by waters, and separated from the continent.
The monarch who founded it reigned over all the known nations of the
world, and in the execution of his designs he had the advantage of
making the arts and sciences of Greece concur with the genius and power
of the Romans. Not content with employing the beautiful marbles of the
isles of the Archipelago, he caused materials to be transported from
the extremities of Europe and Asia; all the cities of the Roman empire,
Athens, and Rome itself, were spoiled of their ornaments to embellish
the new city of the Cæsars. Several of the successors of Constantine
had repaired the edifices that were crumbling into ruins, and had
erected fresh monuments in Constantinople, which in its temples, upon
its public places, and around the walls, everywhere recalled the memory
of twenty glorious reigns. The city was divided into fourteen quarters;
it had thirty-two gates; it contained within its bosom circuses of
immense extent, five hundred churches, among which St. Sophia claimed
attention as one of the wonders of the world; and five palaces, which
themselves looked like cities in the midst of the great city. More
fortunate than its rival Rome, the city of Constantine had never beheld
the barbarians within its walls; it preserved with its language the
depository of the masterpieces of antiquity, and the accumulated riches
of the East and the West.
It would be difficult to paint the enthusiasm, the fear, the surprise
that took possession of the minds of the Crusaders at the aspect of
Constantinople.[90] The leaders landed, and passed one night in the
abbey of St. Stephen. This night was employed in anxious deliberation
upon what they had to do; at one time they resolved to land upon the
isles; then they determined to make a descent upon the continent. In
the very same instant they drew back in terror and gave themselves up
to a wild joy; they could not come to any fixed determination, but
changed their plans and their projects a thousand times. At daybreak
Dandolo, Boniface, Baldwin, and the count de Blois ordered all the
standards of the army to be unfurled; the escutcheons and coats of
arms of the counts and knights were ranged along the vessels,[91] to
display the military pomp of the West and recall to the warriors the
valour of their ancestors. The signal was given to the fleet, which
entered into the canal, and, driven on by a favourable wind, passed
close to the walls of Constantinople. An immense population,[92] who
only the day before were ignorant of the arrival of the Latins, crowded
the ramparts and covered the shore. The warriors of the West, clad in
complete armour,[93] stood erect upon the decks of their vessels;[94]
some stones and arrows were launched from the towers and fell upon
the ships: “there was no heart,” says Villehardouin, “so bold as not
to be moved; for never was so great an affair undertaken.” Every
warrior turned his eye towards his sword, thinking the time was come
in which to make use of it. The Crusaders fancied that in the crowd of
spectators they beheld the defenders of Constantinople; but the capital
of the empire was only defended by the memory of its past glory, and by
the respect of the nations ignorant of its weakness. Of true soldiers
the imperial army only mustered two thousand Pisans, who despised
the Greeks, and the troop of Varangians, mercenary soldiers from the
northern parts of Europe, with whose origin and country the Greeks
themselves were scarcely acquainted.[95]
The Crusaders made a descent upon the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus,
pillaged the city of Chalcedon, and established themselves in the
palace and gardens in which the emperor Alexius had so long forgotten
his own dangers and those of his empire. At the approach of the
Venetian fleet, this prince had retreated to Constantinople, where,
like the last king of Babylon, he continued to live amidst pleasures
and festivities, without reflecting that he had been judged, and that
his hour was nearly come. His courtiers, in the intoxication of the
banquet, celebrated his power and proclaimed him invincible; amidst
the pomp that surrounded him, and which appeared to him a rampart
against the attacks of his enemies, he, in his speeches, insulted the
simplicity of the Latins, and believed he had conquered them because he
had called them barbarians.
When he saw the Crusaders masters of his palace and gardens, he began
to entertain some degree of fear, and sent an Italian named Rossi, with
orders to salute the lords and barons. “The emperor my master,” said
the envoy of Alexius, “knows that you are the most puissant and most
noble princes among those who do not wear crowns; but he is astonished
that you should have come to bring war into a Christian empire. Rumour
proclaims that your design is to deliver the Holy Land from the yoke
of the Saracens; the emperor applauds your zeal, and solicits the
honour of being associated with your enterprise; he is ready to assist
you with all his power. But if you do not quit his states, he shall
feel obliged to direct against you the forces he would willingly
have employed in your cause and in that of Christ. Accept, then, the
generous offers that he makes to you by me; but do not believe that
this pacific language is dictated by fear. The emperor Alexius reigns
over Greece by the love of his people as well as by the will of God;
with one single word he could gather around him innumerable armies,
disperse your fleet and your battalions, and close against you for ever
the routes to the East.”
The envoy of the emperor thus terminated his speech without naming
either Isaac or young Alexius. Conon de Béthune,[96] who answered for
the leaders of the army, was astonished that the brother of Isaac
should dare to speak as master of the empire, and that he had not
thought fit to attempt to justify a parricide which had roused the
indignation of all Christian nations. “Go and tell your master,” said
the orator of the Crusaders, addressing the emperor’s envoy, “go and
tell him, that the earth we tread upon does not belong to him, but that
it is the heritage of the prince you see seated amongst us. If he be
desirous of knowing the motive that brings us hither, let him ask his
own conscience, and remember the crimes he has committed. A usurper
is the enemy of all princes; a tyrant is the enemy of the whole human
race. He who sent you has but one means of escaping the justice of
Heaven and of men; that is, to restore to his brother and his nephew
the throne he has wrested from them, and implore the pity of those
same princes towards whom he has been so merciless. In that case we
promise to add our prayers to his supplications, and to procure for
him, with his pardon, the means of passing his life in a repose far
preferable to the splendour of an usurped sovereignty; but if he is
not willing to act justly, if he is inaccessible to repentance, tell
him we disdain his threats as we do his promises, and that we have no
time to waste in listening to ambassadors.” This vehement reply was
an actual declaration of war, and left the emperor no hope of either
seducing or intimidating the Crusaders. The lords and barons were,
however, astonished that the Greeks took no notice of young Alexius,
and that the cause they came to promote found no partisans in the
city of Constantinople. They resolved to ascertain the inclinations
of the people. A galley, on board of which was the son of Isaac, was
brought close to the walls of the capital;[97] Boniface and Dandolo
held up the young prince, whilst a herald-at-arms repeated in a loud
voice these words:—“_Behold the heir of the throne; acknowledge your
sovereign; have pity on him and on yourselves._” The Greeks assembled
in the ramparts remained motionless; some answered by insulting
language, others maintained a sullen silence. Whilst the Crusaders
were thus making a last attempt to preserve peace, the most horrible
tumult reigned in the interior of the city. The presence of the Latins
irritated the multitude; they assembled in the public places; they
excited each other to vengeance; the people ran to the quarter of the
Franks, demolished several houses, and gave the rest up to pillage.
A great number of Latins, threatened with loss of life, immediately
sought an asylum in the camp of the Crusaders. Their presence, their
accounts, their complaints, fired the easily kindled indignation of the
knights and barons. From that moment the leaders saw no hopes but in
the chance of war and in the protection of the Heaven that had confided
to their hands the cause of innocence and misfortune.
Eighty knights succeeded in putting to flight a numerous body of troops
that the emperor had sent across the Bosphorus. “The Greek commanders,”
says Nicetas, “were more timid than deer, and did not dare to resist
men whom they called _exterminating angels, statues of bronze_, which
spread around terror and death.” The Crusaders, however, had great
cause to fear that the Greeks, recovered from their first panic, might
become aware of the small number of their enemies, and succeed in
overwhelming them by their multitudes; they resolved, therefore, to
take advantage of the fear they had inspired, and gave their whole
attention to forward the preparations for attacking enemies that had
provided nothing for their defence.
The Christian army assembled at Chrisopolis (Scutari[98]), and beheld
full in front of them the capital of the Greek empire. After having
put to flight some troops sent out to follow their march or skirmish
with them, the leaders mounted on horseback and deliberated in full
assembly, on the plan of action best to be pursued. They decided that
the army should cross the canal of the Bosphorus, and encamp under the
walls of Constantinople. “Then,” says Villehardouin, “the bishops and
the clergy addressed their remonstrances to all those of the camp,
exhorting them to confess themselves, and make their testaments, for
they did not know the hour at which it might please God to call them,
and do his will by them; which they did very willingly, and with great
zeal and devotion.” When all was ready, and the Crusaders had invoked
the protection of Heaven by their prayers, the signal for departure was
given; the war-horses, saddled and covered with their long caparisons,
were embarked in the flat-bottomed boats; the knights stood erect
near their horses, helm on head and lance in hand; the remainder of
the troops went on board the large ships, each of which was towed by a
galley. The army of the Greeks, commanded by the emperor in person, was
drawn up in battle array on the opposite shore, and appeared disposed
to dispute the passage of the Crusaders. All at once the vessels heaved
their anchors to the sounds of trumpets and clarions. Every soldier,
with his eyes fixed on Constantinople, swore to conquer or die. On
approaching the shore, the barons and knights cast themselves into the
sea, fully armed, and contended for the honour of first gaining the
strand occupied by the Greeks. The archers and foot-soldiers followed
the example of the knights; in less than an hour the whole army was on
the other side of the Bosphorus, and looked about in vain for an enemy
over a plain they had so recently seen covered with arms and warriors.
The army of Alexius took to flight; and, if we may believe a letter of
the count de St. Pol, the swiftest arrows of the Latins could scarcely
overtake a few of the fugitives. The Crusaders, following up their
advantage, found the camp of the Greeks abandoned, and plundered the
tents of the emperor, without meeting with one of his soldiers.
Night surprised them in the midst of their bloodless victory; and on
the morrow they resolved to attack the fortress of Galata, which,
erected upon a hill, commanded the port of Constantinople. From break
of day the Greeks rushed in crowds to anticipate and surprise the
Latins. At the first shock, Jacques d’Avesnes was wounded grievously,
and placed _hors de combat_; the sight of his wound highly incensed
the Flemish warriors, who precipitated themselves with fury into the
_mêlée_. The Greeks were not able to withstand the impetuous attack
of their enemies, and took to flight in great disorder; some, hoping
to find an asylum in the ships in the port, perished in the waves,
whilst others fled bewildered to the citadel, into which the conquerors
entered with the conquered. Whilst the French thus got possession of
Galata, the Venetian fleet, which was drawn up in line of battle before
Scutari, turned its prows towards the port of Constantinople. The
entrance of the gulf was defended by an enormous chain of iron, and by
twenty galleys, which constituted the whole navy of the empire. The
resistance of the Greeks was obstinate; but a vessel of extraordinary
size, assisted by a favourable wind, struck the extended chain
violently in its passage, and divided it with enormous shears of steel,
which opened and shut by the operation of a machine.[99] The galleys
of the Greeks were soon taken, or dispersed in fragments on the face of
the waters, and the whole of the Venetian fleet rode in triumph into
the port: it was then the Greeks were able to perceive what they had
to dread from the invincible courage of these barbarians, who had till
that period been the object of their contempt.
The French, masters of Galata, divided their army into six great
battles or divisions. Baldwin, who had under his orders a great number
of archers and crossbow-men, led the van. The rear was composed of
Lombards, Germans, and Franks, from countries near the Alps, commanded
by the marquis of Montferrat. The other four divisions, in which were
ranged the crusaders from Champagne, Burgundy, and the banks of the
Seine and the Loire, had at their head Henry, brother of Baldwin, the
counts of St. Pol and Blois, and Matthew de Montmorenci.
This army advanced[100] towards the west of the city, without meeting
with a single foe in its passage, and encamped between the gate of
Blachernæ and the tower of Bohemond.
The Greeks, in a single battle, had lost the empire of the sea, and
had no longer the power to defend the approach to their capital. The
Venetian fleet cast anchor near the mouth of the river Barbysses.[101]
The Venetians, masters of the port, were secure from all surprise,
and had no cause to fear being overpowered by numbers. If the whole
army had been united on board the fleet, there is very little doubt it
would have more easily triumphed over the efforts and multitudes of
the Greeks, and it was the advice of the doge that such should be the
plan; but the knights and barons could not be prevailed upon to fight
on an element with which they were unacquainted; and they answered (we
quote Villehardouin), that they could not act so well upon the sea as
they could upon the land, where they could have their horses and their
arms. Their army, which did not muster twenty thousand men under its
banners, attacked without fear a city, which, according to the account
of some historians, contained a million of inhabitants, and more than
two hundred thousand men able to bear arms.
Before they began the assault, the Crusaders deemed it proper once more
to invite the Greeks to make peace, by receiving the son of Isaac as
emperor; and several barons drew near to the walls, crying with a loud
voice that there was still time to listen to justice. Young Alexius was
surrounded by the Latin leaders, and his presence among them explained
sufficiently clearly the meaning of the words addressed to the
inhabitants of Constantinople. Their only reply was hurling stones and
javelins at the Crusaders; the people of Byzantium had been persuaded
that young Alexius came for the purpose of changing the manners,
religion, and laws of Greece.
History ought to add here, that since the intrigues of ambition and the
caprices of fortune had enjoyed the privilege of bestowing masters upon
them, the Greeks beheld with indifference the successions of power or
the changes of their princes; the Greek nations had not forgotten that
it was a revolution that lifted the family of Isaac to the imperial
throne. With the impressions this family had left in their minds, the
misfortunes and prayers of Alexius did not move them sufficiently to
declare in his favour, or take arms to support his cause; since they
were obliged to choose between two new princes, he who was reigning
amongst them appeared preferable to him who implored their aid.
From that time the attention and efforts of the Crusaders were solely
directed to the prosecution of their perilous enterprise. Their camp,
placed between the gate of Blachernæ, and the castle of Bohemond,
occupied but a very small space before walls many leagues in extent.
Every day the Greeks made sorties; the country round was covered with
the soldiers of the enemy; the army of the besiegers appeared to be
themselves besieged by troops that were unceasingly renewed. Day and
night the Crusaders were under arms, and had neither time to take their
food nor refresh themselves by sleep. They had only provisions for
three weeks, and could look for safety to nothing but a speedy victory;
nevertheless, they continued to fill up the ditches, and make their
approaches to the ramparts. Balistas, catapultas, rams, everything
that could carry destruction and death into the city, were employed to
second the bravery and indefatigable ardour of the besiegers; without
cessation, enormous masses fell with fearful crash from the tops of the
walls; and such was the surprising power of the machines of war then in
use, that the houses and palaces of Constantinople were often shaken to
their foundations by stones launched from the camp of the Latins.[102]
After ten days of labour and fighting, the Crusaders determined to
storm the city. On the morning of the 17th of July, 1203, the trumpets
and clarions sounded the signal; the count of Flanders, who commanded
the attack, passed through the ranks, and directed the attention of his
knights to the ramparts of Constantinople, _as the road which would
conduct them to an eternal glory_. The army was immediately in motion,
and every machine was directed against the walls. One tower, which had
fallen in with a great crash, appeared to offer a passage to the troops
of Baldwin. Ladders were planted, and the most intrepid contended for
the honour of entering first into the city; but, this time, numbers
prevailed over valour. A host of Greeks, encouraged by the presence of
the Varangians and Pisans, hastened to the rampart, and overturned the
ladders. Fifteen Frank warriors, braving stones, beams, and torrents
of Greek fire, alone were able to maintain themselves on the walls,
and yielded only after fighting with desperate valour. Two of these
intrepid warriors were led to the emperor, who watched the fight from
the windows of the palace of Blachernæ. Alexius had ceased to despise
the Latins; and, in his fright, he had such an idea of their courage,
that the sight of the two prisoners appeared to him a victory.
At the same time the Venetians attacked the city by sea. Dandolo ranged
his fleet in two lines; the galleys were in the first rank, manned by
archers, and laden with machines of war; behind the galleys advanced
the large vessels, upon which were constructed towers exceeding the
loftiest of the walls of Constantinople in height. At daybreak the
contest began between the city and the fleet; the Greeks, armed with
the Greek fire, the Venetians, covered with their armour, the ramparts
and the vessels charged with a thousand destructive instruments, cast
from one to the other, by turns, terror, fire, and death. The incessant
dashing of the oars, the shocks of the vessels against each other,
the cries of the sailors and combatants, the hissing of the stones,
javelins, and arrows, the Greek fire darting along the sea, seizing on
the ships and boiling upon the waves, presented altogether a spectacle
a thousand times more fearful than that of a tempest. Amidst this
horrible tumult, Henry Dandolo was heard: standing erect in his galley,
he excited his troops, and, with a terrible voice, threatened to hang
every man that did not land. The orders of the intrepid doge were
soon executed. The men of his galley took him in their arms and bore
him swiftly to the shore, the standard of St. Mark floating over him.
At sight of this, the efforts of the crews of the other galleys were
redoubled, all struck the shore, and the soldiers rushed forward to
follow their venerable leader. The vessels, which had hitherto remained
motionless, now advanced and placed themselves between the galleys, so
that the whole fleet was extended in a single line before the walls
of Constantinople, and presented to the terrified Greeks a formidable
rampart raised upon the waters. The floating towers lowered their
drawbridges upon the ramparts of the city, and whilst, at the foot of
the walls, ten thousand arms planted ladders and battered with rams,
on the summit a fearful conflict was maintained with sword and lance.
All at once the standard of St. Mark appeared upon one of the towers,
planted by an invisible hand; upon seeing this the Venetians uttered
a loud shout of joy, persuaded that their patron saint fought at
their head; their courage proportionately increased with the terror
and despair of their enemies; the most intrepid cast themselves on to
the walls, and soon twenty-five towers were in their possession. They
pursued the Greeks into the city; but fearing to fall into some ambush
or be overwhelmed by the people, crowds of whom filled the streets and
covered the public places, they set fire to the houses as they came
to them on their passage. The conflagration extended rapidly,[103]
and drove before it the terrified and trembling multitude. Whilst the
flames, preceding the conquerors, spread devastation on their path, and
the greatest disorder prevailed in Constantinople, Alexius, pressed by
the cries of the people, mounted on horseback, and ordered a sortie of
the troops, by three different gates, to attack the French, who were
less fortunate in this day’s fight than the Venetians.
The army conducted by the emperor was composed of sixty battalions;
clothed in all the marks of imperial dignity, Alexius rode along
the ranks, animated his soldiers, and promised them victory. At his
approach, the Crusaders abandoned the ramparts, and drew up in line
of battle before their camp.[104] Villehardouin admits that the
bravest knights were, for a moment, seized with fear. Dandolo, who saw
the danger in which the French were placed, abandoned his victory,
and flew to their aid. But all the Crusaders united, could not have
resisted the imperial army, if the Greeks, but more particularly their
leaders, had shown a spark of courage. The troops of Alexius would not
advance nearer than within bow-shot, and contented themselves with
showering a multitude of arrows from a safe distance. The son-in-law
of the emperor, Lascaris, of whose courage the Greeks and even the
Latins boast, demanded with loud cries that the Crusaders should be
attacked in their intrenchments; but he could not prevail upon Alexius,
surrounded by base courtiers who endeavoured to communicate their
own alarms to him, and assured him that he had done enough for his
glory in showing himself to his enemies. The emperor, without having
fought, ordered a retreat to be sounded, and his numerous troops, who
still bore the name of Romans, and before whom the eagles of Rome were
carried, returned with him into Constantinople.
Every quarter of the capital resounded with lamentations and groans;
the Greeks were more terrified at the cowardice of their defenders,
than by the bravery of their enemies; the people accused the army,
and the army accused Alexius. The emperor mistrusting the Greeks and
dreading the Latins, now only thought of saving his own life: he
abandoned his family, his friends, his capital; he embarked secretly
in the darkness of night, and fled to seek a retreat in some obscure
corner of his empire.
When daylight informed the Greeks that they had no longer an emperor,
the disorder and excitement of the city became excessive; the people
assembled in the streets, and freely discussed the errors and
deficiencies of their leaders, the infamy of the favourites, and their
own misfortunes. Now Alexius had abandoned his power, they remembered
the crime of his usurpation, and a thousand voices were raised to
invoke the anger of Heaven upon his head. Amidst the confusion and
tumult, the wisest were at a loss what part to take, when the courtiers
rushed to the prison in which Isaac languished, broke his chains,
and led him in triumph to the palace of Blachernæ. Although blind,
he was placed upon the throne, and, whilst he believed himself to be
still in the hands of his executioners, his ears were saluted with
the unexpected accents of flattery; on seeing him again clothed in
the imperial purple, the courtiers for the first time became affected
by misfortunes he no longer endured. All denied having been partisans
of Alexius, and related what vows they had put up for his cause. They
next sought out the wife of Isaac, whom they had forgotten, and who
had lived in a retreat to which no one knew or had inquired the road
during the preceding reign.
Euphrosyne, the wife of the fugitive emperor, was accused of having
endeavoured to take advantage of the troubles of Constantinople, to
clothe one of her favourites with the purple. She was cast into a
dungeon, and reproached with all the evils that had fallen on her
country, but most particularly with the lengthened miseries of Isaac.
Such as had been loaded with favours by this princess, were conspicuous
among her accusers, and pretended to make a merit of their ingratitude.
In political troubles, every change is, in the eyes of the people, a
means of safety; they felicitated themselves upon this new revolution
in Constantinople; hope revived in all hearts, and Isaac was saluted
by the multitude with cries of joy and congratulation. Rumour soon
carried to the camp all that had taken place in the city. At this news
the council of the barons and knights was assembled in the tent of the
marquis of Montferrat, and they returned thanks to Providence, which in
delivering Constantinople, had, at the same time, delivered them from
the greatest dangers. But when they recollected having seen only on the
preceding day the emperor Alexius surrounded by an innumerable army,
they could scarcely give faith to the miracle of his flight.
The camp was, however, soon crowded with a multitude of Greeks, who
came to relate the wonders of which they had been witnesses. Many of
the courtiers who had not been able to attract the attention of Isaac,
flocked to young Alexius, in the hope of securing his first favours;
they returned warm thanks to Heaven for having listened to the ardent
vows they had put up for his return, and conjured him, in the name
of his country and the empire, to come and share the honours and the
power of his father. But all these testimonies could not persuade the
Latins, so accustomed were they to mistrust the Greeks. The barons kept
their army in the strictest order, and always prepared for battle, and
then sent Matthew of Montmorenci, Geoffrey de Villehardouin, and two
Venetian nobles to Constantinople to ascertain the truth.
The deputies were directed to congratulate Isaac, if he had recovered
his throne, and to require of him the ratification of the treaty made
with his son. On arriving in Constantinople, they were conducted to
the palace of Blachernæ between two ranks of soldiers, who, the day
before, had formed the body-guard of Alexius, and who had just taken
the oath to defend Isaac. The emperor received the deputies on a throne
sparkling with gold and precious stones, and surrounded by all the
splendour of Eastern courts. “This is the manner,” said Villehardouin,
addressing Isaac, “in which the Crusaders have fulfilled their
promises; it now remains with you to perform those that have been made
in your name. Your son, who is with the lords and barons, implores you
to ratify the treaty he has concluded, and commands us to say that he
will not return to your palace until you have sworn to perform all he
has promised us.” Alexius had engaged to pay the Crusaders two hundred
thousand silver marks, to furnish their army with provisions for a
year, to take an active part in the perils and labours of the holy war,
and to reduce the Greek Church to submission to that of Rome. When
Isaac heard the conditions of the treaty, he could not forbear from
expressing his surprise, and pointing out to the deputies how difficult
it must be to perform such promises; but he could deny nothing to his
liberators, and thanked the Crusaders for not requiring more:[105]
“_You have served us so well_,” added he, “_that if we were even to
give you the whole empire, you would have merited it_.” The deputies
praised the frankness and good faith of Isaac, and carried back to the
camp the imperial patents, to which was affixed the seal of gold that
confirmed the treaty made with Alexius.
The lords and barons immediately mounted on horseback, and conducted
young Alexius into Constantinople. The son of Isaac rode between the
count of Flanders and the doge of Venice, followed by all the knights,
clad in complete armour. The people, who so lately had preserved
a sullen silence on beholding him, now crowded around him on his
passage, and saluted him with loud acclamations; the Latin clergy
accompanied the son of Isaac, and those of the Greek Church sent out
their magnificent _cortège_ to meet him. The entrance of the young
prince into the capital was a day of festivity for both the Greeks and
the Latins; in all the churches thanks were offered up to Heaven; hymns
of public rejoicing resounded everywhere; but it was particularly in
the palace of Blachernæ, so long the abode of mourning and fear, that
the greatest transports of joy were manifested. A father, blind, and
immured during eight years in a dungeon, clasping in his arms a son to
whom he owed the restoration of his liberty and crown, presented a new
spectacle that must have penetrated every heart with lively emotions.
The crowd of spectators recalled to their minds the long calamities of
these two princes; and the remembrance of so many evils past, appeared
to them a pledge for the blessings that Heaven had in store for the
empire.
The emperor, reunited to his son, again thanked the Crusaders for
the services they had rendered him, and conjured the leaders to
establish themselves with their army on the other side of the Gulf of
Chrysoceras. He feared that their abode in the city might give birth
to some quarrel between the Greeks and the Latins, too long divided.
The barons yielded to the prayer of Isaac and Alexius, and the army of
the Crusaders took up their quarters in the faubourg of Galata; where,
in abundance and repose, they forgot the labours, perils, and fatigues
of the war. The Pisans, who had defended Constantinople against the
Crusaders, made peace with the Venetians; all discords were appeased,
and no spirit of jealousy or rivalry divided the Franks. The Greeks
came constantly to the camp of the Latins, bringing provisions and
merchandise of all kinds. The warriors of the West often visited the
capital, and were never tired of contemplating the palaces of the
emperors, the numerous edifices, the masterpieces of art, the monuments
consecrated to religion, and, above all, the relics of saints, which,
according to the marshal of Champagne, were in greater abundance in
Constantinople than in any other place in the world.
A few days after his entrance into Constantinople, Alexius was crowned
in the church of St. Sophia, and admitted to a partition of the
sovereign power with his father. The barons assisted at his coronation,
and offered up sincere wishes for the happiness of his reign. Alexius
hastened to discharge a part of the sum promised to the Crusaders.
The greatest harmony prevailed between the people of Byzantium and
the warriors of the West; the Greeks appeared to have forgotten their
defeats, the Latins their victories. The subjects of Isaac and Alexius
mingled with the Latins without mistrust, and the simplicity of the
Franks was no longer the subject of their raillery. The Crusaders, on
their side, confided in the good faith of the Greeks. Peace reigned in
the capital, and seemed to be the work of their hands. They respected
the two princes they had placed upon the throne, and the emperors
retained an affectionate gratitude for their liberators.
The Crusaders, having become the allies of the Greeks, and the
protectors of a great empire, had now no other enemies to contend with
but the Saracens; and they turned their minds to the fulfilment of the
oath they had made on taking the cross; but, ever faithful to the laws
of chivalry, the barons and knights deemed it right to declare war
before beginning it. Heralds-at-arms were sent to the sultan of Cairo
and Damascus, to announce to him, in the name of Jesus Christ, in the
name of the emperor of Constantinople, and in the names of the princes
and nobles of the West, that he would soon experience the valour of the
Christian nations, if he persisted in holding under his laws the Holy
Land and the places consecrated by the presence of the Saviour.
The leaders of the crusade announced the wonderful success of their
enterprise to all the princes and nations of Christendom. Whilst
addressing the emperor of Germany,[106] they conjured him to take
part in the crusade, and come and place himself at the head of the
Christian knights. The account of their exploits excited the enthusiasm
of the faithful; the news, when carried into Syria, spread terror
among the Saracens, and revived the hopes of the king of Jerusalem
and the defenders of the Holy Land: so much glorious success ought to
have satisfied the pride and valour of the Crusaders; but, whilst the
world resounded with their glory, and trembled at the fame of their
arms, the knights and barons believed they had achieved nothing for
their own renown, or for the cause of God, until they had obtained
the approbation of the Holy See. The marquis of Montferrat, the count
of Flanders, the count of St. Pol, and the principal leaders of the
army, when writing to the pope, represented to him that the success
of their enterprise was not the work of men, but the work of God.
These warriors, filled with haughty pride, who had just conquered an
empire; who, according to Nicetas, boasted of _fearing nothing but
the falling of the heavens_, thus bent their victorious brows before
the tribunal of the sovereign pontiff, and protested at the feet of
Innocent, that no mundane view had directed their arms, and that he
must only contemplate in them the instruments Providence had employed
in accomplishing its designs.
Young Alexius, in concert with the leaders of the crusades, wrote at
the same time to the pope, to justify his conduct and that of his
liberators. “We avow,” said he, “that the principal cause that induced
the pilgrims to assist us, was that we had promised, with an oath,
to recognise the Roman pontiff as our ecclesiastical head, and the
successor of St. Peter.” Innocent III. in replying to the new emperor
of Constantinople, praised his intentions and his zeal, and pressed him
to accomplish his promises; but the excuses of the Crusaders were not
able to appease the resentment which the pope retained on account of
their disobedience to the counsels and commands of the Holy See. In his
answer, he did not salute them with his usual benediction, fearing that
they were again fallen under excommunication, by attacking the Greek
emperor in spite of his prohibition. If the emperor of Constantinople,
said he to them, does not make haste to do that which he has promised,
it will appear that neither his intentions nor yours have been sincere,
and _that you have added this second sin to that you have already
committed_. The pope gave the Crusaders fresh advice; but neither his
counsels nor his threats produced any better effect than they had done
at the siege of Zara: Providence was preparing in secret, events that
exceeded the foresight of the Crusaders, or even that of the Holy See,
and which would once again change the aim and object of the holy war.