Afterwards the barons held a parliament at Soissons, to settle when
they should start, and whither they should wend. But they could come to
no agreement, because it did not seem to them that enough people had
taken the cross. So during all that year (1200) no two months passed
without assemblings in parliament at Compiègne. There met all the
counts and barons who had taken the cross. Many were the opinions given
and considered; but in the end it was agreed that envoys should be
sent, the best that could be found, with full powers, as if they were
the lords in person, to settle such matters as needed settlement.
Of these envoys, Thibaut, Count of Champagne and Brie, sent two;
Baldwin, Count of Flanders and Hainault, two; and Louis, Count of Blois
and Chartres, two. The envoys of the Count Thibaut were Geoffry of
Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne, and Miles the Brabant; the envoys
of Count Baldwin were Conon of Béthune, and Alard Maquereau, and the
envoys of Count Louis were John of Friaise, and Walter of Gaudonville.
To these six envoys the business in hand was fully committed, all the
barons delivering to them valid charters, with seals attached, to the
effect that they would undertake to maintain and carry out whatever
conventions and agreements the envoys might enter into, in all sea
ports, and whithersoever else the envoys might fare.
Thus were the six envoys despatched, as you have been told; and they
took counsel among themselves, and this was their conclusion: that in
Venice they might expect to find a greater number of vessels than in
any other port. So they journeyed day by day, till they came thither in
the first week of Lent (February 1201).