Then were the ships and transports apportioned by the barons. Ah, God I
what fine war-horses were put therein. And when the ships were
fulfilled with arms and provisions, and knights and sergeants, the
shields were ranged round the bulwarks and castles of the ships, and
the banners displayed, many and fair.
And be it known to you that the vessels carried more than three hundred
petraries and mangonels, and all such engines as are needed for the
taking of cities, in great plenty. Never did finer fleet sail from
any port. And this was in the octave of the Feast of St. Remigius
(October) in the year of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ twelve hundred
and two. Thus did they sail from the port of Venice, as you have been
told.
On the Eve of St. Martin (10th November) they came before Zara in
Sclavonia, and beheld the city enclosed by high walls and high towers;
and vainly would you have sought for a fairer city, or one of greater
strength, or richer. And when the pilgrims saw it, they marvelled
greatly, and said one to another, “How could such a city be taken by
force, save by the help of God himself?”
The first ships that came before the city cast anchor, and waited for
the others; and in the morning the day was very fine and very clear,
and all the galleys came up with the transports, and the other ships
which were behind; and they took the port by force, and broke the chain
that defended it and was very strong and well-wrought; and they landed
in such sort that the port was between them and the town. Then might
you have seen many a knight and many a sergeant swarming out of the
ships, and taking from the transports many a good war-horse, and many a
rich tent and many a pavilion. Thus did the host encamp. And Zara was
besieged on St. Martin’s Day (11th November 1202).
At this time all the barons had not yet arrived. Thus the Marquis of
Montferrat had remained behind for some business that detained him. And
Stephen of Perche had remained at Venice sick, and Matthew of
Montmorency. When they were healed of their sickness Matthew of
Montmorency came to rejoin the host at Zara; but Stephen of Perche
dealt less worthily, for he abandoned the host, and went to sojourn in
Apulia. With him went Rotrou of Montfort and Ives of la Jaille, and
many others, who were much blamed therein; and they journeyed to Syria
in the following spring.*
[Note: Literally, “in the passage of March,” _i.e._ among the pilgrims
who periodically started for the Holy Land in March.]
THE INHABITANTS OF ZARA OFFER TO CAPITULATE, AND THEN DRAW BACK—ZARA IS
TAKEN
On the day following the feast of St. Martin, certain of the people of
Zara came forth, and spoke to the Doge of Venice, who was in his
pavilion, and said to him that they would yield up the city and all
their goods-their lives being spared-to his mercy. And the Doge replied
that he would not accept these conditions, nor any conditions, save by
consent of the counts and barons, with whom he would go and confer.
While he went to confer with the counts and barons, that party, of whom
you have already heard, who wished to disperse the host, spoke to the
envoys and said, “Why should you surrender your city? The pilgrims will
not attack you—have no care of them. If you can defend yourselves
against the Venetians, you will be safe enough.” And they chose one of
themselves, whose name was Robert of Boves, who went to the walls of
the city, and spoke the same words. Therefore the envoys returned to
the city, and the negotiations were broken off.
The Doge of Venice, when he came to the counts and barons, said to
them: “Signors, the people who are therein desire to yield the city to
my mercy, on condition only that their lives are spared. But I will
enter into no agreement with them-neither this nor any other-save with
your consent.” And the barons answered: “Sire, we advise you to accept
these conditions, and we even beg of you so to do.” He said he would do
so; and they all returned together to the pavilion of the Doge to make
the agreement, and found that the envoys had gone away by the advice of
those who wished to disperse the host.
Then rose the abbot of Vaux, of the order of the Cistercians, and said
to them: “Lords, I forbid you, on the part of the Pope of Rome, to
attack this city; for those within it are Christians, and you are
pilgrims.” When the Doge heard this, he was very wroth, and much
disturbed, and he said to the counts and barons: “Signors, I had this
city, by their own agreement, at my mercy, and your people have broken
that agreement; you have covenanted to help me to conquer it, and I
summon you to do so.”
Whereon the counts and barons all spoke at once, together with those
who were of their party, and said: “Great is the outrage of those who
have caused this agreement to be broken, and never a day has passed
that they have not tried to break up the host. Now are we shamed if we
do not help to take the city.” And they came to the Doge, and said:
“Sire, we will help you to take the city in despite of those who would
let and hinder us.”
Thus was the decision taken. The next morning the host encamped before
the gates of the city, and set up their petraries and mangonels, and
other engines of war, which they had in plenty, and on the side of the
sea they raised ladders from the ships. Then they began to throw stones
at the walls of the city and at the towers. So did the assault last for
about five days. Then were the sappers set to mine one of the towers,
and began to sap the wall. When those within the city saw this, they
proposed an agreement, such as they had before refused by the advice of
those who wished to break up the host.
THE CRUSADERS ESTABLISH THEMSELVES IN THE CITYAFFRAY BETWEEN THE
VENETIANS AND THE FRANKS
Thus did the city surrender to the mercy of the Doge, on condition only
that all lives should be spared. Then came the Doge to the counts and
barons, and said to them: “Signors, we have taken this city by the
grace of God, and your own. It is now winter, and we cannot stir hence
till Eastertide; for we should find no market in any other place; and
this city is very rich, and well furnished with all supplies. Let us
therefore divide it in the midst, and we will take one half, and you
the other.”
As he had spoken, so was it done. The Venetians took the part of the
city towards the port, where were the ships, and the Franks took the
other part. There were quarters assigned to each, according as was
right and convenient. And the host raised the camp, and went to lodge
in the city.
On the third day after they were all lodged, there befell a great
misadventure in the host, at about the hour of vespers; for there began
a fray, exceeding fell and fierce, between the Venetians and the
Franks, and they ran to arms from all sides. And the fray was so fierce
that there were but few streets in which battle did not rage with
swords and lances and cross-bows and darts; and many people were killed
and wounded.
But the Venetians could not abide the combat, and they began to suffer
great losses. Then the men of mark, who did not want this evil to
befall, came fully armed into the strife, and began to separate the
combatants; and when they had separated them in one place, they began
again in another. This lasted the better part of the night.
Nevertheless with great labour and endurance at last they were
separated. And be it known to you that this was the greatest misfortune
that ever befell a host, and little did it lack that the host was not
lost utterly. But God would not suffer it.
Great was the loss on either side. There was slain a high lord of
Flanders, whose name was Giles of Landas: he was struck in the eye, and
with that stroke he died in the fray; and many another of whom less was
spoken. The Doge of Venice and the barons laboured much, during the
whole of that week, to appease the fray, and they laboured so
effectually that peace was made. God be thanked therefor.
ON WHAT CONDITIONS ALEXIUS PROPOSES TO OBTAIN THE HELP OF THE CRUSADERS
FOR THE CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE
A fortnight after came to Zara the Marquis Boniface of Montferrat, who
had not yet joined, and Matthew of Montmorency, and Peter of Bracieux,
and many another man of note. And after another fortnight came also the
envoys from Germany, sent by King Philip and the heir of
Constantinople. Then the barons, and the Doge of Venice assembled in a
palace where the Doge was lodged. And the envoys addressed them and
said: “Lords, King Philip sends us to you, as does also the brother of
the king’s wife, the son of the emperor of Constantinople.
“‘Lords,’ says the king, ‘I will send you the brother of my wife; and I
commit him into the hands of God—may He keep him from death!—and into
your hands. And because you have fared forth for God, and for right,
and for justice, therefore you are bound, in so far as you are able, to
restore to their own inheritance those who have been unrighteously
despoiled. And my wife’s brother will make with you the best terms ever
offered to any people, and give you the most puissant help for the
recovery of the land oversea.
“‘And first, if God grant that you restore him to his inheritance, he
will place the whole empire of Roumania in obedience to Rome, from
which it has long been separated. Further, he knows that you have spent
of your substance, and that you are poor, and he will give you 200,000
marks of silver, and food for all those of the host, both small and
great. And he, of his own person, will go with you into the land of
Babylon, or, if you hold that that will be better, send thither 10,000
men, at his own charges. And this service he will perform for one year.
And all the days of his life he will maintain, at his own charges, five
hundred knights in the land overseass to guard that land.’”
“Lords, we have full power,” said the envoys, “to conclude this
agreement, if you are willing to conclude it on your parts. And be it
known to you, that so favourable an agreement has never before been
offered to any one; and that he that would refuse it can have but small
desire of glory and conquest.”
The barons and the Doge said they would talk this over; and a
parliament was called for the morrow. When all were assembled, the
matter was laid before them.
DISCORD AMONG THE CRUSADERS—OF THOSE WHO ACCEPT THE PROPOSALS OF THE
YOUNG ALEXIUS
Then arose much debate. The abbot of Vaux, of the order of the
Cistercians, spoke, and that party that wished for the dispersal of the
host; and they said they would never consent: that it was not to fall
on Christians that they had left their homes, and that they would go to
Syria.
And the other party replied: “Fair lords, in Syria you will be able to
do nothing; and that you may right well perceive by considering how
those have fared who abandoned us, and sailed from other ports. And be
it known to you that it is only by way of Babylon, or of Greece, that
the land overseas can be recovered, if so be that it ever is recovered.
And if we reject this covenant we shall be shamed to all time.”
There was discord in the host, as you hear. Nor need you be surprised
if there was discord among the laymen, for the white monks of the order
of Citeaux were also at issue among themselves in the host. The abbot
of Loos, who was a holy man and a man of note, and other abbots who
held with him, prayed and besought the people, for pity’s sake and the
sake of God, to keep the host together, and agree to the proposed
convention, in that “it afforded the best means by which the land
overseas might be recovered;” while the abbot of Vaux, on the other
hand, and those who held with him, preached full oft, and declared that
all this was naught, and that the host ought to go to the land of
Syria, and there do what they could.
Then came the Marquis of Montferrat, and Baldwin Count of Flanders and
Hainault, and Count Louis, and Count Hugh of St. Paul, and those who
held with them, and they declared that they would enter into the
proposed covenant, for that they should be shamed if they refused. So
they went to the Doge’s hostel, and the envoys were summoned, and the
covenant, in such terms as you have already heard, was confirmed by
oath, and by charters with seals appended.
And the book tells you that only twelve persons took the oaths on the
side of the Franks, for more (of sufficient note) could not be found.
Among the twelve were first the Marquis of Montferrat, the Count
Baldwin of Flanders, the Count Louis of Blois and of Chartres, and the
Count of St. Paul, and eight others who held with them. Thus was the
agreement made, and the charters prepared, and a term fixed for the
arrival of the heir of Constantinople; and the term so Fixed was the
fifteenth day after the following Easter.
OF THOSE WHO SEPARATED THEMSELVES FROM THE HOST TO GO TO SYRIA, AND OF
THE FLEET OF THE COUNT OF FLANDERS
Thus did the host sojourn at Zara all that winter (1202–1203) in the
face of the King of Hungary. And be it known to you that the hearts of
the people were not at peace, for the one party used all efforts to
break up the host, and the other to make it hold together.
Many of the lesser folk escaped in the vessels of the merchants. In one
ship escaped well nigh five hundred, and they were all drowned, and so
lost. Another company escaped by land, and thought to pass through
Sclavonia; and the peasants of that land fell upon them, and killed
many, so that the remainder came back flying to the host. Thus did the
host go greatly dwindling day by day. At that time a great lord of the
host, who was from Germany, Garnier of Borland by name, so wrought that
he escaped in a merchant vessel, and abandoned the host, whereby he
incurred great blame.
Not long afterwards, a great baron of France, Renaud of Montmirail by
name, besought so earnestly, with the countenance of Count Louis, that
he was sent to Syria on an embassy in one of the vessels of the fleet;
and he swore with his right hand on holy relics, he and all the knights
who went with him, that within fifteen days after they had arrived in
Syria, and delivered their message, they would return to the host. On
this condition he left the host, and with him Hervée of the Chastel,
his nephew, William the _vidame_ of Chartres, Geoffry of Beaumont, John
of Frouville, Peter his brother, and many others. And the oaths that
they swore were not kept; for they did not rejoin the host.
Then came to the host news that was heard right willingly, viz., that
the fleet from Flanders, of which mention has been made above, had
arrived at Marseilles. And John of Nêle, Castellan of Bruges, who was
captain of that host, and Thierri, who was the son of Count Philip of
Flanders, and Nicholas of Mailly, advised the Count of Flanders, their
lord, that they would winter at Marseilles, and asked him to let them
know what was his will, and said that whatever was his will, that they
would do. And he told them, by the advice of the Doge of Venice and the
other barons, that they should sail at the end of the following March,
and come to meet him at the port of Modon in Roumania. Alas! they acted
very evilly, for never did they keep their word, but went to Syria,
Where, as they well knew, they would achieve nothing.
Now be it known to you, lords, that if God had not loved the host, it
could never have held together, seeing how many people wished evil to
it!