The envoys came before the Emperor Isaac, and the emperor and all those
about him did them great honour. And the envoys said that they desired
to speak to him privily, on the part of his son, and of the barons of
the host. And he rose and entered into a chamber, and took with him
only the empress, and his chancellor, and his dragoman (interpreter)
and the four envoys. By consent of the other envoys, Geoffry of
Villehardouin, the Marshal of Champagne, acted as spokesman, and he
said to the Emperor Isaac: “Sire, thou seest the service we have
rendered to thy son, and how we have kept our covenants with him. But
he cannot come hither till he has given us surety for the covenants he
has made with us. And he asks of thee, as thy son, to confirm those
covenants in the same form, and the same manner, that he has done.”
“What covenants are they?” said the emperor. “They are such as we shall
tell you,” replied the envoys: “In the first place to put the whole
empire of Roumania in obedience to Rome, from which it has been
separated this long while; further to give 200,000 marks of silver to
those of the host, with food for one year for small and great; to send
10,000 men, horse and foot—many on foot as we shall devise and as many
mounted—in his own ships, and at his own charges, to the land of
Babylon, and keep them there for a year; and during his lifetime to
keep, at his own charges, five hundred knights in the land overseass so
that they may guard that land. Such is the covenant that your son made
with us, and it was confirmed by oath, and charters with seals
appended, and by King Philip of Germany who has your daughter to wife.
This covenant we desire you to confirm.”
Certes said the emperor, “this covenant is very onerous, and I do not
see how effect can be given to it; nevertheless, you have done us such
service, both to my son and to myself, that if we bestowed upon you the
whole empire, you would have deserved it well.” Many words were then
spoken in this sense and that, but, in the end, the father confirmed
the covenants, as his son had confirmed them, by oath and by charters
with gold seals appended. These charters were delivered to the envoys.
Then they took their leave of the Emperor Isaac, and went back to the
host, and told the barons that they had fulfilled their mission.
ENTRY OF THE CRUSADERS INTO CONSTANTINOPLE—CORONATION OF THE YOUNG
ALEXIUS
Then did the barons mount their horses, and led the young man, with
great rejoicings, into the city, to his father; and the Greeks opened
the gate to him, and received him with very much rejoicing and great
feasting. The joy of the father and of the son was very great, because
of a long time they had not seen one another, and because, by God’s
help and that of the pilgrims, they had passed from so great poverty
and ruin to such high estate. Therefore the joy was great inside
Constantinople; and also without, among the host of the pilgrims,
because of the honour and victory that God had given them.
And on the morrow the emperor and his son also besought the counts and
the barons, for God’s sake, to go and quarter themselves on the other
side of the straits, toward Estanor and Galata; for, if they quartered
themselves in the city, it was to be feared that quarrels would ensue
between them and the Greeks, and it might well chance that the city
would be destroyed. And the counts and barons said that they had
already served him in so many ways that they would not now refuse any
request of his. So they went and quartered themselves on the other
side, and sojourned there in peace and quiet, and with great store of
good provisions.
Now you must know that many of those in the host went to see
Constantinople, and the rich palaces and great churches, of which there
were many, and all the great wealth of the city-for never was there
city that possessed so much. Of relics it does not behove me to speak,
for at that day there were as many there as in all the rest of the
world. Thus did the Greeks and French live in good fellowship in all
things, both as regards trafficking and other matters.
By common consent of Franks and Greeks it was settled that the new
emperor should be crowned on the feast of our Lord St. Peter (1st
August 1203). So was it settled, and so it was done. He was crowned
full worthily and with honour according to the use for Greek emperors
at that time. Afterwards he began to pay the moneys due to the host;
and such moneys were divided among the host, and each repaid what had
been advanced in Venice for his passage.