Fourth Crusade

Fourth Crusade, 1202 - 1207

The original stated intent of the Fourth Crusade, as in previous crusades, was to be "the deliverance of the Holy Land." The end result, however, was anything but that. Innocent III bishop of Rome began, in 1198 by legates and letters, to elicit support for a new crusade.

Innocent III, on ascending the papal throne, threw himself with all the energy of his nature into the effort of reviving the crusading spirit. He issued letter after letter to the sovereigns of England, France, Hungary, and Sicily. He also wrote to the Byzantine emperor, urging him to resist the Saracens and subject the Greek church to its mother, Rome....
History of the Christian Church, by Philip Schaff, Volume V, Chapter 7, § 55

In 1199 he instituted a clerical income tax, pledging ten percent of his own revenue and calling on the cardinals to do the same, while the rest of the clergy, and the laity, were but expected to give generously. In 1200 discussions among the planned participants were held at Soissons. In 1201 envoys were sent to Venice, because of its naval superiority, to seek arrangements for transportation by ship to Egypt, whence the attack would be launched, depriving the Saracens of a supply route with the Nile Valley. Henry Dandolo, Doge of Venice, and his council accepted the proposition on these terms:

"We will build transports to carry four thousand five hundred horses, and nine thousand squires, and ships for four thousand five hundred knights, and twenty thousand sergeants of foot. And we will agree also to purvey food for these horses and people during nine months. This is what we undertake to do at the least, on condition that you pay us for each horse four marks, and for each man two marks.
¶ "And the covenants we are now explaining to you, we undertake to keep, wheresoever we may be, for a year, reckoning from the day on which we sail from the port of Venice in the service of God and of Christendom. Now the sum total of the expenses above named amounts to 85,000 marks.
¶ "And this will we do moreover. For the love of God, we will add to the fleet fifty armed galleys on condition that, so long as we act in company, of all conquests in land or money, whether at sea or on dry ground, we shall have the half, and you the other half. Now consult together to see if you, on your parts, can accept and fulfil these covenants."

Geoffry of Villehardouin, the Marshal of Champagne, by will and consent of the other envoys, acted as spokesman and said unto them: "Lords, the barons of France, most high and puissant, have sent us to you; and they cry to you for mercy, that you take pity on Jerusalem, which is in bondage to the Turks, and that, for God's sake, you help to avenge the shame of Christ Jesus. And for this end they have elected to come to you, because they know full well that there is none other people having so great power on the seas, as you and your people. And they commanded us to fall at your feet, and not to rise till you consent to take pity on the Holy Land which is beyond the seas."
¶ Then the six envoys knelt at the feet of the people, weeping many tears. And the Doge and all the others burst into tears of pity and compassion, and cried with one voice, and lifted up their hands, saying: "We consent, we consent!" Then was there so great a noise and tumult that it seemed as if the earth itself were falling to pieces.

... And forthwith were messengers sent to Rome, to the Pope Innocent, that he might confirm this covenant-the which he did right willingly.
Geoffry de Villehardouin: Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople, trans. Frank T. Marzials, (London: J.M. Dent, 1908), pp. 6-9

The envoys borrowed and left a deposit of five thousand marks to begin the building of the ships.

The following year, 2002, the Venetians had fulfilled all their duties in preparation for the voyage, and the armies began to assemble at Venice. However, many then decided to depart from other ports, leaving the assembly at Venice much smaller than planned, and underfunded—lacking 34,000 of the 85,000 marks. The Venetians, rather than abandon the voyage, in exchange for the 34,000 marks enlisted the crusaders to help them to recapture Zara, a city which had been taken from the republic of Venice by the King of Hungary—to which plan the crusaders agreed. Because Zara was a Christian city, some among the crusaders tried to prevent its capture and surrender.

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."
Geoffry de Villehardouin: Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople, trans. Frank T. Marzials, (London: J.M. Dent, 1908), pp. 20-21

Nevertheless, a sufficient number joined with the Venetians to capture Zara, upon which they made the city their encampment for the winter—the Franks in one area and the Venetians in another. Within a few days, there broke out fighting between them, with great losses on both sides.

In the meantime, prior to the crusaders' departure from Venice, Isaac, the emperor at Constantinople, had been dethroned, blinded, and imprisoned together with his son Alexius, by his brother Alexius. Alexius the son escaped and, while petitioning King Philip of Germany for help, who had married his sister, sent envoys to the Crusaders at Venice, asking them to come to the assistance of his father. These are the terms offered by Alexius, and relayed by Philip:

"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 overseas to guard that land."
Geoffry de Villehardouin: Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople, trans. Frank T. Marzials, (London: J.M. Dent, 1908), p. 23

During that winter there was continual conflict at Zara between those who wanted to go directly to the holy land and those who wanted to go first to Constantinople, and many defected. Thus, it was a yet smaller contingent that sailed for Constantinople in the Spring. Nevertheless, the crusaders took the city, Alexius the usurper fled, and Isaac was restored to his throne. Then was Alexius the son crowned emperor to succeed his father. He made agreements with the crusaders to remain by him for an additional year at his expense, that he might secure the kingdom, after which he would send troops to accompany them to the holy land. When Alexius began to default on his agreements, it led to war between the crusaders and the city. Alexius was imprisoned, and eventually slain, by Mourzuphles, a member of his bodyguard, who assumed the crown. Further, the city reneged on its promised submission to Rome, and all those who offered themselves on Rome's behalf in the ensuing papal war were promised a papal indulgence:

... and beyond all this, that the Greeks had withdrawn themselves from obedience to Rome. "Wherefore we tell you," said the clergy, "that this war is lawful and just, and that if you have a right intention in conquering this land, to bring it into the Roman obedience, all those who die after confession shall have part in the indulgence granted by the Pope."...
Geoffry de Villehardouin: Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople, trans. Frank T. Marzials, (London: J.M. Dent, 1908), p. 56

The crusaders then captured the city of Constantinople, and crowned Baldwin, count of Flanders, emperor there. The following years were spent fighting between the Greeks, and the Franks, and the Wallachians and Bulgarians over the cities of the surrounding countryside, while Constantinople remained subject to Latin rule until 1261.

Meanwhile, of those who had departed from ports other than Venice, journeying toward Syria, many came to nothing; and, of those who arrived in Syria, many eventually made their way north to join those at Constantinople. The expedition to the Holy Land was entirely forgotten.

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