The Fourth Crusade
The pride of Europe was broken by all of these events: the drowning of Barbarossa, the flight of Philip Augustus, the brilliant failure of Richard, the unscrupulous intrigues of Christian knights in the Holy Land, the conflicts between Templars and Hospitalers, and the renewal of war between England and France. But the collapse of Saladin's empire after his death gave Europe new hopes. Pope Innocent III demanded another effort, and after much haggling, the rising city-state of Venice agreed to target Egypt. It was a ludicrous proposal—the Venetians, had no intention of attacking Egypt—they made millions annually by exporting timber, iron, and arms to Egypt, and importing slaves. They were not about to jeopardize this trade with war, or to share it with Pisa and Genoa. Instead, the seed that had been planted decades ago took root: taking Constantinople and making Byzantium a subject of the Latin Empire. These unusual and insubordinate Crusaders began with the capture of Zara, and despite being threatened by Innocent III to be excommunicated, they took it in five days and divided the spoils. Fearful for their afterlife, they sent an embassy to the Pope begging his absolution; he gave it, but demanded the restoration of the booty; they thanked him for the absolution, and kept the booty. They now turned to Constantinople. Their first step was to find an usurper: the younger brother of Byzantine Emperor, who had been blinded by the Emperor. After diverse delays, the armada arrived before Constantinople on June 24, 1203. An ultimatum was delivered and Alexius (the blind) was crowned as Alexius IV. A confusion of revolts, riots, and power grabs followed; in the end, Baldwin of Flanders was chosen as emperor. The kingdom was divided into feudal dominions, each ruled by a Latin noble. Innocent III, still protesting against the attack, accepted with grace the formal reunion of the Greek with the Latin Church.As for the primary mission: very few Crusaders made it to Palestine... they accomplished nothing
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Source: Durant, Will, 1885-1981, The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval Civilization, Christian, Islamic, and Judaic, From Constantine to Dante, A.D. 325-1300. Simon and Schuster, 1950.
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Full disclosure, I may occasionally borrow a sentence from Will Durant's Story of Civilization. I absolutely love that collection!