Course of the Fourth Crusade Flashcards
Philip of Swabia
Boniface of Montferrat was declared new leader of crusades on the permission from his suzerain Philip of Swabia
Meeting at Christmas 1201 –> Boniface, Philip and Alexios (Philip’s brother in law) came together in hatching a plan for Alexios to be put on the throne of Constantinople
Military Preparations
Number’s were insufficient, only 12,000 out of the 35,000 men arrived in Venice –> which led to a shortage of money
Crusaders couldn’t pay the Dandolo the money they had arranged –> pooled all the resources they had together but were still 34,000 marks short of the 85,000 marks needed
The money raised by Innocent through the clerical tax was sent to the East and thus wasn’t available to pay the Venetians
Doge threatened that if the crusaders didn’t pay up then wouldn’t let them go and cut off their food and drinks
Diversion to Zara
Zara was a Christian, Hungarian town on the Dalmatian coast
Despite Zara being a Christian city, Dandolo still decided to attacked Zara in order to gain the booty which could be split equally to pay the remaining sum to the Venetians
Innocent sent a letter to Peter Capuano forbidding the attack but Peter let the attack on Zara happen otherwise the crusade wouldn’t have continued –> Siege of Zara began on the 13th Nov
Joint armies of the crusaders and venetians were able to force a quick surrender once their full arsenal was deployed –> successfully took Zara
Innocent excommunicated them all but released crusaders following the pleas from churchmen but Venetians remained excommunicated
Failure to make any impact on Muslim Power
(deal between Alexios and crusaders & venetians)
In return for placing Alexios on the throne in Constantinople, he would pay the crusaders and venetians:
1) 200,000 silver marks
2) supply them with a contingent of 10,000 men
3) end the Great Schism
This deal was appealing to many as Alexios offered something to everyone –> gave crusaders a way out of their debt, Venetians were paid the amount of debt they were owed and Pope would be pacified with promise of Church reunification
The fleet left Zara by April 1203 without Peter Capuano however instead picked up Alexios at Corfu who wasn’t welcomed with open arms at Constantinople
First Attack on Constantinople - 1
Western Christians supported Alexios against Eastern Christians (byzantaniums) who were ruled by Alexios III
CHRISTIAN SUCCESES –> Western Christians took Galata tower WHILE Venetians occupied themselves with the chain that stretched across the Golden Horn and once the chain had been destroyed they were able to reduce the Greek navy to nothing
Alexios III fled with as much money as he could as he didn’t want to be ruled by a puppet of westerners
Blind old Isaac was reinstated as emperor while crusaders & venetians ensured Isaac’s son, Alexios, was proclaimed as co-emperor
First attack on Constantinople - 2
Alexios (now Alexios IV) couldn’t raise the money to pay the crusaders therefore he instead melted down church treasures and gave that instead
HOWEVER this only upset & riled up churchmen who didn’t want to submit to Rome’s authority
A group of crusaders further attacked a mosque inside the walls of Constantinople –> fighting broke out which led to a fire which caused a huge amount of damage and westerners had to flee
Isaac’s decision of stopping the melting of church treasures meant the payments to crusaders & venetians stopped –> relations were strained
First attack on Constantinople - 3
Jan 1204 –> Byzantines put together a flotilla of boats, set them alight and pushed them towards the Venetian fleet
The Venetians managed to redirect the flaming ships to safetu but the situation had reached a low point
Nicholas Kannavos was now proclaimed as BE emperor however Mutzuphlus captured and imprisoned Alexios IV, announcing he was now emperor (named Alexios V now) –> now 4 living Byzantine Emperors
Mutzuphlus (Alexios V) killed both Isaac and Nicholas Kannavos
Second Attack on Constantinople - 1
March Pact - set out the looting / plundering
Both sides made their preparations –> Mutzuphlus added to the height of Constantinople’s walls with wooden towers while Venetians suspended bridged on their ships mastheads to allow men to access the walls
9th April –> fleet moved across the Golden horn but the weather was against the westerners so they withdrew their ships
13th April –> another attack and the favourable wind this time allowed the Venetians to sail close enough to the walls to enable the men to cross and begin taking battlements
Aleaumes of Clari was the first to get over the wall who was able to to defeat the enemies and allowed the crusaders come in and take the city
Second Attack on Constantinople - 2 SACK OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Agreements of the March pact were set aside / ignored and the Westerners pillaged, raped and murdered the Greeks
Mutzuphlus fled, but was brought back to Constantinople and executed THEREFORE Baldwin of Flanders became the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople
Titles, land, relics and wealth of Constantinople were stripped and sent back to whatever part of France or Italy the crusaders came form
Innocent was initially pleased with the way things had turned out but once he heard about the horrors and atrocities committed he blamed the leading crusaders for going against their oaths
Venetians took lands of Crete & Corfu which allowed them control of all the trade that flowed through Constantinople
4th crusade was now abandoned so Romania could be secured in 1205
Didn’t face a single Muslim enemy in battle
