God's Battalions (26 page)
Authors: Rodney Stark,David Drummond
In June 1202 the promised Venetian fleet was ready. Unfortunately, the crusaders had gathered only about a third of the force they had planned on. And since they were expecting to pay the Venetians by charging each crusader for his passage, the shortfall in numbers left them about thirty-one thousand marks short of the sum promised to the Venetians, even after the leaders borrowed all they could from moneylenders.
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At this point the doge of Venice offered a solution.
Doge Enrico Dandolo was well into his eighties and blind, but he remained a brilliant, inspirational, and extremely energetic leader.
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What he proposed was that the Venetians join the Crusade and that payment of the remaining balance be postponed. In return, on their way to Egypt the flotilla would stop and conquer Zara (or Zadar), a city on the Dalmatian coast across the Adriatic Sea from Venice, which had recently rebelled against Venetian rule.
So, on October 1, 1202, the crusader fleet of more than two hundred ships, including sixty war galleys, left Venice with about fifteen thousand fighting men and thousands of horses aboard, bound for Zara.
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In late November, Zara surrendered without resistance, and soon thereafter the crusader fleet sailed on south to Corfu to winter.
At this point an exiled Byzantine prince, Alexius, the son of deposed emperor Isaac II and himself a claimant to the throne, made the crusaders a remarkable proposal. In return for their aid in recovering the throne, Alexius would pay them two hundred thousand silver marks, supply all provisions for their expedition against Egypt, reinforce the expedition with ten thousand Byzantine troops, submit the Greek Church to Rome, and then permanently station five hundred knights to augment the forces of the Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land.
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Not only was the offer of immense, immediate benefit; perhaps more important, it proposed a longed-for solution to the problem of sustaining the kingdoms. It always had been obvious that the kingdoms were in permanent jeopardy so long as their security was dependent on Europe. But if the primary responsibility could be shifted to Byzantium, help would be much closer and far more dependable—especially if threats from Egypt were eliminated. And so the fleet rounded Greece and set sail for Constantinople.
On July 5, 1203, the crusader fleet landed at Galata, across from Constantinople, and the Venetians broke the chain blocking the entrance to the Golden Horn and then sailed into the city’s harbor. The current Byzantine emperor had so utterly neglected Constantinople’s defense that the few rotting galleys that the Greeks could send against the Venetians were sunk in moments. Then, on July 17 came the attack on the city. With the blind old doge waving the banner of Saint Mark in the lead galley and “shouting at his forces,”
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some Venetians landed. When his forces seemed hesitant to scale the walls, the doge demanded to be set ashore, and, as “Dandolo had calculated, [the men] were shamed by the old man’s bravery; they could not abandon their venerable leader and rushed to join him.”
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The walls were scaled, gates were forced, and the Venetians occupied a portion of the city. Meanwhile, the crusader army marched toward the city from the other side. When the Greeks marched out a huge army to confront them, the crusaders formed solid ranks and awaited their attack. None came; the Greeks decided to withdraw instead. That night the emperor deserted, whereupon the Byzantines opened the remaining city gates and accepted Alexius IV as their new emperor. In response, the crusaders marched out of the city and camped across the Golden Horn at Pera.
At first things went well. Although he found little money in the treasury, Alexius IV began to pay installments on his debt of two hundred thousand marks. But he faced unflinching hostility from his subjects; the priests and upper classes hated Latins and held them in contempt. As tensions grew, “the remaining resident Latins,” to escape what seemed to be an impending massacre, “took their families and as much as they could of their property and crossed the harbor to join the crusaders.”
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Shortly thereafter, Emperor Alexius shifted with the political wind and ceased making payments on his debt. War became imminent.
Twice the Greeks sent fire ships against the Venetian fleet; the formula for Greek fire seems already to have been lost. The attacks failed. Meanwhile, inside the city a palace coup placed another member of the royal family—known as Mourtzouphlus because he had bushy eyebrows that met—on the throne. He strangled Alexius IV with a bowstring and murdered other possible royal claimants. The new emperor immediately began to strengthen the defenses and sent troops to cut off all supplies to the crusaders.
As the esteemed French historian Jean Richard explained, “The situation of the crusaders became impossible…[they] were without food or money, far from the theatre of operations they wished to reach. The Venetians were no better placed; they too had counted on the subsidies promised by Alexius IV.”
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So the leaders gathered and evaluated the possibilities. Their diversion to put a new emperor favorable to the West on the Byzantine throne had been costly in time, money, and lives. Whatever the state of the emperor’s treasury, Constantinople was bursting with immense wealth. They decided to sack the city, and an agreement was reached as to how the booty would be gathered up and divided. Unfortunately, the group also decided to put the throne of Byzantium firmly in Western hands by instituting a new dynasty.
The crusader plan was to assault the walls and towers from flying bridges extended from the masts of the largest transport boats, meanwhile landing additional troops and cavalry on the shore. On April 9 the attack began and eventually failed—partly because an unfavorable wind forced the fleet offshore. On April 12, with a strong wind at their back, the Venetians were able to grapple their flying bridges to some of the towers, crusaders drove the defenders from that section of the wall, and some descended and broke down gates from inside. Mounted knights rode into the city. By nightfall the crusaders held a section of the city several hundred yards in from the walls. They slept in their ranks, expecting fierce resistance in the morning. Instead, Mourtzouphlus fled during the night and all resistance collapsed; most of the upper classes had already fled.
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For three days the crusaders sacked the city. Most accounts stress rape and murder rather than the looting. No doubt such brutalities occurred, but the estimated death rate was low (as noted), while the booty was immense; to speak of “sacking” a city is in reference to soldiers stuffing sacks full of valuables. The commanders ordered that all booty be turned in for division. Of course, much was held out—especially small valuables such as jewels. Even so, what was turned in eventually yielded four hundred thousand marks as well as ten thousand suits of armor.
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With the city at their feet, the Europeans went ahead with their plans for a new dynasty. Thus, Baldwin of Flanders was installed as the new emperor of Byzantium. As might have been expected, his successful rule required the presence and backing of a Western army. When they placed Baldwin on the throne, the crusaders had pledged to remain to defend him until 1205; all plans for an attack on Egypt had been discarded. When that date was reached, the Fourth Crusade was officially ended, and about seven thousand fighting men boarded Venetian ships and sailed home. Without their backing, huge hunks of the empire soon broke away, and by 1225 there was little left under Western rule, although a Western emperor held on in Constantinople until 1261.
CONCLUSION
The conquest of Constantinople was very badly received in the West; the pope was especially angry. For one thing, the initial retaking of Zara encouraged the conclusion that the entire enterprise had been nothing more than Venetian opportunism. In addition, the attacks had all been on Christians—albeit of the Eastern variety. But most important was the fact that nothing had been done to recapture Jerusalem or to drive the Egyptians out of the Holy Land. That was unacceptable to Pope Innocent III. There must be a Fifth Crusade.
King Louis IX of France boards a ship in Cyprus on his way to Egypt at the head of a great army. Although both of the Crusades he led failed (he died during the second), he was so admired that twenty-seven years after his death he was canonized as Saint Louis.
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Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY
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FTER THE THIRD CRUSADE,
it had become obvious to Western leaders that the Holy Land could never be secure if its defense continued to depend upon emergency expeditions from Europe. It was pointless to keep sending forces to rescue Tyre, Antioch, and Acre when the major threat to the kingdoms was in Egypt. But if Western forces conquered and ruled Egypt, most of the Muslim pressure against the Holy Land would be removed and major Christian-controlled forces would be available close by to offer any needed protection. That became the new strategy.
Of course, the Fourth Crusade had set out to impose just that solution but ultimately had not made any effort to do so. Saladin’s heirs still ruled Egypt, Jerusalem was still in Muslim hands, and the security of the kingdoms was as imperiled as ever. Worse yet, there was growing opposition in Europe to the immense costs of crusading. So, fully aware of what was at stake, in 1213 Pope Innocent III began calling for a Fifth Crusade.
THE FIFTH CRUSADE
Things got off to a bad start. Innocent died suddenly in 1216, and many of the leading nobles had already crusaded once and did not wish to go again; Philip II still ruled France. Many of the nobility also were embroiled in local conflicts, and some in the “Crusade” against the Albigensians. Nevertheless, Pope Honorius III managed to get Duke Leopold VI of Austria and King Andrew II of Hungary to agree to lead armies. They arranged to march their troops (some sailed) to Spalato (Split) on the Dalmatian coast and there to board Venetian ships in August 1217.
This may have been the largest force yet to be assembled for a Crusade—perhaps ten thousand mounted knights and an appropriate infantry force.
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Keep in mind, however, that statistics from this era are estimates based on shaky evidence. In any event, the troops far outnumbered the capacity of the ships that had been hired, and they had to be transported in waves to Acre; the passage took about three weeks in each direction. In Acre they were further reinforced by troops from Cyprus led by King Hugh I and joined by forces from the kingdoms and by contingents from the knightly orders.
Before the crusaders could embark to attack Egypt, their plans were delayed when King Andrew of Hungary decided to go home instead. He had been ill; quite likely he had been poisoned by relatives who regarded him as a usurper of the throne. In January 1218 he gathered his forces and headed home.
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Andrew made many stops along the way, most of them to attend weddings. His departure so reduced the forces available that the decision was made to await the arrival of many additional contingents known to be on the way from Germany and Friesland.
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These forces began to arrive by sea in April 1218. Consequently, in May the crusader fleet began to arrive in the harbor of Damietta (Dumyât); the attack on Egypt had begun.
Damietta is located at the very mouth of the main branch of the Nile, about two miles inland, and backs on Lake Manzala. The city was heavily fortified, having a triple wall and many towers. On an island in the river, just opposite the city, was a very formidable tower, constructed of seventy tiers, from which a huge chain was suspended that, when attached to the city’s walls, blocked ships from sailing up the Nile.
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The crusaders established their camp on the west bank of the Nile, just across from Damietta. It was a fine defensive site with access to the sea. But it was not ideal for offensive purposes: the crusaders would have to attack across the Nile. On June 23 they did, “in 70 or 80 ships.”
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The attack was driven off. A week later they failed again. Then, at the end of August, the crusaders lashed two large ships together and on this base constructed a “a miniature castle”
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from which extended a massive ramp. The crusaders sailed this contraption against the tower in the Nile. Troopers stormed over the ramp, forced the garrison to surrender, and then cut the massive chain blocking passage up the Nile. It was a remarkable achievement in all respects, and the Muslims in Damietta were stunned by it all and expected the city to fall forthwith—which it probably would have had the crusaders made a serious effort.
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Instead, the crusaders decided to wait until the river receded and more reinforcements arrived. (Very little was ever done promptly during this entire campaign.)