Chapter LX: The Fourth Crusade.—Part II

When the six ambassadors of the French pilgrims arrived at
Venice, they were hospitably entertained in the palace of St.
Mark, by the reigning duke; his name was Henry Dandolo; 40 and he
shone in the last period of human life as one of the most
illustrious characters of the times. Under the weight of years,
and after the loss of his eyes, 41 Dandolo retained a sound
understanding and a manly courage: the spirit of a hero,
ambitious to signalize his reign by some memorable exploits; and
the wisdom of a patriot, anxious to build his fame on the glory
and advantage of his country. He praised the bold enthusiasm and
liberal confidence of the barons and their deputies: in such a
cause, and with such associates, he should aspire, were he a
private man, to terminate his life; but he was the servant of the
republic, and some delay was requisite to consult, on this
arduous business, the judgment of his colleagues. The proposal of
the French was first debated by the six _sages_ who had been
recently appointed to control the administration of the doge: it
was next disclosed to the forty members of the council of state;
and finally communicated to the legislative assembly of four
hundred and fifty representatives, who were annually chosen in
the six quarters of the city. In peace and war, the doge was
still the chief of the republic; his legal authority was
supported by the personal reputation of Dandolo: his arguments of
public interest were balanced and approved; and he was authorized
to inform the ambassadors of the following conditions of the
treaty. 42 It was proposed that the crusaders should assemble at
Venice, on the feast of St. John of the ensuing year; that
flat-bottomed vessels should be prepared for four thousand five
hundred horses, and nine thousand squires, with a number of ships
sufficient for the embarkation of four thousand five hundred
knights, and twenty thousand foot; that during a term of nine
months they should be supplied with provisions, and transported
to whatsoever coast the service of God and Christendom should
require; and that the republic should join the armament with a
squadron of fifty galleys. It was required, that the pilgrims
should pay, before their departure, a sum of eighty-five thousand
marks of silver; and that all conquests, by sea and land, should
be equally divided between the confederates. The terms were hard;
but the emergency was pressing, and the French barons were not
less profuse of money than of blood. A general assembly was
convened to ratify the treaty: the stately chapel and place of
St. Mark were filled with ten thousand citizens; and the noble
deputies were taught a new lesson of humbling themselves before
the majesty of the people. “Illustrious Venetians,” said the
marshal of Champagne, “we are sent by the greatest and most
powerful barons of France to implore the aid of the masters of
the sea for the deliverance of Jerusalem. They have enjoined us
to fall prostrate at your feet; nor will we rise from the ground
till you have promised to avenge with us the injuries of Christ.”
The eloquence of their words and tears, 43 their martial aspect,
and suppliant attitude, were applauded by a universal shout; as
it were, says Jeffrey, by the sound of an earthquake. The
venerable doge ascended the pulpit to urge their request by those
motives of honor and virtue, which alone can be offered to a
popular assembly: the treaty was transcribed on parchment,
attested with oaths and seals, mutually accepted by the weeping
and joyful representatives of France and Venice; and despatched
to Rome for the approbation of Pope Innocent the Third. Two
thousand marks were borrowed of the merchants for the first
expenses of the armament. Of the six deputies, two repassed the
Alps to announce their success, while their four companions made
a fruitless trial of the zeal and emulation of the republics of
Genoa and Pisa.

40 (return) [ Henry Dandolo was eighty-four at his election,
(A.D. 1192,) and ninety-seven at his death, (A.D. 1205.) See the
Observations of Ducange sur Villehardouin, No. 204. But this
_extraordinary_ longevity is not observed by the original
writers, nor does there exist another example of a hero near a
hundred years of age. Theophrastus might afford an instance of a
writer of ninety-nine; but instead of ennenhkonta, (Prom. ad
Character.,)I am much inclined to read ebdomhkonta, with his last
editor Fischer, and the first thoughts of Casaubon. It is
scarcely possible that the powers of the mind and body should
support themselves till such a period of life.]

41 (return) [ The modern Venetians (Laugier, tom. ii. p. 119)
accuse the emperor Manuel; but the calumny is refuted by
Villehardouin and the older writers, who suppose that Dandolo
lost his eyes by a wound, (No. 31, and Ducange.) * Note: The
accounts differ, both as to the extent and the cause of his
blindness According to Villehardouin and others, the sight was
totally lost; according to the Chronicle of Andrew Dandolo.
(Murat. tom. xii. p. 322,) he was vise debilis. See Wilken, vol.
v. p. 143.—M.]

42 (return) [ See the original treaty in the Chronicle of Andrew
Dandolo, p. 323—326.]

43 (return) [ A reader of Villehardouin must observe the frequent
tears of the marshal and his brother knights. Sachiez que la ot
mainte lerme plorée de pitié, (No. 17;) mult plorant, (ibid.;)
mainte lerme plorée, (No. 34;) si orent mult pitié et plorerent
mult durement, (No. 60;) i ot mainte lerme plorée de pitié, (No.
202.) They weep on every occasion of grief, joy, or devotion.]

The execution of the treaty was still opposed by unforeseen
difficulties and delays. The marshal, on his return to Troyes,
was embraced and approved by Thibaut count of Champagne, who had
been unanimously chosen general of the confederates. But the
health of that valiant youth already declined, and soon became
hopeless; and he deplored the untimely fate, which condemned him
to expire, not in a field of battle, but on a bed of sickness. To
his brave and numerous vassals, the dying prince distributed his
treasures: they swore in his presence to accomplish his vow and
their own; but some there were, says the marshal, who accepted
his gifts and forfeited their words. The more resolute champions
of the cross held a parliament at Soissons for the election of a
new general; but such was the incapacity, or jealousy, or
reluctance, of the princes of France, that none could be found
both able and willing to assume the conduct of the enterprise.
They acquiesced in the choice of a stranger, of Boniface marquis
of Montferrat, descended of a race of heroes, and himself of
conspicuous fame in the wars and negotiations of the times; 44
nor could the piety or ambition of the Italian chief decline this
honorable invitation. After visiting the French court, where he
was received as a friend and kinsman, the marquis, in the church
of Soissons, was invested with the cross of a pilgrim and the
staff of a general; and immediately repassed the Alps, to prepare
for the distant expedition of the East. About the festival of the
Pentecost he displayed his banner, and marched towards Venice at
the head of the Italians: he was preceded or followed by the
counts of Flanders and Blois, and the most respectable barons of
France; and their numbers were swelled by the pilgrims of
Germany, 45 whose object and motives were similar to their own.
The Venetians had fulfilled, and even surpassed, their
engagements: stables were constructed for the horses, and
barracks for the troops: the magazines were abundantly
replenished with forage and provisions; and the fleet of
transports, ships, and galleys, was ready to hoist sail as soon
as the republic had received the price of the freight and
armament. But that price far exceeded the wealth of the crusaders
who were assembled at Venice. The Flemings, whose obedience to
their count was voluntary and precarious, had embarked in their
vessels for the long navigation of the ocean and Mediterranean;
and many of the French and Italians had preferred a cheaper and
more convenient passage from Marseilles and Apulia to the Holy
Land. Each pilgrim might complain, that after he had furnished
his own contribution, he was made responsible for the deficiency
of his absent brethren: the gold and silver plate of the chiefs,
which they freely delivered to the treasury of St. Marks, was a
generous but inadequate sacrifice; and after all their efforts,
thirty-four thousand marks were still wanting to complete the
stipulated sum. The obstacle was removed by the policy and
patriotism of the doge, who proposed to the barons, that if they
would join their arms in reducing some revolted cities of
Dalmatia, he would expose his person in the holy war, and obtain
from the republic a long indulgence, till some wealthy conquest
should afford the means of satisfying the debt. After much
scruple and hesitation, they chose rather to accept the offer
than to relinquish the enterprise; and the first hostilities of
the fleet and army were directed against Zara, 46 a strong city
of the Sclavonian coast, which had renounced its allegiance to
Venice, and implored the protection of the king of Hungary. 47
The crusaders burst the chain or boom of the harbor; landed their
horses, troops, and military engines; and compelled the
inhabitants, after a defence of five days, to surrender at
discretion: their lives were spared, but the revolt was punished
by the pillage of their houses and the demolition of their walls.
The season was far advanced; the French and Venetians resolved to
pass the winter in a secure harbor and plentiful country; but
their repose was disturbed by national and tumultuous quarrels of
the soldiers and mariners. The conquest of Zara had scattered the
seeds of discord and scandal: the arms of the allies had been
stained in their outset with the blood, not of infidels, but of
Christians: the king of Hungary and his new subjects were
themselves enlisted under the banner of the cross; and the
scruples of the devout were magnified by the fear of lassitude of
the reluctant pilgrims. The pope had excommunicated the false
crusaders who had pillaged and massacred their brethren, 48 and
only the marquis Boniface and Simon of Montfort 481 escaped these
spiritual thunders; the one by his absence from the siege, the
other by his final departure from the camp. Innocent might
absolve the simple and submissive penitents of France; but he was
provoked by the stubborn reason of the Venetians, who refused to
confess their guilt, to accept their pardon, or to allow, in
their temporal concerns, the interposition of a priest.

44 (return) [ By a victory (A.D. 1191) over the citizens of Asti,
by a crusade to Palestine, and by an embassy from the pope to the
German princes, (Muratori, Annali d’Italia, tom. x. p. 163,
202.)]

45 (return) [ See the crusade of the Germans in the Historia C.
P. of Gunther, (Canisii Antiq. Lect. tom. iv. p. v.—viii.,) who
celebrates the pilgrimage of his abbot Martin, one of the
preaching rivals of Fulk of Neuilly. His monastery, of the
Cistercian order, was situate in the diocese of Basil.]

46 (return) [ Jadera, now Zara, was a Roman colony, which
acknowledged Augustus for its parent. It is now only two miles
round, and contains five or six thousand inhabitants; but the
fortifications are strong, and it is joined to the main land by a
bridge. See the travels of the two companions, Spon and Wheeler,
(Voyage de Dalmatie, de Grèce, &c., tom. i. p. 64—70. Journey
into Greece, p. 8—14;) the last of whom, by mistaking _Sestertia_
for _Sestertii_, values an arch with statues and columns at
twelve pounds. If, in his time, there were no trees near Zara,
the cherry-trees were not yet planted which produce our
incomparable _marasquin_.]

47 (return) [ Katona (Hist. Critica Reg. Hungariæ, Stirpis Arpad.
tom. iv. p. 536—558) collects all the facts and testimonies most
adverse to the conquerors of Zara.]

48 (return) [ See the whole transaction, and the sentiments of
the pope, in the Epistles of Innocent III. Gesta, c. 86, 87, 88.]

481 (return) [ Montfort protested against the siege. Guido, the
abbot of Vaux de Sernay, in the name of the pope, interdicted the
attack on a Christian city; and the immediate surrender of the
town was thus delayed for five days of fruitless resistance.
Wilken, vol. v. p. 167. See likewise, at length, the history of
the interdict issued by the pope. Ibid.—M.]

The assembly of such formidable powers by sea and land had
revived the hopes of young 49 Alexius; and both at Venice and
Zara, he solicited the arms of the crusaders, for his own
restoration and his father’s 50 deliverance. The royal youth was
recommended by Philip king of Germany: his prayers and presence
excited the compassion of the camp; and his cause was embraced
and pleaded by the marquis of Montferrat and the doge of Venice.
A double alliance, and the dignity of Cæsar, had connected with
the Imperial family the two elder brothers of Boniface: 51 he
expected to derive a kingdom from the important service; and the
more generous ambition of Dandolo was eager to secure the
inestimable benefits of trade and dominion that might accrue to
his country. 52 Their influence procured a favorable audience for
the ambassadors of Alexius; and if the magnitude of his offers
excited some suspicion, the motives and rewards which he
displayed might justify the delay and diversion of those forces
which had been consecrated to the deliverance of Jerusalem. He
promised in his own and his father’s name, that as soon as they
should be seated on the throne of Constantinople, they would
terminate the long schism of the Greeks, and submit themselves
and their people to the lawful supremacy of the Roman church. He
engaged to recompense the labors and merits of the crusaders, by
the immediate payment of two hundred thousand marks of silver; to
accompany them in person to Egypt; or, if it should be judged
more advantageous, to maintain, during a year, ten thousand men,
and, during his life, five hundred knights, for the service of
the Holy Land. These tempting conditions were accepted by the
republic of Venice; and the eloquence of the doge and marquis
persuaded the counts of Flanders, Blois, and St. Pol, with eight
barons of France, to join in the glorious enterprise. A treaty of
offensive and defensive alliance was confirmed by their oaths and
seals; and each individual, according to his situation and
character, was swayed by the hope of public or private advantage;
by the honor of restoring an exiled monarch; or by the sincere
and probable opinion, that their efforts in Palestine would be
fruitless and unavailing, and that the acquisition of
Constantinople must precede and prepare the recovery of
Jerusalem. But they were the chiefs or equals of a valiant band
of freemen and volunteers, who thought and acted for themselves:
the soldiers and clergy were divided; and, if a large majority
subscribed to the alliance, the numbers and arguments of the
dissidents were strong and respectable. 53 The boldest hearts
were appalled by the report of the naval power and impregnable
strength of Constantinople; and their apprehensions were
disguised to the world, and perhaps to themselves, by the more
decent objections of religion and duty. They alleged the sanctity
of a vow, which had drawn them from their families and homes to
the rescue of the holy sepulchre; nor should the dark and crooked
counsels of human policy divert them from a pursuit, the event of
which was in the hands of the Almighty. Their first offence, the
attack of Zara, had been severely punished by the reproach of
their conscience and the censures of the pope; nor would they
again imbrue their hands in the blood of their fellow-Christians.
The apostle of Rome had pronounced; nor would they usurp the
right of avenging with the sword the schism of the Greeks and the
doubtful usurpation of the Byzantine monarch. On these principles
or pretences, many pilgrims, the most distinguished for their
valor and piety, withdrew from the camp; and their retreat was
less pernicious than the open or secret opposition of a
discontented party, that labored, on every occasion, to separate
the army and disappoint the enterprise.

49 (return) [ A modern reader is surprised to hear of the valet
de Constantinople, as applied to young Alexius, on account of his
youth, like the _infants_ of Spain, and the _nobilissimus puer_
of the Romans. The pages and _valets_ of the knights were as
noble as themselves, (Villehardouin and Ducange, No. 36.)]

50 (return) [ The emperor Isaac is styled by Villehardouin,
_Sursac_, (No. 35, &c.,) which may be derived from the French
_Sire_, or the Greek Kur (kurioV?) melted into his proper name;
the further corruptions of Tursac and Conserac will instruct us
what license may have been used in the old dynasties of Assyria
and Egypt.]

51 (return) [ Reinier and Conrad: the former married Maria,
daughter of the emperor Manuel Comnenus; the latter was the
husband of Theodora Angela, sister of the emperors Isaac and
Alexius. Conrad abandoned the Greek court and princess for the
glory of defending Tyre against Saladin, (Ducange, Fam. Byzant.
p. 187, 203.)]

52 (return) [ Nicetas (in Alexio Comneno, l. iii. c. 9) accuses
the doge and Venetians as the first authors of the war against
Constantinople, and considers only as a kuma epi kumati, the
arrival and shameful offers of the royal exile. * Note: He
admits, however, that the Angeli had committed depredations on
the Venetian trade, and the emperor himself had refused the
payment of part of the stipulated compensation for the seizure of
the Venetian merchandise by the emperor Manuel. Nicetas, in
loc.—M.]

53 (return) [ Villehardouin and Gunther represent the sentiments
of the two parties. The abbot Martin left the army at Zara,
proceeded to Palestine, was sent ambassador to Constantinople,
and became a reluctant witness of the second siege.]

Notwithstanding this defection, the departure of the fleet and
army was vigorously pressed by the Venetians, whose zeal for the
service of the royal youth concealed a just resentment to his
nation and family. They were mortified by the recent preference
which had been given to Pisa, the rival of their trade; they had
a long arrear of debt and injury to liquidate with the Byzantine
court; and Dandolo might not discourage the popular tale, that he
had been deprived of his eyes by the emperor Manuel, who
perfidiously violated the sanctity of an ambassador. A similar
armament, for ages, had not rode the Adriatic: it was composed of
one hundred and twenty flat-bottomed vessels or _palanders_ for
the horses; two hundred and forty transports filled with men and
arms; seventy store-ships laden with provisions; and fifty stout
galleys, well prepared for the encounter of an enemy. 54 While
the wind was favorable, the sky serene, and the water smooth,
every eye was fixed with wonder and delight on the scene of
military and naval pomp which overspread the sea. 541 The shields
of the knights and squires, at once an ornament and a defence,
were arranged on either side of the ships; the banners of the
nations and families were displayed from the stern; our modern
artillery was supplied by three hundred engines for casting
stones and darts: the fatigues of the way were cheered with the
sound of music; and the spirits of the adventurers were raised by
the mutual assurance, that forty thousand Christian heroes were
equal to the conquest of the world. 55 In the navigation 56 from
Venice and Zara, the fleet was successfully steered by the skill
and experience of the Venetian pilots: at Durazzo, the
confederates first landed on the territories of the Greek empire:
the Isle of Corfu afforded a station and repose; they doubled,
without accident, the perilous cape of Malea, the southern point
of Peloponnesus or the Morea; made a descent in the islands of
Negropont and Andros; and cast anchor at Abydus on the Asiatic
side of the Hellespont. These preludes of conquest were easy and
bloodless: the Greeks of the provinces, without patriotism or
courage, were crushed by an irresistible force: the presence of
the lawful heir might justify their obedience; and it was
rewarded by the modesty and discipline of the Latins. As they
penetrated through the Hellespont, the magnitude of their navy
was compressed in a narrow channel, and the face of the waters
was darkened with innumerable sails. They again expanded in the
basin of the Propontis, and traversed that placid sea, till they
approached the European shore, at the abbey of St. Stephen, three
leagues to the west of Constantinople. The prudent doge dissuaded
them from dispersing themselves in a populous and hostile land;
and, as their stock of provisions was reduced, it was resolved,
in the season of harvest, to replenish their store-ships in the
fertile islands of the Propontis. With this resolution, they
directed their course: but a strong gale, and their own
impatience, drove them to the eastward; and so near did they run
to the shore and the city, that some volleys of stones and darts
were exchanged between the ships and the rampart. As they passed
along, they gazed with admiration on the capital of the East, or,
as it should seem, of the earth; rising from her seven hills, and
towering over the continents of Europe and Asia. The swelling
domes and lofty spires of five hundred palaces and churches were
gilded by the sun and reflected in the waters: the walls were
crowded with soldiers and spectators, whose numbers they beheld,
of whose temper they were ignorant; and each heart was chilled by
the reflection, that, since the beginning of the world, such an
enterprise had never been undertaken by such a handful of
warriors. But the momentary apprehension was dispelled by hope
and valor; and every man, says the marshal of Champagne, glanced
his eye on the sword or lance which he must speedily use in the
glorious conflict. 57 The Latins cast anchor before Chalcedon;
the mariners only were left in the vessels: the soldiers, horses,
and arms, were safely landed; and, in the luxury of an Imperial
palace, the barons tasted the first fruits of their success. On
the third day, the fleet and army moved towards Scutari, the
Asiatic suburb of Constantinople: a detachment of five hundred
Greek horse was surprised and defeated by fourscore French
knights; and in a halt of nine days, the camp was plentifully
supplied with forage and provisions.

54 (return) [ The birth and dignity of Andrew Dandolo gave him
the motive and the means of searching in the archives of Venice
the memorable story of his ancestor. His brevity seems to accuse
the copious and more recent narratives of Sanudo, (in Muratori,
Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. xxii.,) Blondus, Sabellicus, and
Rhamnusius.]

541 (return) [ This description rather belongs to the first
setting sail of the expedition from Venice, before the siege of
Zara. The armament did not return to Venice.—M.]

55 (return) [ Villehardouin, No. 62. His feelings and expressions
are original: he often weeps, but he rejoices in the glories and
perils of war with a spirit unknown to a sedentary writer.]

56 (return) [ In this voyage, almost all the geographical names
are corrupted by the Latins. The modern appellation of Chalcis,
and all Euba, is derived from its _Euripus_, _Evripo_,
_Negri-po_, _Negropont_, which dishonors our maps, (D’Anville,
Géographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 263.)]

57 (return) [ Et sachiez que il ni ot si hardi cui le cuer ne
fremist, (c. 66.).. Chascuns regardoit ses armes.... que par tems
en arons mestier, (c. 67.) Such is the honesty of courage.]

In relating the invasion of a great empire, it may seem strange
that I have not described the obstacles which should have checked
the progress of the strangers. The Greeks, in truth, were an
unwarlike people; but they were rich, industrious, and subject to
the will of a single man: had that man been capable of fear, when
his enemies were at a distance, or of courage, when they
approached his person. The first rumor of his nephew’s alliance
with the French and Venetians was despised by the usurper
Alexius: his flatterers persuaded him, that in this contempt he
was bold and sincere; and each evening, in the close of the
banquet, he thrice discomfited the Barbarians of the West. These
Barbarians had been justly terrified by the report of his naval
power; and the sixteen hundred fishing boats of Constantinople 58
could have manned a fleet, to sink them in the Adriatic, or stop
their entrance in the mouth of the Hellespont. But all force may
be annihilated by the negligence of the prince and the venality
of his ministers. The great duke, or admiral, made a scandalous,
almost a public, auction of the sails, the masts, and the
rigging: the royal forests were reserved for the more important
purpose of the chase; and the trees, says Nicetas, were guarded
by the eunuchs, like the groves of religious worship. 59 From his
dream of pride, Alexius was awakened by the siege of Zara, and
the rapid advances of the Latins; as soon as he saw the danger
was real, he thought it inevitable, and his vain presumption was
lost in abject despondency and despair. He suffered these
contemptible Barbarians to pitch their camp in the sight of the
palace; and his apprehensions were thinly disguised by the pomp
and menace of a suppliant embassy. The sovereign of the Romans
was astonished (his ambassadors were instructed to say) at the
hostile appearance of the strangers. If these pilgrims were
sincere in their vow for the deliverance of Jerusalem, his voice
must applaud, and his treasures should assist, their pious design
but should they dare to invade the sanctuary of empire, their
numbers, were they ten times more considerable, should not
protect them from his just resentment. The answer of the doge and
barons was simple and magnanimous. “In the cause of honor and
justice,” they said, “we despise the usurper of Greece, his
threats, and his offers. _Our_ friendship and _his_ allegiance
are due to the lawful heir, to the young prince, who is seated
among us, and to his father, the emperor Isaac, who has been
deprived of his sceptre, his freedom, and his eyes, by the crime
of an ungrateful brother. Let that brother confess his guilt, and
implore forgiveness, and we ourselves will intercede, that he may
be permitted to live in affluence and security. But let him not
insult us by a second message; our reply will be made in arms, in
the palace of Constantinople.”

58 (return) [ Eandem urbem plus in solis navibus piscatorum
abundare, quam illos in toto navigio. Habebat enim mille et
sexcentas piscatorias naves..... Bellicas autem sive mercatorias
habebant infinitæ multitudinis et portum tutissimum. Gunther,
Hist. C. P. c. 8, p. 10.]

59 (return) [ Kaqaper iervn alsewn, eipein de kai Jeojuteutwn
paradeiswn ejeid?onto toutwni. Nicetas in Alex. Comneno, l. iii.
c. 9, p. 348.]

On the tenth day of their encampment at Scutari, the crusaders
prepared themselves, as soldiers and as Catholics, for the
passage of the Bosphorus. Perilous indeed was the adventure; the
stream was broad and rapid: in a calm the current of the Euxine
might drive down the liquid and unextinguishable fires of the
Greeks; and the opposite shores of Europe were defended by
seventy thousand horse and foot in formidable array. On this
memorable day, which happened to be bright and pleasant, the
Latins were distributed in six battles or divisions; the first,
or vanguard, was led by the count of Flanders, one of the most
powerful of the Christian princes in the skill and number of his
crossbows. The four successive battles of the French were
commanded by his brother Henry, the counts of St. Pol and Blois,
and Matthew of Montmorency; the last of whom was honored by the
voluntary service of the marshal and nobles of Champagne. The
sixth division, the rear-guard and reserve of the army, was
conducted by the marquis of Montferrat, at the head of the
Germans and Lombards. The chargers, saddled, with their long
caparisons dragging on the ground, were embarked in the flat
_palanders_; 60 and the knights stood by the side of their
horses, in complete armor, their helmets laced, and their lances
in their hands. The numerous train of sergeants 61 and archers
occupied the transports; and each transport was towed by the
strength and swiftness of a galley. The six divisions traversed
the Bosphorus, without encountering an enemy or an obstacle: to
land the foremost was the wish, to conquer or die was the
resolution, of every division and of every soldier. Jealous of
the preeminence of danger, the knights in their heavy armor
leaped into the sea, when it rose as high as their girdle; the
sergeants and archers were animated by their valor; and the
squires, letting down the draw-bridges of the palanders, led the
horses to the shore. Before their squadrons could mount, and
form, and couch their Lances, the seventy thousand Greeks had
vanished from their sight: the timid Alexius gave the example to
his troops; and it was only by the plunder of his rich pavilions
that the Latins were informed that they had fought against an
emperor. In the first consternation of the flying enemy, they
resolved, by a double attack, to open the entrance of the harbor.
The tower of Galata, 62 in the suburb of Pera, was attacked and
stormed by the French, while the Venetians assumed the more
difficult task of forcing the boom or chain that was stretched
from that tower to the Byzantine shore. After some fruitless
attempts, their intrepid perseverance prevailed: twenty ships of
war, the relics of the Grecian navy, were either sunk or taken:
the enormous and massy links of iron were cut asunder by the
shears, or broken by the weight, of the galleys; 63 and the
Venetian fleet, safe and triumphant, rode at anchor in the port
of Constantinople. By these daring achievements, a remnant of
twenty thousand Latins solicited the license of besieging a
capital which contained above four hundred thousand inhabitants,
64 able, though not willing, to bear arms in defence of their
country. Such an account would indeed suppose a population of
near two millions; but whatever abatement may be required in the
numbers of the Greeks, the _belief_ of those numbers will equally
exalt the fearless spirit of their assailants.

60 (return) [ From the version of Vignere I adopt the
well-sounding word _palander_, which is still used, I believe, in
the Mediterranean. But had I written in French, I should have
preserved the original and expressive denomination of _vessiers_
or _huissiers_, from the _huis_ or door which was let down as a
draw-bridge; but which, at sea, was closed into the side of the
ship, (see Ducange au Villehardouin, No. 14, and Joinville. p.
27, 28, edit. du Louvre.)]

61 (return) [ To avoid the vague expressions of followers, &c., I
use, after Villehardouin, the word _sergeants_ for all horsemen
who were not knights. There were sergeants at arms, and sergeants
at law; and if we visit the parade and Westminster Hall, we may
observe the strange result of the distinction, (Ducange, Glossar.
Latin, _Servientes_, &c., tom. vi. p. 226—231.)]

62 (return) [ It is needless to observe, that on the subject of
Galata, the chain, &c., Ducange is accurate and full. Consult
likewise the proper chapters of the C. P. Christiana of the same
author. The inhabitants of Galata were so vain and ignorant, that
they applied to themselves St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians.]

63 (return) [ The vessel that broke the chain was named the
Eagle, _Aquila_, (Dandolo, Chronicon, p. 322,) which Blondus (de
Gestis Venet.) has changed into _Aquilo_, the north wind. Ducange
(Observations, No. 83) maintains the latter reading; but he had
not seen the respectable text of Dandolo, nor did he enough
consider the topography of the harbor. The south-east would have
been a more effectual wind. (Note to Wilken, vol. v. p. 215.)]

64 (return) [ Quatre cens mil homes ou plus, (Villehardouin, No.
134,) must be understood of _men_ of a military age. Le Beau
(Hist. du. Bas Empire, tom. xx. p. 417) allows Constantinople a
million of inhabitants, of whom 60,000 horse, and an infinite
number of foot-soldiers. In its present decay, the capital of the
Ottoman empire may contain 400,000 souls, (Bell’s Travels, vol.
ii. p. 401, 402;) but as the Turks keep no registers, and as
circumstances are fallacious, it is impossible to ascertain
(Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabie, tom. i. p. 18, 19) the real
populousness of their cities.]

In the choice of the attack, the French and Venetians were
divided by their habits of life and warfare. The former affirmed
with truth, that Constantinople was most accessible on the side
of the sea and the harbor. The latter might assert with honor,
that they had long enough trusted their lives and fortunes to a
frail bark and a precarious element, and loudly demanded a trial
of knighthood, a firm ground, and a close onset, either on foot
or on horseback. After a prudent compromise, of employing the two
nations by sea and land, in the service best suited to their
character, the fleet covering the army, they both proceeded from
the entrance to the extremity of the harbor: the stone bridge of
the river was hastily repaired; and the six battles of the French
formed their encampment against the front of the capital, the
basis of the triangle which runs about four miles from the port
to the Propontis. 65 On the edge of a broad ditch, at the foot of
a lofty rampart, they had leisure to contemplate the difficulties
of their enterprise. The gates to the right and left of their
narrow camp poured forth frequent sallies of cavalry and
light-infantry, which cut off their stragglers, swept the country
of provisions, sounded the alarm five or six times in the course
of each day, and compelled them to plant a palisade, and sink an
intrenchment, for their immediate safety. In the supplies and
convoys the Venetians had been too sparing, or the Franks too
voracious: the usual complaints of hunger and scarcity were
heard, and perhaps felt their stock of flour would be exhausted
in three weeks; and their disgust of salt meat tempted them to
taste the flesh of their horses. The trembling usurper was
supported by Theodore Lascaris, his son-in-law, a valiant youth,
who aspired to save and to rule his country; the Greeks,
regardless of that country, were awakened to the defence of their
religion; but their firmest hope was in the strength and spirit
of the Varangian guards, of the Danes and English, as they are
named in the writers of the times. 66 After ten days’ incessant
labor, the ground was levelled, the ditch filled, the approaches
of the besiegers were regularly made, and two hundred and fifty
engines of assault exercised their various powers to clear the
rampart, to batter the walls, and to sap the foundations. On the
first appearance of a breach, the scaling-ladders were applied:
the numbers that defended the vantage ground repulsed and
oppressed the adventurous Latins; but they admired the resolution
of fifteen knights and sergeants, who had gained the ascent, and
maintained their perilous station till they were precipitated or
made prisoners by the Imperial guards. On the side of the harbor
the naval attack was more successfully conducted by the
Venetians; and that industrious people employed every resource
that was known and practiced before the invention of gunpowder. A
double line, three bow-shots in front, was formed by the galleys
and ships; and the swift motion of the former was supported by
the weight and loftiness of the latter, whose decks, and poops,
and turret, were the platforms of military engines, that
discharged their shot over the heads of the first line. The
soldiers, who leaped from the galleys on shore, immediately
planted and ascended their scaling-ladders, while the large
ships, advancing more slowly into the intervals, and lowering a
draw-bridge, opened a way through the air from their masts to the
rampart. In the midst of the conflict, the doge, a venerable and
conspicuous form, stood aloft in complete armor on the prow of
his galley. The great standard of St. Mark was displayed before
him; his threats, promises, and exhortations, urged the diligence
of the rowers; his vessel was the first that struck; and Dandolo
was the first warrior on the shore. The nations admired the
magnanimity of the blind old man, without reflecting that his age
and infirmities diminished the price of life, and enhanced the
value of immortal glory. On a sudden, by an invisible hand, (for
the standard-bearer was probably slain,) the banner of the
republic was fixed on the rampart: twenty-five towers were
rapidly occupied; and, by the cruel expedient of fire, the Greeks
were driven from the adjacent quarter. The doge had despatched
the intelligence of his success, when he was checked by the
danger of his confederates. Nobly declaring that he would rather
die with the pilgrims than gain a victory by their destruction,
Dandolo relinquished his advantage, recalled his troops, and
hastened to the scene of action. He found the six weary
diminutive _battles_ of the French encompassed by sixty squadrons
of the Greek cavalry, the least of which was more numerous than
the largest of their divisions. Shame and despair had provoked
Alexius to the last effort of a general sally; but he was awed by
the firm order and manly aspect of the Latins; and, after
skirmishing at a distance, withdrew his troops in the close of
the evening. The silence or tumult of the night exasperated his
fears; and the timid usurper, collecting a treasure of ten
thousand pounds of gold, basely deserted his wife, his people,
and his fortune; threw himself into a bark; stole through the
Bosphorus; and landed in shameful safety in an obscure harbor of
Thrace. As soon as they were apprised of his flight, the Greek
nobles sought pardon and peace in the dungeon where the blind
Isaac expected each hour the visit of the executioner. Again
saved and exalted by the vicissitudes of fortune, the captive in
his Imperial robes was replaced on the throne, and surrounded
with prostrate slaves, whose real terror and affected joy he was
incapable of discerning. At the dawn of day, hostilities were
suspended, and the Latin chiefs were surprised by a message from
the lawful and reigning emperor, who was impatient to embrace his
son, and to reward his generous deliverers. 67

65 (return) [ On the most correct plans of Constantinople, I know
not how to measure more than 4000 paces. Yet Villehardouin
computes the space at three leagues, (No. 86.) If his eye were
not deceived, he must reckon by the old Gallic league of 1500
paces, which might still be used in Champagne.]

66 (return) [ The guards, the Varangi, are styled by
Villehardouin, (No. 89, 95) Englois et Danois avec leurs haches.
Whatever had been their origin, a French pilgrim could not be
mistaken in the nations of which they were at that time
composed.]

67 (return) [ For the first siege and conquest of Constantinople,
we may read the original letter of the crusaders to Innocent
III., Gesta, c. 91, p. 533, 534. Villehardouin, No. 75—99.
Nicetas, in Alexio Comnen. l. iii. c. 10, p. 349—352. Dandolo, in
Chron. p. 322. Gunther, and his abbot Martin, were not yet
returned from their obstinate pilgrim age to Jerusalem, or St.
John d’Acre, where the greatest part of the company had died of
the plague.]