§ 55. THE FOURTH CRUSADE. 269
Una Historia, 1118-1206, in Eecueil des historiens des Croisades, histor. Grecs, vol. I., and in Migne, Pair. Gr., vols. 139, 140. — GEOFFROI DE VILLEHARDOUIN, a prominent participant in the Crusade, d. 1213 ? : Hist, de la Conqitete de Constantinople avec l-a continuation de Henri de Va lenciennes, earliest ed., Paris, 1585, ed. by Du CANGE, Paris, 1857, and N. DE WAILLY, Paris, 1871, 3d ed. 1882, and E. BOUCHET, with new trans., Paris, 1891. For other editions, see POTTHAST, II. 1094. Engl. trans, by T. SMITH, London, 1829. — ROBERT DE CLARY, d. after 1216, a participant in the Crusade : La Prise de Constant., 1st ed. by P. RIANT, Paris, 1868. — GUNTHERUS ALEMANNUS, a Cistercian, d. 1220 ? : Historia Constantinopolitana, in Migne, Patr. Lat., vol. 212, 221-255, and ed. by RIANT, Geneva, 1875, and repeated in his Exuviae Sacrce, a valuable description, based upon the relation of his abbot, Martin, a participant in the Crusade. — Innocent III. Letters, in Migne, vols. 214-217. — CHARLES HOPF : Chroniques Grceco-Eomanes inedites ou peu connues, Berlin, 1873. Contains DE CLARY, the Devastatio Constantinopolitana, etc. — C. KLIMKE : D. Quellen zur Gesch. des 4ten Kreuzzuges, Breslau, 1875. — Short extracts from VILLEHARDOUIN and DE CLARY are given in Trans, and Beprints, published by University of Pennsylvania, vol. III., Philadelphia, 1896.
PAUL DE RIANT : Exuviae sacrce Constantinopolitance, Geneva, 1877-1878, 2 vols. — TESSIER: Quatrieme Croisade, la diversion sur Zara et Con stantinople, Paris, 1884. — E. PEARS : The Fall of Constantinople, being the Story of the Fourth Crusade, N.Y., 1886. — W. NORDAU : Der vierte Kreuzzug, 1898. — A. CHARASSON : Un cure plebeien au XII* Riecle, Foulques, Predicateur de la IVe Croisade, Paris, 1905. — GIBBON, LX., LXI. — HURTER : Life of Innocent III., vol. I. — RANKE : Weltgesch., VIII. 280-298. — C. W. C. OMAN: The Byzantine Empire, 1895, pp. 274-306. — F. C. HODGSON: The Early History of Venice, from the Foundation to the Conquest of Constantinople, 1204, 1901. An ap pendix contains an excursus on the historical sources of the Fourth Crusade.
It would be difficult to find in history a more notable diversion of a scheme from its original purpose than the Fourth Crusade. Inaugurated to strike a blow at the power which held the Holy Land, it destroyed the Christian city of Zara and overthrew the Greek empire of Constantinople. Its goals were determined by the blind doge, Henry Dandolo of Venice. As the First Crusade resulted in the establish ment of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, so the Fourth Crusade resulted in the establishment of the Latin empire of Constantinople.
Innocent III., on ascending the papal throne, threw
270 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
himself with all the energy of his nature into the effort of reviving the crusading spirit. He issued letter after letter1 to the sovereigns of England, France, Hungary, and Sicity.2 He also wrote to the Byzantine emperor, urging him to resist the Saracens and subject the Greek church to its mother, Rome.3 The failure of preceding crusades was ascribed to the sins of the Crusaders. But for them, one Christian would have chased a thousand, or even ten thousand, and the enemies of the cross would have disappeared like smoke or melting wax.
For the expense of a new expedition the pope set apart one-tenth of his revenue, and he directed the cardinals to do the same. The clergy and all Christians were urged to give liberally. The goods and lands of Crusaders were to enjoy the special protection of the Holy See. Princes were in structed to compel Jewish money-lenders to remit interest due from those going on the expedition. Legates were de spatched to Genoa, Pisa, and Venice to stir up zeal for the project ; and these cities were forbidden to furnish to the Saracens supplies of arms, food, or other material. A cardi nal was appointed to make special prayers for the Crusade, as Moses had prayed for Israel against the Amalekites.
The Cistercian abbot, Martin, preached in Germany;4 and the eloquent Fulke of Neuilly, receiving his commission from Innocent III.,5 distinguished himself by winning thou sands of recruits from the nobility and populace of Burgundy, Flanders, and Normandy. Under his preaching, in 1199, Count Thibaut of Champagne,6 Louis of Blois, Baldwin of
1 See the ample description of Hurter, I. pp. 221-230, etc.
2 Epp. of Innocent, I. 353, 354, etc., Migne, 214, 329 sqq.
3 Ep. I. 353, Migne, 214, 325 sqq.
4 Guntherus, Migne, 212, 225.
6 A French translation of Innocent's letter commissioning Fulke to preach the Crusade is given by Charasson, p. 99.
6 Thibaut, then twenty-two, and Louis, then twenty-seven, were nephews of the king of France, Villehardouin, 3 ; Wailly's ed., p. 5. Thibaut died before the Crusaders started from France.