CHAP. LX. The assembly of such formidable powers by sea and land, had revived the hopes of young 49 Alexius; and, both at VeAlliance of nice and Zara, he solicited the arms of the crusaders, for the crusa- his own restoration and his father's 50 deliverance. The roythe Greek al youth was recommended by Philip king of Germany: his prince, the prayers and presence excited the compassion of the camp; ders with young Alexius. 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: 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 favourable 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 labours 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 49 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 The emperor Isaac is styled by Villehardouin, Sursac (No. 35, &c.), which may be derived from the French Sire, or the Greek Kup (xupies) melted into his proper name; the farther corruptions of Tursac and Conserac will instruct us what licence may have been used in the old dynasties of Assyria and Egypt. 51 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 Nicetas (in Alexio Comneno, 1. iii. c. 9.) accuses the doge and Venetians as the first authors of the war against Constantinople, and considers only as a κυμα ύπερ κυματι, the arrival and shameful offers of the royal exile. LX. tempting conditions were accepted by the republic of Ve- CHAP. nice; 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 honour 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 diffidents were strong and respectable.53 The boldest hearts were appalled by the report of the naval power ari impregnable strength of Constantinople; and their prehensions were disguised to the world, and perha 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 councils 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 valour and piety, withdrew from the camp; and their retreat was less pernicious than the open or secret opposition of a discontented party, that laboured, on every occasion, to separate the army and disappoint the enterprise. 53 Villehardouin and Gunther represent the sentiments of the two parties. The abbot Martin left the army at Zara, procceded to Palestine, was sent ambassador to Constantinople, and became a reluctant witness of the second CHAP. to Con stantino 1203, April 7... June 24. 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 reVoyage from Zara sentiment to his nation and family. They were mortified by the recent preference which had been given to Pisa the rival ple, A. D. 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 storeships laden with provisions; and fifty stout gal lies, well prepared for the encounter of an enemy. While the wind was favourable, 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. The shields of the knights and squires, at once an or nament 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 fa tigues 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 54 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. 55 Villehardouin, No. 62. His feelings and expressions are original: he of ten weeps, but he rejoices in the glories and perils of war with a spirit unknown to a sedentary writer. 56 In this voyage, almost all the geographical names are corrupted by the Latins. The modern appellation of Chalcis, and ali Eubœa, is derived from its Euripus. Eoripo, Negri-po, Negropont, which dishonours our maps (d'Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 263). LX. southern point of Peloponesus or the Morea; made a des- CHAP. cent 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 expandèd in the bason 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 storeships 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 vollies 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 an handful of warriors. But the mo mentary apprehension was dispelled by hope and valour; 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, 57 Et sachiez que il ne ot si hardi cui le cuer ne fremist (c. 67.).... Chascuns regardoit ses arines .... que par tems en aront mestier (c. 68). Such is the honesty of courage. LX. CHAP. 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 pro Fruitless negocia visions. In relating the invasion of a great empire, it may seem tion of the strange that I have not described the obstacles which should emperor. 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 rumour of his nephew's alliance with the French and Venetians was despised by the usurper Alexius; his flatterers persuaded him that in his 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 " 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 chace; 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 . 53 Eandem bem plus in sciis navibus piscatorum abundare quam illos in toto navigio. Habebat enim mille et sexcen'as piscatorias naves.... Bellicas autem ive mercatorias habebaut infini æ multitudinus et portum tutissimum. Gunther, Hist. C. P c 8 p. 10. 59. Καθαπερ ίερων αλσεων είπειν δε και θεοφυτευτων παραδείσων εφέρ δοντο τετωνί. Nicetas in Alex. Conneno, 1. iii. c. 9. p. 348. |