The Fourth Crusade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Fourth Crusade - Essay ExampleThe crusades. New York Cosmopolitan book corporation, 1929.The mission of beginning a new crusade had become a life-task to Pope Innocent III. After the death of Richard the Lionheart, the Pope lost all hope in getting a trustworthy monarch to lead the sacred war.Almost immediately upon being elected pope, Innocent III decided that the papacy itself should assume the leadership of the next Crusade. He issued his crusading letter in appalling of 1198, sending it to all the archbishops of the West. He directed the call to arms not to kings and emperors, but to counts and barons and even to cities. The archbishops and bishops of the Church were likewise to contribute soldiers, or an equivalent step in money.The Fourth Crusade , Vol 31, (Philadelphia University of PennsylvaniaIn 1198 he called for a new Crusade, which was largely ignored among European leaders. The Germans were struggling against Papal power, and England and France were still interme shed in warfare against each early(a). The tone of the encyclical makes it clear that Innocent believed the Church itself was the true leader of the Crusades. Even so, he wrote separately to the kings of France and England, ordering them to kick their war. Not, you will note, that they should go on crusade themselves, but only that their quarrel should not interfere with the raising of troops and money for the Crusade. He likewise direct a papal legate to try to persuade Genoa and Pisa to make a truce between them, for much the same reasons, except that he wanted the Pisans and Genovese to participate in the Crusade.However, due to the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly, a crusading army was finally organized at a tournament held at Ecry by Count Thibaud of champagne in 1199. Thibaud was elected leader, but he died in 1200 and was replaced by an Italian count, Boniface of Montferrat. Boniface and the other leaders sent envoys to Venice, Genoa, and other city-states to negotiate a cont ract for transport to Egypt, the object of their crusade one of the envoys was the historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin. Donald Queller The Fourth Crusade, and bibliography in Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades.Preparation for the CrusadeGenoa was uninterested but Venice agreed to transport 33,500 crusaders (as vigorous as 4,500 horses), a very ambitious number. This organisation required a full year of preparation on the part of the city of Venice to build numerous ships and train the sailors that would man them, all the while curtailing the citys commercial activities. The majority of the crusading army that set out from Venice in October 1202 originated from areas within France. It included men from Blois, Champagne, Amiens, Saint-Pol, the Ile-de-France and Burgundy. However, several other regions of Europe sent substantial contingents as well, such as count Flanders and Marquis Boniface of Montferrat from northern Italy. Other notable groups came from the German Empire, includi ng the men chthonic Bishop Martin of Pairis and Bishop Conrad of Halberstadt together in alliance with the Venetian soldiers and sailors led by the Doge Enrico Dandolo. Queller, Donald E. The Fourth Crusade The Neglected MajorityAttack on ZaraSince there was no binding agreement amongst the crusaders that all should sail from Venice, many