Andrea A. Contemporary sources for the fourth crusade

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.most of which is pure invention'': FC2, 278, note 128.Robert of Clari,Conqu�te, 65-67, sec.LXVI, provides a far more believable account.102If Branas/Livernas was wounded in this fray, he certainly survived, as Albericmakes clear later on.103A vassal of Louis of Blois, Peter was almost always where the �ghting was thethickest: Longnon, Compagnons, 91-98.304 :The course of the story continues: Indeed, the Greeks returning tothe city said, one after another, that they had been put to shame byMorcu�us.They assembled at Sancta Sophia, talked it over, andmade Nicholas emperor.104 Upon hearing about this, Morcu�usattacked them with his forces.Battle was joined, and a great slaugh-ter and uproar ensued, which our men heard.With the coming ofnight, indeed, Morcu�us seduced away the supporters of Nicholaswith promises and gifts, so that by dawn Nicholas did not have halfthe support from the previous day.In the end, he was captured byMorcu�us, incarcerated, and eventually killed.The letter follows:***Alberic now continues the story of the second capture ofConstantinople by quoting Baldwin's letter to the Westfrom ``With the Greek clergy and people crying out that webe wiped off the face of the Earth'' through ``But in thenight he105 secretly turns tail, defeated.''***Alberic: In his �ight, however, he came to Andronicus, who wasmentioned above.When he heard the things done by him, he hadthe man blinded.106 In that same year he was returned to Constan-tinople and leaped from the highest story of a certain column, thushe died, broken and battered.107 The letter follows:***Alberic quotes Baldwin's letter from ``When this was dis-covered, the bewildered Greek populace sets about replac-104Wrong chronological order.The election of Nicholas Kannavos (Canabus) tookplace on 27 January.The icon was lost in battle around 5 or 6 February: FC2, 161-167.105Alexius V.106Villehardouin, Conqu�te, 2: 78-80, secs.270-271, deals with this in detail.107Alexius V Mourtzouphlos was hurled off the column of Theodosius the Great.The notes that accompany Chapters 20 and 21 in my translation of Gunther of Pairis'sHystoria Constantinopolitana cover this execution and the column in detail: Andrea, Capture,115-117 and 175-176, notes 278-287. , ` ' 305ing the emperor'' through ` ``This was done by the Lord,and it is a miracle above all miracles in our eyes.'' '***Alberic: What is added here has been taken from another ac-count.108 Therefore, upon talking it over, the remaining Greekscame unarmed to our men.With our clergy, who benevolently of-fered them guarantees of safety, �rst begging mercy for them, theGreeks humbly handed over their swords to them.109 Indeed, on thefourth night after the city was taken, namely the �fteenth day be-fore the Kalends of May110 � the twelfth night following the fullmoon � there was a plain-to-see full eclipse of the moon in a clearsky.Twelve electors were decided upon by common agreement:namely our two bishops,111 Nivelon of Soissons and Garnier ofTroyes; also a third bishop from Saxony, Lord Conrad of Halber-stadt; the bishop of Bethlehem,112 delegated by Apostolicauthority;113 Master John, bishop-elect of Acre; and Abbot Peter ofLucedio in Lombardy, who afterwards became patriarch of An-tioch.After �rst praying on Misericordia Sunday,114 these six, alongwith six Venetian barons, nominated Count Baldwin of Flanderson the advice of the doge of Venice and elected him emperor.Eight days later115 he was enthroned,116 decked out, as custom dic-tates, in golden vestments into which were woven precious gemsand also red shoes.The city was decorated with banners, streamers,108This source is unknown today.109Apparently to the clergy.11016 April 1204.111Alberic's French perspective leaps out here, inasmuch as Nivelon and Garnierwere the only two consecrated French bishops with the army.112The bishop-elect of Bethlehem, Peter.113Alberic either confused Peter of Bethlehem with Cardinal Peter Capuano orbishop-elect Peter had served as Cardinal Peter Capuano's nuncio to the army at Zara(the nuncio is referred to by Boniface of Montferrat in Reg.6:100).1149 May 1204.115If one counts the 9th as the �rst day.He was enthroned on 16 May.116Alberic's detailed description of Baldwin's coronation is based on an unknownsource.The most detailed extant description of the coronation is Robert of Clari,Conqu�te, 93-95, sec.XCVI.Robert does note that the emperor wore gem-encrustedshoes and that Count Hugh bore the imperial sword but he also states that MarquisBaldwin bore the crown, not the gilded mantel that appears in Alberic's account.306 :and precious tapestries.The count of Saint Pol bore the imperialsword before him and the marquis the gilded mantle, all the way toSancta Sophia.The imperial garments and the shoes, which weremade of red leather with precious gems, were consecrated.ThenEmperor Baldwin sent for the countess of Flanders, and when shehad come to him and been made pregnant by him,117 she departedfor the Lands across the Sea.There, when she was in Acre, theprince of Antioch visited her and rendered homage to her in placeof her husband, in her role as empress of Constantinople.118 Hav-ing received this, she died in Acre.******In the year 1205.Emperor Baldwin ruled in Constantinople onlyone year.Beyond the Arm of Saint George at Nicaea, from whichthe Council of Nicaea takes its name,119 Count Louis likewise reign-ed for one year.120 Furthermore, the marquis of Montferrat wasmade king of Thessalonika.121 Othon of la Roche, son of Pons ofla Roche, a certain Burgundian nobleman, became duke of Athensand Thebes by a certain wondrous turn of events.122 Geoffrey ofVillehardouin, son of John and nephew of Geoffrey, the marshalof Champagne, took the island of Moncion, that is Sicionia,123 andAchaea124 and the city of Mycenaea.125 Granted that the Greekcities of Lacedemonia, Corinth, Adrianople, Mosynopolis, and Phi-117Wrong.See note 42 to Ralph of Coggeshall's Chronicle.118Alberic is the only source to record that Bohemond V of Antioch swore fealtyto Baldwin in this manner.There has been some debate concerning Alberic's reliabilityon this point, but the discovery of a supporting source has apparently resolved the issue:Wolff, ``Baldwin,'' 289.119Convened under Emperor Constantine in 325.120Louis of Blois received the duchy of Nicaea in the division of the empire butnever took control of his �ef.The count was killed on 14 April 1205 at the Battle ofAdrianople: Villehardouin, Conqu�te, 2:112, sec.304, and 2:170, sec.360.121Ibid., 2:82-108, secs.275-300.122Longnon, Compagnons, 215-216; idem, ``The Frankish States in Greece,'' A Historyof the Crusades, 2:238-242.123See notes 54 and 55.124See note 56.Alberic employs this same phrase ``the island of Moncion, that isSicionia, and Achaea'' when plotting the crusade �eet's progress towardConstantinople.125Villehardouin, Conqu�te, 2:134-140, secs.325-330, deals in detail with hisnephew's adventures in the Peloponnesus [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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