The history of Flanders - Chapter 20
Boudewijn IX and the fourth crusade
Written by: Charles
Vanderhaegen - slightly modified and translated by Herman Boel - Edited
by David Baeckelandt July 2008
Published with kind permission of Charles Vanderhaegen.
Boudewijn and his wife take the cross
In the year 1197 an enthusiastic priest, Foulques de Neuilly, travelled throught Northern France and Flanders. His passionate speeches called upon all believers to take the cross in a fourth crusade for the liberation of Jerusalem, something that had failed in the third crusade of 1190.
When pope Innocentius III, who had been elected successor to Coelestinus III on 8 January 1198, heard about the priest's passionate speeches, he seized the opportunity to call upon the clergy and nobility in name of the Holy Church to answer Foulques' appeal.
The new crusade immediately enjoyed much enthusiasm. In the first months of 1200 a tournament was held in Écry, in the county Champagne. Count Thibault, then 22 years old, took the opportunity to announce to all persons present that he would answer the pope's appeal and take the cross to free Jerusalem. Almost all persons present followed his example and this (for the church) joyful news spread very quickly in Flanders and France.
Boudewijn IX also decided to participate. On Ash Wednesday 1200 he and his wife Maria of Champagne, sister of forementioned Thibault of Champagne, took the cross for the new crusade. His cheerful example was swiftly followed by his two brothers Hendrik and Eustache, his nephew Thierry, bastard son of Filips van den Elzas, and most of the present barons.
It will last until 1202 before the crusaders start their journey to the promised land. This gave Boudewijn the time to make arrangements with regard to the rule of his county during his absence. Filips, his third brother and count of Namen, was appointed regent and custodian of his only child and daughter, Johanna, only two or three years old (we don't know her exact age), the later Johanna of Constantinople, and the still unborn child Maria was expecting.
Pope Innocentius III
(from a fresco in the Sacro Speco in Subiaco)
The preparation
Shortly after this ceremony, somewhere during the summer of 1200, meetings were held in Soissons and Compiègne to discuss the departure date, how the crusade would be financed, and what route should be taken. As Venice was the ruling European sea power of that time, it was decided to send six representatives to Venice to ask the doge, at that time the old Dandolo, on what condition he would be prepared to put his fleet or part of his fleet at the disposal of the crusaders.
When they arrived in Venice, it took a long time before they were allowed to see the old doge, who apparently had not much trust in noble gentlemen who wanted to go again to Jerusalem as many of their forefathers had done. Dandolo was very shrewd and understood he could benefit from the crusaders' needs. So he told them he would be prepared to provide them with the needed ships and provisioning for the price of 85,000 silver marks plus half of the loot.
On the way to Venice
The messengers agreed to the proposition and confidently returned north where they informed their leaders of Dandolo's proposal. They accepted the proposal without hesitation, probably also because they lacked a military leader as Thibault de Champagne, who had been elected highest leader of the journey, had died shortly before. He was barely 24 years old. Bonifacius of Montferrat was appointed his successor.
In the summer of 1202 the crusaders considered themselves ready to leave. Boudewijn left with his army in Brugge, went straight through France and North Italy, and arrived a few months later at the gates of Venice.
At the same time a fleet of Flemish ships sailed, under the leadership of Jan van Nesle, viscount of Brugge, and Thierry, Boudewijn's nephew. Was also present on one of the ships: countess Maria, who shortly before had given birth to a daughter in Valenciennes. The idea was that the fleet would join Boudewijn in Venice, but the fleet never arrived there. During the whole sea voyage they suffered severe storms which prevented them from passing the Straits. Only in autumn did the fleet arrive in Marseille. The countess was dead tired because of this voyage and preferred not to travel any further and spend the winter in Marseille. This was bad news for Boudewijn. He had not only counted on his fleet, but also on his wife's company.
On top of this the crusaders had become divided. Arrived in Venice, doge Dandolo had requested payment of the agreed 85,000 silver marks. Now that it came down to paying, the religeous idealisme of some became less explicit and they refused to contribute such an amount, some because they simply had no money, others because they did not want to spend theirs. To overcome this deadlock, Boudewijn donated all he posessed and all he was able to borrow. This example was followed by some other nobles, such as Bonifacius de Montferrat, the military leader, and the count of Saint Pol. There finally remained a deficit of 34,000 silver marks.
Enrico Dandoio
(Cabinet des Estampes, Paris)
Zara
One would expect Dandolo to demand immediate payment of this deficit or to break the agreement. But that was not what the wily Dandolo did. On the contrary, the doge was very light-hearted, reassured the crusaders, and said he could easily wait a while for the money and even forget about it... on the condition that the crusaders would help Venice to conquer Zara. Zara was a town at the Croation coast which had belonged to Venice but had been subjected to the king of Hungary for quite a while.
The crusaders were not very happy with this proposal as they had no quarrel with the king of Hungary, a catholic himself, and therefore had no reason to march against Zara. By the way, Zara was not only a catholic city but since 1154 also held the siege of a roman-catholic archbishop.
The crusade was meant to free Jerusalem and not to wage war against people of the same religeous persuasion. The crusaders, however, had no options. They either agreed and could afterwards continue their journey to Jerusalem, or they refused and could forget about the rest of the crusade. In the end, they decided to accept Dandolo's offer. After a short siege Zara was seized by the crusaders and turned over to the Venetians. Relieved of their obligations to Dandolo, they could now continue their journey to Palestine.
The crusade goes off the rails
The fourth crusade's objective, to free Jerusalem from Saracen occupation, would not only not be realised, the crusade itself would even reinforce islamic power in the Middle East. A power struggle in Constantinople would be the cause of this.
While the crusaders stayed in Venice and waged a war against their co-religionists in Zara and Dalmatia, they were paid a visit by Alexius de Jonge, son of lsaëc II Angelus, the former emperor of Byzantine. Eight years earlier, in 1195, this emperor had been deposed from the throne by his brother, also called Alexius, who has better known as Alexius III Angelus. The emperor's eyes were gouged out and he was locked away together with his son Alexius the younger in the imperial castle's dungeon. Somehow, probably with outside help, young Alexius had managed to escape and sailed to Ancona at Italy's Adriatic coast.
He then went on to Rome where he begged the pope for help. The pope did not seem very interested and limited himself to some comforting words. Alexius then visited the German emperor Filips of Zwaben, who was married to Alexis' sister lrène. Filips was impressed with the adventures of his brother-in-law but was not able to assist him militarily. He proposed to send an imperial delegation with some people from Alexius to Venice where they would ask the crusaders to help Alexius retake the Byzantine throne.
Alexius agreed and with a group of German nobles he and his companions went to Venice to meet the leaders of the crusade and to request their assistance. In order to acquire their help, Alexius was prepared to renounce the Greek-Orthodox Church (called this way because Greek and not Latin was used in the rite) and to vow loyalty to the Roman Church. He also promised a gift of 200,000 silver marks and 10,000 soldiers to march with the crusaders against the usurper of the Byzantinse throne and to assist the crusaders afterwards in the liberation of Jerusalem.
This proposal was very appealing to the crusaders who were in constant dire need of money, but not everybody was happy with it. Several crusaders feared that accepting the proposal would add yet another barely justifiable war against a Christian power, and secondly mean another delay to their journey to Jerusalem. Several nobles decided to desert and went home.
Boudewijn and Montferrat, however, were very please with the proposal and Montferrat, as military leader, sent a delegation with the following message: "We understand very well what you want. Tell your master (Alexius) that if he wants to help us reconquering lost land (Palestine) we in turn will help him to reconquer his".
It was then decided to hibernate in Zara and to go to Constantinople in spring.
On the way to Constantinople
A year after the crusaders enthusiastically started their journey to occupied Jerusalem, they had only gone as far as Zara at the Dalmation coast of Croatia. It was time to leave. On Easter Monday 1203 (i.e. 7 April) the crusaders' fleet weighed anchor and arrived at Corfou a few days later where they were joined by young Alexius.
There Boudewijn also got word from his ships in Marseille. The fleet's captain, Jan van Nesle, asked the count for instructions. Boudewijn answered they were expected in Moton, a small harbour town south of the Peloponnesos. Boudewijn's fleet, however, never arrived there. For some reason Jan van Nesle sailed on to Akko at the Syrian coast. This is where Maria would wait for her Boudewijn. In vain, as she will never leave the town and never again see her husband.
Boudewijn had no idea and probably never knew. He left with the crusaders on 24 May 1203 for Moton where he thought he would find Maria. There was no trace of Maria or his fleet, though, and he could do nothing but sailing on to Constantinople.
The first taking of Constantinople
The weather was favourable for the crusaders. All sails and flags flapped when they sailed through the Dardanelles, straight through the See of Marmara, and they anchored at the European side of the Bosporus on 23 June 1203 near the abbey of Saint Stefanus, a few kilometres from Constantinople.
The next morning the knights prepared to go into battle under the leadership of Boudewijn and Montferrat. The cotas of mail are put on, as are the iron breast-plates, swords are prepared, the helmets have the visors down, the long attack spears are clasped in the left hand, keeping the right hand free for the sword.
Well equipped, the knights marched to the high fortified ramparts that surrounded Constantinople and on the merlons of which was gathered a large crowd who flabbergastedly looked at the scene of soldiers with their weird iron clothing. At the same time the Venetian fleet attacked the city from the seaside.
The battle lasted until July when Constantinople's resistance had been completely broken and it was learnt that Alexius III Angelus had plundered the treasury and had secretly left the city. When this news spread among the city, the confused Greeks contacted the crusaders and the Venetians in order to reach an agreement immediately. They did and the old blind Isaac II Angelus was freed from the dungeon and put back on the throne.
Shortly after, on 18 July 1203,
young Alexius made a triumphant entry into town. On 1 August, after his
father had abdicated from the thone, he was crowned emperor
Alexius IV in the cathedral of Sofia. His authority was quite limited,
especially when the Greeks heard that he had requested the crusaders'
help promising them to renounce the Greek-Orthodox faith in favour of
the Roman-Catholic Church. This made Alexius feel insecure and he asked
the crusaders, who were preparing to leave for Jerusalem, to stay a
while longer with him in order to ensure his safety. The crusaders
agreed and moved their departure to the spring of 1204.
The attack of Constantinople by the Venetian fleet
(1203)
The second taking of Constantínople
The crusaders will not have to wait that long to swing again into action. As soon as Alexius IV was on the throne of the Byzantine realm, a new coup by some disgruntled Greeks removed him from the throne on 21 January 1204. He was locked up in the dungeon he escaped from a few years earlier. A young Greek, Nicolaas Canabé, was put on the throne in his place. His reign equally lasted only a few days. A certain Alexis Ducas, nicknamed Morchufle, took power a few days later. The old and blind Isaac was poisoned, young Alexius IV was strangled and the dethroned emperor Canabé, was by tradition locked up in the imperial dungeons.
When the crusaders heard about this, they were very dismayed. Their chances to ever get the once promised 200,000 silver marks for their military aid were now very slim indeed. Their dismay turned into anger. They immediately resumed the siege of Constantinople and used such violence that Morchufle fled away in panic. This way the crusaders could take the city already on 12 April 1204. The crusaders would now take whatever they thought was rightfully theirs. The fourth crusade had turned into a raid.
Boudewijn, emperor of Constantinople
The whole city was plundered. All valuable items and treasures that had been collected in the palaces and churches in the past 900 years, were taken or, in case it could not be transported, uselessly destroyed. More than 2000 inhabitants were murdered and a similar number of women were raped.
The leaders of the crusaders and the Venetians did not seem to take notice of the plundering and massacres. As their soldiers were ruthlessly behaving as barbarians, they had convened to discuss the future of the East Roman empire without emperor. In any case, there was no question at all of putting a Greek on the throne. Perhaps it would be more dignified to assign someone among themselves to have the honour of emperor of Constantinople? Everybody agreed. A Roman empire needed to ascend to the Byzantine throne and he could only come from the ranks of those who had liberated the land from its Greek-Orthodox tirans.
On 7 March 1204 it was decided to have the emperor chosen by a company of twelve members, six crusaders and six Venetians. However, it will take until 9 May 1204 before the twelve members elect three candidates. The three candidates were: Bonifacius de Montferrat, the crusaders' military leader, doge Bandolo as head of the Venetians, and Boudewijn IX, count of Flanders and Henegouwen who was considered the bravest and most self-controlled of the three.
On 16 May 1204 it was announced that Boudewijn would become emperor of the now called "Latin Empire of Byzantine" carrying the title "Boudewijn, Emperor of Constantinople". The people cheered as he was carried on a shield to the cathedral of Sofia where the eighteenth count of Flanders, after Boudewijn with the Iron Arm, was given the crown of Constantine, founder of Constantinopolis.
He will not remain an emperor for long and his emperorship is filled with burden, war and political defeats. The eleven months as emperor also had a negative impact on his personal life.
The imperial seal of Boudewijn IX
The end
A few months after his coronation, Boudewijn heard that his wife Maria had died in Akko on 20 August 1204 after a painful and chronic disease. This was a terrible blow. What now was the fate of his two young daughters who had remained in Flanders?
These were not the only worries for Boudewijn. His first worry was the organisation of the new "Latin Empire". As commonly happened in those days, this "organisation" merely consisted of dividing the conquered lands among the bravest conquerors. Boudewijn also practised this feudal tradition. Bonifacius de Montferrat was given Saloniki, where he made his entry after some battles. Lodewijk, count of Blois, who had participated in the third crusade with Richard Lionheart and Filips van den Elzas, got Nicea, while Dandolo could take possession of Epirus and Crete in name of the Venetian Republic.
Thus the East Roman empire, now "Latin Empire", was divided among the three principal leaders of the crusaders. As a result of the division, it could exert less power. Boudewijn will eventually become one of the first victims of this division and subsequent weakness in his empire. His government was challenged by Bonifacius of Montferrat, which led to a kind of political war that never became a dispute with force of arms, but created a rift that never was closed.
His second worry were the Greeks who were not happy with the new Roman empire. They had appealed to Johannisse, king of Bulgaria, to fight against Boudewijn. As he was very anxious and greedy to expand his power, Johanisse easily conquered Adrianopel and then marched with an enormous army of an estimated fifteen thousand men to the east in the direction of Constantinople, where Boudewijn waited for him with an army less than half the size of his opponent's. Boudewijn had asked his brother Hendrik to come back from Asia, but his call came to late and Hendrik will arrive when the battle has already been fought.
The clash between both armies was horrible. Because of the weakness of Boudewijn's army, the crusaders were completely crushed by the Bulgarians. The lucky ones could escape the fate that awaited those captured. In this confused battle people like Lodewijk of Blois fell, while Boudewijn was taken prisoner by the Bulgarians. The date: 14 April 1205.
Nothing was heard from Boudewijn after his being captured. Perhaps he was wounded and died during his captivity, we are not certain. The wildest rumours were told about what happened to him. Some said he had been executed by the Bulgarian king. Others claimed he was put in a dungeon never again to be released or from which he managed to escape. Twenty years later this latest assumption will enable a former hermit to pass as Boudewijn IX for a few months. This weird man is known in our Flemish history as the "false Boudewijn". We will pay more attention to this story in the next chapter.
Even though Boudewijn's death did not yet mean the end of the fourth crusade to the crusaders, it did to Flanders. Boudewijn's death meant there was no male heir yet and Flanders will be ruled for the first time by a countess: Johanna, Boudewijn IX's oldest daughter.
The fate of the Latin Empire
After Boudewijn's death the throne of the Latin Empire was vacant. Hendrik, Boudewijn's brother, was chosen regent by the crusaders and was proclaimed emperor one year later, in 1206.
Hendrik had a cold but powerful personality. In a relatively short time he succeeded in overcoming the critical situation the empire was in after his brother's death. He also succeeded to become friends with his Greek subjects by protecting them against the continuous assaults of the Roman Church, which made him unappreciated by the pope (Innocentius III).
Hendrik must have had military talent. Two years later, in 1208, he raised a new army and marched against Johanisse. He once and for all defeated Johanisse in the battle of Philippopoli (current Plovdiv) in Bulgaria. Another four years later, in 1212, he succeeded in establishing peace with Theodorus I, who had seized Nicea after Lodewijk of Blois' death, and who had himself crowned Byzantine emperor.
It was to no avail either to save the Latin Empire from its doom. Hendrik died on 11 Juni 1216, barely 42 years old. There was not much choice for his succession. Pierre of Courtenay, Hendrik's brother-in-law, was asked to come to Constantinople to be crowned emperor, but the unfortunate Pierre never arrived in Constantinople. Therefore, an appeal was made to Robert of Courtenay, and finally in 1228 to Boudewijn of Courtenay, who was then only 10 years old.
This was the last emperor of the Latin empire. He will last until 1261, when the Greek Michaël Paliologos will take Constantinople and restore the Greek empire.
Bibliography:
1. LEGLAY, Edward. "Histoire des comtes de Flandre", Librairie
de A. Vandale, Brussel 1843.
2. LUYKX, Theo, Prof. Dr. "De graven van Vlaanderen en de
kruistochten", Heideland, Hasselt 1967.
3. VILLEHARDOUIN. "La conquête de Constantinople", Les belles lettres,
Parijs 1938.