FOURTH CRUSADE AND THE LATIN EMPIRE OF
CONSTANTINOPLE, 1202-1261 A.D.
INNOCENT III AND THE FOURTH CRUSADE
The real author of the Fourth Crusade was the famous pope,
Innocent III. Young, enthusiastic, and ambitious for the glory of the
Papacy, he revived the plans of Urban II and sought once more to unite the
forces of Christendom against Islam. No emperor or king answered his summons,
but a number of knights (chiefly French) took the crusader's vow.
THE CRUSADERS AND THE VENETIANS
The leaders of the crusade decided to make Egypt their
objective point, since this country was then the center of the Moslem power.
Accordingly, the crusaders proceeded to Venice, for the purpose of securing
transportation across the Mediterranean. The Venetians agreed to furnish the
necessary ships only on condition that the crusaders first seized Zara on the eastern
coast of the Adriatic. Zara was a Christian city, but it was also a naval and
commercial rival of Venice. In spite of the pope's protests the crusaders
besieged and captured the city. Even then they did not proceed against the
Moslems. The Venetians persuaded them to turn their arms against
Constantinople. The possession of that great capital would greatly increase
Venetian trade and influence in the East; for the crusading nobles it held out
endless opportunities of acquiring wealth and power. Thus it happened that
these soldiers of the Cross, pledged to war with the Moslems, attacked a
Christian city, which for centuries had formed the chief bulwark of Europe
against the Arab and the Turk.
