Alexios Response To The Fourth Crusade

decided that the best way to invade and re-take Jerusalem back from the Muslims was by way of Egypt. At about the same time “Alexios and Phillip of Swabia propose to the Crusaders to overthrow Constantinople and restore Alexios to the throne” . “Alexios had previously wanted Papal support for this but his request was denied” .
Previous to the Fourth Crusade happening “the Doge of Venice, Dandolo had set his sights on Constantinople. In 1182 there was a Latin massacre that had included the Venetians. This had caused some contentions between the Greeks and Latins. This had stripped some of the Venetians citizens of their trading opportunities” . “After this had happened a treaty had been made previously to pay reparations to the Venetians for
being stripped of their assets. Alexios then gave the role of defender of the sea to the Pisans and stripped the Venetians of their title” . “The Doge had tried consistently to rectify this situation by holding negotiations with Alexios III. Eventually Alexios relented and recommenced payments to the Venetians in 1203, ‘the venetians were then able to attain eighty-five percent of their losses” . This gave Venice another reason to assist in invading Constantinople and possibly why they were so eager to make a deal with the Crusading states to agree to transport. This would ensure that a new emperor would replace Alexios III one that was more open to the whims of the Venetians.
As the Crusaders were readying for the Fourth Crusade they realized that they were in need of proper transport.
In order to get to Egypt they needed the Venetians assistance to get there as “they are considered the captains of the sea and they traded freely with the Muslims” . They had previously had no issues with them and so they needed to receive something in return for assisting the Crusaders in their conquest for Jerusalem. This is one of the logical explanations for requesting so much money for their assistance. But the Venetians had wanted something in return for the use of their ships and to postpone the debt owed to Venice. In response for assistance “the Venetians wanted repayment of eighty-five thousand marks in exchange for transport” . “Venice requested assistance invading Zara off of the Dalmatia Coast and Alexios had to agree to this as well. The Venetians had wanted this back and the Crusaders were there to assist. With this money they were able to fund the Fourth Crusade” . The Crusaders and Venetians were able to retake Zara and the payments that were previously agreed upon for the passage of the knights to the Holy Land was suspended. But just at about the time when the Crusaders were readying for the Fourth Crusade to the Holy Land Alexios Angelis had ended up in northern Venice requesting assistance to remove his uncle Alexios III from the throne and make him the rightful heir in
Constantinople.
When Alexios arrived by way of a ship to Italy he had proposed to the Pope that the Crusaders make a detour to the capitol city of the Byzantine Empire. He was requesting assistance to dethrone his uncle to restore him to his rightful place. But this wasn’t to be as easy as he had hoped. After being denied by the Pope, “Alexios and Phillip of Swabia go to Boniface of Montferrat instead, Alexios then tells him that Constantinople will help with the crusades to the tune of two-hundred thousand marks, but he also agrees to restore the Roman Church to Byzantium, to join the Crusade, provide ten-thousand men for a year and to maintain five-hundred Byzantine troops in for life” . This intrigues the leaders of the Fourth Crusade as they’re indebted to the Venetians for the cost of the fleet to transport them to Egypt. “They need this money as it was due upon the troop’s arrival to Venice” . When troops arrived at Venice there were not as many troops as had been planned for and because of this they were unable to pay this cost. Many of the troops were to help pay this cost and many of the individuals during this time had to cover the cost for themselves during the Crusade. Individuals that were unable to cover this cost had to make up the difference by borrowing money from other individuals and this still meant that they remained in indebt.
The reason that this debt is so important to keep in mind is that the Fourth Crusade then became about restoring Alexios Angelis to his rightful place on the emperor’s seat of Constantinople and attaining as much money as possible. As Alexios had promised the two-hundred thousand marks in repayment for their assistance to make him Emperor of Constantinople. Alexios has claimed that was his rightful seat and place in the capitol as he is the son of Isaac II. Had this been the Western half of the Roman empire then this would have been a valid argument as titles were passed down from father to son through patriarchy but in the East this was not so. Many times an emperor was an elected official by the Senate and people. The senate had to agree on the emperor unless the seat was taken by force. “This means that the claim that Alexios made about succeeding his father was invalid” . The Eastern Roman empire knew this as well as the leaders of the Crusade but the Boniface of Montferrat were so indebted to Venetians for the cost of the fleet that this didn’t matter. This means that they had thrown the rules aside and they decided instead to follow their own rules.
Pope Innocent III did not agree with rerouting to Constantinople but as Boniface, the other leaders and Clerics had decided that this was the best course of action, he fell into line. “Innocent disliked Constantinople and thought that it could be captured without any bloodshed” . This becomes important because the whole concept that we speak about in the beginning is that the Pope of Rome has always had an issue with having a separate church that was Greek. They wanted to have both the churches of Rome and Constantinople reconciled so they were under the same leader. But one can imagine that with the vast territory that the Byzantine Empire encompassed the thought of having one authority to rule it all would be a fantastic feat. Eventually Innocent softens to the idea of redirecting the crusade agrees that this would be the best course of action because his needs are being met in that his ultimate goal is to reconcile the churches. When ‘Alexios Angelis promises that Constantinople will help with the Crusades if he is returned to the throne it meets everyone’s needs for the Fourth Crusade. This means that this crusade never really needed to march to Jerusalem to reach the goal that it had set out to accomplish because Rome’s ultimate goal for decades was to reconcile the Eastern and Western Roman Churches and this is what was accomplished upon Alexios Angeles agreement.
The Fourth Crusade is made on many pacts and promises. The reason that this is said is because the crusaders would have never made it across the sea if it were not for the Venetians. They had agreed to transport the troops. Without Alexios Angeles agreeing to the promise of provisions and to resupply them as needed it is very possible that they would have easily perished on their journey to Jerusalem. But Alexios gave them a reason to fight.
Once Alexios and the troops reach Constantinople it is decided to “reinstate Isaac II and Alexios Angeles IV to the throne” . The troops aren’t even in the city of Constantinople once they reinstate them to the throne but on the “Golden Horn outside of the city” . As time progresses Alexios starts to entertain ideas and thoughts of individuals with an anti-Latin sentiment. This starts to have some repercussions with the Crusaders, but from different texts in history we can see that many of the leaders of this crusade such as Clari, Boniface, Villehardouin, and Conon of Bethune were uneager to impress upon him the urgency of repayment of the debt.
“According to Robert de Clari Alexios IV made an immediate payment of one-hundred thousand marks” . This is important to note because we see that Alexios original intent is to pay on his debt but as time goes on he seems to have less intent on paying this. Many of the Crusaders start to get restless and there are many individuals that do not agree with his ascension to the throne. In fact many Greeks do not agree with the decision to instill Alexios IV as emperor. In order to help maintain his seat he has employed the leaders once more. He has asked that they stay on in Constantinople for the course of a year and then in March of 1204 he will have repaid agreement. “But during December of that year Anti-Latin sentiment becomes too much and many of the governing body and groups are requiring that the Crusaders leave. This