The Glory of the Crusades (26 page)

The rejection of Alexius Angelus at the walls dampened the Crusaders’ spirits. A peaceful coup was no longer a viable tactic; the Crusaders now knew they would have to fight. However, the besieging of the Queen of Cities with a force well below the number of defenders was a daunting prospect. Villehardouin succinctly described the situation when he commented, “Never have so many been besieged by so few.”
401

The Main Assault

The Crusade leaders met to plan the main assault and disagreements quickly arose over the plan. The Venetians wanted a marine attack across the harbor with a focus on attacking weak parts of the fortifications, whereas the French, not comfortable fighting from ships, preferred a land assault on the walls. The leaders knew they needed to develop a plan and implement it quickly because they only had enough provisions for a two- to three-week siege.

The nobles agreed on a plan that most military planners would immediately fault: to split their forces and concentrate them on two different points of attack. The Venetians decided to embark on an amphibious assault against the walls whereas the French planned an attack against the walls near the Blachernae Palace. Previous attackers of Constantinople had focused on the middle city walls where the defenses were the lightest. The French chose to attack an area with some of the city’s strongest defenses. It was a poor choice.

On July 17, the French Crusaders, using a battering ram and carrying scaling ladders, began their assault. The walls were defended by Pisan troops and by the feared Varangian Guards, and the attack quickly became a disaster: only fifteen Crusaders managed to climb up the walls, and all but two were killed.
402

The Venetian attack fared better primarily due to their unique ships and the leadership of Dandolo. The Venetians had modified their ships with platforms that provided a location for troops to bombard the defenders with missiles and serve as a heightened position from which to climb on top of the walls. The success of the Venetian attack, which began to push through the city, prompted Alexius III to order an element of the Varangian Guards to break contact with the French and assist the defenders fighting against the Venetians.

The arrival of the Varangians caused the Venetians to fall back. As they did so, they set a defensive fire in the city to separate their line of attack from the Greek defenders. The fire raged out of control and ultimately burned 120 acres in the city and left 20,000 inhabitants homeless.
403
It was the first of three devastating fires the Crusaders would set in Constantinople.

The people of Constantinople were upset at the fire’s devastation and clamored for Alexius III, who had been quite passive during the Crusader attack, to do something. Heeding the murmuring of the people, Alexius III launched a counter-attack with more than 30,000 troops against the French Crusader host. The French, recognizing that they were massively outnumbered, sent word to the Venetians to send reinforcements as quickly as possible. In the meantime the French took the drastic measure of outfitting the camp non-combatants—including cooks, tailors, and smiths—for battle. They wore pots from the kitchen for helmets and horse quilts for armor, and used knives and other cooking instruments for weapons.

The Flemish were in the vanguard and began the march toward the Byzantine line, but as they moved farther away from the Crusader camp they suddenly halted, as their commanders became afraid that they were getting too far ahead of the main force. To re-form the line they began a small tactical withdrawal, which from the perspective of those in the main body looked like a general retreat. Medieval chivalry demanded resoluteness in the face of an enemy and retreating was a stain on one’s honor, so the Crusaders in the main body charged forward, causing significant confusion within the army. It was a perfect opportunity for the Byzantines to attack but shockingly, the opposite occurred: Alexius III ordered a retreat.

Although the retreat of the Byzantines was perplexing, and devastating to morale, it was in line with Alexius III’s goal for the sortie. He did not wish to engage the Crusaders in open battle but rather wanted to halt the Venetian advance by forcing them to divert troops and attention to the French sector. This tactical objective was achieved. At the end of the day’s battle, the Venetian advance was halted with heavy casualties and the French were forced to abandon their assault and re-group. Despite the tactical success, the Byzantine failure to engage in combat and drive the French from the field was a strategic disaster. Fleeing in the face of an inferior enemy was tantamount to treason, and the decision increased the people’s criticism of Alexius III’s behavior during the siege. Alexius III took stock of his situation and decided fleeing was the better part of valor.

So, that evening, with “his city in flames, his enemies intact, his reputation disintegrating, the ill-prepared, discomposed and out-maneuvered Alexius III . . . prudently chose to flee the city.”
404

The Reign of Alexius IV

But the people of Constantinople did not want to immediately install his victorious rival Alexius Angelus due to his close association with the Crusader army outside the walls. Instead, they clamored for the restoral of the blind and aged Isaac II. The old emperor, newly re-installed, sent word to the Crusaders asking for his son Alexius Angelus to join him in the city.

The Crusaders were hesitant to release Alexius Angelus without assurances from Isaac that he would honor Alexius’ agreements
with them. Although he demurred at first, the old emperor finally agreed. The Crusaders were allowed into the city, and most of them spent time visiting the numerous churches and venerating the many relics.

A few weeks after his father’s restoration to the throne, Alexius Angelus was crowned co-emperor, taking the name Alexius IV. Now that he was on the throne, it was time for Alexius IV to deliver on his promises to the Crusaders. A joint letter of obedience from Alexius and Patriarch John X Camaterus was sent to Pope Innocent III reuniting the two Churches. Although this official declaration of reunion was sent per his promise, Alexius IV and the patriarch made no effort to impose Roman doctrine on the Byzantine people. The promise was fulfilled, but it was hollow.

On top of that, Alexius paid the Crusaders only half the amount he had pledged to them—he still owed them the enormous sum of 100,000 silver marks. The Crusaders were able to remunerate their debt to the Venetians, but they needed the remaining amount to finance the Crusade to Outrémer. Pressured by the Crusaders to pay his remaining debt, Alexius sought ways to raise the necessary cash. He first turned to the nobility, taxing the wealthy families of Constantinople, but when even that proved unable to meet the remaining amount Alexius showed no shame in despoiling the sacred. He ordered the tombs of past emperors opened in order to strip the corpses of their rich vestments and precious jewels. When even that amount proved wanting, Alexius commanded the confiscation of sacred icons and vessels whose rich ornamentation was handed over in payment to the Crusaders.

The murmuring and complaining from the citizens of Constantinople over the presence and influence of the Crusaders grew through the summer of 1203, reaching a zenith on August 18, when a riot erupted in the city against Western expatriates in the city. Many were attacked and harassed, including the very Pisans who only a month earlier had fought and died to protect the city against the Crusaders.

The riot caused many Westerners to leave the city and join the Crusaders in their camp. In retaliation for it, a group of Crusaders (Flemings, Pisans, and Venetians) decided the next day to venture into the city to set fire to a mosque built by Isaac II as a sign of friendship with Saladin.
405
The fire consumed the mosque but then searched for more fuel, beginning a rampage that lasted three days and consumed 440 acres of the densely populated central section of the city, stopping just short of the famed Hagia Sophia. The devastation in lives and property was enormous: 150 people were killed and 100,000 left homeless.
406

The fires had burned not only the city but also any chance of an amicable relationship between the citizens and Crusaders. The situation in Constantinople was now combustible and neither Isaac II nor Alexius IV were capable of suppressing the inevitable fireworks.

The End of Alexius IV

At the beginning of 1204 Alexius IV was caught in a vicious cycle of trying to appease the anti-Crusader mob while not harming his former friends to whom he owed his reign. Alexius’s inability to act decisively either way led to the mob taking matters into its own hands.

On January 25, 1204 the Byzantines descended on Hagia Sophia and compelled the senate and clergy to meet and elect a new emperor. It took three days to find someone willing, but eventually Nicholas Kannovos was selected. The patriarch, however, refused to crown him, so the people performed the ceremony.

Kannovos’s reign lasted a mere six days before his death in the chaotic and violent early days of 1204. The news of a mob-elected emperor was a major shock to Alexius IV, who turned once again to his former Crusader friends for help. He offered them possession of the Blachernae imperial palace in exchange for their armed protection. He entrusted this proposal to Alexius Ducas, nicknamed Mourtzouphlus because of his large bushy eyebrows that met in the middle of his forehead.
407

Unknown to Alexius IV was that Mourtzouphlus hated the Crusaders and was the leader of one of the many anti-Latin groups in the city. This duplicitous imperial bureaucrat would bring about the end of Alexius IV and Isaac II, leading to the Crusader sack of the city. History is not kind to Mourtzouphlus—“few men since Pilate have received such uniformly bad press.” In his case, the assessment of history is correct.
408

The Reign of Alexius V

Mourtzouphlus used his access to Alexius IV and Isaac II to stage a coup with the backing of the military, clergy, and civil service on the night and early morning of January 27–28, 1204. Alexius IV was imprisoned and the popularly elected Nicholas Kannovos was arrested and killed. The aged Isaac II died soon after the takeover. Taking the name Alexius V, Mourtzouphlus was crowned emperor on February 5.

Once installed, he initiated a series of actions designed to force the untenable situation with the Crusaders to a head. Believing the Crusaders would leave if their ally Alexius IV were dead, Mourtzouphlus ordered the imprisoned former emperor strangled. The rank-and-file Crusaders were happy when they heard the news, since they believed the nobles would now leave the city and go to the Holy Land. They were wrong. The Crusade leaders were furious to learn of Alexius IV’s death. He still owed them money, and they were determined to receive their promised payment from the Byzantines. The nobles knew they needed food, supplies, and money for a successful expedition to the Holy Land. A second siege of the city was in order.

In an effort to persuade the rank and file, the Crusading bishops presented the case that Mourtzouphlus was guilty of regicide, a usurper, and could be justly deposed. Although the Byzantines saw Mourtzouphlus as just one successful usurper in a long line of such politicians, the Crusaders saw him as a disloyal murderer.

The Second Siege

On April 10, 1204 the second siege of Constantinople began. The Crusaders concentrated their forces on five towers at the northeastern wall near the Blachernae Palace, but the attack was repulsed, with heavy Crusader causalities.
409
The Crusaders were not only defeated in this initial assault but they suffered the taunts of the Byzantine defenders, who “began to hoot and to shout right lustily, and they went up on the walls and let down their breeches and showed them their buttocks.”
410

The siege resumed on April 12. The Crusaders changed tactics in order to successfully capture the towers on the walls. By lashing two ships together, the Venetians could bring superior numbers against a single tower. The ships were then firmly lashed to the tower, and from there troops climbed onto the wall, shouting their battle cry of “Holy Sepulchre!”

As the battle raged, a small group of ten knights and sixty infantry (including the chronicler Robert of Clari) found an undefended walled-up postern gate. Using their hands and swords, the Crusaders began to tear down the wall. Their activity drew the attention of the defenders, who rained down arrows, crossbow bolts, and boiling oil to deter their progress. Finally, the Crusaders succeeded in removing a small section of the wall, which allowed them to see inside the city. The number of soldiers within stunned them. Robert of Clari described the scene and the reaction of the Crusaders: “[I]t seemed as if half the world were there, and they [the Crusaders] did not dare risk entering in.”
411
One bold Crusader, Aleaume of Clari (Robert’s brother), abandoned caution and began wiggling through the hole, even as his fellow Crusaders tried to stop him by grabbing his feet. Aleaume pushed his way through and found himself on the other side of the wall, cut off from his fellow warriors and facing the Byzantine host. He truly was “one man against a multitude.”
412

Stunned by Aleaume’s audacity, the Byzantine troops did the unexpected. Instead of attacking Aleaume and sealing the breach, the Greeks “fled like cattle.”
413
The Crusaders had been fortunate in that they had broken through a section of the wall that was guarded by regular imperial troops. These Byzantine troops were “poorly trained and martially inept . . . [and] had shown themselves again and again willing to fight only when the danger to themselves was minuscule.”
414
Aleaume leaned back through the wall and yelled to his fellow Crusaders, “Sirs, enter boldly! For I see that they are utterly confounded and are fleeing away.”
415