Alexios III Angelos
Further information: Alexios III AngelosMeanwhile in Constantinople, the deposed Isaac II Angelus and his son Alexios IV Angelos were both in prison following the coup of Alexius III Angelus. However, Isaac was not destined to spend the rest of his days in jail; his young son Alexios IV escaped prison in the summer of 1203 and fled to the court of Philip of Swabia, the younger son of Frederick I Barbarossa. Philip and Alexius IV were brothers-in-law due to the former's marriage to the later's sister, Irene Angelina.
| "None of you should therefore dare to assume that it is permissible for you to seize or to plunder the land of the Greeks, even though the latter may be disobedient to the Apostolic See, or on the grounds that the Emperor of Constantinople has deposed and even blinded his brother and usurped the imperial throne. For though this same emperor and the men entrusted to his rule may have sinned, both in these and in other matters, it is not for you to judge their faults, nor have you assumed the sign of the cross to punish this injury; rather you specifically pledged your self to the duty of avenging the insult to the cross." |
| Innocent III to Boniface I of Montferrat, Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, and Louis I, Count of Blois (Ferentino, summer 1203, c. June 20). |
Alexios appealed to Philip to help him and his father regain the Byzantine throne. Fortunately for Alexios IV, Phillip had good connections with the new leader of the Fourth Crusade, Boniface I of Montferrat (Theobald III, Count of Champagne had died in 1201). Therefore, when Alexios offered 500 Knights, 10,000 soldiers along with food and money to help the Crusaders with their drive to Egypt, Doge Dandolo and the other leaders of the Fourth Crusade happily accepted this new challenge. Both the money and the troops were desperately needed by the Crusaders as they had neither in the quantities they required- especially to pay of the Venetian debt of 34,000 silver marks. As an added bonus, Alexios IV promised to submit the Byzantine Church to the Church of Rome.
Innocent reprimanded the leaders of the crusaders, and ordered them to proceed forthwith to the Holy Land.
Alexios III Angelus, the Byzantine Emperor at the time made no preparations for the defense of the city – there were few troops and very few military vessels. Military expenditure was seen as a waste by the corrupt emperors of the time and the money used for personal interests or on favorites. Thus, when the Venetian fleet entered the waters of Constantinople on 24 June 1203, they encountered little resistance. On 5 July 1203, the Crusader army crossed the Bosporus into the poorly defended commercial sector of the capital, Galata. A single tower was the only challenge to be found. Typically under-manned and under-supplied, the tower offered resistance for no more than 24 hours. Following this, the Crusaders launched an unsuccessful assault on the walls of Constantinople, repelled by the Varangian Guard. However, the decisive actions of the Venetian Doge allowed him and his fellow country men to land on the beaches and before long the walls were in the hands of the Crusaders. Alexios III fled; Isaac and later his son were crowned co-emperors on August 1, 1203.
| “ | The Duke of Venice, an old man and stone-blind, stood on the prow of his galley with the banner of St. Mark and ordered his men to drive the ship ashore. And so they did, and he leaped down and planted the banner before him in the ground. And when the others saw the standard of St Mark and the Doge's galley beached, they were ashamed and followed him ashore. | ” |
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—Villehardouin |
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Read more about this topic: Byzantine Empire Under The Angeloi
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