Editing Fourth Crusade (section)

=== Flemish fleet ===
For reasons unknown, Baldwin of Flanders divided his forces, leading half to Venice himself and sending the other half by sea. The Flemish fleet left Flanders in the summer of 1202 under the command of [[John II of Nesle]], [[Thierry of Flanders (flourished 1197–1207)|Thierry of Flanders]] and [[Nicholas of Mailly]].{{efn|Nicholas of Mailly joined the main army after the fall of Constantinople.{{sfn|Queller|Compton|Campbell|1974}}}} It sailed into the Mediterranean and, according to the chronicler [[Ernoul]], attacked and captured an unnamed Muslim city on the African coast. The city was left in the hands of the [[Livonian Brothers of the Sword]] and the fleet went on to [[Marseille]], where it wintered in 1202–1203. There the fleet was joined by a number of French crusaders, including Bishop [[Walter II (bishop of Autun)|Walter II of Autun]], Count [[Guigues III of Forez]], [[Bernard IV of Moreuil]], Henry of Arraines, Hugh of Chaumont, John of Villers, Peter Bromont and the brothers Walter and Hugh of Saint-Denis and their retinues.{{sfn|Queller|Compton|Campbell|1974}}

The pilots of Marseille had more experience sailing out of sight of land than those of any other Mediterranean port, having been doing it since the mid-12th century. In summer, they could make the trip to Acre in fifteen days. They possessed a fleet sufficient to transport the army of [[Richard the Lionheart]] on the [[Third Crusade]] in 1190. It was also a cheaper and more accessible port for the French contingent.{{sfn|Queller|Compton|Campbell|1974}}

Baldwin sent orders to his fleet in Marseille to sail at the end of March 1203 and rendezvous with the Venetian fleet off [[Methoni, Messenia|Methoni]].{{efn|Baldwin of Flanders' wife, [[Marie of Champagne]], sailed from Marseille to Acre in the spring of 1204. She was there when she learned of his election as emperor.{{sfn|Queller|Compton|Campbell|1974}}}} His messengers must also have brought news of the decision to go to Constantinople before proceeding to the Holy Land. For this reason the Flemish leaders may have opted to ignore the rendezvous and sail directly to Acre. It is also possible that they kept the rendezvous, but not finding the Venetian fleet (which did not get to Methoni before May) went on to Acre alone. They probably arrived there before Martin of Pairis on 25 April 1203.{{sfn|Queller|Compton|Campbell|1974}} At least a part of the fleet stopped at [[Kingdom of Cyprus|Cyprus]], where Thierry of Flanders made a claim on the island in the name of his wife, the [[Damsel of Cyprus]], daughter of [[Isaac Doukas Komnenos]], former emperor of Cyprus. Thierry, his wife and those knights that had supported him were ordered by Aimery to leave his kingdom, so they went to the [[Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia|Kingdom of Armenia]], homeland of Thierry's mother-in-law.<ref name="WHRdC">W. H. Rudt de Collenberg (1968), "L'empereur Isaac de Chypre et sa fille (1155–1207)", ''Byzantion'' '''38''' (1): 123–179, at 172–173.</ref>

The Flemish crusaders in Acre encountered the same difficulty as Renard of Dampierre. King Aimery was unwilling to break his truce for the sake of such a small army. The crusaders, therefore, split up. Some entered the service of the Principality of Antioch and others that of the [[County of Tripoli]]. Bernard of Moreuil and John of Villers joined Renard of Dampierre and were captured along with him. John of Nesle went to the aid of Armenia and thus found himself fighting some of his former comrades, since [[War of the Antiochene Succession|Armenia and Antioch were then at war]]. Sometime before 5 November 1203, however, the truce was broken. The Muslims seized two Christian ships and in retaliation, the Christians had seized six Muslim ships. The Flemish crusaders returned to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to fight.{{sfn|Queller|Compton|Campbell|1974}}

On 8 November, Martin of Pairis and [[Conrad of Swartzenberg]] were sent to the main army, then besieging Constantinople, to press for it to continue on to the Holy Land now that the truce was broken. The envoys arrived on 1 January 1204, but the army was in the midst of heavy fighting and nothing came of their embassy.{{sfn|Queller|Compton|Campbell|1974}}

Assessing the disastrous results of the expedition he had started, [[Pope Innocent III]] spoke against the crusaders thus:
{{blockquote|How, indeed, will the church of the Greeks, no matter how severely she is beset with affIictions and persecutions, return into ecclesiastical union and to a devotion for the Apostolic See, when she has seen in the Latins only an example of perdition and the works of darkness, so that she now, and with reason, detests the Latins more than dogs? As for those who were supposed to be seeking the ends of Jesus Christ, not their own ends, who made their swords, which they were supposed to use against the pagans, drip with Christian blood, they have spared neither religion, nor age, nor sex. They have committed incest, adultery, and fornication before the eyes of men. They have exposed both matrons and virgins, even those dedicated to God, to the sordid lusts of boys. Not satisfied with breaking open the imperial treasury and plundering the goods of princes and lesser men, they also laid their hands on the treasures of the churches and, what is more serious, on their very possessions. They have even ripped silver plates from the altars and have hacked them to pieces among themselves. They violated the holy places and have carried off crosses and relics.<ref>Pope Innocent III, ''Letters'', 126 (given July 12, 1205, and addressed to the papal legate, who had absolved the crusaders from their pilgrimage vows). Text is taken from the [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1204innocent.html Internet Medieval Sourcebook] by Paul Halsall. Modified. Original translation by J. Brundage.</ref>}}