Editing Fourth Crusade (section)

=== Decision to go to Constantinople ===
[[File:Gustave dore crusades dandolo preaching the crusade.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|right|''Dandolo Preaching the Crusade'' by [[Gustave Doré]]]]

The commercial rivalry between the Republic of Venice and the Byzantine Empire and the living memory of the [[Massacre of the Latins]] did much to exacerbate the feeling of animosity among the Venetians towards the [[Byzantine Greeks]]. According to the [[Novgorod First Chronicle|Chronicle of Novgorod]] Doge Enrico Dandolo had been blinded by the Emperor [[Manuel I Komnenos]] the Great while part of an embassy to Constantinople in 1171, and accordingly held personal enmity towards the Byzantines.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sk9lvXUMHpYC&q=%22recorded+in+the+chronicle+of+novgorod%22&pg=PA64 |title=Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice |first=Thomas F. |last=Madden |year=2006 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-9184-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

[[Boniface of Montferrat]], meanwhile, had left the fleet before it sailed from Venice, to visit his cousin [[Philip of Swabia]]. The reasons for his visit are a matter of debate; he may have realized the Venetians' plans and left to avoid excommunication, or he may have wanted to meet with the Roman prince [[Alexios IV Angelos]], Philip's brother-in-law and the son of the recently deposed Roman emperor [[Isaac II Angelos]]. Alexios IV had recently fled to Philip in 1201 but it is unknown whether or not Boniface knew he was at Philip's court. There, Alexios IV offered to pay the entire debt owed to the Venetians, give 200,000 silver marks to the crusaders, 10,000 Byzantine professional troops for the Crusade, the maintenance of 500 knights in the Holy Land, the service of the Byzantine navy to transport the Crusader Army to Egypt, and the placement of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] under the authority of the Pope, if they would sail to Constantinople and topple the reigning emperor [[Alexios III Angelos]], brother of Isaac II. This offer, tempting for an enterprise that was short on funds, reached the leaders of the Crusade on 1 January 1203 as they wintered at Zara.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jean |last=Richard |page=247 |title=The Crusades c. 1071 – c. 1291 |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-62566-1}}</ref> Doge Dandolo was a fierce supporter of the plan; however, in his earlier capacity as an ambassador to the Byzantine Empire and someone who knew the finer details of how the empire's politics worked, it is likely he knew the promises were false and there was no hope of any Byzantine emperor raising the money promised, let alone raising the troops and giving the church to the Holy See. Count Boniface agreed and Alexios IV returned with the Marquess to rejoin the fleet at [[Corfu]] after it had sailed from Zara. Most of the rest of the crusade's leaders, encouraged by bribes from Dandolo,<ref name="Runciman98" /> eventually accepted the plan as well. However, there were dissenters. Led by [[Renaud of Montmirail]], those who refused to take part in the scheme to attack Constantinople sailed on to Syria.<ref name="Runciman98" /> The remaining fleet of 60 [[war galley]]s, 100 [[Horse transports in the Middle Ages|horse transports]], and 50 large [[Troopship|transports]] (the entire fleet was manned by 10,000 Venetian oarsmen and marines) sailed in late April 1203.{{sfn|Phillips|2004|p=269}} In addition, 300 siege engines were brought along on board the fleet.{{sfn|Phillips|2004|p=113}} Hearing of their decision, the Pope hedged and issued an order against any more attacks on Christians unless they were actively hindering the Crusader cause, but he did not condemn the scheme outright.<ref>Runciman, Steven. ''The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades'', (1954; repr., London: Folio Society, 1994), 99</ref>