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The crusading ideal reigned between the end of the 11th century and
the early 12th century and very likely arose following serious acts of
religious intolerance suffered by Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land.
Venice came to the Crusaders' aid later than other sea powers; more precisely,
only after it had realistically evaluated the political and economic effects.
The events in the Holy Land troubled Venice also due to rivalry with other
seafaring Republics, especially Genoa and Pisa, who supported the Crusaders'
action. Moreover the theatre of operations included a reaction by European
States against the increasingly threatening Arab expansion into Christian
lands. Over and above the Arabs, there was another Islamic power seeking
to conquer the West: the Seljuk Turks who took control of Syria and Palestine
at the end of the 11th century. This period determined the Christian States'
position on the offensive of the Crusades and with time was the determining
cause of Venice's long lasting conflict with the Turks.
Venice achieved the peak of its glory with the 4th Crusade, of which the
Doge Enrico Dandolo (1192 -1205) was both artificer and protagonist.
At the end of the 12th century diplomatic and political relations between
Constantinople and Venice were apparently cordial and Venice continued
to benefit from its ancient trade concessions in the East. Nevertheless
Venice had not yet erased the memory of a blow inflicted at Constantinople
in 1171 by the emperor Manuel when ten thousand Venetians had been arrested
and massacred. When the occasion presented itself Venice did not renounce
revenge, taking advantage of usurpations in the East for succession to
the empire on the death of emperor Manuel Comnenus. It appears that even
before the Crusade troops gathered in Venice in 1202, to be taken to the
East in aid of the Christians against the Sultan of Egypt, there had been
secret agreements between the Christian commander barons and the Doge
Enrico Dandolo: instead of going to Egypt the expedition would head first
to Constantinople and put the young and persecuted Alexis back on the
usurped throne. He had promised, should he become emperor once more, to
supply considerable means for the Christian venture.
In spite of excommunications by Pope Innocent III, who saw failure of
the expedition against the Unbelievers, the new plan was accepted. In
April 1203 the Crusaders' army reached Constantinople, attacked the city
and took it. The young emperor they restored to the throne was killed
in an uprising. The Crusaders conquered the city for the second time on
their own account in 1204 and, proclaiming the fall of the ancient Eastern
Empire, they established, on old Dandolo's proposal, that the whole territory
and its vast riches should be divided among the participants. Its place
would be taken by the new Latin Empire of Constantinople of which the
Venetians would own one quarter and a half.
A great colonial empire was thus formed with an almost uninterrupted chain
of ports and stop-off points from Dalmatia to Constantinople and beyond,
into the Black Sea. Venice gained an immense booty of riches - gold, marble
and artworks (including the four horses of St. Mark's) - and its sea power
was enormously increased.
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