Crusades to Monsignor Morlino From

Crusades

To Monsignor Morlino from Pope Innocent III

Monsignor, as you know, I am a Christian and the spiritual leader of all Christians. In my papal bull Post miserabile, I urged another Crusade -- to retake Jerusalem from the Moslems. I did my very best to direct this Fourth Crusade from my position here in Rome, but in the end the distance proved too great and the Crusade was a failure. Moreover, I can tell you why it failed, aside from my inability to be there and see it to a happy conclusion.

The crusaders were to set sail from Venice on the 24th of June, 1202. Most of the soldiers came from France but groups also came from other places across Europe, including Flanders and the Holy Roman Empire. They joined men from Venice and their leader Enrico Dandolo. It had been agreed upon that the Venetians would transport the crusaders, 33,500 of them in number, to the Egyptian city of Cairo. I was pleased with this arrangement and banned any attacks of Christian cities.

But the Venetians did not heed my order. They had other plans in mind. They wished to settle old scores with Zara, a city that had once been under the influence of Venice but had managed in recent years to exercise its independence. Despite signs of Zara's Christianity, the Crusaders were urged to attack by the Venetians and bring Zara back into submission. Christian against Christian on the way to wage holy war against the infidel! Should it be any wonder that God did not give His blessing to such men? I think not. Rather than fighting for the rights of God, they stooped to fighting for the rights of men -- on the way to war in the Holy Land. This, Monsignor, should weigh heavily in our minds.

In fact, the Crusaders refused to remember their objective, which was the taking of Jerusalem by way of Egypt. Instead, they next went to Byzantium and inflicted a damaging blow on Constantinople -- our Christian brethren divided from us in schism, but united to us in the Faith. What a devastating blow this was to our goal of holy war. These Crusaders, rather than fighting the infidel, fought only with other Christians! Why should Christ bless such a fight?

The Latins proved themselves untrustworthy and the fact that these Crusaders never even made it to the Holy Land shows exactly how our faithful can use a holy purpose to set about achieving their own aim. I was forced to excommunicate these violators of sanctuaries and thieves of holy things. The securing of money and profits, political favors and patronage, were their sole aim. I wonder whether they ever had any intention of confronting Islam in the Holy Land. It breaks my heart to think that the answer might be no.