Attack on Constantinople
| Attack on Constantinople | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of German–Byzantine war and Third Crusade | |||||||||
_-_panoramio.jpg?lang=en) Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Holy Roman Empire |
 Byzantium | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Frederick Barbarossa Frederick of Swabia Henry VI of Germany |
Isaac II Angelos  Manuel Kamytzes Dobromir Chrysos | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 5000+ Byzantine civilians massacred by the knights of the Holy Roman Empire.[2] | |||||||||
The 1190 attack on Constantinople[3][4] was a conflict taking place during the Third Crusade between the army of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and the Byzantine Empire under Isaac II Angelos. After a diplomatic failure and increasing mistrust had developed, the German crusaders were advancing towards Constantinople when the Byzantine Empire prepared to fortify and possibly besiege the city.
Background
[edit]Frederick had made his intentions clear once peace was re-established and he was certain of the safety of both movement and market access, he would leave the area. Due to the previous mistreatment of his envoys, he also insisted on hostages from Isaac. On Christmas Eve, Eumathios Philokales, along with James of Pisa, appeared to accept Frederick's terms but then raised objections on grounds of the earlier conditions. This apparent change of position drew the ire of the crusaders, who declared war on the Byzantines.[1]
Battle
[edit]By late 1189, Frederick Barbarossa's army had reached a stalemate, wintering in Adrianople while conducting raids through Thrace and Macedonia to the edges of Constantinople.[5] Duke Berthold of Dalmatia, and other pro-war leaders pressured Frederick to attack. Frederick still had a preference for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict by spring 1190.[6] A range of political hurdles made it unlikely that Frederick could expect wider support for war, including the death of William II of Sicily, the Venetians being neutral, and the papacy's lack of interest in war.[2]
German forces seized a range of towns, such as Demotica, Chelebiköy, and Enos, often with widespread murder and looting.[7] Frederick's army faced decreasing discipline as pillage and abuse became endemic, while allegations of Byzantiuni poisoning plots and German anti-imagery incited violence against churches and civilians.[1] Whole regions were laid waste. Philippopolis was even destroyed when the crusaders vacated the site.[8]
While war ensued, Frederick resumed diplomatic actions separately with the Serbs and the Vlachs, and even the Byzantines.[9] Frederick offered an extremely tentative endorsement of a potential alliance with the Vlach leader Peter, who offered to deploy 40,000 troops in exchange for a royal title. Frederick's initial negotiations with the Byzantines collapsed in December, but in January 1190, negotiations resumed, and hostages were sent to Adrianople.[10] Frederick started sending envoys to Constantinople to confirm conditions and design a final peace.[11]
Aftermath
[edit]In early March 1190, the German crusader army commanded by Duke Frederick departed Adrianople and proceeded south toward Gallipoli, where they arrived on March 21. There, they encountered a Venetian ship that had tried to avoid provisioning the army by traveling to Constantinople but had been turned back by a storm, forcing it to barter with the crusaders. Around this time, envoys from Pisa arrived, pledging fealty to Emperor Frederick and offering ships and galleys to be used against Constantinople. The crusaders began to cross the Hellespont between March 22 and March 28. Bad weather on Easter Sunday, however, delayed operations briefly while the troops got to attend religious services. Frederick Barbarossa himself crossed on the 28th with the final portion of his army, as the Byzantine ships signaled their crossing. Now, the German forces were in Asia and would continue trekking toward the Holy Land.[2]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Freed, John (2016-06-19). Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth. Yale University Press. pp. 500–501. ISBN 978-0-300-22116-9.
- ^ a b c Setton, Kenneth M.; Wolff, Robert Lee; Hazard, Harry W. (1969). A History of the Crusades. Univ of Wisconsin Press. pp. 103–109. ISBN 978-0-299-04844-0.
- ^ Setton, Kenneth M.; Wolff, Robert Lee; Hazard, Harry W. (1969). A History of the Crusades. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-299-04844-0.
German army decided to set up winter quarters in Adrianople, and to continue the war against the Byzantines by an occupation of Thrace up to the very walls of Constantinople Indeed, in the weeks preceding his letter home (November 16) Frederick surrendered to the demands of the war party in the army, led by duke Berthold of Dalmatia, demanding an attack on Constantinople Yet he seemed to think that Isaac might come to his senses and make possible, for the spring of 1190, a passage of the straits.
- ^ Corcoran, James Andrew; Ryan, Patrick John; Prendergast, Edmond Francis (1884). The American Catholic Quarterly Review. Hardy and Mahony. p. 318.
King Henry, to get ready the fleets of the Italian States for an attack on Constantinople.
- ^ Gregory, Timothy E. (2011-08-26). A History of Byzantium. John Wiley & Sons. p. 310. ISBN 978-1-4443-5997-8.
- ^ Tucker, Spencer C. (2019-08-27). Middle East Conflicts from Ancient Egypt to the 21st Century: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-11729-2.
- ^ Richard, Jean (1999-09-16). The Crusades, C.1071-c.1291. Cambridge University Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-521-62566-1.
- ^ McKitterick, Rosamond; Fouracre, Paul; Reuter, Timothy; Luscombe, David Edward; Abulafia, David; Riley-Smith, Jonathan; Allmand, Christopher; Jones, Michael (1995). The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 1024-c. 1198. Pt. 1 and 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 559. ISBN 978-0-521-41410-4.
- ^ Fanthorpe, Lionel; Fanthorpe, Patricia (2005-04-09). Mysteries and Secrets of the Templars: The Story Behind the Da Vinci Code. Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-55002-557-6.
- ^ Tribbe, Frank C. (2003). The Holy Grail Mystery Solved: A Fully Illustrated Research Odyssey. Galde Press, Inc. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-880090-05-3.
- ^ Laiou, Angeliki E. (2018-02-06). Byzantium and the Other: Relations and Exchanges. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-21972-3.