Their common intrigues at Venice Bomface

Their common intrigues at Venice Bomface. and at Zara, their common struggles with the Crusaders, who wished to be about their lawful business while at Corfu and before Constantinople, and their final success in spite of so much opposition, formed a bond of union between them. Boniface was far more closely allied with.

Dandolo than was Baldwin. Whether the assertion of a Venetian writer be true or not, that Boniface had married a daughter of Dandolo1—and I see no reason to doubt it—it is at least certain that the relations between them had been of the most intimate kind. ‘Since the capture of the city the breach be-tween the Crusaders and the Venetians appeared to be continually widening. There was great dissatisfaction about the division of the spoil. The Crusaders charged the Venetians with having conveyed plunder by night to their ships instead of having given it up for distribution. Such a charge was more likely to be made by the Flemish and French Crusaders.

The younger Sanudo makes this assertion: “Vito do’ duchi di Venez.,” Muratori, Du Cange, in his genealogy of the kings of Thessaloniea, mentions Constance de Suene as his first wife.

See than by the Lombards. The sympathy therefore of the Venetians was more likely to be with Boniface than with his rival. To these considerations others must be added.

Imposing presence

Boniface, with a noble lignre and imposing presence which had caused him to be known as “ The Giant,” and with his great experience of war, was the popular type of an emperor. Above all, he had been the recognized and official leader of the expedition. lie had been solemnly appointed by the Crusaders, had shared his fortune with them, had led them to conquest and to plunder. His supreme authority had never been questioned. Moreover, he had been recognized by the inhabitants of the city as their ruler.

The party of young Alexis would be on his side, and his marriage with Margaret, or as she now called herself, Maria, the widow of the Emperor Isaac, would increase his followers within the city. I7ot to appoint him was to condemn him. He was the one whose name would naturally first rise to each man’s lips. To appoint another over his head was to declare that he no longer possessed the confidence of the host, but that he had been tried and had been found wanting.