Prelude, part 2
This prelude was written with no regard to historicity.
The partition of the East
The foundation of the Latin Empire was especially insisted upon by Dandolo, the Doge of Venice. As the leader of one of the most powerful economies in the known world he wanted to see the "key of the east" in catholic hands, but he did not want to be directly responsible for it's safety. As had been Venice attitude historically, they preferred vassals and allies over direct control, so that they themselves could remain mobile with their fleet and flexible in their allegiances.
Once in control of Constantinople, the crusaders proceeded directly to the partition of the Empire. It had been agreed between the Doge Dandolo and Bonifacio del Monferrato before they left Venice that one full quarter of the whole dominion was to be assigned to the new Emperor, who was to be elected by Venetians and crusaders together. This left three-quarters remaining, of which Venice was to take half, the rest to be divided among the crusaders as vassal states of the Empire. First of all, however, came the election of an Emperor for the new state.
Venice had no nobility, at least not in the same sense as the rest of Europe, so it was out of the question to crown any Venetian. The Emperor therefore had to be chosen from among either the lords of the Imperial domains in Italy, or the French nobles under the Capet dynasty, since these two groups made up more than half the crusading army. A council of electors was set up, initially consisting of 58 dukes and counts, with the Doge it's chairman. As time went on however, a few electors left for Europe, so when the final decision was made there were 51 electors. Two lords soon became the final candidates of either side: Hugues de Berzé, supported by the French and Bonifacio del Monferrato, supported by the Italians. Neither had enough support to be elected without the support of Venice however, and since neither side among the crusaders were willing to give in the discussion stagnated. In due time it became clear that, for any one of the candidates to win the election, they would need the support of the third faction, Venice. Doge Dandolo, as the businessman he was, decided he would sell the crown to the highest bidder. Del Monferrato, who at first seemed the most likely to be chosen, was declared ineligible for election, due to the connection, through his brother, with the old Empire. Hugues de Berzé publicly withdrew from the election since he came from a rather poor family, and he returned to France soon after. None of the remaining knights with a reasonable enough reputation and name to be elected wanted to buy the Empire, and so the Doge cancelled the bidding, in fear of the crusaders refusing the crown entirely.
Doge Dandolo announcing the auction to the council.
Many of the senior knights refused to participate, and so the auction was cancelled.
Now a young knight, Baudouin de Flandre, entered the limelight. He had been one of the boldest of the crusaders, and he was the commander of what had become known as "la charge des Chrysopolis", where the crusading knights had slain a force more than 5 times their own strength. Where as both previous candidates were well over 45 years old, Baudouin was only about 30, and he came from a very well respected house. The crusaders had finally agreed on a candidate, and the Doge of Venice soon accepted as well, supporting Baudouin because he believed the duke was wealthy enough to support his kingdom without subsidies from Venice, something that was considered a necessity due to the near total collapse of the Venetian economy after the construction of the crusading fleet. There was therefore no surprise when the council announced that the choice fell upon Baudouin. Bonifacio del Monferrato accepted the decision straight away, and was given the kingdom of Thessalonica by the council.
Baudouin was the commander at the battle of Chrysopolis, and in only a few weeks the event had turned into somewhat of a legend.
The rumors flourished, and Baudouin himself wasn't interested in giving any clarity to the story,
since his popularity arose only after having been declared the hero of the battle.
The fate of Greece
The Greek Empire had fallen to pieces in one blow. Theodore Lascaris, one of the wealthiest nobles of the fallen Empire, established himself as Emperor of Nicaea and the sons of ex-Emperor Manuel I Komnenos created the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus. The two most recently disposed Emperors, Alexios III and Ducas at first joined forces and started rebuilding their armies in the northwest provinces. Their temporary alliance didn't last very long however, and soon Alexios decided to hand his ally over to the catholics, but before doing so he had Ducas eyes put out. As the council was still present in Constantinople they put a court together, found Ducas guilty of the murder of Alexios IV, and decided it was appropriate to throw him over the city wall at the Gate of Petrion onto the cobblestone street, 20 meters below. Alexios III, after various attempts at recovering his Empire, both from the catholics and from the Greek successor states, was captured by Lascaris of Nicaea and sent off to a Monastery.
The council specifically picked the place where the Templars had first penetrated the city's defenses as the location to execute Ducas.
Baudouin began his reign by sending a letter to the Pope. Jerusalem was still under the influence of heathens, and thus the Crusade wasn't successful, yet the Pope congratulated the Emperor for ending the great schism. To Philippe II Auguste of France he sent an open invitation for knights to come to the new Empire and fight for church and glory. The crusaders of Acre also received word from the Emperor, stating that the gates of Constantinople were in catholic hands and that troops soon would make their way to the holy land.
With the Empire being fairly parceled out, the council disbanded. The Venetians soon sailed to secure their territory, even though the Doge stayed in Constantinople to help the Emperor secure the borders, and to ensure that Venice got the major trade deals. Bonifacio del Monferrato took his knights and men-at-arms to establish his own kingdom of Thessalonica, located a few days to the west of Constantinople. Other lords, such as Othon de La Roche of Athens and Guillaume de Champlitte of Achaea also took their knights and left the Capital, turning to their possessions in the west. A few crusader lords stayed in the employ of Baudouin as the first attempt at an organized army, while others either went home or went east to conquer territories for themselves. The Greeks soon began to perceive that they were ruled by a mere handful of Flemish knights.
Those that hadn't joined the successor states were few, but they had all been pardoned in an attempt to secure the throne.
The nobility wasn't as thankful as Baudouin had hoped however, and they soon started cooperating with their former enemies, the Bulgarians.
Soon a group of emissaries arrived from Kaloyan, the King of Bulgaria. Kaloyan wanted an alliance with the Empire, as well as to reunite with the catholic church, in exchange for the curia recognizing the head of the Bulgarian church as a Patriarch. The Pope was informed of the Bulgarian kings wish for reconciliation, but his holiness advised Baudouin to bring the Bulgarians into the fold the same way he had done the Greeks, and to not negotiate with heretics. The Emperor told one of the Bulgarian emissaries that he would not bargain with his barbarian king unless the same first touched the footstool of the imperial throne with his forehead. The rest of the Bulgarian delegation was executed.
Kaloyan instantly turned his attention to destroying the Empire. He secretly entered an alliance with large parts of the Greek aristocracy, and they waited patiently till a time when it seemed as if the force of Baudouin was at the lowest; that is, when Prince Henri, brother of the Emperor, was leading a majority of the troops against Lascaris of Nicaea, far to the east. The empire's garrisons were sparse and far between, and there were no forces near Constantinople to come to the rescue. It was a revolt of thousands against tens and the few knights left in the city tried to escape. Meanwhile the Bulgarians, led by their King, started making their way toward the capital.
The battle of Adrianople
Baudouin ordered his brother to return in all haste, and then decided to take the forces he had left and head to Adrianople, where the Bulgarian army had been sighted. He had with him no more than 2000 men, about 100 of which were mounted knights, and the rest were archers and men-at-arms. The main body of the army was commanded by the Count of Blois, and the the rear was brought up by Dandolo. Just east of Adrianople they clashed with the enemy, 20.000 men in total, of which about 12.000 was light cavalry. The Bulgarian infantry was composed of a dozen different units, ranging from savage axemen to mercenaries equipped with pole weapons and spears. These soldiers were no match for the veteran Latin men-at-arms. The Emperor decided to support the infantry, and lead the knights in a charge at the flank. While on their way however they spotted the Bulgarian cavalry heading straight for them, and so they were forced to turn and face them. As usual, the enemy fled at the first charge of the heavily armed knights, who hurried after them, led by the Emperor. Soon the knights horses got so tired they had to stop, and by doing so they allowed themselves to become surrounded by the enemy cavalry. All but a few of the knights died, among the dead was the Count of Blois and Doge Dandolo. The Emperor wasn't so lucky as to die in battle, but was captured, brought to the camp of the Bulgarian King, forced to lick his boots and then beheaded. A few weeks later Bonifacio del Monferrato was slain in a skirmish with the Bulgarians.
Many of the senior knights and leaders of the crusade died during the battle,
among them Doge Enrico Dandolo of Venice and Louis I, Comte de Blois.
The leaders of the crusade, who only three years before had set sail from Venice, were dead. Left was only Henri de Flandre and Marshal Geoffrey de Villehardouin, who had miraculously survived the battle. Othon of Athens and Guillaume of Achaea were busy defending their own territory, and could not lend any help to the Empire. Henri later assumed the possition of Emperor, but only after having waited almost a year in hope of the return of his older brother.
