Page View
Hazard, H. W. (ed.) / The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
(1975)
XVIII: The Aftermath of the Crusades, pp. [unnumbered]-666
PDF (7.8 MB)
Page 652
652 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES III Christianorum pro con questa Terrae Sanctae,7 to be submitted to pope Eugenius IV. In this work, Piloti resuscitated the idea that a permanent conquest of the Holy Land should begin by the invasion of Egypt. Without seizing Alexandria and Cairo in the first instance, all Latin victories in Syria and Palestine would remain empty. The task of winning Egypt would be made easier by the depopulation of Alexandria and by the customary practice of the sultan, who butch ered his emirs on the least suspicion of treachery. The author then outlined the Mamluk power and methods of war for the benefit of the crusader. Unlike most propagandists, he repudiated the crusade as an act of vindictiveness aimed at the extermination of the Mos lems. The victorious leaders of Christendom, on the contrary, should treat their new subjects with love and leniency in order to win them over to Christianity. In this respect, his work recalls the thesis of earlier propagandists like Peter the Venerable in the twelfth century and Raymond Lull toward the end of the thirteenth and the begin ning of the fourteenth. A propagandist document of considerable weight, the De modo must also be regarded as a worthy complement to Marino Sanudo Torsello's Secreta fidelium crucis (1321)8 as a source for the history of medieval commerce in the Levant. While propagandists were thus busy discussing the possibilities of an eastern reconquest, the Ottomans proceeded firmly with the task of consolidating their territorial gains in Europe; their troops were already mustered in the environs of Constantinople. The situation became critical for the isolated city; and in the summer of 1397 Manuel II Palaeologus dispatched his ambassador Theodore Canta cuzenus to implore Charles VI for immediate help. After some procrastination, the French king consented to contribute 400 knights, 400 squires, and a number of archers under the command of marshal Boucicault; the expedition started from Aigues-Mortes on June 26, 1399. Arriving at the island of Chios, the French squadron awaited in vain a promised reinforcement from Venice and from the Knights of Rhodes, and had to sail alone through the hazardous waters of the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara to Constantinople. Perhaps the only achievement of the French was in helping to raise the maritime blockade of the capital. Otherwise, Boucicault realized the hopelessness of the position and decided to retrace his steps to 7. Ed. Baron de Reiffenberg, Monument pour servir a l'histoire de Namur..., IV (Brussels, 1846), 312—419. 8. See above, p. 10.
Copyright 1975 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved. Use of this material falling outside the purview of "fair use" requires the permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. To buy the hardcover book, see: http://www/wisc/edu/wisconsinpress/books/1734.htm