History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 71, the Fourth Crusade Roman numeral 2.

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Hello again.

Last week we saw the newly installed Pope Innocent the Third, called for a crusade.

The three most enthusiastic and wealthy young noblemen to answer the call are,

Count Theobald of Champagne, Count Louis of Blois, and Count Baldwin of Flanders.

The three young counts held a planning meeting in the spring of the year 1200 in which they decided to sail to the

Holy Land.

Now it seems at this stage that the young counts decide to sail to Egypt instead of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Richard the Lionheart's campaign during the Third Crusade had shown that Egypt was central to Muslim interests

and it seems that the young counts decided that Egypt should be the target of the Crusade.

However, it's questionable whether Pope Innocent the 3rd sanctioned this new destination, and there are some indications that he may not even have known about this change.

Certainly the fact that Egypt and not the Holy Land was the destination

was not widely advertised. In his book God's War, Christopher Tyerman points out that a

Flemish fleet wishing to join the crusade in 1201 sailed to the The With no firm direction or rendezvous point, they eventually sailed to acre, and countless others did the same.

Anyway, before the planning meeting wrapped up, six men were chosen to each from the households of

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