ON WHAT CONDITIONS ALEXIUS PROPOSES TO OBTAIN THE HELP OF THE CRUSADERS FOR
THE CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE

A fortnight after came to Zara the Marquis Boniface of Montferrat, who
had not yet joined, and Matthew of Montmorency, and Peter of Bracieux,
and many another man of note. And after another fortnight came also
the envoys from Germany, sent by King Philip and the heir of
Constantinople. Then the barons, and the Doge of Venice assembled in a
palace where the Doge was lodged. And the envoys addressed them and
said: " Lords, King Philip sends us to you, as does also the brother
of the king's wife, the son of the emperor of Constantinople.

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"`Lords,' says the king, ' I will send you the brother of my wife; and
I commit him into the hands of God-may He keep him from death! - and
into your hands. And because you have fared forth for God, and for
right, and for justice, therefore you are bound, in so far as you are
able, to restore to their own inheritance those who have been
unrighteously despoiled. And my wife's brother will make with you the
best terms ever offered to any people, and give you the most puissant
help for the recovery of the land overseass

" ' And first, if God grant that you restore him to his inheritance,
he will place the whole empire of Roumania in obedience to Rome, from
which it has long been separated. Further, he knows that you have
spent of your substance, and that you are poor, and he will give you
200,000 marks of silver, and food for all those of the host, both
small and great. And he, of his own person, will go with you into the