Memoirs or Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople by Geoffroi de Villehardouin
page 90 of 186 (48%)
page 90 of 186 (48%)
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fled towards the gate of
63 Blachernae. And vesper-time was already past, and those of the host were wear of the battle and of the slaying,. And they began to assemble in a great open space that was in Constantinople, and decided that they would take up their quarters near the walls and towers they had captured. Never had they thought that in a whole month they should be able to take the city, with its great churches, and great palaces, and the people that were in it. FLIGHT OF MOURZUPHLES - SECOND FIRE IN CONSTANTINOPLE As they had settled, so was it done, and they encamped before the walls and before the towers by their ships. Count Baldwin of Flanders and Hainault quartered himself in the scarlet tents that the Emperor Mourzuphles had left standing, and Henry his brother before the palace of Blachernae; and Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, he and his men, towards the thickest part of the city. So were the host encamped as you have heard, and Constantinople taken on the Monday after Palm Sunday (12th April 1204). Now Count Louis of Blois and Chartres had languished all the winter with a q ' uartan fever, and could not bear his armour. And you must know that this was a great misfor- 64 tune to the host, seeing he was a good knight of his body; and he lay |
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