The Marquis Boniface of Montferrat rode all along the shore to the
palace of Bucoleon, and when he arrived there it surrendered, on
condition that the lives of all therein should be spared. At Bucoleon
were found the larger number of the great ladies who had fled to the
castle, for there were found the sister [Agnes, sister of Philip
Augustus, married successively to Alexius II., to Andronicus, and to
Theodore Branas] of the King of France, who had been empress, and the
sister [Margaret, sister of Emeric, King of Hungary, married to the
Emperor Isaac, and afterwards to the Marquis of Montferrat.] of the
King of Hungary, who

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had also been empress, and other ladies very many. Of the treasure
that was found in that palace I cannot well speak, for there was so
much that it was beyond end or counting.

At the same time that this palace was surrendered to the Marquis
Boniface of Montferrat, did the palace of Blachernae surrender to
Henry, the brother of Count Baldwin of Flanders, on condition that no
hurt should be done to the bodies of those who were therein. There too
was found much treasure, not less than in the palace of Bucoleon. Each
garrisoned with his own people the castle that had been surrendered to
him, and set a auard over the treasure. And the other people, spread
abroad throughout the city, also gained much booty. The booty gained
was so great that none could tell you the end of it: gold and silver,
and vessels and precious stones, and samite, and cloth of silk, and
robes vair and grey, and ermine, and every choicest thing found upon
the earth. And well does Geoffry of Villehardouin the Marshal of
Champagne, bear witness, that never, since the world was created, had