The
Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa:
Letters
To protect his own interest from the crusaders,
the Byzantine emperor made an alliance with Saladin. This made the former
a greater object of hatred than ever before. In the first crusade, Alexius
had been suspected and detested; Manuel had been openly blamed for the
failure of the second crusade. Now in the third, no means are too odious
to be attributed to the emperor of the East. In a few years, the hatred
accumulated for more than a century will vent itself in the sack of Constantinople.
FREDERICK I TO LEOPOLD OF AUSTRIA
Tageno in Freher SS. p. 410. Latin.
Adrianople, end of November, 1189.
Frederic, by the grace of God, emperor and always august, to, his beloved
kinsman Leopold, duke of Austria, greeting and all good wishes.
We thought we ought to tell you, because of your love for us, that our
brother, the emperor of Constantinople, although he, ought to have been
bound by brotherly love, has from the very first violated all the oaths
which are known to have been sworn by his chancellor at Nuremberg, in
the presence of the princes of the empire, in regard to our security on
the march, and market and exchanges. Moreover, he has seized and ignominiously
thrown into prison our ambassadors, the bishop of Mьinster, count Rupert
[of Naussau] and Markward, our chamberlain, together with all their attendants,
whom we had sent to confirm the peace and to arrange for our peaceful
march on this expedition of the quickening cross. At length, however,
after long negotiations, grievously delaying our march until the dangerous
winter season, he has sent back to our excellency the aforesaid ambassadors
on the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, as if matters had been satisfactorily
arranged, and he has again promised us good markets, the usual exchanges
and an abundance of vessels.
Truly, because the burnt child dreads the fire, we can in the future have
no confidence in the words and oaths of the Greeks. in order to avoid
the stormy winter season, we propose to stay until spring at Philippopolis
and Adrianople, and to cross over to Constantinople in the favorable season.
Therefore, although we rejoice in a well-equipped army, yet we must seek
divine succour in our prayers. For these reasons we ask and desire of
your love, that in your prayers and pious devotions you commend us and
the whole army of the crusaders to God. In addition we ask of your prudence
to see that the letters which we send to the pope reach him through your
aid and exertions, because you can arrange this more successfully than
anyone else.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This
text is part of the Internet
Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public
domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless
otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.
Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form
for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document,
indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use.
©
Paul Halsall December 1997
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
*
* *
