Early in October 1202, a fleet of 200 ships set sail from the lagoon of Venice. Banners whipped from every masthead, some bearing the lion of Venice, others charged with the coats of arms of the noblest houses of France.
Leading the fleet was the state galley of Doge Enrico Dandolo, the elected 'duke of the Venetian Republic. He was more than 80 years old and nearly blind, but undimmed in vigor and ability. His galley was painted imperial vermilion, and a vermilion silk canopy covered the poop on which the doge sat in state. In front of him, four silver trumpets sounded, answered from the other ships by hundreds of trumpets, drums and tabors.
The goal of this expedition, this Fourth Crusade, was to win back the holy city of Jerusalem. Conquered by Islamic armies in the 7th century, it had been regained for Christendom by the First Crusade in 1099. In 1187, during the Second Crusade and just 15 years before the doge's fleet set sail, Jerusalem fell to the Muslim Saladin, who then stalemated a recovery attempt by the Third Crusade (1189-92). The Fourth Crusade was to follow a new strategy: strike at Egypt, the base of Muslim power. But it never reached its goal. Instead, a bizarre twist of fate turned the latest crusaders in a totally unexpected direction — toward the greatest Christian city in the world — Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire.
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