Agreement between the captors

When the city had been again captured, and when, in accordance with the agreement between the captors, the spoils of the Kew Rome had been divided, and a crusading emperor placed on the throne, the conquerors deemed it necessary to obtain the approval of Innocent. They rightly judged that the one extenuating circumstance would be m his eyes, as it, indeed, was in their own, the union of the churches. Accordingly, almost immediately after his coronation, Baldwin addressed a letter to the pope, giving the Crusaders’ official version of what had taken place.

With this letter Baldwin sent many presents, consisting of relics, of a golden cross, of chalices, of priestly garments in silk and velvet, all set with pearls and precious stones. The ship which conveyed the messenger in charge of the letter and the presents was captured off the Morea by a Genoese vessel, and the presents fell into the hands of the great rivals of Venice, who for a time seemed to have disregarded the fact that they were intended for the pontiff. It was not until the pope had protested energetically against the robbery and had threatened an interdict that the podesta of Genoa consented to restore them.

Emperor in the West and its princes

The letter, which was intended not merely for the pope, but for the emperor in the West and its princes and prelates generally, arrived in safety. It treated the capture of the city and the establishment of the empire as accomplished facts, and spoke of the future rather than of the past. Innocent, the emperor, princes, and prelates were asked “ to stir up among the inhabitants of the West, of all ranks and both sexes, the desire to come and share in the immense mass of eternal and temporal treasures, Biehes and honors awaited all. The clergy should come in crowds with the consent of their superiors, not to fight, but to organize amid peace and plenty, for the good of the Church.” Baldwin suggested that Innocent would be consulting his own glory, and that of the Catholic Church, if he were to call a council at Constantinople, and were himself to attend it, in order that the New might be again united to the Elder Borne.