Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/363

 PROSPECTIVE ARUANGEMENTS. 345 though they were not able to have their own way, were suffi- ciently powerful at least to thwart his plans. It was decided _ . . that if the city were taken six Venetians and six Decision as to ^, 1111 -1 -, ,. division of Crusaders should be elected to form a connnittee to spoil if city, 1 » • 1 werecapt- ciioosc an cnipcror. A proviso was, however, add- ed, that all the twelve delegates should solemnly swear on holy relics that they would elect the candidate whom they believed to be the best in the interest of the world. The other provisions show that the parties were pretty equally balanced. It was agreed that if a Frank^ should be elected emperor the patriarch should be chosen by the Yenetians, and vice versa. The emperor was to receive one fourth of all that should be captured within the city and throughout the em- pire, together with the two imperial palaces of Blachern and the Lion's Mouth. The remaining three fourths were to be divided equally between the Yenetians and the Crusaders. The gold and silver, the cloth, the silk, and all the rest of the booty captured were to be abandoned to the host, and to be collected together for the sake of a fair division. When this should have been accomplished a new committee of twenty- four, chosen by the Yenetians and the Crusaders, was to be named to divide the empire into fiefs, and to define the feudal service which the holders should render to the new emperor. It was further resolved that no one should lay hands on priest or monk nor plunder the churches or monasteries. The division of the spoils of the empire, including the carving out of the fiefs, was to be finished within a year, and therefore to be com- pleted before the end of March, 1205. After the capture of the city all were to be free to leave it who wished to do so up to that date. After it, however, all who remained were to be bound to accept the suzerainty of the emperor.' ' Robert de Clari says twenty were chosen, ten from each (clxviii.). 2 The term " Franchois " is used by all the contemporary writers to designate Frenchmen, Flemings, Germans, and Burgundians. The term " Frank," which is still used in the Balkan peninsula in much the same sense, is, therefore, a convenient one, ' The agreement is given in Tafel and Thomas, pp. 444 and 452 ; Ville- hardouin, pp. 234-5 ; Rhamnusius, iii. ; Innocent, " Gesta," p. 90.