Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/406

 388 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. that month he had received the letters written at the end of August bj the young emperor and the barons, informing him of the first capture of the city on the 17th of July, and the coronation of the ward of Boniface on the 1st of August. Innocent was indignant at the conduct of the Crusaders. He declared that to their first transgressions before Zara they had now added a second.^ He reminded them that, as they had deviated from their purpose, they were still under the sentence pronounced upon them for the destruction of Zara. He informed them that that sentence could only be removed by the union of the two churches becoming effectual and by the immediate departure of the Crusaders for the Holy Land." The Yenetians, being still under an unconditional excommu- nication, were not even addressed by the pontiff. When the city had been again captured, and when, in accordance with the agreement between the captors, the spoils of the New Eome 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 in his eyes, as it, indeed, was in their own, the union of the churches. Accordingly, almost immediately after his coro- nation, 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 »"Ep. Inno." vi. pp. 230, 222. 2 " Nisi forsan ad cxtenuandam culpam et pocnara . . . quod de Grae- corum inclioastis ccclcsia, studueritis consummare. Ad recuperationem igitur TeiToc Saiicta) totis viribus insistatis." — Inno. " Ep." vi. p. 230.