Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/9

Rh of the Fourth Crusade," to Krause's History, and to Dr. Mordtmann's history of the two captures of Constantinople. The latter work, as well as the "Meletai" of Dr. Paspati, are especially useful for the topography of Constantinople during the Middle Ages. Dr. Paspati and Dr. Mordtmann, the son of the author of the work just quoted, the Rev. Canon Curtis, and a number of archaeologists in Constantinople, have worked very successfully at the topography of the city, and by means of the excellent Greek Syllogos have brought to light much interesting information on the subject, and have especially produced a map of the ancient walls, embodying all the recent discoveries, which is extremely valuable.

Most of the writers I have named have occupied themselves more or less with the conduct of Venice. This is a subject of controversy as old as the crusade itself. A contemporary of the Fourth Crusade, a Franco-Syrian named Ernouil, was the first to charge Venice with treason to Christendom. Other contemporary authors are quoted in the following pages who took, speaking generally, the same side. Gunther, a Cistercian monk belonging to Pairis in Alsace, and who died about 1210, has given us in his "Historia Constantinopolitana" many facts which are not to be found elsewhere, and was one of the few contemporaries of the crusade who appears to have understood that there was an understanding between the Sultan of Cairo and Venice. Light has been thrown on the question by the "Devastatio