began by fighting against Christians, and even against brother Crusaders, because Zara had thrown herself under the protection of the King of Hungary. This was a bad beginning. The pope excommunicated them all—a measure which was doubtless deplored by the Western knights, who, however, did not allow their grief to influence any of their subsequent proceedings. The Venetians, as one result of their long connection with Constantinople, were never thoroughly convinced of the supremacy of pope over patriarch, and to them excommunication meant simply unjustifiable interference with temporal matters. Therefore things went their own way, in spite of the pope.
At this juncture young Alexis, son of the captive Isaac, appeared in the camp.
We have already told his story. He was connected by marriage with the Marquis of Montferrat, whose two brothers, Reignier and Conrad, had married princesses of the Comnenan house. It was to him therefore that the young prince first opened the business. Constantinople was in the hands of a usurper; his own father, deprived of sight, was languishing in a dungeon; the people were longing to witness the dethronement of the tyrant. Was it not a worthy object of a Christian army to assist in freeing a great people? Further, could it not be made to appear worthy of a crusading army? For generations the world had been scandalized by the spectacle of a divided Christendom: that scandal should exist no longer. Surely the pope, who had excommunicated them for taking Zara, could no longer withhold his
