THE PLOT. 207 fleetjbecause, says Yilleliardouin,the greatest number of their sergeants-at-arins were on board. Jan de Neele and the other officers in comniand had promised Baldwin that after they had passed the Straits of Gibraltar they would join the army which had collected at Venice in whatever place they learned it had gone. Yillehardouin says that they had broken their word to their lord " because they were afraid of the great peril in which those at Venice were engaged." The meaning of the phrase is doubtful. It probably signifies that those in the fleet deserted the enterj^rise in order to avoid the peril to which those in Venice seem to have exposed themselves.' If the writer meant the peril or danger of being delayed in Venice, then a comparison of the dates at which the troubles in Ven- ice began with that of the arrival of this fleet at Marseilles will show that no such fear could have influenced the fleet. The messengers announcing the arrival of the fleet in Mar- seilles reached Venice probably in January, 1203. They de- clared that the fleet proposed to winter at Marseilles and asked for orders. Baldwin, after consultation with the doge, sent word to them to leave at the end of jMarcli and to proceed to Methroni, at the southeast of the Peloponnesus, to meet the Venetian fleet. "Alas!" says Villehardouin, "they acted so ill that they did not keep their word, but went away to Syria, where they knew that they could do no good."^ The truth probably is that they had heard how the Crusaders had been tricked and turned away from their purpose, and therefore decided that they at least would go forward to fight the Mos- lem. If they were not strong enough to make an attempt on Egypt, they could at least give aid to the Christians who were in Syria. If Villehardouin's suggestion means that the Flem- ish fleet could have been of use to the army for the purposes of the crusade, it is dishonest. The bargain for the attack on Zara was concluded before the fleet reached Marseilles. The capture of Zara had been made in November. The contract to attack Constantinople was made at latest before the fleet ^ This is the meaning which Du Cange gives. Sec " Observations on Villehardouin." 2 Villehardouin, c. 21.
