Siege of Zara (1202)
Porta Terra Ferma
| date | November 10th to November 23rd, 1202 |
|---|---|
| place | Zadar |
| output | Victory of the Crusaders |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
unknown |
unknown |
| Troop strength | |
 10,000 men  10,000 men, 210 ships
|
unknown |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
unknown |
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The siege of Zadar ( Italian Zara ) by the crusaders in 1202 marked the beginning of the Fourth Crusade , which ended in the conquest of Constantinople . Here Catholic crusaders were used for the first time to conquer and plunder a Catholic city.
background
The Dalmatian city of Zadar was the outstanding urban center on the east coast of the Adriatic in the Middle Ages . In this respect, it is not surprising that in the 12th and 13th centuries it repeatedly became a bone of contention between Venice and Hungarian - Croatian rulers. Though in Byzantine hands for a long time , Zadar was exposed to Croatian influence since the beginning of the Middle Ages due to its location . In the 12th century, the city's population consisted largely of Croats , as did Pope Alexander III. discovered during a visit in 1177. Koloman , king of Hungary, Dalmatia and Croatia, was able to win rule over Zadar in 1105. Already in 1116 it came under Venetian rule again, but in 1181 Zadar submitted voluntarily to the Hungarian King Béla III. , which in return granted the city as much autonomy as possible. For example, the city was allowed to choose its bishop independently.
As for the Fourth Crusade, to which Pope Innocent III. 1198 had called, only a third of the expected participants turned up, a disaster was looming for Venice. The crusaders had been assured of transport and maritime support for the planned conquest of Egypt and almost the entire economic power had been invested in building a fleet of over 200 ships. Failure would threaten the Serenissima with national bankruptcy .
siege
Since the Venetians had fulfilled their part of the bargain, they insisted on paying the contractually guaranteed sum of 85,000 silver marks . The crusaders were nowhere near able to raise that amount of money, and the success of the crusade into Egypt was questionable. A compromise was found: the crusader army should help with the conquest of Zara, but the debts should be offset against the booty made there. An attack on the Christian city contradicted the idea of a crusade, which is why some of the crusaders refused to participate and returned to their homeland. Others tried to make their way to Palestine on their own . But the majority of the crusaders were convinced by the Venetians. Otherwise the entire crusade would have had to be abandoned.
After tough negotiations they agreed, and in a solemn ceremony the Doge Enrico Dandolo also took the cross. At the beginning of October 1202 the crusader army broke out and sailed down the Dalmatian coast. On November 10, 1202 they arrived at Zadar and the siege began. Quite a few warriors were horrified by this "degeneracy of the crusade" and did not take part in the battles for the city. Nevertheless, the city had to surrender after 13 days of siege . Since it was the end of November and December was just around the corner, the army and fleet wintered in Zadar / Zara. A few weeks later Boniface von Montferrat arrived and joined the army.
consequences
Many chroniclers saw the conquest of the Catholic Zara by Christian knights as an inglorious prelude to the conquest of Constantinople almost two years later. The crusade idea of ridding holy places of pagan occupation had been turned into its opposite. You never went to Jerusalem, the official goal of every crusade, or Egypt, the actual goal of this journey.
For Zadar, the Venetian rule lasted with interruption until 1358. According to the submission agreement signed in 1205, the Serenissima now occupied the official offices of the city. Béla IV brought the city back under his control from 1242 to 1247, but only after the Hungarian-Venetian War of 1356-58 did the city come under Hungarian-Croatian rule for a longer period of time.
literature
- Ralph-Johannes Lily: Byzantium and the Crusades. Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-17-017033-3 .
- Ludwig Steindorff: Croatia. From the Middle Ages to the present. Regensburg 2001, ISBN 3-7917-1734-0 .
- Jonathan P. Phillips: The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople. Viking, New York 2004, ISBN 0-670-03350-2 .
Web links
- Christian vs. Christian in the Fourth Crusade: Quarterly Journal of Military History (English)
- Letters of Pope Innocent III concerning the Fourth Crusade and the Latin Empire of Constantinople ( Memento of August 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Edward Gibbon: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Chapter 60: Siege of Zara (English)