Bound Volume Number
3
Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2015
Capstone Advisor
Samantha Herrick, Associate Professor of History
Honors Reader
Dennis Romano, Professor of History
Capstone Major
History
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Keywords
Fourth Crusade, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Robert of Clari
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Social Sciences
Subject Categories
History of Religion | Medieval History
Abstract
The Fourth Crusade, a war called to recapture Jerusalem, ended in disaster for the Christian city of Constantinople and the city of Jerusalem remained untouched by the crusading host. The fact that a war called to protect Christians in the Middle East and to recapture the city of Jerusalem for God resulted in the sacking of one of the largest Christian cities has led to much scholarly investigation into what exactly caused this to transpire. For the better part of a millennium scholars have sought answers to significant questions and have produced a variety of explanations for why the crusade ultimately failed. These theories range from conspiracy to random chance but debate still rages on between scholars about possible answers to these long deliberated questions. This study will relies mainly upon the primary sources of some of the crusaders who were a part of the crusade and some of their contemporaries for evidence to support this claim. Geoffrey de Villehardouin along with some of his contemporaries, such as Robert of Clari, recorded their knowledge and experience of the Fourth Crusade and are the main primary sources used for this study. This study also makes extensive use of secondary literature, such as the work of Thomas Madden and Donald Queller, regarding both the Fourth Crusade itself and the theories that have been conceived to explain both its diversion and ultimate failure. The purpose of this study is to try to provide conceivable answers to these long discussed questions by looking at the crusade using a different technique that combines certain aspects of noted scholars’ analyses with a style of looking at the crusade by dividing it into separate periods of time. By analyzing the Fourth crusade with this method the study aims to provide possible explanations for certain major events by analyzing specific internal dynamics and leadership transitions that this study claims to be responsible, to some degree, for both the diversion and ultimate failure of the Fourth Crusade. The goal of this study is to prove that internal dynamics that include: the changing goals of the leadership, desertions, polarization of the crusading party, and justifying actions as a means to an end, along with leadership transitions are at least partially responsible for both the diversion and ultimate failure of the Fourth Crusade.
Recommended Citation
Grable, Tyler G., "The Fourth Crusade: How Internal Dynamics and Leadership Transitions Could Have Led to its Diversion and Ultimate Failure" (2015). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 839.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/839
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