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286 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. consulted at Venice, and had accepted in principle the pro- posal to aid Alexis in return for his subsequently assisting the army. At Zara the proposition in a definite shape had to be submitted to the parliament of lesser barons and knights. The day after the arrival of the two embassies from Ger- Proposais are i^auy, namely, on the 2d of January, this parliament pSiameut'of ^^^^s held, to cousidcr the proposals of Philip. The barons. leaders of the expedition and their great barons — French, Flemish, German, and Lombard — were present. There were also, as of right, the bishops and abbots who were with the army. It is probable, too, that Dandolo and his council also attended, since they, too, had taken the cross. The five bishops were, with one exception, likely to be favor- able to the plans of Philip. Of the four Cistercian abbots two were partisans of the King of the Eomans, and two be- lieved that it was shameful to divert the crusade from its law- ful object ; one of the latter, the Abbot of Yaux and Cernay, as we have seen, had had the courage, at the risk of his life, to read the letters announcing excommunication against those who had taken part in the capture of Zara. The French barons were divided. The most important, Baldwin of Flanders, Louis of Blois, and Ungues of St. Paul, were under the influ- ence of Philip. The barons of Lombardy, as might be ex- pected, were under the same influence through Boniface. The leader of those who were in favor of loyally carrying out the expedition as Innocent intended was Simon de Montfort, who appears to have exercised a considerable influence, but who was intemperate and rash. The German barons were di- vided. Those who had taken the side of Otho in his dispute with Philip were probably among the pilgrims who had gone to the Holy Land by other routes. Those who had left Ger- many for the purpose of avoiding the excommunication which the pope had pronounced against Philip, and had left, in most instances, against his wish, were unwilling to excite his anger by opposition to his designs. Those who were not under his suzerainty, like the great barons of Belgium and of Franche- Comtc, were more independent. The Venetians, under Dan- dolo, no doubt went into the parliament to accept a foregone