Michael Baizerman Author

The Sack of  the New Rome on a Venetian mosaic https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frammenti_di_mosaico_pavimentale_del_1213,_09.JPG  I have finished collecting data about the sack of Constantinople by a crusading army in 1204. The material is so extensive that it covers about one and a half "notebooks." By a "notebook," I mean up to 150 pages completed in Colibri 11. I have found several sources compiled by the witnesses, both Roman and Latin.  On the Roman side, we have the superb "Annals of Niketas Choniates," the insider report of a Byzantine historian based in Constantinople who endured the siege and fall of the Queen of Cities. I reread this account and can't help admiring his style and vigor. I will adopt some of his descriptions in other narratives.   In the following extract, Niketas refers to the emperor Alexios III Angelos as an unscrupulous pilot plunged in adorable pastime and sensitive to courtly flattery:   "Like a steersman com...

Mariano Barbasán Laguerue   King Pedro of Aragon at the Pass of Pass of Panissars I have nearly completed the draft of a new chapter telling the story of the Crusade against Aragon undertaken by Philip, king of France, with the papal endorsement in 1285. As personal matters played a significant role in the train of events, I put the ousting of Charles of Anjou from the Sicilian throne as one of the main reasons for this enterprise.  Admiral Roger of Lauria cast a long shadow on Catalan maritime activities, and my account devotes some time to his tactics, especially in the Battle of Las Formigues. The ill-fated Crusade ended with the French recognition (de facto) of the Catalan dominance in the Western Mediterranean Sea. I follow the plot issued by Ramon Muntaner's Chronicle.  My next topic is the sack of Constantinople by the participants of the Fourth Crusade. I've just started collecting the data. I will speak briefly of the zigzags of the Crusade and focus on the amphi...