Geoffrey of Villehardouin, though one of the…

Geoffrey of Villehardouin, though one of the lesser nobility, has from the start been accepted as one of the leaders of the Fourth Crusade.

He has helped obtain ships from Venice to transport the Crusaders to the East.

The ten thousand-man crusader army, mostly French and Flemish, that arrives at Venice in the summer of 1202 is somewhat smaller than had been anticipated, since some of the crusaders are traveling directly from France.

Even so, there are not sufficient funds to pay the Venetians.

Accordingly, the crusaders accept the suggestion that in lieu of payment they assist the Venetians in the capture of the strategic Hungarian city of Zara in Dalmatia.

This is done despite the opposition of many crusaders both to the diversion of the enterprise and to the attack on a Christian city.