[60] Persuasum omnes habent, solos Venetos mari, Gallos terrâ præpotentes esse.—Rhamn. lib. i.
[61] Vigenère, the translator of Villehardouin, informs us that in his time the treaty between the Venetians and the French, concluded in the month of April, 1201, was still preserved in the Chancery of Venice.
[62] The author of the History of the Republics of Italy recapitulates thus the sum that was due to the Venetians by the Crusaders:—
| For four thousand five hundred horses, at four marks per horse | 18,000 |
| For the knights, at two marks per knight | 9,000 |
| For twenty thousand foot-soldiers, at two marks per soldier | 40,000 |
| For two squires per horse, nine thousand squires | 18,000 |
| ——— | |
| Total marks | 85,000 |
| ——— |
Eighty-five thousand marks of silver are equal to four millions two hundred and fifty thousand francs.
[63] Thibault was buried in the church of St. Stephen of Troyes; his epitaph finishes with these verses:—
Terrenam quærens, cœlestem repperit urbem;
Dum procul hæc potitur, obviat ille domi.
[64] The History of Burgundy by Courtépée and Béguillet has here committed a great error in making Eudes III. set out on the crusade, and take a part in the capture of Constantinople.
[65] Villehardouin makes thus the eulogy of Boniface, marquis of Montferrat:—“The marquis Boniface is, as every one knows, a very valorous prince, and most esteemed for knowledge of war and feats of arms of any one at the present day living.”
[66] At the same time that Egypt experienced all the horrors of famine, Richard of St. Germain and the Chronicle of Fossa-Nova (see Muratori) say that a great dearth was felt in Italy and Spain; one of them adds that this year, 1202, was known under the name of “annus famis.” Mézerai speaks of this famine, which was felt in France, and attributes it to the war then carried on between Philip and Richard. “The two kings,” says he, “pillaged the lands, pulled up their vines, cut down the trees, cut the harvest whilst unripe, and destroyed more cities and towns in one day than had been built in ages. Famine followed these horrible ravages, says an author; so that many of the richest were reduced to beg their bread, and finding none to give it to them, ate grass and burrowed in the earth for roots.”