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Actually, Baldwin (1171–1206?) As Count of Flanders and Hainaut could have led a comfortable life in his palace.

A few successful campaigns had made up for the loss of his inheritance.

The production of cloths, in which the cities of the region had specialized, promised not only secure, but brilliant income.

And his wife, Marie von Champagne, who was passionate about poetry, drew writers and artists to his court.

But Baldwin gave up all of this for one idea: Jerusalem was to be liberated from the Muslims who had recaptured the city under Saladin in 1187.

In the year 1200, Baldwin had barely succeeded in wresting Lillers, Aire and Saint-Omer from Philip II of France when he took the cross.

However, it would be two more years before the crusader army made its way to the Holy Land.

This Fourth Crusade was to finally discredit the vision on which it was based.

For lack of sufficient funds, his leading barons, including Baldwin, accepted the delicate offer of the Republic of Venice to take them to the Orient by ship.

For this, the doge Enrico Dandolo demanded the exorbitant sum of 85,000 silver marks and half of the area to be conquered.

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Since the influx to the risky enterprise was limited, but Venice insisted on payment, the crusaders accepted the proposal to conquer the (Christian) city of Zara (Zadar) for the Serenissima.

When the booty still failed to meet the demands, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, was targeted.

This had the advantage that it was closer and was shaken by internal power struggles.

The metropolis of the empire that had protected Europe from invasions from the east for so long was conquered and brutally plundered.

But this was not enough for the knights.

A Latin empire was to succeed Byzantium.

Since their leader Boniface I of Montferrat

was too ambitious, the Venetians relied on a more manageable candidate: On May 9, 1204, Baldwin I was crowned emperor in Constantinople.

That gave him a great title, but one that was out of proportion to his means of power.

Because his knights demanded fiefdoms, which, however, were in areas that had yet to be conquered.

Balduin's wife Marie, of all people, proved how confused the situation was.

She had embarked with her own flotilla for Palestine, where she arrived and was immediately allowed to receive the homage of the rulers there.

In the end they hoped for the support of the new emperor.

But that did not happen.

Marie, who died soon after, was supposed to be the only member of the imperial family to reach the Holy Land.

Baldwin's election is unlikely to have expired as splendidly as painted by Andrea Vicentino

Source: picture-alliance / akg-images /

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Baldwin had to deal not only with Venetians and Greeks, but also with Boniface, who could not get over his electoral defeat.

The attempt to satisfy this with the conquest of Thessaloniki led to an uprising in Thrace, which was supported by the Khan of the Bulgarians.

Its light riders lured the heavily armored knights of Baldwin into a trap near Adrianople in April 1205, which robbed the new empire of its best fighters.

Baldwin was captured and, in order to finally disempower him, robbed of his sight.

Then he was interned in Veliko Tarnovo on the northern slope of the Balkan Mountains, where the Baldwin Tower can still be seen today.

He is said to have died there after a few months.

His empire was to dawn, more badly than right, until 1261, when it was conquered by the Greeks.

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