And remember that so good an arrangement was never offered, and he who refuses it will show that he has no wish for conquest.” These are the terms of the proposal as given by Villehardouin. There were other conditions which regarded the Venetians, and which may on that account have been omitted by the marshal. The advances made to the republic were to be repaid. The contract for the freight of the Venetiau transports was to be renewed for another year on its expiration in June, and the republic was to receive one hundred thousand marks.
The messengers had brought with them letters from Philip, ordering the Germans under his rule, under strict injunctions, to support the proposal for the restoration of Alexis. He promised the French and Flemings that, if Alexis should come to his own, he would always keep open a road through Romania safe and free.
Villehardouin insists
The meeting was adjourned until the next day. When it took place the division of opinion among the barons became at once evident. The Abbot of Vaux, who represented the party which Villehardouin insists was desirous of breaking up the army, declared that he and his friends would not agree to the proposal, though even this writer tells us that they gave as their reason that they had not left their homes for such work as that proposed, and that they wished to go to Syria. Those, says Gunther, who were anxious for the success of the Cross earnestly dissuaded the rest from accepting the proposals of Philip. They urged that the restoration could not be effected without bloodshed. The plan, says this writer, seemed foolish and dishonest; foolish, because a few foreigners were not likely to take a city so well fortified and so populous, and where there was sure to be much slaughter; dishonest,
because they were departing from the holy purpose to which they had pledged themselves.
Bulgaria 