The basic thesis, which Eric played in his correspondence with the pope, was the act of voluntary acceptance of true faith. And then went the traditional casuistry and demagoguery in order to bargain. The most unpleasant for Innokenty was the knowledge of the fact of a similar correspondence between Eric and Patriarch John. Papa, this situation and oppressed, and angered, it turned out that they are involved in the bride, and this stinker chose which of the girls to take themselves for the night - Catholicism or Orthodoxy. But to leave him without attention was impossible - too dangerous, he was a dark horse. After reflecting on the next answer to the pontiff, Erik was visited by a courier from Boniface of Monferat. This man, being in the role of the leader of the Crusaders, offered the prince to oppose his suzerain, of course, as an honest Catholic against the heretical sect. The reply letter was sent with the same courier and it expressed the desire to wholly help the crusaders in their noble mission. This trump card was to be used both with the pope and with the patriarch, the first informed of zeal for charitable deeds, the second - about blackmail, that is, under the threat of excommunication from the church, Eric should act on Boniface's side. After this, he completed the camps and three days later - on 12 February 1204 he went to sea at the head of a detachment of two full mouths of soldiers. Behind him, the pipes of the manufactory and the forest of the large fortress construction went into the haze, and a big adventure awaited him ahead of him.
Sailing past February 15 past Constantinople, Eric did not go there to call in and not celebrate. There was absolutely no need for his presence there. There was a terrible mess going on. Back in January, he, through the company of Demetra and his secretary of state security, was able to conduct a series of events that brought the criminal situation in Constantinople to a whole new level. He built two independent gangs there, who competed with each other, engaged in looting public buildings and killing various officials. By mid-February, the city was doing something amazing - it was a razed-beet hive, which could not be calmed down. A part of the city's residents joined the activities of the gangs that worked at the demeter's farmstead. On the streets from time to time there were massive fights, including with weapons. The city administration was practically paralyzed by the situation. The threat of an invasion of the Crusaders required the concentration of all resources on the feverish gathering of the army, which was being formed in Thessaloniki. Money to hire at least some city guards no longer existed. Only the imperial palace more or less kept at the expense of a small personal guard. On February 18, part of the recruited army marched in the direction of Constantinople. There were only 1,500 militiamen hastily armed and practically without armor, but the city had to be rescued. On the evening of February 20, when they entered Constantinople and got stuck in street battles, Eric planted in Thessaloniki, who are still unaware of the danger that these red-and-white cottages conceal in themselves. The troops of the prince quietly seize the port gates and carry out a series of measures to assault key knots that were reconnoitered in advance. In the morning the city did not even notice what had happened, only passers-by were surprised that instead of the city guard on the gate were the soldiers of Prince Bosporsky. By dinner Eric gathered representatives of noble families and brought to their attention information about the seizure of the city, and invited the noble gentlemen present to decide what to do with him. There were only two options - the first was to destroy the city, the second - a ransom. The option of destruction and destruction, of course, was a bluff, since there was no need for such a thing, but it helped the best people in the city to make the right choice, because the destruction implied the complete extermination of the inhabitants, including themselves. Quietly, calmly, in the working order there was a ransom collection with a progressive scan - the richer, the more you pay. They took cloths, precious stones, silver, gold. As a separate article - in the city all lists of books and all movable crafts of the antique period, that is, all the statues that could be dismantled and taken away, were confiscated. Of course, at night from February 20 to February 21, a treasury was seized, which was intended for recruiting an army, and the set stopped, and all couriers from Constantinople were gently killed away from human eyes. As a rule, they were invited to the residence of the ruler, where they no longer left. On March 23 it became known that Boniface had landed with his men in a suburb of Constantinople and had against seven hundred half-naked militiamen, plus hundreds of guardsmen to eight hundred knights and several thousand armed servants. But he did not know this, because he had misinformation about the five thousandth garrison of mercenaries. So he invited Eric to take part in the assault. It is a sin to refuse such a generous gift, therefore on March 25, having completed the collection of tribute in Thessaloniki, the prince went with his companies to the ancient city, in order to continue his most beloved of charitable deeds - robbing the infidels. According to preliminary estimates, without estimating antiques and books, in February-March the Bosporan budget was replenished by fifteen thousand Bosporan denarii. And exclusively peaceful and painless way. True, the local nobility has remained almost in loincloths, but nothing terrible - still stolen. March 27 Eric arrived in the camp of Boniface and officially joined the siege of Constantinople.
Chapter 7
Innocent nervously paced the cleanly scraped floor boards, and the echo from every step was buzzing in the air of a rather spacious room. He was dressed in simple neutral clothes, and only expensive fingers gave out in him a very powerful and rich man. Nearby, practically stretched on a stand still, stood Bishop Honorius and watched as the head of all Catholics of the world nervously plays with knuckles and paces. Between them stood a small decorative table, on which were two letters. The first dad received from Eric and was very pleased with him, and the second was a letter that the prince sent to the patriarch. The bishop's people stole it from John's personal papers. The letter to Innocent was written in classical Latin and in a harmonious, beautiful syllable, to which very few people write, and to John Kamatyr a letter written in the same harmonious Greek language was sent. Both are by the hand of Eric.
" Honorius, I was told that the prince owns only the Latin and southern dialect of the German language. "How do you think, when and where could he learn Greek?
- So you exclude the possibility of recording under the dictation?
Yes! Almost certainly one can say that both letters are written by Eric himself and meaningfully. And you can not write down dictation like this, - he ran his hand over the letters. - I am extremely surprised by the style, so in our time there is no correspondence.
- Yes, I agree. Absolutely unusual style, especially for those who mastered these languages after their own. Do you know if the Chaplain of Lenzburg Castle owned the Greek language?
- Alas, I did not have a chance to talk to him, since he died during the attack of the robbers together with the prince's uncle. According to those who knew him during his lifetime, we can say quite confidently that he not only did not know Greek, but also had serious problems with Latin.