The Remaking of the Medieval World, 1204

The Fourth Crusade

John J. Giebfried, Kyle C. Lincoln

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781469664125
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire de l'Europe médiévale

The Remaking of the Medieval World, 1204 allows students to understand and experience one of the greatest medieval atrocities, the sack of the Constantinople by a crusader army, and the subsequent reshaping of the Byzantine Empire. The game includes debates on issues such as "just war" and the nature of crusading, feudalism, trade rights, and the relationship between secular and religious authority. It likewise explores the theological issues at the heart of the East-West Schism and the development of constitutional states in the era of Magna Carta. The game also includes a model siege and sack of Constantinople where individual students' actions shape the fate of the crusade for everyone.

Part One

GAME OVERVIEW

Prologue

Murder in Constantinople

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been, well, let’s see, more than a year since my confession on the lagoon in Venice. When we heard the call to crusade preached by the Cistercian brothers of the abbey of Bonmont near the shores of Lac Leman, our father had the highest of hopes for the Holy Land, but we didn’t know anything about the venture. It was a hard trip back for him across the Jura Mountains to our farm in Cologny, with cross sown on his travelling cloak, where our little farm makes the finest cheeses for the lords of Gex near Geneva. By the time he came home, he was already taken with consumption.

He passed away that November and my brother, William and I held together our farm through the snows. When spring came, the parish priest told us the bishop of Geneva had decreed we could send money to support a soldier fighting for the marquis in the crusade, or one of us could go in Father’s stead. I made my way toward Venice with my father’s cross sewn on my shoulder and a sword on my back, carrying with me the staff of a humble and penitent pilgrim.

You know the rest, Father. We all grew hungry on the lagoon, waiting for the armies to arrive. When the day finally came to set out for Jerusalem, there were celebrations, and the wind was swift those first nights. It was my first time on a boat like that—not a little river skiff or a ferry, I mean. In those days, it was exciting, if a little hard on the belly. Now, I don’t think I will ever stomach another long boat ride without getting sick for what has happened.

When we made landfall outside that city, I asked one of the Venetian sailors what the name of the town was called and how long we were staying. I can’t remember his answer to the second question, but I remember the first one. Oh, God forgive us, I will hear the name of that city with my last breath: Zara. Word came down from the doge and the counts that the town was supposed to be in the hands of a good Christian who would give us aid and supplies and that maybe even more soldiers would join us.

There was a troubadour from Provence named Raimbaut, whom I had befriended on our passage. His dialect was thick, but eventually we understood each other. We talked to pass the time, mostly with the others on our round-ship, and it was a pleasant trip, mostly. The sun and the spray of the ships made my face feel fine. When we got to Zara we were tired, and Raimbaut looked more pale and yellow than he should have on our second day at Zara. He told me that the king whose town Zara was had betrayed God and the church and we had received orders to capture the town and take what supplies we could to avenge the dishonors done to Christ Jesus. Many lords, abbots, and knights left our company there, sailing on without aid of supplies to Jerusalem. Many nights I wish I had been brave enough to join them. Instead, I helped load a trebuchet that tossed stone after stone against the city’s walls, killing many brave Christian men who defended the battlements.

By the time we made it to Constantinople, the count of Biandrate, told us in the Gray Stork, which was our round-ship, that we were sailing first to deliver the emperor of Constantinople to his palace. He had been betrayed by a dastardly uncle who deposed and barbarically blinded the boy’s father and true emperor. The palaces and the churches of the Queen of Cities were being held hostage by the usurper, and the count said that we, by order of the Lord Pope Innocent, were to go honorably to his aid so that he would be restored to the place that God himself had destined him to hold.

I never saw the emperor when we were travelling, and I think I saw him only once while we were assembled on the plain outside the city. I know that he was young, or at least that he was called Alexius the Young. Raimbaut said that this was common on pilgrimages like ours. The emperors of Constantinople often pretended to love God and honor the church, but instead they double-crossed many. Even the great German emperors Conrad III and Frederick Barbarossa had been betrayed by the emperors of Constantinople when they had come in the time of our fathers and grandfathers. Raimbaut’s friend Pierre told me that we were probably going to have to fight to defend the true emperor of Constantinople, since he was a pilgrim like we were. Pilgrims were bound by honor and their vows to defend one another. Even if the emperor of Constantinople did not obey the pope, he was a brother Christian too. This emperor, the young one, had promised to bring the church back together. Conduct that honorable was proof enough of his noble heart and his faithfulness. Or so we thought, Father.

That was some time ago. Since then, the young emperor has been deposed and murdered by a monster—who like every other Greek seems to be named Alexius. The traitor-emperor has attacked our ships and proven himself not only dishonorable but also a heathen, damned with the devil. So here we sit, waiting for the marquis, the doge, and the other lords to decide how best to attack those walls.

Those walls are taller than the tallest tree on our farm, Father, taller than the cathedral in Geneva. I’ve never seen any like them. I don’t know how we’ll get past them. I think that unless God has more mercy for my family yet, I will not survive an attack on those walls. I know that I have sinned many times on this journey, but if I don’t make it to Jerusalem to fulfill my vow, I have done everything to remain true to my vow to take up the cross. Father, forgive me for what I must do in the name of the true church and in the name of the pilgrimage and with the blessings of the work of Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

How to Play This Game

This is a “reacting” game. Reacting games are interactive historical role-playing games. Students are given elaborate game books, which place them in moments of historical controversy and intellectual ferment. The class becomes a public body of some sort; students, in role, become particular persons from the period, often as members of a faction. Their purpose is to advance a policy agenda and achieve their victory objectives. To do so, they will undertake research and write speeches and position papers; and they will also give formal speeches, participate in informal debates and negotiations, and otherwise work to win the game. After a few preparatory lectures, the game begins and the players are in charge; the instructor serves as adviser or “game master.” Outcomes sometimes differ from the actual history; a postmortem session at the end of the game sets the record straight.

The following is an outline of what you will encounter in reacting games and what you will be expected to do. While these elements are typical of every reacting game, it is important to remember that every game has its own special quirks.

1. GAME SETUP

Your instructor will spend some time before the beginning of the game helping you to understand the historical background. During the set-up period, you will read several different kinds of material:

the game book (which you are reading now), which includes historical information, rules and elements of the game, and essential documents

your role, which describes the historical person you will play in the game

You may also be required to read primary and secondary sources outside the game book (perhaps including one or more accompanying books) to provide additional information and arguments for use during the game. Often you will be expected to conduct research to bolster your papers and speeches.

Read all of this contextual material and all of these documents and sources before the game begins. And just as important, go back and reread these materials throughout the game. A second reading while in role will deepen your understanding and alter your perspective; ideas take on a different aspect when seen through the eyes of a partisan actor.

Players who have carefully read the materials and who know the rules of the game will invariably do better than those who rely on general impressions and uncertain recollections.

2. GAME PLAY

Once the game begins, certain players preside over the class sessions. These presiding officers may be elected or appointed. Your instructor then becomes the game master (GM) and takes a seat in the back of the room. While not in control, the GM may do any of the following:

• pass notes to spur players to action;
• announce the effects of actions taken inside the game on outside parties (e.g., neighboring countries) or the effects of outside events on game actions (e.g., a declaration of war); and
• interrupt and redirect proceedings that have gone off track. (Presiding officers may act in a partisan fashion, speaking in support of particular interests, but they must observe basic standards of fairness.)

As a failsafe device, most reacting games employ the “Podium Rule,” which allows a player who has not been recognized to approach the podium and wait for a chance to speak. Once at the podium, the player has the floor and must be heard. In order to achieve the character’s objectives, outlined in your role sheet, you must persuade others to support your position. You must speak with others, because never will a role contain all that you need to know, and never will one faction have the strength to prevail without allies. Collaboration and coalition-building are at the heart of every game.

Most role descriptions contain secret information that you are expected to guard. Exercise caution when discussing your role with others. You may be a member of a faction, which gives you allies who are generally safe and reliable, but even they may not always be in total agreement with you. In games where factions are tight-knit groups with fixed objectives, finding a persuadable ally can be difficult.

Fortunately, every game includes roles that are undecided (or “indeterminate”) about certain issues. Everyone is predisposed on certain issues, but most players can be persuaded to support particular positions. Cultivating these players is in your interest. (By contrast, if you are assigned an indeterminate role, you will likely have considerable freedom to choose one or another side in the game; but often, too, indeterminates have special interests of their own.)

Cultivate friends and supporters. Before you speak at the podium, arrange to have at least one supporter second your proposal, come to your defense, or admonish those in the body not paying attention. Feel free to ask the presiding officer to assist you, but appeal to the GM only as a last resort. Immerse yourself in the game. Regard it as a way to escape imaginatively from your usual “self” and your customary perspective as a college student in the twenty-first century.

At first, this may cause discomfort because you may be advocating ideas that are incompatible with your own beliefs. You may also need to take actions that you would find reprehensible in real life. Remember that a reacting game is only a game and that you and the other players are merely playing roles. When they offer criticisms, they are not criticizing you as a person. Similarly, you must never criticize another person in the game. But you will likely be obli...