54 Chrissis
It is worth pointing out that by the turn of the 15th century, the axis of
crusade rhetoric in Romania remained the same, i.e. the importance of hold-
ing on to Constantinople as a service to the faith; but it revolved 180 degrees,
from keeping the city from Byzantine hands to keeping it in them. The crusade
bulls issued in 1398–1400 were explicitly for the help of Emperor Manuel ii
Palaiologos and the city and people of Constantinople.89 The Venetian Senate,
as well as King Sigismund similarly stressed their interest in the protection of
the Byzantine capital.90 The same concerns were expressed in the mid-15th
century by Emperor Frederick iii and other western powers.91 This remark-
able development demonstrates the flexibility of crusading in adapting to the
changing circumstances.
The issue of the schism also carried considerable weight throughout this
period, as is evident by the recurring question of Church Union.92 Unionist
negotiations were seen by the Byzantines as a possible foil for crusade expe-
ditions against them in the early period, and, later, as a means of securing
western assistance against the Turks. The papacy was often drawn to these
negotiations as a way of achieving one of its main objectives in the East, the
recognition of papal primacy by the Orthodox Church. In the 13th century,
John Vatatzes and especially Michael viii made negotiations for Union a cen-
tral element of their western policy. Vatatzes came very near a far-reaching
agreement with the papacy in 1249–54, which even allowed for the Byzantine
recovery of Constantinople, while Michael’s efforts resulted in the short-lived
Union of the Churches at the Second Council of Lyon, in 1274.93 From the
1330s, the issue of Union was closely linked to the help that the West could
offer to Byzantium against the Turks. The papacy commonly demanded evi-
dence of the submission of the Greek Church first, with help to follow after-
wards, while the Byzantine side insisted that help should be offered first and
then Union would follow. Barlaam of Calabria, envoy of Andronikos iii to the
papal court in 1339, had made the point that the Byzantines would need some
token of goodwill, in the form of a common expedition against the Turks in
Asia Minor, to be convinced of the westerners’ intentions; then, it would be
89 Tautu, Acta Urbani vi, nos. 55, 85, 90; Gill, Papacy, pp. 229–31; Barker, Manuel ii, pp. 158–59.
90 Barker, Manuel ii, pp. 142–43, 146–49, 482–85.
91 Iorga, Notes et extraits, 2:481–82, 3:281.
92 A recent historiographical overview in: Marie-Hélène Blanchet, “La question de l’Union
des Églises (13e–15e siècle): historiographie et perspectives,” Revue des études byzantines 61
(2003), 6–48.
93 Franchi, Svolta; Gill, Papacy, pp. 88–100, 120–41; Geanakoplos, Michael Palaeologus,
passim.