quickly. It was sealed at Perugia on 9 April 1229, during the War of the
Keys. John was to be sole emperor for life, but Baldwin was to succeed
him on the throne, and also to marry John’s daughter Mary when both
were old enough to do so. Provision was made in the treaty, though, for
John to advance the rest of his family in various other ways–and it is
worth noting that this included his and Berengaria’s three young sons,
Alfonso, Louis and John. The emperor-elect’s ‘recruitment tour’of
northern France was rather more successful than we might guess,
although he did not manage to enlist the obvious person, his nephew
Walter IV.^168 On his return to Italy, John negotiated another treaty for
the transportation of his host to Constantinople, by sea, in Venetian
ships. Once John was safely on his way to acquire the imperial crown,
the papacy confirmed its peace with the other, much more powerful
emperor, Frederick II, and formally recognized him, for thefirst time,
as king of Jerusalem.^169
John was crowned in Hagia Sophia in the autumn of 1231. He decided
against attacking Vatatzes straight away, and this led to quite unfair
accusations of avarice and lethargy from hostile commentators. Never-
theless, the new emperor’s policy meant that many of the crusaders who
had come out with him, in the expectation of an immediate campaign,
soon returned home. This was an appalling haemorrhage of manpower,
but it was surely better than being on the receiving end of a major defeat
at Vatatzes’hands. The truth is, as one contemporary admitted, that John
could make‘neither war nor peace’.^170 John was ready to move onto the
offensive, however, when a good opportunity presented itself. Vatatzes’
preoccupation with reducing the independence of Rhodes, a couple of
years later, provided John with a window for a few months’campaigning
across the Dardanelles. This did not achieve very much, though, and
Vatatzes’success at surmounting the threat may well have encouraged
him to take a hard line with a quartet of friars who were sent to him, in
1234, to discuss the possibility of Church reunion. The ecumenical
council of Nymphaion broke up in disorder amidst accusations of heresy
and schism, and nothing came of the one-year truce that John had
authorized the friars to propose. Indeed, shortly afterwards, Asen threw
off any lingering pretence of adherence to Rome, and moved into alliance
with Vatatzes. It looked as though the writing was on the wall for Latin
Constantinople, sandwiched in between.^171
(^168) See below, 89 – 90. (^169) Perry,John, 150–6.
(^170) Philip Mouskes,Chronique rimée, ed. F. de Reiffenberg, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1836–45),
171 ii, 613.
Perry,John, 162–74.
The Lure of Constantinople 71