Chapter 192: Sights And Sounds Of Constantinople
Meanwhile, Baldwin and Caesar were also intently gazing at this majestic giant city wall. Without seeing it with their own eyes, few would believe that this was a structure built by human craftsmen.
To Caesar, this city wall was practically a staircase for Titans to walk on.
On the outermost side of the city wall was an incredibly wide moat—how wide? Simply put, if the Byzantines were willing to let seawater into it, it would be a real river. And on its inner side（ next to the city wall） stood a low stone wall.
Behind the stone wall was a narrow open ground, and behind the open ground stood the outer city wall. The outer city wall was wide enough for three chariots to drive side by side. The outer layer was carefully cut limestone blocks, and the core was mortar made of lime and crushed bricks. Moreover, according to Raymond, the outer city wall had ninety-six square, octagonal, or hexagonal towers, about fifty to sixty feet high, spaced one hundred and fifty feet apart—that is, a range completely covered by the arrows of the archers on the towers.
The outer city platform behind the outer city wall was about thirty feet high, meaning it was shorter than the outer city wall but much higher than the ground outside the outer city wall. This meant that even if someone breached the outer city wall, their siege engines could not be pushed under the inner city wall.
The inner city wall was similar in width to the outer city wall and also had ninety-six towers, but they were all semicircular, much larger in area than the former, and each tower had battlements for the defenders to shoot or throw stone blocks.
The towers were divided into two levels, with entrances and exits on both the upper and lower levels, connected by wooden stairs. The upper level was for the garrison to defend the city, while the lower level was used as a warehouse—the lower level’s passages allowed people in the city to supply the garrison with food, drinking water, and archery stone blocks and other defense supplies.
This section of the city wall was like a straight line, completely cutting off Constantinople and the Thracian Plain overlooking it.
Otherwise, Raymond would not have spoken of previous events with some regret. For a Great City like this, an army could not enter without permission or invitation.
In comparison, Constantinople’s sea walls—the three sides of the city walls facing the sea—were much weaker, but the sea was their best natural barrier. Unless the enemy had a more powerful navy, it would be impossible to breach those city walls.
Seeing this sight, even Baldwin felt much calmer.
When attacking Fustat, the Byzantine Empire had promised to send a powerful fleet up the Nile River to aid them. But in fact, when they attacked Laudae Island, although the Byzantine Empire sent a few ships, the help provided was negligible. Now it seemed that Manuel I was not stingy for no reason. Compared to the Fustat campaign, obviously Constantinople needed these ships more.
However, this also showed from another perspective that the Byzantine Empire’s fleet was no longer as vast and powerful as before.
“We will enter Constantinople through the Golden Gate,” said a minister who had come to greet them.
He was a man of about thirty, in his prime, wearing a deep purple cloak with two golden shoulder straps hanging from his chest, and his hem adorned with shining pearls. At a glance, people knew he had a close relationship with the Byzantine royal family.
But when others addressed him, they used the most noble Alexios—this title was truly intriguing.
The Byzantine Empire had countless titles and honorifics. Some were created, others inherited from the Roman Empire or Ancient Greece, and their meanings constantly changed. But in the Komnenos dynasty, “the most noble” was basically given to the close relatives of Manuel I.
Baldwin was a very perceptive man. He immediately saw that when this Alexios heard the title, he showed not pride or joy, but humiliation. Moreover, he always reminded Baldwin of someone—none other than the Byzantine Empire’s Emperor Manuel I.
Seeing this male noble show an unhappy expression, a eunuch hurriedly ran up—he was the master of ceremonies for this group. He whispered something to the man named Alexios, who took several deep breaths before turning around with a normal face to face them.
But the previous pause and delay had already caught some people’s attention.
They whispered to each other, but they should not forget the Christians here—from the King to the knights, almost all were people blessed by God, with hearing far superior to ordinary people. Soon, Baldwin and Caesar exchanged a slightly astonished glance.
It turned out that this Alexios was not Manuel I’s nephew or other male relative; he was Manuel I’s Eldest Son, the most legitimate heir.
But just as, to marry the Byzantine princess, King Amalric I of Ayyarasa Road had to divorce his wife—declaring their marriage invalid—to marry her, when Manuel I decided to further consolidate his claim to Antioch through marriage, he already had a wife, and they already had a son and two daughters.
This was completely reasonable, after all, Manuel I was almost sixty years old this year, and the son he had with the sister of Antioch’s Grand Duke Bohemond III was only six years old.
No emperor could possibly leave his first forty years completely unmarried. Even if he had no desire for women, his subjects, parents, and priests would demand that he marry and have children as soon as possible.
Unlike Amalric I, however, Manuel I had no mercy for his previous marriage or this Eldest Son. It might also be to ensure that the son from his second marriage would have an unquestionable origin. After he declared his first marriage invalid, his son and two daughters all became illegitimate children.
This status was truly awkward in Constantinople. Although compared to Manuel I’s nephews, his Eldest Son would not face castration or murder while his father was still in power, once his brother succeeded—if he had not established his own power by then—his fate would not be much better.
With such a heavy burden on his heart, it was not strange for this young noble to look gloomy. As he led the Christian King and knights through the Golden Gate, he introduced them to this majestic city wall and all eight gates that the people of Constantinople were proud of.
When they came before the city gate and looked up, even Caesar could not help but exclaim. The city walls on both sides of the Golden Gate were all made of the hardest and densest granite, with numerous relief sculptures and decorations at the top on both sides. The gate material might be oak or olive wood—Caesar could not be sure, because a thick layer of gold plated the gate.
A well-deserved Golden Gate. Some knights even involuntarily opened their mouths, hardly believing that anyone in the world would act so extravagantly—even if they had visited Rome for pilgrimage or done business in Damascus, they had never seen such a grand gesture.
A slight smile finally appeared on Alexios’s face.
The knights’ surprise and exclamations only subsided slightly after entering the city. Although Constantinople was so magnificent and splendid, undeniably, near the city walls, like other cities, the lowest status people in the city gathered, their houses not low but quite disorderly and dilapidated.
After all, everyone knew that if enemies came to attack, these houses might be demolished by the garrison to serve as projectiles and obstacles for defense—why would they maintain and repair them carefully?
But further into the city’s depths, differences from Ayyarasa Road, Damascus, or Acre appeared. But if an Ancient Roman saw it, he would find it quite familiar—apartments on both sides of the streets.
Three- or four-story apartments, with the ground floor or the one above made of cement and stone bricks, but the top two or three floors were all wooden structures, uneven and crowded. Even though almost everyone inside had come out to greet them now, it was still clear that their situation was not very satisfactory.
Although they had tried their best to wear their best clothes, with necklaces inlaid with gold coins hanging on their chests, and in front of the house doors, just as those poor Crusader farmers had described, colorful holy images were hung.
As soon as they saw Baldwin and the others, they cheered noisily but unevenly, calling “the most noble,” “the most honorable,” some calling Caesar or lord. Except for Basileus, that is, emperor in Greek, every kind of honorific and title could be heard from their mouths.
Caesar looked at the expressions of the Byzantines beside him, and saw their faces full of helplessness but not much anger. It seemed they had long anticipated the chaos here. The attendants and servants behind them had already opened their bags, throwing handfuls of small-denomination copper coins into the crowd. The cheers immediately died down, as everyone hurriedly bent down to pick up the coins—that was their purpose.
But soon, the group that saved the image of the Byzantine Empire, or rather the people of Constantinople, appeared.
They were dressed elaborately and uniformly, some in silk, with fair faces and tall stature, clearly the pampered class. They were the Romans in the traditional sense, called the Honest and the Humble.
Of course, this was just a title; in fact, it referred to the wealthy and privileged.
The Honest had greater power than the Humble.
They were either officials or generals in the city, or visiting nobles. They were not yet at the level of the emperor and his people, but already above most of the populace, while the Humble were some wealthy merchants, captains, guild leaders… And in their ranks were also priests, holding holy images and censers, some prostitutes in expensive silk coming forward to scatter petals under the knights’ horses’ hooves, and others offering Gifts.
At this point, how much status and power the visitors had was obvious at a glance. After offering Gifts, if they were allowed to follow beside or behind this group, they were the ones favored by the nobles; those who offered Gifts but could only retreat into the crowd were those who had not yet received grace.
“This is the Baths of Zeuxippus. Constantinople has many baths; you can try them more while you are still here.”
Alexios said casually, and that bathhouse was actually a building made of pure white marble. At first, Baldwin thought it was a church.
Of course, Constantinople also had many churches and chapels, but the number of baths far exceeded these sacred buildings. Moreover, along the way they also saw many facilities existing only for pleasure: public libraries, a Hippodrome larger than the old Roman oval gladiatorial arena, theaters, colonnades（shops）, fountains and pools, aqueducts, gardens, and so on…
And what the stern priests criticized most was that Constantinople still retained beast fights and the Hippodrome. The Hippodrome’s area was so vast, occupying one-fifth of Constantinople, and adjacent to it was Manuel I’s Grand Imperial Palace.
“The Emperor plans to hold an extremely grand celebration in the Hippodrome,” Alexios turned to Baldwin and said, “You will surely like it.”
“In this celebration, there will not only be beasts and gladiators, but also sea battles—you have never seen it. Seawater will be let into the Hippodrome, and two groups of gladiators will drive ships, fighting each other like real war.”
He kept staring into Baldwin’s eyes, wanting to see some sparkle of excitement and interest in this young man’s eyes, but he was soon disappointed.
Baldwin’s eyes showed more politeness, not much thirst for blood and death.
He lowered his head and laughed hoarsely. “Well, perhaps you are a pious good person—then you should visit our library. Our library has nearly 150,000 books, preserving nearly a thousand years of civilization.”
Baldwin immediately turned to look at Caesar. He still remembered how Caesar had suffered humiliation from others for copying some medical books that might treat his illness: “Can we look at and copy freely? Any book?”
Alexios was stunned. He had just mentioned it casually—who knew that Frankish knights hated reading books the most, yet the other party showed great interest. He then looked at Caesar; it seemed the rumor that this young subject was deeply favored by the Monarch was not unfounded.
