See also: Apology for the Fourth Crusade

Provided below is both a partial English translation as well as the full original Latin text of Pope Innocent III’s letter no. CXXVI. PETRO, TITULI SANCTI MARCELLI APOSTOLICAE SEDIS LEGATO, PRESBYTERO CARDINALI. Reprehendit legatum, deseruisse terram sanctam, etc. (VI Id. Julii.). The translation is by James Brundage and the Latin text is taken from the Patrologia Latina, Vol. 215:136.

The letter was written by the pope in the wake of the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the participants of the Fourth Crusade. The crusaders’ original goal was Egypt, but the crusade was diverted as a result of financial problems resulting from debts owed to the Venetians and a deal made with Alexios IV to restore his deposed father Isaac II to the Byzantine throne.

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