ABSTRACT
In the second half of the 1230s, Pope Gregory IX made extensive efforts to provide crusading relief for Latin-occupied Constantinople against the Greek resurgence. It is commonly held that in this effort the pope unsuccessfully attempted to divert the planned crusade for the Holy Land under the leadership of Thibaut IV of Champagne and Richard of Cornwall (also known as the Barons’ Crusade) towards that aim. However, it will be shown that such a complete diversion was never envisaged by the papacy; it was rather two parallel expeditions that were planned from December 1235 onwards. A close reading of the surviving evidence shows that Thibaut and Richard, as well as the majority of the crusaders for the Holy Land, were never requested to commute their vow and fight in Romania (that is, the lands formerly constituting the Byzantine Empire) rather than in Outremer.1
