Empire of Constantinople
With regard to those of my horsemen and heavy-armed soldiers, whom we generally call ‘chevaliers’, who are absent, let thy Majesty send a man to the city of Antioch and there those others shall take the same oaths and the man sent by thy Majesty shall tender them, whilst I, I swear this, will see to it that the men swear and agree to keep the same agreement without any change. Further, I agree and I swear, that as often as your Majesty desires me to raise my hands and to organize a war against the holders of towns and countries, which were once subject to the Empire of Constantinople, this I will do and arm myself against them. Bat those against whom it is Dot in thy mind to send an army, then neither will we ourselves march against them.
For in all things we wish to serve thy Empire and to let every deed and every wish depend upon thy will. As for any of the Saracens or Ishmaelites who come over into thy kingdom of their own free will and surrender their cities, I will not hinder them nor make any efforts to win them over to myself unless indeed their territory after being subdued by my sword and reduced to extreme straits, should look to thy Empire in the moment of danger and wish to ensure their own safety by submitting to you. But all such and all others who through fear of the Frankish sword and in dread of imminent death call for help upon your august Majesties . . . not for this reason will you lay claim to our captives, but clearly only to those who without any toils or pains of ours, shall enter into subjection to you of their own free will.
In addition to the foregoing, I also agree to this; that all soldiers who wish to cross the Adriatic from Lombardy with me, shall themselves also swear and agree to subjection to thy Majesty and shall all give their oaths hereto to the man of your Empire whom you yourselves will send for this same purpose to the other side of the Adriatic. But if they do not take the oath, I will not allow them to cross at all as they refuse to be like-minded with us. And it is necessary that the countries and towns bestowed on me in the Golden Bull by your divinely-appointed Empire should be set out in this writing.
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