The Crusades failed to reunite the church and it insured the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The Fourth crusade was issued by Pope Innocent III who succeeded to the papacy in January 1198, and the preaching of a new crusade became the prime goal of his pontificate. He called upon Western Europe to lend aid to take control of Jerusalem by way of taking it from the south through Egypt as planned by Richard the Lionhearted. At the time of this call to action France and England were at war with each other, and the Germans were fighting the Papal power over the common people. In 1199 between Boniface de Montferrat, Count Thibaut of Champagne a sizeable force was pledged to the crusading army. There was no binding agreement among the crusaders that
