Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, episode 304, questions 14.

Thank you all so much for another batch of thoughtful questions on this period of narrative, let's clear up some easy ones to start with.

Listener V asks to what extent was the Latin Empire just a Venetian puppet?

Were the Italians dictating policy behind the scenes? I don't think so, no.

As you heard in our discussions with John Geebfried, the Latin administration was always active trying to make things happen. It's just that after 1220 or so their options were extremely limited.

The Latins were dependent on the Venetians for naval defense, but I don't think it went beyond that.

In part because the Venetians were a very procedural and legalistic state.

They kept meticulous records, ran decisions passed multiple councils, and were always

dealing with legal disputes. The Podes-Tah at Constantinople, the Venetian in charge of affairs there, had his hands full just

administering his own people.

He wasn't in a position to manipulate the Latins into doing his bidding. The impression I get is that in the long

run the Venetians were fairly indifferent to who ran Constantinople. One of the reasons they fought with the Byzantines against the Ottomans was a desire

to prevent a new unitary empire from dominating the Eastern Mediterranean. But we'll talk a lot more about that when we get there.

Listener V also sees parallels between Baldwin II

and the final few Byzantine emperors who also travel Western Europe begging for aid,

an astute observation and again one we will come back to.

Listener C asks, does the Varangian guard still exist?

Yes, axe-wielding Celts, as the sources sometimes call them, are described as guarding prisoners and the Treasury in the new Nician state.

So their role may have changed a little over time, but they were still being trusted with the most serious security assignments.

Most recruits seem to have come from Denmark, England and Scotland by this point,

and they'll still be knocking around until the 1330s.

What about liquid fire, says listener C?

...