When these words came to the ear of the Doge he was white-lipped with rage. He sent hastily through the camp and summoned to a parliament all the principal barons of the host. There were many who sided secretly with the Abbot of Vaux, but of these most were afraid to speak out. Only the Abbot stood his ground and said sturdily: "Lords, I forbid you to attack this city. The Holy Apostle of Rome gives me my authority, and if you disobey you will risk the terrors of the excommunicate. For these people in Zara are Christians, and you, too, are Christians, pledged to wage war against the Paynims." Dandolo stood forward, tall and menacing. "Signers," he cried hotly, "what manner of talk is this? The people of Zara were ready to yield themselves to the authority from which they had rebelled, and that without bloodshed. And now these mischief-makers have taken it upon themselves to stimulate anew the fray. I say that every drop of blood that is shed shall be upon the souls of those who bred rebellion. You, lords of the host, have covenanted to aid me in taking the city, and I call upon you to fulfil your words." As it happened, many of the barons who opposed the diversion of the Crusade against the fiat of the Church, felt that those who had encouraged the citizens to resist had done wrong. And for this reason there was little opposition to Dandolo's plea. To staunch upholders of the feudal system, there was, after all, nothing very heinous in the assertion by a great feudal lord of his dominion over a feudatory--and this was precisely what Dandolo was doing. The sentiment of the majority was expressed by Count Baldwin of Flanders, a tall, blonde young prince, who was, after Boniface of Montferrat, the most powerful leader in the host. "We wot well that you mean only that which is good and worthy by what you have said, Holy Abbot," he declared. "But we have made a bargain to help the Venetians, so that they may help us to go to the aid of Christ's Sepulchre. That is all. If the host accomplishes its purpose, what matter is it that we subdue a city that has rebelled against its rightful lord?" "Ay, if ye go in sooth to the Holy Land!" flashed the Abbot. "Think well of what ye do, fair sirs! Satan's hands are reaching out to cling to the heels of those of ye who do his bidding." "What is this that ye say now?" exclaimed Count Baldwin. "If we go, in sooth, to the Holy Land! Know, Holy Sir, that everything we do is aimed to the one end: the greater glory of Christ and the fuller recovery of His country."