Venice & the Crusades (1090-1125)
In the early summer of 11:23, disaster struck the newly established Crusader states of the Holy Land. The new king of Jerusalem, baldwin II, currently acting as protector to the northern counties of Antioch, and Adessa too. After both of their defeats in battle was himself defeated and held prisoner by the feared Aruk kid prince Balak.
With the loss of the king, increasingly daring bands of Turks began to push over the frontier to seize plunder and slaves, threatening to plung the entire region into turmoil. To make matters even worse along the coastline, the Fat. No particular allies to the Turks, but a deadly adversary nonetheless, to the Crusaders, still controlled the highly sort after seaways along the 11 shore.
Over the preceding decades, a long and bitter war of attrition had been fought by the lords of Tripoli and Jerusalem, in order to bring the Egyptian-held coastal cities of the Levant under their control. Though, in truth, little headway had been made since the early days.
Cities such as AA, jaffa and Tripoli, already long having fallen under the sway of Jerusalem, yet, large and powerful maritime cities such as Ascalon and Tha, ever resupplied from the sea still remained in the hands of the Fatam MITs and the Turks, both offering fierce resistance towards any attempts at capturing them, and proving a constant thorn in the-side of the Crusaders fleets operating out of both of these cities and from the ports of Alexandria, and Damietta in Egypt, dominated the seaways.
In those days, disrupting shipping and threatening to cut off the Crusaders from Europe Altogether, in May 11:23, a large Egyptian fleet seized the opportunity of Baldwin's capture, to besiege the coastal city of Jaffa. Inconclusive engagement. The Egyptian fleet ultimately pulled out towards the south, likely to resupply of Ascalon, knowing that the Crusaders lacked any sort of naval power to speak of.
And the Byzantines being preoccupied with events to the north, in the interior of Asia Minor, the FIds could rest easy for the time being with the ascendancy of the arid prince, balak in the east, and the capture of Baldwin II. Jerusalem looked set to fall. The Egyptians could take their time in reclaiming their cities and pay their sailors by praying on any merchant V vessels.
Full hearty enough to try their luck along the coast During that turbulent time. After a few days of patrols, a lookout on one of the outlying vessels of the fleet spotted exactly what they'd been looking for. A group of trading vessels, hugging the deeper waters out on the horizon, seeking to slip by unseen. Upon hearing the good news, the admiral of the fleet gave the order to give ch place.
Ever since the Norman conquest of Sicily, the Egyptians had suffered a serious deficit of timber. Small trading fleets, such as these came in handy. They could always use the ships. And of course, there was the potential plunder and slaves to be found on board. Almost immediately. The large Egyptian war Gys gave chase, plying out into the deeper waters in search of an easy victory. Before any of the fatam-mid-rowers realized it.
However, large billowing sails began to be spotted, emerging out of the horizon, on all sides around them. It was a trap. The trading vessels were, in fact, just the outliers of a much larger fleet sailing just out of sight below the horizon. To the horror of the Fatam-made sailors, they were surrounded. No sooner had the Egyptian ships engaged in pursuit, did they find themselves outnumbered and surrounded on all sides by skilled Christian mariners.
The 12th century historian William of Ty, recounts what happened next? A fierce battle commenced. Both sides fought with great bitterness, and there were so many killed that those who were there most emphatically assure you, as unlikely as it may sound that the victor-s wed in the enemy's blood, and the surrounding sea was dyed red from the blood that flowed down from the ships, up to a radius of 2,000 steps, but the shores, they say, were so thickly covered with the corpses that were ejected from the sea that the air was tainted, and the surrounding region contracted a plague.
Eventually, amidst the gruesome malle embroiling the opposing fleets, the lead ship of the newcomers spotted the displayed banners of the FMID Admiral making a be line towards his vessel. They smashed headlong into it, piercing its sides and sending the unfortunate commander to the bottom of the ocean. If the contemporary sources are to be believed, not one Egyptian ship escaped the battle, with nine being captured. The rest sunk, along with some 4,000 sailors.
Ultimately, it was the newcomers, not the FMds, who would profit from shipping in the area. Going on to capture 10 trading vessels over the next days. With the lack of timber in northern Africa.
Following the Norman conquest of Sicily, the FMID fleet was effectively done for decimating Egyptian sea power for decades to come, and effectively sealing the fates of Ty and Ascalon For good As the burning h of the fatam midw alley still smoked upon the horizon. The screams of drowning mariners permeating through the air. Doge domino! Mikel gazed out from his flagship, towards the friendly port of aa. He could smell an opportunity when he saw one.
And this would be massive to the great fortune of the Franks of the Levant. The Venetians had arrived upon the initial calling of the first Crusade back in the late 1090s. The city state of Venice, a rising power on the world scene, had initially hung back. Matching the Norman Prince, roger of Sicily, in remaining neutral, refusing to pledge his undying loyalty to the campaign.
Like the other foremost Italian maritime cities, genoa, and Pisa, whereas they had leapt at the chance of furthering their own spheres of influence. And in engaging in the Crusader zeal, venice recognized that war was bad for business.
The Venetians wanted to keep their existing trade routes open, having already been trading with Egypt, and the Islamic powers of the Levant, since the beginning of the century, it was there on the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean, that the riches of the silk roads flowed in from India and the Far East, trickling in from far away on the backs of camels, before being loaded up alongside timber from northern Europe, metal from Anatolia and Ivory from the south.
But, venice already had access to the area, the Fatimids of Egypt, being good trading partners, and even the war-like Selic Turks, increasingly realizing the potential benefits of keeping the port cities of the Levant open to trade.
The Venetian Doge at the time, vitali Mikel, ever, the businessman preferred to wait after the First Crusade was called, in order to judge for himself the scale of the enterprise and its prospects for success before committing the services of his republic.
For him, the primary goal of Venice was to retain the city's advantage over the other Italian city states, most notably the rising powers of Genoa and Pisa, both maritime powers with fierce mercantile ambitions of their own, on the face of it purely from a geographical perspective, venice was at the obvious advantage. The city, on the lagoon lay on a far closer and easier route to both Constantinople and the Holy Land.
She already had firm links in the Levant and Egypt, and in 1092, notably gained extensive trade rights all over the Byzantine Empire granted by the emperor Alexius commus in an attempt to revitalize the ailing Byzantine economy decimated by decades of civil war and hemorrhaging territory to the Selic Turks.
Not only were Venetian merchants to be made exempt from taxes on both imports and exports, but they were also granted an entire district, and anchorage in the imperial capital, genoa and Pisa, meanwhile, engaged themselves in an intensive rivalry, spending much of their time and energy in fighting over control of Corsica and other commercial interests in the western Mediterranean, rather than being filled with joy, like much of the rest of Europe at the calling of the first Crusade, many Venetians were instead filled with apprehension.
All of their carefully laid plans were now threatened with destruction. Not only was war bad for business, but it also threatened to give an opportunity for expansion to the other maritime cities. Should the endeavor succeed? As early as 1097, a Genoan fleet left port to ferry much-needed supplies to the Crusaders during the siege of Antioch, and the peasons weren'! t far behind them arriving in the area. Shortly afterwards.
To disrupt the Venetian strangle hold on the region upon the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, and the successful conclusion of the First Crusade, the Venetians begrudgingly accepted which way the wind was blowing. And accordingly dispatched a fleet of some 200 ships under the DOIs son, vitali Giovani. One by one.
They filed out of the Grand lagoon into the Adriatic, calling in at their Dalmatian trading towns to pick up more-soldiers and more sailors along the way before finally rounding the pelones and pulling into the Byzantine island of roads. For the winter.
The Byzantine emperor Alexius, commus himself, ever, the shrewd businessmen had long enjoyed a mutual agreement with the Venetians first calling on their maritime support against the Normans of Southern Italy in the 1080s, and later offering them full tax-exempt trade rights throughout the empire.
Now, faced with the very same Normans, having seized the former provincial capital of Antioch for their own, rather than returning it to him, he attempted to utilize the Venetians for his own ends, whilst the fleet lay anchored off the coast of roads.
Alexius seems to have sent word to the Doge, asking him to pull out of the region entirely, or come to his aid, rather than support the Crusaders, always emphasizing their treacherous actions, while stressing his own long-standing agreement with Venice. Perhaps most offensive to Venice weren't the actions of the Crusaders, but those of their own commercial rivals, ever a threat to their supremacy over the Eastwest trade routes of the Mediterranean.
A peason fleet lay in blockade of the Byzantine city of Laka, an important sea port to the provincial capital of Antioch. Having recently acquired Antioch for himself, the Norman warlord band of Toronto, was currently besieging the city from its landward side. The bantine defenders of the city were eventually able to push the peasant back, the fleet pulling out, mostly intact, to retreat back home.
Unfortunately, for them, a battle-ready and fully-refreshed fleet was waiting for them out in the waters of the Mediterranean. Weary from months of battle, coming into anchor, just off of roads, they fell right into the clutches of the Venetian trap. For the first time in history. Venetian and Pean fleets engaged in a fierce battle at sea.
The Venetians had watched the rise of the upstart young power and wished to clip their wings just to make sure they were very much the lesser partner in the Italian dealings in the Levant, and if at all possible to force them to relinquish any kind of potential activity in the area, a brutal fight ensued, with mariners leaping from ship to ship to overwhelm enemy crews, just as much as Mana wars crashed into each other bulkheads and masts hideously crunching in a battle for mastery over the waves.
By day's end, it was the Venetians who-had made their point. Seeing 20 peason ships, and around 4,000 sailors captured, they were released soon afterwards to limp back to Italy, though not before, they were forced to relinquish all of their plunder and to vow never to return again to the Eastern Mediterranean. Of course, this assurance was soon forgotten. Both the Peans and Jans soon obtaining trade rights in the newly forged Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The battle of the Rodian shore simply amounted to the first in a long series of confrontations between the Italian maritime powers over the coming centuries, though, venice remained very much the apex power for the time being, she would be forced to return to the Holy Land again, and again, over the coming decades, in order to retain her position.
6 months after the fleet had first set out, venice had still landed no major blows against the Muslim powers of the Middle East, nor even had any of its sailors set foot or made port in the Holy land. As always, venice had put its own interests. First, delaying on roads for several weeks whilst her sailors plundered valuable Christian relics to bring back to St. Marx, to help the burgeoning pilgrim trade.
Yet another lucrative venture for the city. Surely, the Byzantines wouldn't miss a few relics, especially considering the support that the Venetians had given them, though. This act can perhaps be seen as the first in a long line of questionable actions against the Byzantines, eventually culminating in the total sack of Constantinople in 1204, and the permanent shattering of Eastern Roman power that came as a result Sal.
Finally, in the summer of 1100, the Venetian fleet put into port at the recently conquered city of Jaffa. The desperate situation of the Crusaders is illustrated by the quite ludicrous trade rights and concessions that the Venetians managed to secure for themselves. It would be fair to, say that if the Jans and the Peans had it good, the Venetians were offered a ridiculous prize in recognition for their assistance in the Levant.
Vitali Giovani asked for a church and a market in every christian town, a third of every town they might capture in the future. And finally, in return for an annual tribute, the entire city of Tripoli, though these concessions never in fact materialized due to the main cru s, a commander, godfrey of Bu's death, making the deal null and void shortly afterwards. Nevertheless, the power of Venice is still evident.
Godfrey's death and the ensuing political crisis in the newly forged Kingdom of Jerusalem delayed the proposed attack on AA, and a compromise was made in attacking Hyer, a predominantly Jewish settlement, understandably unwilling to sub-mit due to the recent massacre of Jerusalem's entire Jewish population. Nonetheless, the Venetians besieged the city. Their siege weapons, ultimately, proving too much for the defenders to handle zealous Crusaders rushed through the city's gates.
And, as feared in a repeat of scenes that took place from the Ry to the Jordan, they launched into a vicious prgram against the Jewish inhabitants of the city city, massacring thousands. So, it was that August weighed down with plunder and holy relics, satisfied that their commercial interests were secure.
The Venetian fleet, set sail for home, they wouldn't return to the Holy Land for another decade, again, motivated primarily not by Crusader zeal, but by the necessity of overcoming their competition. The other maritime powers of Pisa and Genoa, who in the meantime, had both set up commercial activities not only in the Holy Land, but also in the Byzantine Empire, there were less advantageous rights in both.
There was also a very real military foe to contend with, much closer to home in the form of the kingdom of Hungary under its king Colan, a fellow Catholic state, but one with competing ambitions along the Adriatic. In the intervening years, a number of floods had decimated the city, on the lagoon-leveling churches and seeing entire districts sink into the waters. For a time.
A new Doge had also been elected Order Lafo Feri, an energetic leader, who recognized that something would have to, to give a new expedition to bring much-needed money into the city, would do nicely. By 1110. The new Doge order Lafo opted to lead the expedition, personally, sitting aboard the flagship of Aund. Strong fleet of vessels. As usual, the Venetian timing was impeccable at the same time as the Venetians approached.
The new ruler of Jerusalem, king Baldwin I was besieging the city of Sidon, along with an army of axe-wielding marauders, led by king Sigard of Norway. Another set of newcomers and a throwback to the age of the Vikings le in, by prophit, as much as by religious conviction, yet the siege was dragging on for longer than anticipated, and it was only thanks to Venetian support that the city finally surrendered in December, rather than being granted part of Sedon.
The Doge seems to have bartered for control of an entire district of Acre, the main port city of Jerusalem, where spices and silks flowed in from the east, ivory from the south, and metals from the north. Baldwin agreed. The Doge even gained the right to use Venetian measures and weights, where, wherever they operated, and to maintain their own magistrate for legal issues.
Though Genoa and Pisa had been similarly favored, venice had at least ensured a profitable arrangement for the future. On the return journey, they again plundered more Christian relics from Byzantine as well as Turkish held lands along the coasts of Asia Minor. In order to help with the burgeon commercial activity of the pilgrimage trail.
In the years following Oao's expedition to the Holyland, even though some 300 ships had already been deployed to the east, it was realized that bigger and better fleets would be required to maintain their position against their commercial rivals, never able to differentiate between commerce and defense. The ship rights of Venice engaged in an epic build-building project, assembling a truly colossal fleet by 1119, this new fleet would be in dire need, again, by the Crusader Kingdoms.
In that year, the entire Antio-army had been annihilated at the field of blood, though, the situation was restored to a tentative balance by the actions of the new king of Jerusalem. Baldwin II. A resurgence of Egyptian sea power now threatened the long-term survival of the kingdom, as well as the ever powerful Turkic powers of Syria.
Urgent calls for aid arrived at the lagoon, almost immediately, though, as usual, they also arrived at the rival powers of Janoah and Pisa, though they were tied up in fighting over Corsica again. Due to good timing, it was Venice's time to shine Along with a new expedition, came. A new Doge Domino Mikel his flagship, sailed out once more in August 1122, with 71 mighty mana wars and many smaller vessels, though.
At first its sails were not directed to the Egyptians, but to fellow Christians, they went to the Byzantine island of Corfu to seize relics, and to teach the Byzantines a lesson, the death of Alexius Comnenus, four years earlier, had, led his son John to the throne, accompanied by a stark shift in policy against the rising power of Venice, whereas Alexus favored Venice. John hadn'!
T lived through the dark days of the 1070s and 1080s, and he decided to revoke the trade rights of the young upstarts. In response, venice simply mercilessly raided the Byzantine islands. Easy pickings in the wake of Alexius COMES'death in 1118, using the opportunity to teach their partner a lesson. Lesson.
Eventually, JN backed down and restated the ludicrous tax exemptions granted when the Empire stood on the very verge of oblivion, though the relationship between the two powers became increasingly strained, ultimately, however, reports trickling in, of a new disaster in the Holy Land took the attentions of the fleet, baldwin II, the king of Jerusalem, as well as Joseline of Corton, count of Adessa, had been taken prisoner by the arid warlord Balak, leaving the region divided and with no effective leadership, reluctantly, though, sensing a potential profit when he saw one, the Doge gave the order to set sail for the Levant.
They took their time, however, leisurely sacking the Aan islands of Chios, lesbos, roads, and Cyprus along the way in order to milk the bines for all they had before, finally dropping anchor at Akre in 1123, and decimating the Egyptian fleet, operating along the coast. In the aftermath of the def-feat of the Egyptian fleet, the Doge returned in triumph to AA.
He was about to do some hard bargaining negotiations dragged on for months with the Christians, desperate to capture ty the main trading emporium of the 11 shore, still in muslim hands, and Ascalon, the main FMID military base, but the Venetians only willing to commit to the operation, in return for huge sums of money and commercial con concessions.
Finally, in the first weeks of 1124, an agreement was made with even better terms than had been extorted in 1100. In every single Christian town and city of the kingdom, they were to be granted a church, a bakery, and bathouses, together with exemption from all tolls and custom charges, their right to use their own weights and measures was confirmed.
And finally, they were offered a whole third of the cities of T and Ascalon upon their capture, should they take part in addition to their already existing district in the city of AA. Finally, the Venetian fleet sailed north to Ty, whilst the Crusader army marched overland. Tire was an ancient sea port built upon an exceptional natural harbor added to, by success-Essive generations down through the millennia, the city had once been home to a phoenician population.
It was expertly made and deemed to be near invulnerable to attack from both sea and land. On the 15th of February 11:24. The Venetians led by the Doge and the Franks, led by PMs, count of Tripoli, and William Deori the still-imprisoned King's Conable, began the siege at the time. T was part of the territory of TKIN.
The atabeg of Damascus, and it possessed a capable garrison and determined population already weathering several sieges over the proceeding two decades. First, off, the Crusaders, built large siege towers and machines that could hurl immense pieces of rock over large distances to shatter the walls. The defenders of Ti, also built engines of their own, hurling boulders back at the approaching siege towers, as the conflict dragged on.
Had happened when Alexander the Great besieged the city, close to 1500 years before the citizens began to run short of food, and sent urgent calls for aid to make matters worse for the defenders. Word arrived from the east that Balak, likely the foremost leader amongst the Tur work of the region at the time died whilst besieging the city of Hieropolis.
Baldwin still toiled in captivity, though, the removal of Balak came as a great relief to the Baguer residents of the Crusader states. To Getkin, meanwhile, cautiously advanced towards Ty, from Damascus, upon hearing of the death of Balak, however, and faced with the forces of Count Pon of Tripoli, and Constable William riding out to confront him. He turned around and fled without fighting in June 1124, recognizing his now potentially volatile situation.
Tokin sent envoys to negotiate peace. After a series of lengthy and difficult negotiations, it was agreed that the terms of the surrender would include letting those who wanted to leave the city, be able to do so, taking their family and property with them, whilst those who wanted to stay would keep their houses and possessions.
This was an unpopular move with some of the Crusaders ever eager to plunder the city after a fierce siege, but the terms were adhered to. Nonetheless. Times had changed in the 25 years since Europeans arrived in the region, and bloodthirsty massacres were no longer than norm diplomacy, being increasingly seen as a much better, long-term survival strategy for the Crusader States after holding out for more than two decades.
Tyre finally surrendered on the 29th of June 1124, though Baldwin remained in captivity throughout all of these events. Following the death of Balak, and the subsequent breakup of arid power, he, was released, in return for a ransom. Upon his arrival back in the kingdom, he found much of the crisis to have passed somehow against all the odds.
He'd, not only held on to his kingdom, but now had a new city, to add to it, one of the primary trading ports on the Mediterranean, in return for their service in capturing the city.
Baldwin maintained his part in the deal broker during his captivity, by granting the Venetians extensive commercial privileges, a stake in the city, and guarantees of property rights for the heirs of Venetians who were shipwrecked or who had died in tire, thus ensuring that Venice would maintain a naval presence in the Latin East. On the return voyage, the main Venician fleet, again, passed through the AIan sea.
Again, they pillaged Greek islands, forcing the Byzantines to abandon their dispute, and reconfirm the original commercial privileges granted to Venice. Venice's overseas colonial enterprise had, well and truly begun. It was an empire that would continue to thrive well into the 18th century, until it was finally extinguished by Napoleon.
Andrew: Please let me know the sources backing your claim that the Crusaders massacred the entire Jewish population of Jerusalem. In fact, what is currently considered the most accurate source, the Cairo Geniza, indicates that many of the non-combatant Jews were freed, and allowed safe passage to Ascalon, along with many of the Muslim nobility and non-combatants. As for the massacre, it was standard protocol for the inhabitants of a besieged city to be put to the sword if they had resisted, especially if they resisted after terms of surrender had been offered. It is thoroughly documented that many of the Jewish inhabitants of the city not only resisted, but fought alongside the Muslim garrison! Please have your facts straight before you make such inflammatory claims such as that at 18: 31, it is especially important in our current time! Date: 2022-09-10
onbedoelde Screams of drowning sailors? If you're drowning, you can't scream. It's how you drown. Your mouth and lungs fill with water. 'Screams of soon to drown sailors who couldn't swim', or 'pleas of mercy from a vanquished sinking horde' may be more fitting. Next. William de Bury. I know you're English; like me, you have an English accent. Why, then, do you not know how to pronounce the name of a town in Lancashire? He may have been of Norman stock, but it doesn't change how the place is pronounced. That's 'Berry', not 'Byouree' unless I'm dreadfully mistaken. I could be mistaken, but I am unaware of any place which shares the spelling with that of the Lancastrian town.
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USBearForce 1099: Venice destroys a Pisan crusader fleet on behalf of the Byzantines. Then they pillage the Byzantine island of Rhodes. Then they sail down to Acre and negotiate huge trade concessions from the Kingdom of Jerusalem in exchange for naval support against the Egyptians. THEN they keep trading with the Egyptians anyway, despite fighting them on occasion to keep their end of the bargain with the crusaders. The medieval Venetians may have been mercenaries and scoundrels, but DANG you have to amazed at the balls it must have taken to pull stunts like that and get away with it.
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Michal Okay I've just got to ask. How do you produce such high quality content so regularly? Please don't stop. Thanks for the research and work put into these. I love the background music and well adapted images! Edit: also I really appreciate you actually spend the time providing in depth context before attacking your subject.
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Stefan What happened to the city of Ascalon (Aschelon, was it taken by the Crusader States or did it remain in Fatamid hands for years to come? The High Middle Ages were such exciting times, at least for us sitting here behind a desk with little chance of being massacred by ravaging fanatics and bloodthirsty merchants.
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william As much as I love looking at pictures of Venice, for all of Venices contributions to the Holy League during the Campaign and Battle of Lepanto, I will always hold them responsible for the sacking of Constantinople and the fatal wounding of the Byzantine Empire during the 4th Crusade. Unforgivable!
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Kalo Venice produced so much beauty -in art, architecture and music -think of the Doge's Palace, the paintings of Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto and Tiepolo -the sublime music of the Gabrielis, the operas of Monteverdi, the concertos of Vivaldi-the Four Seasons etc
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Critical Oh yes those indigenous populations that lived on the land that the capitalist/fascist/imperialist crusaders (invaders) attacked, raped and pillaged where such a thorn in the side be careful pal, your bias is showing
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MrPwmiles Yes it's marvellous work. To be picky, Sidon is Side-on, Latakia has the accent on the second syllable, the adjective for Genoa is Genoese etc. But yes, the passion shines though and interest is created and held
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history The Venetians greatest mistake was to attack the Romans. That opened the floodgates to the Turks who, some time later, would launch a attack into the heart of europe. But by God, they were smart guys.
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Rascal you cover the time btwn 1099-1123 but you start with 1123, then half way thru go to 1099. why not stick with chronological time so its easier to fit pieces together from historic events already learned. ?
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CHIEF History time. do u think if they kept there oth to east rome and just reconquerd they would have received help and therefore retained all lands held. 2 greedy an broke oth to emperor. the crusaders i mean
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Michael His final comments about Venice being a power into the 18th century until Napoleon dismantles it is a boldface lie. Venice lost its trading empire immediately with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
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Costas Venice and Crusades, 1) Money. 2) Trade. 3) Pillage. 4) Steal land from Greeks. And all these with the approval and the blessing of the Roman Catholic Holy See of Rome.
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Joel Funny thing is it was always very few Christians who always fought amongst each other, it just shows the skill that they had just to hold the Holy Land against literally country for people.
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education You didn't mentioned how they tricked the (4th) crusaders to get excommunicated only to use them as a private army and that was the only way they could conquer any land, the cowards.
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Stanislav One mistake on your map of the Eastern trade routes: by the time of your film, Khazaria no longer existed being destroyed by Svetoslav the Mighty and his Rus armies.
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James this video (like all of history times videos) is great, but every time you mention the Doge being the leader of Venice, I think Vinician gold the original Doge coin
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Alant Thank you for augmenting a subject I knew a reasonable amount of, but filling in a lot of new information. Truly a nice experience leaning from your videos!
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Crafty I wonder why the Byzantines didn't attack Venice. I mean how many troops would you need for that? And there's even a land passage through a shared border. reply
