Byzantium confronts the West, 1180-1204 - Brand, Charles M. (Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1968)
The state and the people - inherited problems; the legacy of Manuel Comnenus; the last Comneni - Alexius II and Andronicus I; the reign of Isaac II; towards disaster - Alexius III; the Norman threat - 1185; Frederick Barbarossa's crusade; the tributary state - Henry VI and Byzantium; toward commercial monopoly - the Venetians; Venice's rivals - Genoa and Pisa; the last hope - alliance with the papacy; the failure of Byzantine foreign policy - the fourth crusade at Constantinople.
Keywords: Byzantine Empire -- Foreign relations -- 1081-1453.Diplomatic relations.Byzantine Empire