Marino Sanuto (or Sanudo) Torsello (c. 1270–1343) was a Venetian statesman and geographer. He is best known for his lifelong attempts to revive the crusading spirit and movement; with this objective he wrote his Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis (Secrets for True Crusaders). He is now sometimes referred to as Marino Sanuto the Elder to distinguish him from the later Venetian diarist of the same name. Life and travels Marino Sanuto was born in Venice around 1270 to an aristocratic trading family active in the eastern Mediterranean, of which a branch had settled in the Aegean on the island of Naxos shortly after the Fourth Crusade and founded the Duchy of the Archipelago. Sanuto's father was a member of the Venetian Senate. Starting as a young man, he traveled extensively. As a teenager he stayed in Acre, a thriving commercial port and the final stronghold of the Crusader states before falling to a Malmuk siege in 1291. Later travels took him to Greece, Romania, Palestine, Egypt, Armenia, Cyprus and Rhodes. Sanuto became a member of the entourage of Giovanni Dandolo, the Doge of Venice. In 1305 he was at the court of Palermo and then went on to Rome where he joined the offices of Cardinal Riccardo Petroni. He was also involved in business affairs for the Sanuto family. In addition to his own travels, Sanuto had an extensive network of contacts who had travelled widely. Among his correspondents were Guglielmo Bernardi de Furvo, a Venetian nobleman who had travelled extensively in Muslim and Mongol lands, Bishop Jerome of Kaffa, in the Crimea, who in 1312 had been sent to reinforce the Catholic mission in China, and Andronikos II Palaiologos, the Emperor of Byzantium. Crusades advocate For much of his life, Sanuto was a zealous advocate for a crusade to recapture the Holy Lands. Impetus for his interest in this cause is not entirely clear. Perhaps, like many Europeans, he was shocked by the sudden and unexpected fall of Acre to Muslim forces not long after his visit to the city. He may also have been influenced by his patron, Ricardo of Siena, a well-known proponent of a new crusade. During the early part of the thirteenth century, numerous crusade proposals were circulating in Europe. Opinions varied on preparations and implementation but Sanuto's plan placed more emphasis on a sophisticated military strategy and reliable financial backing as keys to a successful