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Fourth Crusade



 
 
The Fourth Crusade (1199–1204) was originally designed to conquer Muslim
Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
 Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
 by means of an invasion through Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe
Western Europe

Western Europe refers to the countries in the western most half of Europe. This concept has had different meanings, political and cultural as well as geographical issues have influenced the area....
 invaded and conquered the Christian
Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
 (Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
) city of Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
, capital of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
. This is seen as one of the final acts in the Great Schism
East-West Schism

The East-West Schism, or the Great Schism, divided medieval Christendom into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively....
 between the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
 and Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
. It has been often described as one of the most profitable and disgraceful sacks of a city in history.

r the failure of the Third Crusade
Third Crusade

The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin .After the failure of the Second Crusade, the Zengid dynasty controlled a unified Syria and engaged in a conflict with the Fatimid dynasty rulers of Egypt, which ultimately resulted in the unification of Egy...
 (1189–1192), there was little interest in Europe for another crusade against the Muslims
Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
.






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The Fourth Crusade (1199–1204) was originally designed to conquer Muslim
Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
 Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
 by means of an invasion through Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe
Western Europe

Western Europe refers to the countries in the western most half of Europe. This concept has had different meanings, political and cultural as well as geographical issues have influenced the area....
 invaded and conquered the Christian
Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
 (Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
) city of Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
, capital of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
. This is seen as one of the final acts in the Great Schism
East-West Schism

The East-West Schism, or the Great Schism, divided medieval Christendom into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively....
 between the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
 and Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
. It has been often described as one of the most profitable and disgraceful sacks of a city in history.

Background

After the failure of the Third Crusade
Third Crusade

The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin .After the failure of the Second Crusade, the Zengid dynasty controlled a unified Syria and engaged in a conflict with the Fatimid dynasty rulers of Egypt, which ultimately resulted in the unification of Egy...
 (1189–1192), there was little interest in Europe for another crusade against the Muslims
Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
. Jerusalem had now become controlled by the Ayyubid dynasty
Ayyubid dynasty

The Ayyubid or Ayyoubid Dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurds origins which ruled Egypt, Syria, Yemen , Diyar Bakr, Mecca, Hejaz and northern Iraq in the 12th and 13th centuries....
, which ruled all of Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
 and Egypt, except for the few cities along the coast still controlled by the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christianity kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, Israel, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
, now centered on Acre
Acre, Israel

Acre also Akko, is a List of Israeli cities in the Western Galilee region of North District Israel. It is situated on a low promontory at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay....
. The Third Crusade had also established a kingdom on Cyprus
Kingdom of Cyprus

The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan....
.

Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was born in either 1160 or 1161, and died on July 16, 1216 at Perugia. He was born with the name Lotario de Conti, and he was pope from January 8, 1198 until his death....
 succeeded to the papacy in 1198, and the preaching of a new crusade became the goal of his pontificate. His call was largely ignored by the European monarchs: the Germans were struggling against Papal power, and England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 and France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 were still engaged in warfare against each other. However, due to the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly
Fulk of Neuilly

Fulk of Neuilly was a French preacher of the twelfth century, and priest of Neuilly-sur-Marne. He preached the Fourth CrusadeA priest at Neuilly from 1191, he attended the lectures of Peter the Chanter in Paris....
, a crusading army was finally organized at a tournament
Tournament (medieval)

A Tournament, or tourney is the name popularly given to chivalry competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . It is one of various types of hastiludes....
 held at Écry by Count Thibaut of Champagne
Champagne, France

Champagne is a historic Provinces of France in the northeast of France, now best known for the Champagne that bears its name. Its western edge is about 100 miles east of Paris....
 in 1199. Thibaut was elected leader, but he died in 1200 and was replaced by an Italian
Italian people

The Italian people are a Southern European ethnic group located primarily in Italy and, by virtue of a wide-ranging Italian diaspora, throughout Western Europe, the Americas and Australia....
 count, Boniface of Montferrat
Boniface of Montferrat

Boniface of Montferrat , was Marquess of Montferrat and the leader of the Fourth Crusade. He was the third son of William V, Marquess of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg, born after his father's return from the Second Crusade....
. Boniface and the other leaders sent envoys to Venice
Republic of Venice

The Most Serene Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice . It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century AD until the year 1797....
, Genoa
Republic of Genoa

The Most Serene Republic of Genoa was an independent state in Liguria on the northwestern Italy coast from the 11th century to 1797, when it was invaded by armies of First French Republic under Napoleon I of France....
, and other city-states to negotiate a contract for transport to Egypt, the object of their crusade; one of the envoys was the future historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin
Geoffrey of Villehardouin

Geoffrey of Villehardouin was a knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period, best known for writing the eyewitness account Villehardouin's De la Conqu?te de Constantinople , about the Crusader success on 13 April 1204....
. Genoa was uninterested, but in March 1201 negotiations were opened with Venice, which agreed to transport 33,500 crusaders, a very ambitious number. This agreement required a full year of preparation on the part of the Venetians to build numerous ships and train the sailors who would man them, all the while curtailing the city's commercial activities. The crusading army was expected to comprise 4,500 knights (as well as 4,500 horses), 9,000 squires, and 20,000 foot-soldiers.

The majority of the crusading army that set out from Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 in October 1202 originated from areas within France. It included men from Blois
Blois

Blois is a the capital of the Loir-et-Cher Departments of France in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire River between Orl?ans and Tours....
, Champagne, Amiens
Amiens

Amiens is a city and Communes of France in northern France, north of Paris. It is the capital of the Somme Departments of France in Picardie....
, Saint-Pol
Saint-Pol

Saint-Pol is part of the name of several commune in France in France:* Saint-Pol-de-L?on, in the Finist?re d?partement, named after Pol Aurelian, a Celtic saint...
, the Ile-de-France and Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy

The Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory once existing within the France in the Middle Ages. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne. Existing between 843 and 1477, the Duchy was ruled by a succession of Duke of Burgundy, whose extinction with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 led to the Duchy being absorbed into the French crown...
. Several other regions of Europe sent substantial contingents as well, such as Flanders
Flanders

Flanders is a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied....
 and Montferrat
Montferrat

Montferrat is part of the region of Piedmont in Northern Italy. It comprises roughly the modern provinces of Province of Alessandria and Province of Asti....
. Other notable groups came from the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
, including the men under Bishop Martin of Pairis and Bishop Conrad of Halberstadt
Bishopric of Halberstadt

The Bishopric of Halberstadt was a Roman Catholic Church diocese from 804 until 1648 and an ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire from the late Middle Ages....
, together in alliance with the Venetian soldiers and sailors led by the doge
Doge of Venice

The Doge was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy....
 Enrico Dandolo
Enrico Dandolo

Enrico Dandolo was the thirty-ninth Doge of Venice from 1193 until his death. Remembered for his blindness, piety, longevity, and shrewdness, he is infamous for his role in the Fourth Crusade which he, at age ninety, directed against the Byzantine Empire, sacking Constantinople....
. The crusade was to make directly for the centre of the Muslim world, Cairo, ready to sail on June 24, 1202. This agreement was ratified by Pope Innocent, with a solemn ban on attacks on Christian states.

Attack on Zara

Main article: Siege of Zara
Siege of Zara

The Siege of Zara was the first major action of the Fourth Crusade. It was the first attack against a Catholic city by Catholic crusaders....
 (Zadar
Zadar

Zadar is a List of cities in Croatia in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar faces the islands of Ugljan and Pa?man, from which it is separated by the narrow Zadar Strait....
)


As there was no binding agreement among the crusaders that all should sail from Venice, many chose to sail from other ports, particularly Flanders
Flanders

Flanders is a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied....
, Marseilles, and Genoa
Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
. By 1201 the bulk of the crusader army was collected at Venice, though with far fewer troops than expected; 12,000 instead of 33,500. Venice had performed her part of the agreement: there lay war galleys, large transports, and horse transports - enough for three times the assembled army. The Venetians, under their aged and blind Doge
Doge

Doge is a dialectal Italian language word that descends from the Latin dux , meaning "leader", especially in a military context.The title of Doge was used for the elected chief of state in a number of Italy "crowned republics"....
, would not let the crusaders leave without paying the full amount agreed to, originally 85,000 silver
Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
 marks
Mark (money)

Mark was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and often equivalent to 8 ounces. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages ....
. The crusaders could only pay some 51,000 silver marks, and that only by reducing themselves to extreme poverty. This was disastrous to the Venetians, who had halted their commerce for a great length of time to prepare this expedition. In addition to this 20-30,000 men (out of Venice's population of 60,000 people) were needed to man the entire fleet, placing further strain on the Venetian economy.

Dandolo and the Venetians succeeded in turning the crusading movement to their own purposes as a form of repayment. Following the 1182 massacres of all foreigners in Constantinople, the Venetian merchant population had been expelled by the ruling Angelus dynasty with the support of the Greek population. These events gave the Venetians a hostile attitude towards Byzantium. Dandolo, who joined the crusade during a public ceremony in the church of San Marco di Venezia, proposed that the crusaders pay their debts by attacking the port of Zara
Zadar

Zadar is a List of cities in Croatia in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar faces the islands of Ugljan and Pa?man, from which it is separated by the narrow Zadar Strait....
 in Dalmatia
Dalmatia

Dalmatia is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, situated mostly in modern Croatia and spreading between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor in the southeast....
. The city had been dominated economically by Venice throughout the twelfth century, but had rebelled in 1181 and allied with King Emeric
Emeric of Hungary

Emeric I. , , King of Hungary . He was crowned during his father's lifetime, but after his father's death he had to fight against his brother, Andrew II of Hungary, who forced Emeric to assign the government of Croatia and Dalmatia to him....
 of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary , which existed from 1000 to 1918, and then from 1920 to 1946, was a considerable state in Central Europe....
 and Croatia
Kingdom of Croatia (Medieval)

The Kingdom of Croatia was an independent state from circa 925 until 1102 covering most of what is today Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans....
 (the two were in a personal union
Personal union

A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states are governed by the same monarch, while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct....
). Subsequent Venetian attacks were repulsed, and by 1202 the city was economically independent, under the protection of the King.

The Hungarian king was Catholic and had himself agreed to join this Crusade (though this was mostly for political reasons, and he had made no actual preparations to leave). Many of the Crusaders were opposed to attacking Zara, and some, including a force led by the elder Simon de Montfort
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester

Simon IV de Montfort, Seigneur de Montfort-l'Amaury, 5th Earl of Leicester , also known as Simon de Montfort the elder, was a French nobleman who took part in the Fourth Crusade and was a prominent leader of the Albigensian Crusade....
, refused to participate altogether and returned home. While the Papal legate to the Crusade Peter Cardinal Capuano endorsed the move as necessary to prevent the crusade's complete failure, Pope Innocent was alarmed at this development and wrote a letter to the Crusading leadership threatening excommunication
Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means putting [someone] out of full communion....
.

Historian Geoffrey Hindley's The Crusades: Islam and Christianity in the Struggle for World Supremacy mentions that in 1202, Innocent III “forbade” the Crusaders of Western Christendom from committing any atrocious acts on their Christian neighbours, despite wanting to secure papal authority over Byzantium (Hindley 143, 152). This letter was concealed from the bulk of the army and the attack proceeded. The citizens of Zara made reference to the fact that they were fellow Catholics by hanging banners marked with crosses from their windows and the walls of the city, but nevertheless the city fell after a brief siege. Both the Venetians and the crusaders were immediately threatened with excommunication for this by Innocent III.

Diversion to Constantinople


Boniface of Montferrat, meanwhile, had left the fleet before it sailed from Venice, to visit his cousin Philip of Swabia
Philip of Swabia

Philip of Swabia was king of Germany and duke of Swabia, the rival of the emperor Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor....
. The reasons for his visit are a matter of debate; he may have realized the Venetians' plans and left to avoid excommunication, or he may have wanted to meet with the Byzantine prince Alexius Angelus, Philip's brother-in-law and the son of the recently deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelus. Alexius had fled to Philip when his father was overthrown in 1195, but it is unknown whether or not Boniface knew he was at Philip's court. There, Alexius IV offered 200,000 silver marks, 10,000 men to help the Crusaders, the maintenance of 500 knights in the Holy Land, the service of the Byzantine navy to transport the Crusader Army to Egypt and the placement of the Greek Orthodox Church
Greek Orthodox Church

The term Greek Orthodox Church refers to several churches within the larger full communion of Eastern Orthodox Church Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition and whose liturgy is traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament....
 under the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 if they would sail to Byzantium and topple the reigning emperor Alexius III Angelus. It was a tempting offer for an enterprise that was short on funds. Greco-Latin relationships had been complicated ever since the Great Schism
East-West Schism

The East-West Schism, or the Great Schism, divided medieval Christendom into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively....
 of 1054.

The Latins of the First
First Crusade

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the primary goal of responding to the appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexius I. The Emperor requested that western volunteers come to their aid and repel the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia, Modern day Turkey....
, Second
Second Crusade

The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe, called in 1145 in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year....
, and Third Crusade
Third Crusade

The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin .After the failure of the Second Crusade, the Zengid dynasty controlled a unified Syria and engaged in a conflict with the Fatimid dynasty rulers of Egypt, which ultimately resulted in the unification of Egy...
 had gone from strained to hostile in Constantinople on their way to the Holy Land, whereas the Greeks had militarily abandoned the Crusaders on some occasions and engaged in open diplomacy with their enemies on others. A large number of Venetian merchants and other Latins were also attacked and deported during the massacre of the Latins
Massacre of the Latins

File:Byzantine Constantinople eng.pngThe Massacre of the Latins occurred in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in 1182. It was a large-scale massacre of the "Latin" merchants and their families, who at that time dominated the city's Maritime trade and financial sector....
 in Constantinople in 1182. However, the Byzantine prince's proposal involved his restoration to the throne, not the sack of his capital city, which Count Boniface agreed to. Alexius IV returned with the Marquess to rejoin the fleet at Corfu
Corfu

Corfu is a Greece list of islands of Greece in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and lies off the coast of Sarand?, Albania, from which it is separated by straits varying in breadth from 3 to 23 km , including one near ancient Butrint and a longer one west of Thesprotia....
 after it had sailed from Zara. The rest of the Crusade's leaders eventually accepted the plan as well. There were many leaders, however, of the rank and file who wanted nothing to do with the proposal, and many deserted. The fleet of 60 war
War

...
 galleys, 100 horse transports
Horse transports in the Middle Ages

Horse transports in the Middle Ages were boats used for effective means of transporting horses in the Middle Ages over long distances, whether for war or general transport....
, and 50 large transports
Troopship

A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Operationally, troopships are normal ships, and unlike landing ships, cannot land troops directly on shore, typically loading and unloading at a seaport or onto smaller vessels, either tenders or barges....
 (the entire fleet was manned by 10,000 Venetian oarsmen and marines) arrived at Constantinople in late June 1203. In addition, 300 siege engines were brought along on board the fleet.

When the Fourth Crusade arrived at Constantinople, the city had a population of 150,000 people, a garrison of 30,000 men (including 5,000 Varangians
Varangians

The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were Vikings, Norsemen, who went eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries....
), and a fleet of 20 galleys. The Crusaders' initial motive was to restore Isaac II to the Byzantine throne so that they could receive the support that they were promised. Conon of Bethune delivered this message to the Lombard envoy who was sent by the reigning emperor Alexius III Angelus, who had deposed his brother Isaac. The citizens of Constantinople were not concerned with the deposed emperor and his exiled son; usurpations were frequent in Byzantine affairs, and this time the throne had even remained in the same family. The Crusaders sailed alongside Constantinople with 10 galleys to display Alexius IV, but from the walls of the city
Walls of Constantinople

The Walls of Constantinople are a series of stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great....
 the Byzantines taunted the puzzled crusaders, who had been promised that Prince Alexius would be welcomed. First the crusaders captured and sacked the cities of Chalcedon
Chalcedon

Chalcedon was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Anatolia, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of ?sk?dar . Today, in modern Turkish language, Chalcedon is called Kadik?y, and is a district of Istanbul, Turkey....
 and Chrysopolis, then they defeated 500 Byzantine cavalrymen in battle with just 80 Frankish knights.

Siege of July 1203

To take the city by force, the crusaders first needed to cross the Bosphorus. About 200 ships, horse transports and galleys would undertake to deliver the crusading army across the narrow strait, where Alexius III had lined up the Byzantine army in battle formation along the shore, north of the suburb of Galata. The Crusader's knights charged straight out of the horse transports, and the Byzantine army fled south. The Crusaders followed south, and attacked the Tower of Galata, which held one end of the chain that blocked access to the Golden Horn
Golden Horn

The Golden Horn is an inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming a natural harbor....
. As they laid siege to the Tower, the Greeks counterattacked with some initial success. However, when the Crusaders rallied and the Greeks retreated to the Tower, the Crusaders were able to follow the soldiers through the Gate, and the Tower surrendered. The Golden Horn now lay open to the Crusaders, and the Venetian fleet entered.

On July 11, the Crusaders took positions opposite the Blachernae palace on the northwest corner of the city. They began the siege in earnest on July 17, with four divisions attacking the land walls, while the Venetian fleet attacked the sea walls from the Golden Horn. The Venetians took a section of the wall of about 25 towers, while the Varangian guard held off the Crusaders on the land wall. The Varangians shifted to meet the new threat, and the Venetians retreated under the screen of fire. The fire destroyed about of the City.

Alexius III finally took offensive action, and led 17 divisions from the St. Romanus Gate, vastly outnumbering the crusaders. Alexius III's army of about 8,500 men faced the Crusader's 7 divisions (about 3,500 men), but his courage failed, and the Byzantine army returned to the city without a fight. The retreat and the effects of the fire greatly damaged morale, causing the citizens of Constantinople to turn against Alexius III, who then fled. The destructive fire left 20,000 people homeless. Prince Alexius was elevated to the throne as Alexius IV along with his blind father Isaac.

Further attacks on Constantinople

Alexius IV realised that his promises were hard to keep. Alexius III had managed to flee with 1,000 pounds of gold and some priceless jewels, leaving the imperial treasury short on funds. At that point the young emperor ordered the destruction and melting of valuable Byzantine and Roman icons in order to extract their gold and silver, but even then he could only raise 100,000 silver marks. In the eyes of all Greeks who knew of this decision, it was a shocking sign of desperation and weak leadership, which deserved to be punished by God. The Byzantine historian Nicetas Choniates
Nicetas Choniates

Niketas or Nicetas Choniates , sometimes called Acominatus, was a Byzantine Greek historian like his brother Michael Acominatus, whom he accompanied from their birthplace Chonae to Constantinople....
 characterized it as "the turning point towards the decline of the Roman state".

Thus Alexius IV had to deal with the growing hatred by the citizens of Constantinople for the "Latins" and vice versa. In fear of his life, the co-emperor asked the Crusaders to renew their contract for another six months, to end by April 1204. There was, nevertheless, still fighting in the city. In August 1203 the crusaders attacked a mosque, which was defended by a combined Muslim and Greek opposition. Meanwhile, Alexius IV had led 6,000 men from the Crusader army against his rival Alexius III in Adrianople.

On the second attempt of the Venetians to set up a wall of fire to aid their escape, they instigated the "Great Fire", in which a large part of Constantinople was burned down. Opposition to Alexius IV grew, and one of his courtiers, Alexius Ducas (nicknamed 'Murtzuphlos' because of his thick eyebrows), soon overthrew him and had him strangled to death. Alexius Ducas took the throne himself as Alexius V; Isaac died soon afterward, probably of natural causes.

The crusaders and Venetians, incensed at the murder of their supposed patron, demanded that Murtzuphlos honor the contract which Alexius IV had promised. When the Byzantine emperor refused the Crusaders assaulted the city once again. On April 8th, Alexius V's army put up a strong resistance which did much to discourage the crusaders.

The Greeks hurled enormous projectiles onto the enemy siege engines, shattering many of them. A serious hindrance to the crusaders was bad weather conditions. Wind blew from the shore and prevented most of the ships from drawing close enough to the walls to launch an assault. Only five of the Greek towers were actually engaged and none of these could be secured; by mid-afternoon it was evident that the attack had failed.

The clergy discussed the situation amongst themselves and settled upon the message they wished to spread through the demoralized army. They had to convince the men that the events of 9 April were not God's judgment on a sinful enterprise: the campaign, they argued, was righteous and with proper belief it would succeed. The concept of God testing the determination of the crusaders through temporary setbacks was a familiar means for the clergy to explain failure in the course of a campaign.

The clergy's message was designed to reassure and encourage the crusaders. Their argument that the attack on Constantinople was spiritual revolved around two themes. First, the Greeks were traitors and murderers since they had killed their rightful lord, Alexius IV. The churchmen used inflammatory language and claimed that "the Greeks were worse than the Jews", and they invoked the authority of God and the pope to take action.

Although Innocent III had again demanded that they not attack, the papal letter was suppressed by the clergy, and the crusaders prepared for their own attack, while the Venetians attacked from the sea; Alexius V's army stayed in the city to fight, along with the imperial bodyguard, the Varangians
Varangians

The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were Vikings, Norsemen, who went eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries....
, but Alexius V himself fled during the night.

Final capture of Constantinople


On 12 April 1204 the weather conditions finally favoured the Crusaders. A strong northern wind aided the Venetian ships to come close to the wall. After a short battle, approximately seventy crusaders managed to enter the city. Some Crusaders were eventually able to knock holes in the walls, small enough for a few knights at a time to crawl through; the Venetians were also successful at scaling the walls from the sea, though there was extremely bloody fighting with the Varangians
Varangians

The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were Vikings, Norsemen, who went eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries....
. The crusaders captured the Blachernae
Blachernae

Blachernae was a suburb in the northwestern section of Constantinople. It was the site of a spring and a Church of St. Mary of Blachernae were built there, notably by Pulcheria in the 5th century and by Justinian I in the 6th century....
 section of the city in the northwest and used it as a base to attack the rest of the city, but while attempting to defend themselves with a wall of fire, they ended up burning down even more of the city. This second fire left 15,000 people homeless. The Crusaders took the city on April 12. The crusaders inflicted a horrible and savage sacking on Constantinople for three days, during which many ancient and medieval Roman and Greek works were either stolen or destroyed. The magnificent Library of Constantinople
Library of Constantinople

The Library of Constantinople, in the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, was the last of the great libraries of the ancient world. Long after the destruction of the library of Alexandria and the other ancient libraries, it preserved the knowledge of the ancient Greekss and Ancient Rome for almost 1,000 years, until it was mostly destroyed...
 was destroyed. Despite their oaths and the threat of excommunication, the Crusaders ruthlessly and systematically violated the city's holy sanctuaries, destroying, defiling, or stealing all they could lay hands on; nothing was spared. It was said that the total amount looted from Constantinople was about 900,000 silver marks. The Venetians received 150,000 silver marks that was their due, while the Crusaders received 50,000 silver marks. A further 100,000 silver marks were divided evenly up between the Crusaders and Venetians. The remaining 500,000 silver marks were secretly kept back by many Crusader knights.

Speros Vryonis in Byzantium and Europe gives a vivid account of the sack of Constantinople by the Frankish and Venetian Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade:

The Latin soldiery subjected the greatest city in Europe to an indescribable sack. For three days they murdered, raped, looted and destroyed on a scale which even the ancient Vandals and Goths would have found unbelievable. Constantinople had become a veritable museum of ancient and Byzantine art, an emporium of such incredible wealth that the Latins were astounded at the riches they found. Though the Venetians had an appreciation for the art which they discovered (they were themselves semi-Byzantines) and saved much of it, the French and others destroyed indiscriminately, halting to refresh themselves with wine, violation of nuns, and murder of Orthodox clerics. The Crusaders vented their hatred for the Greeks most spectacularly in the desecration of the greatest Church in Christendom. They smashed the silver iconostasis, the icons and the holy books of Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is a former Patriarchate basilica, later a mosque, now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture....
, and seated upon the patriarchal throne a whore who sang coarse songs as they drank wine from the Church's holy vessels. The estrangement of East and West, which had proceeded over the centuries, culminated in the horrible massacre that accompanied the conquest of Constantinople. The Greeks were convinced that even the Turks, had they taken the city, would not have been as cruel as the Latin Christians. The defeat of Byzantium, already in a state of decline, accelerated political degeneration so that the Byzantines eventually became an easy prey to the Turks. The Crusading movement thus resulted, ultimately, in the victory of Islam, a result which was of course the exact opposite of its original intention.
(Vryonis, Byzantium and Europe, p.152). According to Choniates, a prostitute was even set up on the Patriarchal throne. When Innocent III heard of the conduct of his pilgrims, he was filled with shame and strongly rebuked them.

According to a prearranged treaty, the empire was apportioned between Venice and the crusade's leaders, and the Latin Empire
Latin Empire

The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire after their sack of Constantinople in 1204 and ended in 1261....
 of Constantinople was established. Boniface was not elected as the new emperor, although the citizens seemed to consider him as such; the Venetians thought he had too many connections with the former empire because of his brother, Renier of Montferrat
Renier of Montferrat

Renier of Montferrat was the fifth son of William V of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg. He became son-in-law of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos and Caesar in 1180, and was later murdered in a Byzantine power-struggle....
, who had been married to Maria Comnena, empress in the 1170s and 80s. Instead they placed Baldwin of Flanders
Baldwin I of Constantinople

Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI County of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine Empire, and the foundation of the...
 on the throne. Boniface went on to found the Kingdom of Thessalonica
Kingdom of Thessalonica

The Kingdom of Thessalonica was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over the conquered Byzantine lands....
, a vassal state of the new Latin Empire. The Venetians also founded the Duchy of the Archipelago
Duchy of the Archipelago

The Duchy of the Archipelago or also Duchy of Naxos or Duchy of the Aegean was a maritime state created by Republic of Venice interests in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea, in the aftermath the Fourth Crusade, centered on the islands of Naxos and Paros....
 in the Aegean Sea. Meanwhile, Byzantine refugees founded their own successor states, the most notable of these being the Empire of Nicaea
Empire of Nicaea

The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was conquered during the Fourth Crusade....
 under Theodore Lascaris (a relative of Alexius III), the Empire of Trebizond
Empire of Trebizond

The Empire of Trebizond , founded in April 1204, was one of three Byzantine Empire successor states of the Byzantine Empire. However, the creation of the Empire of Trebizond was not directly related to the capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, rather it had broken away from the Byzantine Empire a few weeks prior to that event....
, and the Despotate of Epirus
Despotate of Epirus

The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greeks successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204....
.

Outcome


Almost none of the crusaders ever made it to the Holy Land, and the unstable Latin Empire
Latin Empire

The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire after their sack of Constantinople in 1204 and ended in 1261....
 siphoned off much of Europe's crusading energy. The legacy of the Fourth Crusade was the deep sense of betrayal the Latins had instilled in their Greek coreligionists. With the events of 1204, the schism between the Church in the West and East was complete. As an epilogue to the event, Pope Innocent III, the man who had launched the ill-fated expedition, thundered against the crusaders thus:

"How, indeed, will the church of the Greeks, no matter how severely she is beset with afflictions and persecutions, return into ecclesiastical union and to a devotion for the Apostolic See, when she has seen in the Latins only an example of perdition and the works of darkness, so that she now, and with reason, detests the Latins more than dogs? As for those who were supposed to be seeking the ends of Jesus Christ, not their own ends, who made their swords, which they were supposed to use against the pagans, drip with Christian blood,­ they have spared neither religion, nor age, nor sex. They have committed incest, adultery, and fornication before the eyes of men. They have exposed both matrons and virgins, even those dedicated to God, to the sordid lusts of boys. Not satisfied with breaking open the imperial treasury and plundering the goods of princes and lesser men, they also laid their hands on the treasures of the churches and, what is more serious, on their very possessions. They have even ripped silver plates from the altars and have hacked them to pieces among themselves. They violated the holy places and have carried off crosses and relics."

The Latin Empire was soon faced with a great number of enemies, which the crusaders had not taken into account. Besides the individual Byzantine Greek states in Epirus
Epirus (region)

Epirus is a region in south-eastern Europe, currently divided between the Peripheries of Greece Epirus in Greece and the prefectures of Gjirokast?r, Vlor?, Kor??, and Berat in southern Albania....
 and Nicaea
Empire of Nicaea

The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was conquered during the Fourth Crusade....
, the Empire received great pressure from the Seljuk Sultanate
Sultanate of Rűm

The Sultanate of R?m was the Seljuq dynasty Turkish people sultanate that ruled in Anatolia in direct lineage from 1077 to 1307, with capitals first at Iznik and then at Konya....
 and the Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire

The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan of Bulgaria and Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria before gradually declining to be conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century....
. The Greek states were fighting for supremacy against both Latins and each other. Almost every Greek and Latin protagonist of the event was killed shortly after. Murtzuphlus' betrayal by Alexius III led to his capture by the Latins and his execution at Constantinople. Not long after, Alexius III was himself captured by Boniface and sent to exile in Southern Italy. One year after the conquest of the city, Emperor Baldwin was decisively defeated at the Battle of Adrianople
Battle of Adrianople (1205)

The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I of Constantinople....
 on 14 April 1205 by the Bulgarians
Bulgarians

The Bulgarians are a South Slavs people generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. Emigration has resulted in Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries....
, and was captured and later executed by the Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan. Two years after that, on 4 September1207, Boniface himself was killed in an ambush by the Bulgarians, and his head was sent to Kaloyan. He was succeeded by his infant son Demetrius of Montferrat
Demetrius of Montferrat

Demetrius or Demetrios of Montferrat , , king of Kingdom of Thessalonica from 1207 to 1224.Demetrius was the son of Marquis Boniface of Montferrat by Margaret of Hungary, the widow of Byzantine Empire Isaac II Angelos....
, who ruled until he reached adulthood, but was eventually defeated by Theodore I Ducas, the despot of Epirus and a relative of Murtzuphlus, and thus the Kingdom of Thessalonica was restored to Byzantine rule in 1224.

Various Latin-French lordships throughout Greece — in particular, the duchy of Athens
Duchy of Athens

The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....
 and the principality of the Morea
Principality of Achaea

The Principality of Achaea or of the Morea was one of the three vassal states of the Latin Empire which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade....
 — provided cultural contacts with western Europe and promoted the study of Greek. There was also a French cultural work, notably the production of a collection of laws, the Assises de Romanie (Assizes of Greece). The Chronicle of Morea
Chronicle of Morea

The Chronicle of Morea is a long 14th century text, of which 4 versions are extant, a French language, a Medieval Greek , an Italian language and an Aragonese language....
 appeared in both French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 and Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 (and later Italian and Aragonese) versions. Impressive remains of crusader castles and Gothic churches
Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
 can still be seen in Greece. Nevertheless, the Latin Empire always rested on shaky foundations. The city was re-captured by the Nicaean Greeks under Michael VIII Palaeologus in 1261, and commerce with Venice was re-established.

In an ironic series of events, during the middle of the 15th century, the Latin Church tried to organize a crusade which aimed at the restoration of the Byzantine Empire which was gradually being torn down by the Ottoman Turks. The attempt, however, failed, as the vast majority of the Byzantines refused to unite the churches. The Greek population found that the Byzantine civilization which revolved around the Orthodox faith would be more secure under Ottoman rule. Overall, religious-observant Byzantines preferred to sacrifice their political freedom in order to preserve their faith's traditions and rituals. In the late 14th and early 15th century, two kinds of crusades were finally organised by the Kingdoms of Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, Wallachia
Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a Historical regions of Romania and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians....
 and Serbia
Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
. Both of them were checked by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
. During the Ottoman siege of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople was a siege in which the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan Mehmed II attempted to capture the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople which was defended by the army of Emperor Constantine XI....
 in 1453, a significant band of Venetian
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 and Genoese
Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
 knights died in the defense of the city.

Legacy

Eight hundred years after the Fourth Crusade, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II John Paul II is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He has been Pope_John_Paul_II#Role_in_the_fall_of_Communism in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, as well as significantly improving the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and A...
 twice expressed sorrow for the events of the Fourth Crusade. In 2001, he wrote to Christodoulos
Christodoulos

Christodoulos was List of Archbishops of Athens and All Greece and as such the Primate of the Autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church Church of Greece, from 1998 until his death....
, Archbishop of Athens, saying, "It is tragic that the assailants, who set out to secure free access for Christians to the Holy Land, turned against their brothers in the faith. The fact that they were Latin Christians fills Catholics with deep regret." In 2004, while Bartholomew I, Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the Archbishop of Constantinople ? New Rome ? ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox Church organization, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
, was visiting the Vatican
Apostolic Palace

The Apostolic Palace, also called the Sacred Palace, the Papal Palace or the Palace of the Vatican, is the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City....
, John Paul II asked, "How can we not share, at a distance of eight centuries, the pain and disgust." This has been regarded as an apology to the Greek Orthodox Church for the terrible slaughter perpetrated by the warriors of the Fourth Crusade.

In April 2004, in a speech on the 800th anniversary of the city's capture, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I formally accepted the apology. "The spirit of reconciliation is stronger than hatred," he said during a liturgy attended by Roman Catholic Archbishop Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, France. "We receive with gratitude and respect your cordial gesture for the tragic events of the Fourth Crusade. It is a fact that a crime was committed here in the city 800 years ago." Bartholomew said his acceptance came in the spirit of Pascha
Easter

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday....
. "The spirit of reconciliation of the resurrection... incites us toward reconciliation of our churches."

The Fourth Crusade was one of the last of the major crusades to be launched by the Papacy, though it quickly fell out of Papal control. After bickering between laymen and the papal legate led to the collapse of the Fifth Crusade
Fifth Crusade

The Fifth Crusade was an attempt to take back Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt....
, later crusades were directed by individual monarchs, mostly against Egypt. Only one subsequent crusade, the Sixth
Sixth Crusade

The Sixth Crusade started in 1228 as an attempt to reconquer Jerusalem. It began only seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade....
, succeeded in restoring Jerusalem to Christian rule, and then only for a short time. The Crusades, as it seems, became politically and economically efficient for Crusaders less inclined to follow a spiritual but an ambitious, worldly conscience.

See also

  • Crusade
  • Pope Innocent III
    Pope Innocent III

    Pope Innocent III was born in either 1160 or 1161, and died on July 16, 1216 at Perugia. He was born with the name Lotario de Conti, and he was pope from January 8, 1198 until his death....
  • Alexius III
  • Alexius IV
  • Alexius V
  • Battle of Adrianople (1205)
    Battle of Adrianople (1205)

    The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I of Constantinople....
  • Jews of the Byzantine Empire
    Jews of the Byzantine Empire

    The juridical standing of the Jews of the Byzantine Empire was unique during the entire history of the Empire; they did not belong to the Eastern Orthodox faith, which was the state religion, nor were they--in most circumstances--grouped together with heretics and pagans....
     during the Fourth Crusade
  • Principality of Achaea
    Principality of Achaea

    The Principality of Achaea or of the Morea was one of the three vassal states of the Latin Empire which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade....
  • Latin Empire of Constantinople
    Latin Empire

    The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire after their sack of Constantinople in 1204 and ended in 1261....
  • Crusader states
    Crusader states

    The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century Feudalism states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land ....


Primary sources

  • Nicetas Choniates
    Nicetas Choniates

    Niketas or Nicetas Choniates , sometimes called Acominatus, was a Byzantine Greek historian like his brother Michael Acominatus, whom he accompanied from their birthplace Chonae to Constantinople....
    ,
  • Robert of Clari, (see also from another translation)
  • (excerpts from several contemporary accounts)
  • (excerpts from several contemporary accounts)
  • Geoffrey de Villehardouin,
  • Pope Innocent III
    Pope Innocent III

    Pope Innocent III was born in either 1160 or 1161, and died on July 16, 1216 at Perugia. He was born with the name Lotario de Conti, and he was pope from January 8, 1198 until his death....
    ,
  • Chronicle of Morea
    Chronicle of Morea

    The Chronicle of Morea is a long 14th century text, of which 4 versions are extant, a French language, a Medieval Greek , an Italian language and an Aragonese language....


Secondary sources

  • 'Crusades' - Encyclopćdia Britannica 2006
  • Charles Brand Byzantium Confronts the West, 1180-1204
  • Godfrey, John 1204: The Unholy Crusade Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
  • Hindley, Geoffrey The Crusades: A History of Armed Pilgrimage and Holy War. New York, NY: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2003 New edition: The Crusades: Islam and Christianity in the Struggle for World Supremacy New York, NY: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2004.
  • Lilie, Ralph-Johannes Byzantium and the Crusader States, 1096-1204 Translated by J. C. Morris and Jean E. Ridings Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993; originally published in 1988*Madden, Thomas F.
    Thomas Madden

    Thomas F. Madden is an United States historian, the Chair of the History Department at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, and Director of Saint Louis University's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies....
    , and Donald E. Queller. The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997
  • Marin, Serban. , Annuario del Istituto Romano di Cultura e Ricerca Umanistica vol. 2 (2000), pp. 51-57
  • McNeal, Edgar, and Robert Lee Wolff. , in A History of the Crusades (edited by Kenneth M. Setton and others), vol. 2, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962
  • Nicol, Donald M. Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations
  • Noble, Peter S. , Reading Medieval Studies v.25, 1999
  • Phillips, Jonathan The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople London, U.K.: Pimlico, 2005
  • Queller, Donald E. The Latin Conquest of Constantinople. New York, NY; London, U.K.; Sydney, NSW; Toronto, ON: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1971
  • Queller, Donald E., and Susan J. Stratton. "A Century of Controversy on the Fourth Crusade", in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History v. 6 (1969): 237-277; reprinted in Donald E. Queller, Medieval Diplomacy and the Fourth Crusade London, U.K.: Variorum Reprints, 1980
  • Thomas F. Madden - "Crusades: The Illustrated History"


Further reading

  • Angold, Michael The Fourth Crusade: Event and Context. Harlow, NY: Longman, 2003.
  • Bartlett, W. B. An Ungodly War: The Sack of Constantinople and the Fourth Crusade. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2000.
  • Harris, Jonathan Byzantium and the Crusades. London, U.K.: Hambledon and London, 2003.
  • Kazdhan, Alexander “Latins and Franks in Byzantium”, in Angeliki E. Laiou and Roy Parviz Mottahedeh (eds.), The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2001: 83-100
  • Kolbaba, Tia M. “Byzantine Perceptions of Latin Religious ‘Errors’: Themes and Changes from 850 to 1350”, in Angeliki E. Laiou and Roy Parviz Mottahedeh (eds.), The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2001: 117-143.