| Sack of Constantinople | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theFourth Crusade | |||||||||
 Venetian mosaic in theSan Giovanni Evangelista depicting the fall of Constantinople, made in 1213 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Crusaders Republic of Venice | Byzantine Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Boniface I Enrico Dandolo | Alexios V Doukas | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 22,000[1]: 269 60 war galleys and 150 transports[1]: 106 | 15,000[2] 20 war galleys[1]: 159 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 2,000 Greek civilians killed by Crusaders[3] | |||||||||
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Thesack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of theFourth Crusade. Crusaders sacked and destroyed most ofConstantinople, the capital of theByzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, theLatin Empire (known to the Byzantines as theFrankokratia, or the Latin occupation[4]) was established andBaldwin IX of Flanders crowned emperor inHagia Sophia.
After the city's sacking, most of the Byzantine Empire's territories were divided up among the Crusaders. Byzantine aristocrats also established a number of small independent splinter states—one of them being theEmpire of Nicaea, which eventuallyrecaptured Constantinople in 1261 and proclaimed the reinstatement of the Empire. However, therestored Empire never managed to reclaim all its former territory or attain its earlier economic strength, and it gradually succumbed to the risingOttoman Empire over the following two centuries.
The Byzantine Empire was left poorer, smaller, and ultimately less able to defend itself against theSeljuk and Ottoman conquests that followed. The actions of the Crusaders, therefore, accelerated the collapse ofChristendom in the east, and in the long run helped facilitate the later Ottoman conquests of southeastern Europe.
The sack of Constantinople is considered a turning point inmedieval history. Reports of Crusader looting and brutality horrified the Orthodox world; relations between theCatholic andOrthodox Churches were wounded for many centuries afterwards.
TheMassacre of the Latins, a massacre of theRoman Catholic or "Latin" inhabitants ofConstantinople by the usurperAndronikos Komnenos and his supporters in May 1182,[5][6] affected political relations between Western Europe and theByzantine Empire and led to the1185 sack of Thessalonica by Normans.[7] Although regular trade agreements were soon resumed betweenByzantine and Latin States, some Westerners sought some form of revenge.[8]
Venetian merchants had carefully mapped Constantinople's harbours years before the sack, possibly anticipating its economic potential.
Alexios IV Angelos, the son of deposed emperorIsaac II Angelos persuaded Boniface of Montferrat and the Venetians to help him reinstate his father and make him co-emperor of the Byzantines by diverting the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople. In return, he promised 200,000 marks of silver as payment, as well as the submission of the Eastern Orthodox Church to Rome. Additionally he promised to pay for the provisions of the expedition and to join the crusade against the Saracens.[9]
Following thesiege of Constantinople in 1203, on 1 August 1203 the pro-CrusaderAlexios Angelos was crowned Emperor Alexios IV of the Byzantine Empire. He attempted to pacify the city, but riots between anti-Crusader Greeks and pro-Crusader Latins broke out later that month and lasted until November, during which time most of the populace began to turn against him.[10][11]
On 25 January 1204, the death of co-EmperorIsaac II set off rioting in Constantinople in which the people deposedAlexios IV. He turned to the Crusaders for help, but was imprisoned by the imperial chamberlain,Alexios Doukas, who declared himself Emperor on 5 February, before executing Alexios IV by strangulation on 8 February.[12] Alexios V then attempted to negotiate with the Crusaders for a withdrawal from Byzantine territory without payment, but they refused in order to avenge Alexios IV and receive the money that was promised.[12] In March 1204, the Crusader and Venetian leadership decided on the outright conquest of Constantinople in order to settle debts, and drew up a formal agreement to divide the Byzantine Empire between them.[13]
By the end of March, the combined Crusader armies were besieging Constantinople as Emperor Alexios V began to strengthen the city's defences while conducting more active operations outside the city. By the first week of April, the Crusaders had begun their siege from their encampment in the town ofGalata across theGolden Horn from Constantinople.[14]
On 9 April 1204, the Crusader and Venetian forces began an assault on the Golden Horn fortifications by crossing the waterway to the northwest wall of the city, but, because of bad weather, the assault forces were driven back when the troops that landed came under heavy archery fire in open ground between Constantinople's fortifications and the shore.[14]
On 12 April 1204 weather conditions finally favoured the Crusaders as the weather cleared and a second assault on the city was ordered. A strong north wind aided the Venetian ships near the Golden Horn to come close to the city wall, which enabled attackers to seize some of the towers along the wall. After a short battle approximately 70 Crusaders managed to enter the city. Some Crusaders were eventually able to knock holes in the walls large enough for a few knights at a time to crawl through; the Venetians were also successful at scaling the walls from the sea, although there was extremely bloody fighting with theVarangians. The Crusaders captured theBlachernae 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. Emperor Alexios V fled from the city that night through the Polyandriou (Rhegium) Gate and escaped into the countryside to the west.[citation needed]
The Crusaderslooted, pillaged, and vandalized Constantinople for three days, during which many ancient and medieval Roman and Greek works were either seized or destroyed. The famous bronzehorses from theHippodrome were sent back to adorn the façade ofSt Mark's Basilica in Venice, where they remain to this day. Works of considerable artistic value were destroyed for their material value, including the preciousbronze statue ofHercules, created by the legendaryLysippos, court sculptor ofAlexander the Great. As with many other considerable bronze artworks, the statue was melted down for minting money.[15]
Despite their oaths and the threat of excommunication, the Crusaders systematically assaulted the city's holy sanctuaries, destroying or seizing all that was deemed remotely of value; little was spared, even the tombs of the emperors interned in the Church of the Holy Apostles were pillaged.[16] Of the civilian population of Constantinople, it is estimated 2,000 were killed.[3] The Crusaders even sacked churches, monasteries and convents.[3] Church altars were smashed and torn to pieces for their gold and marble.[16] The Venetians stole religious relics and works of art, which they took back to Venice.
It was said that the total amount looted from Constantinople was about 900,000 silver marks.[17] The Venetians received 150,000 silver marks that was their due to the Crusaders 50,000. A further 100,000 silver marks were divided evenly between the Crusaders and Venetians. 500,000 silver marks were purportedly kept back by Crusader knights.[18][19]
According to aprearranged treaty the empire was apportioned between Venice and the crusade's leaders, and theLatin Empire 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, who had been married toMaria Comnena, daughter and for a time heir-apparent of Manuel I. Instead they placedBaldwin of Flanders on the throne. He was crowned Emperor in theHagia Sophia as Baldwin I of Constantinople.[20][21] Boniface went on to found theKingdom of Thessalonica,[22] avassal state of the new Latin Empire. The Venetians also founded theDuchy of the Archipelago in the Aegean Sea.
Most of the Byzantine aristocracy fled the city. Amongst the ordinary people of the former empire there was no sympathy for the Byzantine elite, who were seen as having ruled the empire with increasing incompetence.[23] The contemporary Byzantine historian and eyewitnessNicetas Choniates closed his account of the fall of the city with the following description of a column of aristocratic refugees, including the Patriarch, making their way toSelymbria:
The peasants and common riff-raff jeered at those of us from Byzantium and were thick-headed enough to call our miserable poverty and nakedness equality...Many were only too happy to accept this outrage, saying "Blessed be the Lord that we have grown rich", and buying up for next to nothing the property that their fellow-countrymen were forced to offer for sale, for they had not yet had much to do with the beef-eating Latins and they did not know that they served a wine as pure and unmixed as unadulterated bile, nor that they would treat the Byzantines with utter contempt.[23]
— Nicetas Choniates
Byzantine aristocratic refugees founded their ownsuccessor states, the most notable of these being theEmpire of Nicaea underTheodore Laskaris (a relative of Alexius III), theEmpire of Trebizond and theDespotate of Epirus.
The sack weakened the Byzantine Empire, which allowed neighbouring groups such as theSultanate of Rum, and later theOttoman Turks, to gain influence (see theByzantine–Ottoman wars).
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Eight hundred years after theFourth Crusade,Pope John Paul II twice expressed sorrow for how the events transpired. In 2001, he wrote toChristodoulos,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."[24] In 2004, whileBartholomew I,Patriarch of Constantinople, was visiting theVatican, John Paul II asked, "How can we not share, at a distance of eight centuries, the pain and disgust?"[25][26] This has been regarded by some as anapology to the Greek Orthodox Church for the slaughter perpetrated by the warriors of the Fourth Crusade.[1]: xiii
In April 2004, in a speech on the 800th anniversary of the capture of the city, 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 ArchbishopPhilippe 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 ofPascha. "The spirit of reconciliation of the resurrection... incites us toward reconciliation of our churches."[27]
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