12 April 1204 A.D. 4th Crusade Sacked Constantinople
12 April 1204 A.D. 4th Crusade Sacked Constantinople
Severance, Diane and Dan Graves. “4th
Crusade Sacked Constantinople.” Jun 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1201-1500/4th-crusade-sacked-constantinople-11629813.html. Accessed
10 Apr 2015.
The Byzantine Emperor Isaac Angelus was in prison in Constantinople (modern
Istanbul). His brother Alexius had seized the throne and blinded him. Isaac's
son and heir (also named Alexius) fled to Germany, where he took refuge with
in-laws.
Meanwhile, world events were shaping up to replace him on his throne.
Bernard of Clairveaux had earlier encouraged a crusade against Greek
Constantinople after the disaster of the second crusade in 1147. He was
convinced that the treachery of the Greeks was the cause of the disastrous
crusade, and he wanted them punished.
A certain Count Tibald of Champagne advocated a crusade to capture
Egypt. This would be the fourth crusade and Pope Innocent III endorsed it. The
would-be crusaders chartered Venetian ships for a large sum of money.
Venice had its own interest in the crusade. When the knights showed up
with insufficient funds, Venice offered to transport them on condition that
they first recapture Zara. This city north of Constantinople had been under
control of Venice until the King of Hungary seized it.
The crusaders agreed to the detour. Quarreling all the way, they sailed
for Zara. After a week of fighting, they captured and razed it. Since it was a
Christian city, the pope excommunicated them, but he soon relented, so that the
quarrelsome crusade could go on.
Prince Alexius joined the crusaders. He appealed to them to help him
regain his throne. The Chief Magistrate of Venice now urged the crusaders to
forget about Egypt for the moment and place the Prince on his throne. Prince
Alexius sweetened the pot, promising them money, an army of 10,000 to fight
against the Muslims, 500 knights to guard the Holy Land, and the submission of
the Eastern Church to the pope!
The crusaders captured Constantinople's harbor and a key tower. The
usurper Alexius rode out with an army five times the size of theirs, but lost
heart and offered terms of surrender. When he fled with considerable wealth,
Isaac and Prince Alexius retook the throne. The prince became Emperor Alexius
IV. The western armies camped in the city until a two-day fire destroyed much
of it. Greeks and Latins blamed each other for the blaze.
The Greeks could not fulfill their terms. Disgusted with Alexius IV,
another usurper seized the throne and killed him. The angry Crusaders attacked
Constantinople. "The noise of the battle was so great that it seemed to
rend the earth." After a few days of furious struggle the imperial city
fell to the crusaders on this day, April 12, 1204, the Monday before Easter.
With the city in their possession, the crusaders proved ruthless. They
assaulted nuns in their convents and wrecked churches as well as palaces. To
separate themselves from the Greeks, they set fire to blocks of houses,
destroying many priceless works of literature and art. The crusaders set up
their own kingdom based in the city, but within ten years it had collapsed. The
whole episode is one of the most shameful blots on church
history, when such unchristian
deeds were committed in the name of Christ.
Bibliography:
Gable, G. I. "The Fourth Crusade." http://www.boglewood.com/timeline/crusade.html
Geoffrey de Villehardouin. Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The
Conquest of Constantinople. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/villehardouin.html
Lowe, Stephen. "The Fourth Crusade and the Fall of
Constantinople." http://www.geocities.com/egfrothos/FourthCrusade.html
Last updated June, 2007
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