The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
- Date
- 1202–1204 (sack April 1204)
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Byzantine Empire (Constantinople)
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
Called by Pope Innocent III to recover Jerusalem by way of Egypt, the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was diverted by debts owed to Venice and entanglement in a Byzantine dynastic dispute.
In April 1204 the crusaders stormed and sacked Constantinople, the wealthiest Christian city in the world and capital of the Byzantine Empire. For three days they plundered its churches and palaces; Hagia Sophia was stripped of gold and relics, ancient manuscripts and artworks were destroyed or carried off, and the four bronze horses of the Hippodrome were taken to Venice. The victors founded the Latin Empire of Constantinople, crowning Baldwin of Flanders emperor in Hagia Sophia, and partitioned Byzantine lands among themselves and Venice. The Byzantines recovered their capital in 1261 under Michael VIII Palaiologos, but the empire that returned was a fraction of its former wealth and power and never fully recovered. The sack of one Christian city by another deepened the bitterness between the Latin and Greek churches and hastened the long decline of Byzantium.
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Empires active in 1202–1204 (sack April 1204)
- Jurchen Jin Dynasty1115 CE – 1234 CE
- Song Dynasty960 CE – 1279 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE – 1900 CE
- Abbasid Caliphate750 CE – 1258 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
- Almohad Caliphate1121 CE – 1269 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Mongol sack of Baghdad ends the Abbasid Caliphate10 February 1258 CE
- Battle of Manzikert Opens Anatolia to the Turks26 August 1071
- Saladin destroys the Crusader army at Hattin and retakes Jerusalem1187 (Hattin & fall of Jerusalem)
- Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire1219–1221 CE
- Battle of Kirina founds the Mali Empire under Sundiata Keitac. 1235 CE
- Mongol sack of Kiev and the fall of Kievan Rus'December 1240 CE
Further reading
The wider story
When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World
Popular history of the Abbasid golden age.
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