The Crusades are some of the most iconic and divisive wars fought in human history, and
the image of knights in shining armour, had a lasting effect on generations of history
enthusiasts.
Yet, even among them, The Fourth Crusade is universally regarded as a failure, an example
of the extent of human greed, and the tragedy of loss.
In this video, we will tell the story of this doomed venture, and the repercussions that
followed in its wake.
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In 1187, Jerusalem was conquered by Saladin.
As a response, the Christian world initiated the Third Crusade, and although the Crusaders
managed to retake Acre and Jaffa, Jerusalem remained a part of the Ayyubid realm, and
the conflict ended in a truce.
Resolve to retake Jerusalem was still strong.
By 1198, Pope Innocent III had begun a call for a fourth Crusade.
An army, consisting mainly of soldiers from France and the Holy Roman Empire, was mustered
through the Charisma of the Italian Count: Boniface of Montferrat.
However, this army would still need ships to carry them across the Mediterranean, and
thus the crusaders turned to the strongest maritime power of the era: The Republic of
Venice.
The Doge Enrico Dandolo, agreed to manufacture a fleet capable of transporting the Crusader
army, for the price of 85,000 silver marks.
The plan was now as follows: The Crusaders would sail south from Venice, and attack the
center of the Muslim world: Egypt.
After conquering the Ayyubid capital, they would then proceed to take Jerusalem by land.
However, problems began when the Crusader army arrived in Venice in May of 1202.
Out of an expected 33,500 soldiers, only 12,000 were present.
This infuriated the Venetians, as they had incurred a great expense building a total
of 50 war galleys and 450 transport ships for the Crusaders, who were incapable of paying
their debt.
Dandolo refused to allow the Crusaders to leave his city before the debt was paid.
The Crusaders managed to collect up to 50,000 marks, but by doing this, they now risked
starving.
Not wanting their investment to have been a complete loss, the Doge Dandolo hatched
a plan in order to use the Crusaders to serve the Venetian agenda.
He proclaimed the debts would be wiped, if they were to take the city of Zara in the
name of Venice.
Zara, located on the eastern Adriatic coast, was a Catholic city, ruled by the Catholic
king of Hungary.
For an army endorsed by the Pope in Rome, attacking it was a problematic prospect.
Knowing this, some of the Crusaders refused the Venetians' deal, and headed home.
But most of the army set sail across the Adriatic to fulfill the Doge's request.
When Pope Innocent III heard of this deal, he immediately threatened the Crusaders with
excommunication.
Count Boniface hid this letter from the army, and pushed on to Zara.
When they reached the walls of the city, the peoples of Zara hung banners of crosses along
the outer walls, professing their Catholic faith.
Despite this, the Crusaders sieged, breached, then sacked the city, killing many.
Furious at the disobeying of his orders, the Pope excommunicated all the Venetians and
Crusaders involved in the sack, but the Crusade leaders once more hid this letter from the
army, fearing it would cause panic and desertion.
The Crusaders decided to winter in Zara, and plan their next move come the Spring.
Meanwhile, Boniface of Montferrat had left the army and sailed to Southern Bavaria, to
visit his cousin King Philip of Swabia.
Here he met an exiled Prince of the Byzantine Empire, Alexios IV Angelos.
It is here that we must take a brief pause, and contextualize the situation in the Byzantine
empire.
The Komnenian dynasty, which ruled between 1081 and 1180, managed to retake most of Anatolia
from the Seljuks but, with the death of Manuel Komnenos in 1180, things had changed, as the
new dynasty, the Angeloi, was weak and despotic.
In 1185, Isaac II became the emperor, but he was highly corrupt, and in 1195 he had
been blinded and usurped by his brother, Alexios III.
Emperor Alexios fared no better than his predecessor, and revealed himself to be just as corrupt.
Meanwhile, the son of the deposed Emperor Isaac, Alexios IV, had fled to Swabia to avoid
the wrath of his uncle.
It is here our story rejoins the Fourth crusade.
The young prince saw an opportunity to use the Crusader army for his own means.
He implored Boniface to lead the Crusaders to Constantinople and depose his uncle, Emperor
Alexios III.
In exchange, he offered to pay 200,000 silver marks, offered 10,000 Byzantine soldiers for
the campaign into Egypt, and most importantly, swore that the Eastern Orthodox Church would
be placed under the authority of the Pope in Rome.
Many Crusaders were hesitant to accept, not wanting to attack yet another Christian city.
The Venetians, never ones to turn down an opportunity to get rich, were fierce supporters
of this plan.
Doge Dandolo offered the Crusade leaders heavy bribes to convince them to sail to Constantinople.
Thus, the Latin army and the young pretender Prince set sail for the capital of Eastern
Christendom.
On June 23rd, 1203, the Latin army came within sight of Constantinople.
The Byzantines were aware of the impending arrival of the Crusaders.
The city was defended by 15,000 soldiers, 5000 of whom were Varangians, an elite Imperial
Guard made up of Saxons and Norsemen.
It did not take long for fighting to begin.
The massive crusader fleet crossed the Dardanelle strait and laid siege to the suburbs outside
of Constantinople proper.
The Latin cavalrymen used the cleverly constructed Venetian Horse-Transport ships, which carried
the knights right onto the beach, allowing them to charge directly out onto the shore
to meet their foes.
The Crusaders were repulsed in brief skirmishes at Chalcedon and Chrysopolis, but won a beachfront
entanglement outnumbered 80 to 500.
Nothing conclusive was determined.
The Latins now realized that in order to gain a foothold in the city, they would need to
take Constantinople's famous harbour, the Golden Horn, which was protected by a massive
chain that prevented any ships from entering.
Thus, the Crusader fleet sailed up the Bosphorus strait.
Emperor Alexios III had anticipated this, and mustered a sizable defending force that
waited on the shore, north of the suburb of Galata.
The Crusaders charged right out of their horse transports and barreled down upon the Byzantine
defenders in a full cavalry charge.
The Greeks scattered, retreating to the Tower of Galata, where they fortified themselves.
Back and forth fighting continued for a while, with the Crusaders barraging the tower, and
being repulsed.
Eventually, they breached the walls and chased out the Byzantines.
By taking the tower, the Crusaders were able to lift the chain, and allow their fleet to
sail into Constantinople's harbour mouth.
From their new foothold, they boarded the young royal upon a Venetian barge, and sailed
up to the city walls, shouting out their good intentions, declaring themselves as restorers
of the rightful Byzantine ruler.
Instead, the sight of young Alexios IV brought out jeers from the local population, who hurled
insults, rocks, and rotten fruit at the young pretender.
This was a revelation, as Alexios IV had claimed that he still had substantial support.
But the Crusaders were in too deep now to simply pack up and go home.
The prelates within the Latin army insisted that they remained within their right in supporting
their patron Prince.
The siege resumed in the coming days, in the form of a two-pronged assault.
The Venetian detachment sailed their ships down the city's sea-wall and launched an
assault, while the Crusaders, led by Count Boniface, assaulted the land-wall, northwest
of the city.
Here the Varangians proved their worth; the Nordic warriors met the Crusaders outside
the land-wall, and inflicted heavy casualties.
With the land front handled, they made for the sea.
By this point, Venetian soldiers had secured a section of the sea-wall encompassing 25
towers.
After fierce fighting, the Varangians routed the Venetians, who were forced back to their
ships.
The Venetians covered their retreat by lighting a wall of fire, which spread and devastated
a large chunk of the city.
It was at this point that the Byzantine Emperor finally sprung into full action.
He rallied a host of 8,500 men, and rode with them out of the Gates of St. Romanus to finally
meet the Crusader host head-on.
Yet, this would end in anticlimax.
Fear overcame the despotic Alexios III, and in his cowardice, he launched a full retreat
back into the city walls before there had even been a fight.
This remarkably shameful display disgraced the Emperor in the eyes of his people, and
he quietly fled from the city, abandoning his post.
The Imperial Court quickly deposed Alexios III, and reinstated the frail and blind Isaac
II Angelos as Emperor.
This move alarmed the Latins, who could only hope to collect the payment offered to them
under Alexios IV.
As such, they demanded that the young Prince be elevated to co-Emperor alongside his decrepit
father.
The Byzantines, wary of any further damage to their city, accepted.
Thus, the first siege of Constantinople was successful, and the Crusaders and Venetians
accomplished their goal in restoring Alexios IV to the Roman throne.
An uneasy status-quo had developed between the people of Constantinople, and the Crusaders.
The Latins demanded that the young new Emperor pay what was promised to them.
200,000 silver marks was a massive debt, and the fact that Alexios III had stolen a good
chunk of the royal treasury when he fled the city did not help.
As a result, the Crown was forced to collect precious Byzantine and Roman icons, many centuries
old, and melt them down to produce enough silver.
This blemished the reputation of the new Emperor in the eyes of his people, and paid only half
of the debt.
Things quickly deteriorated, and the Greeks of the city became more and more resentful
not only toward the Crusaders, but all Latin peoples, including the minority that had lived
in Constantinople for generations.
A riot broke out and the Greek populace looted and burned the homes of Italian residents,
killing many civilians.
In a retaliatory fervor, the Venetians rallied a rabble of soldiers and stormed through the
walls, attacking a mosque in one of the city's Muslim communities, but were fought off by
the Muslims and Greeks standing side by side.
Once again, the Venetians set a fire to cover their retreat, burning yet another chunk of
the city and leaving many homeless.
It was becoming clear that Alexios IV would likely never pay the rest of his debt.
When the Crusaders issued an ultimatum the young Emperor refused.
At this point, Dandolo cried out: 'Miserable youth, we dragged you out of the mire and
to the mire we shall return you!'
During this period a Byzantine Courtier of the Doukas family, known as Mourtzouphlos,
had been the main advocate for resistance against the Latins, and his popularity increased.
In February of 1204 this shrewd politician declared that the Byzantine people were tired
of the rule of the Latin-sympathizer Alexios IV.
The emperor was strangled to death and Mourtzouphlos was publicly declared the new Roman Emperor
as Alexios V.
This change in leadership prompted the Crusaders to call for a meeting under a banner of peace.
The Latin demands were heavy: they expected Mourtzouphlos to pay them 5,000 pounds of
gold for their departure, swear his fealty to Pope Innocent III, and restore Alexios
IV to the throne- the Latins were unaware he was dead.
Before the Byzantines could reply, a Frankish cavalry charge thundered down the docks, scattering
the Emperor and his guard.
Some Crusaders trusted no deal made with the Greeks and it was now abundantly clear that
hostilities would continue.
By the end of February, the Crusaders had fully resolved to complete a full conquest
of Constantinople.
The prelates of the Crusade declared that the Greeks were heathens and traitors to the
Christ.
It seemed Mourtzouphlos knew a full invasion was soon to come.
He urgently tried to sway the Varangian guard to his side.
The Nordic mercenaries demanded more pay that the new Emperor could not provide, and thus
they abandoned the fight.
Constantinople was left with almost no garrison.
On April 12th, the attack began.
Favourable winds carried the bulk of the Venetian fleet right up towards the Theodosian sea-wall.
Once more, from their ships the Latins managed to seize a section of the fortifications in
the northwest part of the city.
They commandeered the Blachernai palace and used it as a base from which they would strike
out at the rest of the city.
In order to defend their position, the Crusaders lit a wall of fire around the Blachernai district.
This fire spread, destroying yet another chunk of the city.
Mourtzouphlos tried to rally more defenders, but the people of Constantinople were now
in a panic, and in no shape to resist.
Mourtzouphlos fled the city, and Constantinople was left defenseless.
And thus, the sack of Constantinople began.
The Crusaders began a spree of looting, raping and massacring that was near unprecedented.
Hundreds of thousands would die and countless priceless treasures were destroyed, or stolen.
Reactions in Western Europe to the sack were mixed.
Many expressed shock and horror at the Crusader's actions, including Pope Innocent III, yet
many defended the sack, claiming that the Greeks were traitors to Christ.
Following the sack of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire was partitioned among western
Latin powers and the rump Byzantine states.
The largest was the Latin Empire, with Constantinople as its capital.
Baldwin I, Count of Flanders and the most charismatic of the Crusaders, was chosen to
rule as the Latin Emperor.
The fracturing of the Byzantine Empire greatly weakened Christendom's hold on Asia minor
and the Aegean Sea.
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