The Fourth Crusade against Constantinople in 1204 is seen as one of the most crucial episodes in Byzantine history, that led to the reduction of a once powerful empire to a ghost of its former glorious self.
What began as a papal call to recover Jerusalem from Islamists turned out to be a devastating and watershed moment in the history of Eastern Christianity, sealing the fate of the Byzantine Empire and collectively traumatising the Greek Orthodox world of the Middle Ages.
The roots of the Fourth Crusade against Constantinople
It was Pope Innocent III’s noble endeavour to recapture the Holy Land and bring it back under Christian control that unfortunately took a surprising turn towards—and against—Constantinople.
The Venetians realised that they had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to damage their commercial rivals in the Mediterranean, the Byzantines. They played an important role in diverting the attention of the Crusaders from the Holy Land to the Byzantine capital.
The assault of the Crusaders on Constantinople took place in April 1204 and it was literally disastrous.
The demise of the once-thriving metropolis caused tremendous destruction in the Byzantine capital and to the morale of the Byzantine Greeks.
The invaders showed no mercy and treated Constantinople with the utmost disrespect, behaving like mortal enemies.
They desecrated a number of holy Greek Orthodox sites and quite literally robbed the majestic Hagia Sophia, disregarding its status as the most important Christian church in the world.
Countless priceless artworks and treasures that had been accumulated over generations in Constantinople were either stolen or destroyed during the upheaval, turning this invasion into a cultural tragedy.
The aftermath of the unnecessary Fourth Crusade also caused profound changes in the Byzantine Empire itself.
The empire was technically dissolved and was soon divided into many small, Latin-controlled Catholic states after Baldwin of Flanders established the Latin Empire of Constantinople.
The Crusaders split almost all Byzantine holdings, establishing new feudal entities such as the Kingdom of Thessaloniki and the Duchy of Athens, mirroring the situation of the time on the Italian peninsula.
The Byzantines eventually regained Constantinople in 1261. Nonetheless, the damage that the Fourth Crusade had inflicted to the Empire was permanent.
The Fourth Crusade left three terrible legacies: a deepening religious split between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, a badly wounded empire, and a long-lasting sense of betrayal that harmed the ties between the East and the West of Christendom for centuries to come.
The decline in the authority of the Byzantine Empire on the world stage and its lost prestige proved devastating in the long term as the countdown to the permanent end of the Empire had began.
The Byzantines never regained their former strength, leaving their empire increasingly exposed to external assaults, particularly at a time when the Turks were on the rise in terms of power and military strength.
This immense vulnerability eventually contributed to Constantinople’s catastrophic defeat to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, bringing the once-mighty Byzantine Empire to an end.
The Fourth Crusade shows us how internal Christian rivalries and political drama can lead not only to disasters but quite literally to the demise of an entire civilisation
The consequences of this event and the eventual sack of Constantinople caused unparalleled cultural and religious damage, with numerous artifacts, religious relics and artistic treasures being either destroyed or taken to Western Europe, particularly Venice.
The Fourth Crusade also exacerbated the religious gap and the emotional trauma between the Eastern Greek Orthodox and the Western Roman Catholic Churches. This traumatic event instilled a sense of betrayal that irreversibly harmed the once-united Christianity of Europe.
Constantinople’s looted relics of the Fourth Crusade
The destruction of Constantinople in 1204 resulted in an unprecedented looting of artistic and religious treasures.
The city of Venice was where most of the looted treasures ended up, as the Venetians did their best to reap the benefits of Constantinople’s demise.
The most famous treasures are four gilded bronze horses from the famous Hippodrome of Constantinople. A replica which adorns the front of St. Mark’s Basilica, whilst the originals are kept indoors.
The church itself became a treasure trove of looted Byzantine artifacts, including valuable marble columns, reliefs and sculptures, all carefully selected for their historical and material value by the Latin looters.
The Pala d’Oro, an ornate Byzantine altar screen, displays the crusaders’ wealth with an astonishing collection of a total of 1,300 pearls, 300 emeralds, 300 sapphires, 400 garnets and 100 amethysts.
The Pillars of Acre, which were removed from Constantinople’s Church of St. Polyeuctus, and the Pietra del Bando (Proclamation Stone), are two spectacular artifacts that also made their way to Venice.
Many other precious objects were sadly destroyed, including a bronze statue of Hercules created by Alexander the Great’s craftsman Lysippos which was thoughtlessly melted down for metal.
The Crusaders also took roughly 3,600 religious relics and distributed them throughout Europe, destroying the Great Library of Constantinople in the process.
The total plunder was massive, requiring significant effort to transport—for instance, it took four oxen just to move the bronze head of Hera, which was ultimately melted down for coins.
The official apology
During his historic 2001 visit to Greece, Pope John Paul II issued an apology of historic proportions.
During his audience with Greek Orthodox Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, the Pope acknowledged the “deep wounds” left by this historical tragedy and expressed “deep regret” that Latin Christians had assaulted their Orthodox brothers in faith.
The Pope’s message was directed specifically at Orthodox Christians for the events of the Fourth Crusade, rather than as a general apology for the concept of crusading itself. His remarks centred on the “disastrous sack of the imperial city of Constantinople” and its long-term impact on Orthodox-Catholic ties.
Three years later, on April 14, 2004, the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I formally accepted the Pope’s apology on the 800th anniversary of Constantinople’s fall. The Patriarch recognised the past “crime” and praised the gesture as a start towards healing between the two main Christian denominations. Pope John Paul II apologised again during Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to the Vatican in June 2004.
The apology and acceptance constituted a crucial step towards healing the centuries-long schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, though the historical event continues to have an impact on ties between the two branches of Christianity.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
