1204AD Crusaders Destroy Greek Byzantines Constantinople

1204AD Crusaders Destroy Greek Byzantines Constantinople Crusaders Attack and Destroyed Greek Orthodox Constantinople 1204 AD. They knew that Constantinople was a richer prize than all the Holy Land - and that it could be taken more easily. Constantinople had withstood Moslem armies for 5 centuries, it now fell. The imperial capital was stormed by the very men whose forefathers had promised rescue a century before. Untold treasures of gold, silver, and holy relics were plundered during the subsequent pillage and rape. Literary classics, great and wonderful works of art and treasures untold were either destroyed or carried away. Many of its priceless treasures were carried off to Europe. But the greatest prize of all were the relics. bones, heads and arms of saints. the crown of thorns, St. Thomas, the doubter's finger. The patriarch fled on an ass without a single attendant. Tombs were robbed. Women were outraged. Churches were desecrated. Horses were ridden in the sanctuary. Communion cups and sacred vessels were used as drinking cups in drunken revels. Prostitutes danced on the altar. Icons, even portraits of Christ were used as gaming tables. The Byzantine emperor was murdered by his own people in a revolt. Venice took much of the coast and islands of the Empire, and the crusaders set up a "Latin Empire" with a Latin, Baldwin of Flanders as emperor. Pope Innocent II could express disapproval, but the Greeks were schismatics and heretics so their own rule was set up over the Greek Empire, which lasted 50 years. The Latin and Greek Churches were declared to be reunited, and Latin emperors ruled as conquerors in Constantinople from 1204 to 1261. This is the first time the Byzantine capital was taken, and a landmark in the history of relations between eastern and western Christians. Knights could now choose to crusade against the Greeks instead of the infidel Moslems. Hated by the Greeks, deprived of help from home, driven out in 1261 by the Greek emperor of Nicaia, and the Byzantine Empire was restored. After this disaster it was entirely impossible to restore the Byzantine military or economic system, it became a mere shadow of its former self, now reduced to only a Balkan state. The Latin Empire of Constantinople is a complete freak of history. The Byzantine power was so shattered, it was now unable to check the Turkish sweep into Europe, and the hopes of uniting the eastern and western churches, which the possession of the Byzantine capital had inspired was blighted forever. The chief beneficiaries of this robbery were the Venetian who themselves took over the most lucrative parts of the former Empire, including Crete and the Aegean islands. Eastern Christendom has not forgotten those three appalling days of pillage. As the Byzantines watched the Crusaders tear to pieces the altar and icon screen of the Church of the Holy Wisdom, and set prostitutes on he Patriarch's throne, they must have felt that those who did such things were not Christians in the same sense as themselves.. The Crusaders did not bring peace, but a sword, and the sword was to sever Christendom to this day. Between the fall of Rome and the discovery of America the Fourth Crusade is the most important event in the history of European trade. It established the Venetian Empire. http://latter-rain.com/ltrain/curfor.html The Fourth Crusade - Sack of Constantinople