Conquest Of Constantinople By The Crusaders In 1204
Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) (W)
Capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. (W)
The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople (Eugène Delacroix, 1840).
The most infamous action of the Fourth Crusade was the sack of the Orthodox Christian city of Constantinople.
(B) “The Crusaders, now cheated of their reward and disgusted at the treachery of the Byzantines, declared war on Constantinople, which fell to the Fourth Crusade on April 12, 1204. What followed was one of the most profitable and disgraceful sacks of a city in history. Despite their oaths and the threat of excommunication, the Crusaders ruthlessly and systematically violated the city’s holy sanctuaries, destroying, defiling, or stealing all they could lay hands on. Many also broke their vows to respect the women of Constantinople and assaulted them.”
In late 1202, financial issues led to the Crusader army sacking Zara, which was then brought under Venetian control. In January 1203, en-route to Jerusalem, the Crusader leadership entered into an agreement with the Byzantine prince Alexios Angelos to divert the Crusade to Constantinople and restore his deposed father as Emperor. The intent of the Crusaders was then to continue to Jerusalem with promised Byzantine financial and military aid. On 23 June 1203, the bulk of the Crusaders reached Constantinople, while smaller contingents continued to Acre. After the siege of Zara the pope excommunicated the crusader army.
In August, following clashes outside Constantinople, Alexios was crowned co-Emperor. However, in January 1204, he was deposed by a popular uprising. The Crusaders were no longer able to receive their promised payments from Alexios. Following the murder of Alexios on 8 February, the Crusaders decided on the outright conquest of the city.In April 1204, they captured and plundered the city’s enormous wealth. Only a handful of the Crusaders continued to the Holy Land thereafter.
The conquest of Constantinople was followed by the fragmentation of the Empire into three rump states centred in Nicaea,Trebizond and Epirus. The Crusaders then founded several Crusader states in former Byzantine territory, largely hinged upon the Latin Empire of Constantinople. The presence of the Latin Crusader states almost immediately led to war with the Byzantine successor states and the Bulgarian Empire. The Nicaean Empire eventually recovered Constantinople and restored the Byzantine Empire in 1261.
The Crusade is considered to be one of the most prominent acts that solidified the schism between the Greek and LatinChristian churches, and dealt an irrevocable blow to the already weakened Byzantine Empire, paving the way for Muslim conquests in Anatolia and Balkan Europe in the coming centuries.
📹 Rise and Fall of Latin Empire, 1204-1261 / Every Year (VİDEO)
📹 Rise and Fall of Latin Empire, 1204-1261 / Every Year (LINK)
Latin Empire was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261.
📹 Fourth Crusade — Sack of Constantinople 1204 (VİDEO)
Fourth Crusade — Sack of Constantinople 1204 (LINK)
Although the First Crusade was succeeded in taking Jerusalem and a number of Frankish kingdoms were created in the Levant, by 1187 the Ayyubid leader Saladin managed to reconquer most of the region. The Third Crusade launched by the English king Richard I Lionheart, French king Philip II Augustus and German emperor Frederick I Barbarossa wasn't able to take Jerusalem, so the pope called for the Fourth Crusade led by Enrico Dandolo, Boniface of Montferrat and Baldwin of Flanders, which indeed up in one of the biggest tragedies for the Christian world.
‘Latin’ Empire of Constantinople (1204-1261)
A ‘Latin’ Emperor — Baldwin I of (Flanders.
🛑 BİR ‘LATİN İMPARATORLUĞU’ OLARAK SUNULAN BİR ‘GERMEN İMPARATORLUĞU’
Germenler Roma İmparatorluğunu yalnızca Batıda yerle bir etmekle kalmadılar.
1204’te İmparatorluğunun Doğusu da Osmanlılardan önce Germenler tarafından ele geçirildi.
“Latin İmparatorluğu” terimi de örtmeceli bir terimdir —
Bu “Latin” İmparatorluğunun ilk “Latin” İmparatoru I. Baldwind bir Germen idi (Flanders ve Hainaut Kontu); ve
Romalılar “Latinlik” ve “İmparatorluk” ile ilgisiz bu feodal Germanik rejimi daha uygun bir yolda bir “kabile erki” olarak, “Frankokratia” olarak adlandırdılar (Franklar bir Germanik kabileler grubudur).
Frankokratia (Φραγκοκρατία) “Frank Erki” demektir.
Yine, “Franklar” durumunda da etnik tarihçilik tarafından bilinçli bir sürçme yapılır ve bu Flandersli Germenlerden “Fransızlar” olarak söz edilir.
The term derives from the name given by the Orthodox Greeks to the Western EuropeanLatin ChurchCatholics: "Latins". Most Latins had French (Frankish), Norman, or Venetian origins. The span of the Frankokratia period differs by region: the political situation proved highly volatile, as the Frankish states fragmented and changed hands, and the Greek successor states re-conquered many areas.
With the exception of the Ionian Islands and some isolated forts which remained in Venetian hands until the turn of the 19th century, the final end of the Frankokratia in the Greek lands came with the Ottoman conquest, chiefly in the 14th to 16th centuries, which ushered in the period known as "Tourkokratia" ("rule of the Turks"; see Ottoman Greece).
Barbarizmden feodalizme gelişmiş olan Germenler Konstontinopolis’i ele geçirdikten sonra günlerce yağmalamalarına karşın, Roma’da yaptıkları gibi kenti bütünüyle yerle bir etmediler.
Romalılar sonunda 1235’te kendi kentlerini, Konstantinopolis’i kuşatarak Germenlerin elinden aldılar.
Roma İmparatorluğu bağlamında kullanılan “Bizans” ve “Latin” sözcükleri çok daha sonraki yüzyıllarda etnik Germanik tarihçilerin olguları tanımlamak için gereksindikleri terimlerdir.
‘Latin’ İmparatorluğu feodal ilkeler üzerine kuruldu. Feodal ‘imparator’ her biri fethedilen topraklardan belli parçaları aralarında paylaşan prenslerin üstü idi. İmparatorun kendisi Konstantipolis’i ve hem Asya hem de Avrupa’da kente komşu olan toprakları özel bölümleri olarak aldı.
The original name of this state in the Latin language was Imperium Romaniae ("Empire of Romania"). This name was used based on the fact that the common name for the Byzantine Empire in this period had been Romania (Ῥωμανία, "Land of the Romans").
The names Byzantine and Latin were not contemporaneous terms. They were invented much later by historians seeking to differentiate between the classical period of the Roman Empire, the medieval period of the Byzantine Empire,{!} and the late medieval Latin Empire, all of which called themselves "Roman." The term Latin has been used because the crusaders (Franks, Venetians, and other westerners) were Roman Catholic and used Latin as their liturgical and scholarly language. It is used in contrast to the Eastern Orthodox locals who used Greek in both liturgy and common speech.
The empire's precarious situation forced him to travel often to Western Europe seeking aid, but largely without success. In order to gain money, he was forced to resort to desperate means, from removing the lead roofs of the Great Palace and selling them, to handing over his only son, Philip, to Venetian merchants as a guarantee for a loan.
The Latin Empire 🔎 The Latin Empire with its vassals (in yellow) and the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire (in red) after the Treaty of Nymphaeum in 1214.
The Empire of Romania (Latin: Imperium Romaniae), more commonly known in historiography as the Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople, and known to the Byzantines as the Frankokratia or the Latin Occupation, was a feudalCrusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinoplein 1204 and lasted until 1261. The Latin Empire was intended to supplant the Byzantine Empire as the titular Roman Empire in the east, with a Western Roman Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern OrthodoxRoman emperors.
Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem (c.1058-1118), from the Abrégé de la Chronique de Jerusalem, France, 15th century. (De Agostini.
Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, was crowned the first Latin emperor as Baldwin I on 16 May 1204. The Latin Empire failed to attain political or economic dominance over the other Latin powers that had been established in former Byzantine territories in the wake of the Fourth Crusade, especially Venice, and after a short initial period of military successes it went into a steady decline. Weakened by constant warfare with the Bulgarians and the unconquered sections of the empire, it eventually fell when Byzantines recaptured Constantinople under Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. The last Latin emperor, Baldwin II, went into exile, but the imperial title survived, with severalpretenders to it, until the 14th century.
Name
The original name of this state in the Latin language was Imperium Romaniae (“Empire of Romania”). This name was used based on the fact that the common name for the Byzantine Empire in this period had been Romania (Ῥωμανία, "Land of the Romans").
The names Byzantine and Latin were not contemporaneous terms. They were invented much later by historians seeking to differentiate between the classical period of the Roman Empire, the medieval period of the Byzantine Empire, and the late medieval Latin Empire, all of which called themselves "Roman." The term Latin has been used because the crusaders (Franks, Venetians, and other westerners) were Roman Catholic and used Latin as their liturgical and scholarly language. It is used in contrast to the Eastern Orthodox locals who used Greek in both liturgy and common speech.
The empire was formed and administered on Western European feudal principles, incorporating some elements of the Byzantine bureaucracy. The emperor was assisted by a council, composed of the various barons, the Venetian Podestà of Constantinople and his six-member council. This council had a major voice in the governance of the realm, especially in periods of regency, when the Regent (moderator imperii) was dependent on their consent to rule. The podestà, likewise, was an extremely influential member, being practically independent of the emperor. He exercised authority over the Venetian quarters of Constantinople and Peraand the Venetian dominions within the empire, assisted by a separate set of officials. His role was more that of an ambassador and vicegerent of Venice than a vassal to the empire. The podestà was granted the title of Governor of One-Fourth and One-Half of the Empire of Romania, and was entitled to wearing the imperial crimson buskins like the emperor.
The Podestà of Constantinople was the official in charge of Venetian possessions in the Latin Empire and the Venetian quarter of Constantinople during the 13th century. Nominally a vassal to the Latin Emperor, the Podestà functioned as a ruler in his own right, and answered to the Doge of Venice. The podestà was also officially known as Governor of One-Fourth and One-Half of the Empire of Romania and was entitled to wearing the crimson buskins as the emperors.
The Venetians had enjoyed their own quarter in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople since the 1082 chrysobull of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. How that colony colony was governed is unknown; most likely it elected its own local elders, but occasionally consuls sent from Venice, or passing captains of the Venetian fleet, may have assumed some political responsibility.
The Venetian position in Constantinople was immensely strengthened as a result of the Fourth Crusade, in which the Venetian fleet, and the Doge Enrico Dandolo, played a critical role. In the aftermath of the Sack of Constantinople and the establishment of the Latin Empire, he secured for Venice terms that made it paramount in the new state: the Republic claimed three eighths of the former Byzantine possessions, ensured recognition of the privileges the Republic had enjoyed under the Byzantine emperors, secured a dominant voice in the election of the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, and pushed through its own candidate, Baldwin of Flanders, as the first Latin Emperor. Dandolo himself remained in Constantinople and received the exalted Byzantine title of Despot. Until his death on 29 May 1205, in the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Adrianople, he remained the ruler of the local Venetians, and one of the most important statesmen of the Latin Empire.
📹 Byzantine Empire successor states / 1204-1261 — Nicaea, Epirus, Trebizond (VİDEO)
📹 Byzantine Empire successor states / 1204-1261 — Nicaea, Epirus, Trebizond (LINK)
The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek successor states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade. Founded by the Laskaris family, it lasted from 1204 to 1261, when the Nicaean recovered the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople.
The Latin Empire, established by the Crusaders in Constantinople, had poor control over former Byzantine territory, and Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire sprang up in Epirus, Trebizond, and Nicaea. Trebizond had broken away as an independent state a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople. Nicaea, however, was the closest to the Latin Empire and was in the best position to attempt to re-establish the Byzantine Empire.
📹 Wars of the Byzantine Partition / Every Month (4th Crusade) (VİDEO)
Wars of the Byzantine Partition / Every Month (4th Crusade) (LINK)
Following the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire was partitioned between the Latin crusaders who had sacked Constantinople. A 57 year long struggle for control of Greece ensued between the Latin and Greek successor states.
Crusaders Thirsting near Jerusalem, by Francesco Hayez. (L)
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The Latin Empire with its vassals (in yellow) and the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire (in red) after the Treaty of Nymphaeum in 1214.
, from the Abrégé de la Chronique de Jerusalem, France, 15th century. (De Agostini.jpg)
