Gabriel S. Sanchez, J.D.

The ill-fated Fourth Crusade to win back Jerusalem for Christendom resulted in a series of errors, misdeeds, and outright horrors that drove a rift between East and West that continues to this day. Although it is commonplace for contemporary Catholics to romanticize aspects of every crusade undertaken, not all were carried out with the same righteous intentions as others. From nearly its inception, the Fourth Crusade was destined for failure and, despite the protestations of Pope Innocent III, the endeavor quickly took a sinister turn as both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians were victimized.

As there exists a vast array of literature on the Fourth Crusade, this article will limit its contents to a “bird’s eye view” with commentary on what the Crusade still means today for the remnants of Christendom and the possibility of reconciling the Great Schism between Catholics and Orthodox that took place in 1054 and continues to the present day.

The Fraying of East/West Relations

Tensions between Western and Eastern Christendom, on both an ecclesiastical and political level, emerged in the final centuries of the first millennium. Within the Church, which had not yet fractured, differing theological, liturgical, and spiritual practices planted the seeds for more serious doctrinal disagreements, particularly as it concerned the papacy’s jurisdiction over the East. By 1054, relations between Rome and Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire and the spiritual center of Eastern Christianity, had deteriorated to the point where mutual excommunications of questionable authority were issued. Despite sporadic attempts to heal the rift and Rome maintaining better relations with non-Greek Eastern Christians, the Great Schism splitting the Church into Catholics and Orthodox had begun.

On the political level, while the Byzantine Empire (and its capital) remained the crown jewel of Christendom going into the second millennium, its power had declined substantially after five centuries of war with the Muslims. At the same time, the West had come into its own politically, socially, and economically. Although still considered “backwards” by the Byzantines who saw themselves as the continuous heirs of the classical Roman Empire, by the close of the 12th century, the Republic of Venice had become a major rival to Constantinople. Moreover, tensions between Latins and Greeks living in the East had given rise to violent outbreaks, including the so-called “Massacre of the Latins” in 1182 where 60,000 Latin Catholics living in Constantinople were killed, sold into slavery to the Muslims, or forced to flee the city.

Gustave Dore. Dandolo Preaching the Crusade

The Building of a Crusade

Upon ascending the papal throne in 1198, Pope Innocent III issued the bull Post Miserabile (“Sadly After”). In it, he lamented the military setbacks suffered by Crusader states in and around the Holy Land and called for a new crusade to take back Jerusalem. At the time, many Western states were preoccupied with their own problems, including an ongoing war between France and England. The Pope hoped to rouse the Western European powers to once again take up the sword and head East. Although the call was largely ignored at first, preparations for the Fourth Crusade began between 1199-1201.

Under the eventual leadership of the Italian Count Boniface of Montferrat, negotiations began primarily with Venice to transport the Crusader army. Prior military setbacks had left commanders wary of making a land crossing to the Holy Land via Asia Minor, where the Crusaders were likely to meet strong resistance. Instead, work began to create a large Venetian fleet to transport an estimated 33,500 troops to Egypt, conquering the Ayyubid Sultanate, and finally taking Jerusalem. In order to complete this mammoth task, the Venetians were forced to severely curtail their other commercial dealings while diverting considerable resources to manning and training the sailors who would transport the army.

Crusaders from all over Europe, including many areas in France, arrived in Venice by May 1202, albeit in much smaller numbers than expected. With some choosing not to go entirely and other Crusaders opting to find transit from other ports, infighting broke out between the Crusader Army and the Venetians, who were promised substantial payment for supplying ships, sailors, and soldiers for the expedition. Placed under the leadership of Doge Enrico Dandolo, the Venetians demanded full compensation for their commitment to the cause, something which proved impossible for the shorthanded Crusader Army.

Despite attempts to reach a solution, including the Crusader Army practically bankrupting itself trying to appease Venetian demands, the nascent Crusade looked to be on the brink of collapse. It was at this point that Dandolo proposed an alternative solution that would lead to eventual disaster.

The Crusade Loses Its Way

In addition to the Republic of Venice’s growing rivalry with Constantinople, it had also entered into hostilities with the port of Zara in Dalmatia, which had repulsed Venetian dominance by aligning with the King of Hungary and Croatia. At the outset of the Crusade, Pope Innocent III had warned, on pain of excommunication, that no harm should befall the Christian populations the Crusaders acquired, whether they were Orthodox or Catholic. Zara, for its part, was primarily Catholic. Even so, Dandolo proposed that the Crusaders divert their efforts to Zara and use the spoils gained to pay off its debt. And so, in November 1202, the Crusader Army arrived at Zara, laid siege to the city, and engaged in rampant looting.

When the Pope learned of this atrocity, he dispatched a letter excommunicating the leadership and imploring the army to return to its primary task. While these excommunications were eventually rescinded for the non-Venetians who participated in the attack, it is unclear how widely the leadership knew of Pope Innocent III’s threat. Unsure what its next move should be, the Crusaders remained at Zara for the winter.

Meanwhile, the Byzantine Empire was facing its own turmoil. In 1195, Emperor Isaac II Angelos was deposed and blinded by his brother Alexios III Angelos. Rampant corruption in the Empire had led to political and military leaders pilfering the treasury and selling off Constantinople’s resources, including its armaments. Alexios IV Angelos, the son of Isaac, sought protection of his brother-in-law, Philip of Swabia, who also happened to be the cousin of Boniface of Montferrat. Boniface, perhaps unwilling to participate in the siege of Zara, had departed the Crusaders to visit Philip. It was at this time that Alexios IV had a proposition for Boniface.

Tragedy Unfolds

Desirous to avenge his father and take Constantinople’s throne for himself, Alexios IV promised to supply funds to the Crusaders; pay off the Venetians; commit 10,000 Byzantine troops to aid the Crusade; provide naval transport to the army; and, astonishingly enough, place Constantinople under the jurisdiction of the papacy. While some historians remain skeptical that the Crusaders took Alexios IV’s promises seriously, the army arrived in Constantinople in June 1203 and began to lay siege to the city the following month. Lacking military resolve despite his army outnumbering the Crusaders, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III retreated, fled the city, and was quickly deposed. While Isaac II returned to the throne, the Crusaders demanded that Alexios IV be named co-emperor in order to ensure his extravagant promises were kept. Unsurprisingly, they were not.

Tomb of Pope Innocent III in St. John Lateran, Rome.

Due to the Empire’s financial difficulties, Alexios IV ordered that religious objects, including icons, be melted down so the silver, gold, and jewels that adorned them could be used to pay the Crusaders. This shocking display of iconoclasm caused massive unrest in Constantinople, leaving Alexios IV unsure if he could maintain his grip on power without the Crusaders. He also had need of the army to help him ward off an assault from the deposed emperor Alexios III, who had amassed his own army in Adrianople. While Alexios IV and the Crusaders were away from the city, the citizenry rose up against Constantinople’s remaining Latin residents, an act which brought down the wrath of the Venetians. In August 1203, they set fire to the city, leaving an estimated 100,000 Greek and Muslim inhabitants homeless.

By January 1204, Isaac II had died, and Alexios IV’s reign was under constant attack. Alexios Doukas, a nobleman who was head of the imperial finances, spearheaded further Byzantine animus against the Latin occupiers. He used his influence to overthrow and execute Alexios IV before taking the throne as Alexios V. On April 8, 2014, Alexios V and his army had repulsed the Crusaders. Hindered by bad weather, the Venetians were unable to use their ships to come to the Crusaders’ aid. This military blow severely demoralized the Crusader Army. Again, Innocent III sent word prohibiting further military action against the Greek Orthodox in Constantinople, but his letter was suppressed by members of the clergy who had accompanied the Crusaders.

A few days later, weather conditions improved, allowing a combined Crusader and Venetian force to undertake a three-day sack of Constantinople with murder, rape, and pillaging becoming the order of the day. While precise estimates are unknown, historians believe that many ancient and medieval works of art and literature were destroyed. Irreplaceable bronze works, including a statue of Hercules, sculpted by Lysippos of the Court of Alexander the Great, were melted down. And again, despite Innocent III’s protestations, Constantinople’s holy sites, including churches and monasteries, were vandalized, with nuns sexually assaulted and clerics put to the sword. The Venetians did, however, manage to preserve some religious works, sending them back West where they remain to this day.

A Sorrowful Aftermath

In the months following the destruction of Constantinople, many Crusader and Venetian factions broke off for different destinations with only a partial remnant reaching the Holy Land. Innocent III, for his part, was filled with shame over what had transpired during the Crusade he had called six years prior. Here are some of his words of lamentation:

How, indeed, will the church of the Greeks, no matter how severely she is beset with afflictions and persecutions, return into ecclesiastical union and to a devotion for the Apostolic See, when she has seen in the Latins only an example of perdition and the works of darkness, so that she now, and with reason, detests the Latins more than dogs? As for those who were supposed to be seeking the ends of Jesus Christ, not their own ends, who made their swords, which they were supposed to use against the pagans, drip with Christian blood, they have spared neither religion, nor age, nor sex. They have committed incest, adultery, and fornication before the eyes of men. They have exposed both matrons and virgins, even those dedicated to God, to the sordid lusts of boys. Not satisfied with breaking open the imperial treasury and plundering the goods of princes and lesser men, they also laid their hands on the treasures of the churches and, what is more serious, on their very possessions. They have even ripped silver plates from the altars and have hacked them to pieces among themselves. They violated the holy places and have carried off crosses and relics.

In the aftermath of the Crusade, the Byzantine Empire was partitioned and the Latin Empire of Constantinople established. Continuing hostilities with Muslim armies and Byzantine states that avoided Latin rule weakened the Empire further. Nicean Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologos took back the city in 1261 and once again a Greek emperor reigned. But by this point it was too late. Never again would Constantinople shine, and on May 29, 1453, Constantinople fell to the Turks. The Byzantine Empire, which had lasted for more than 1,000 years, was no more.

A Tragedy That Continues to This Day

While the Great Schism began in 1054, it was surely cemented in April 1204 with the sack of Constantinople. Efforts would be made to heal this wound, including the Council of Florence, but Greek antipathy toward the Latins remained strong. With the eventual loss of their empire and subjugation to Muslim rule, no substantial progress toward reunion was possible. To this day, Greek Orthodox Christians still speak of the Fourth Crusade with opprobrium. Not only did the Crusaders fail to take back Jerusalem, but it also effectively destroyed a civilization that had remained a bulwark against Islamic incursions into Europe for centuries. Unsurprisingly, Muslim armies continued to press their advantage westward before being dealt substantial blows at the battles of Lepanto and Austria.

To end on a dimly positive note, Pope John Paul II, in solidarity with his predecessor Innocent III, offered two apologies to the Greeks for what transpired in 1204. In April 2004, Greek-Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew formally accepted the Pope’s apology. Even so, the tragedy of 800 years ago reverberates to the present day.