Sack of Constantinople
Forces of the Fourth Crusade and the Venetian fleet stormed and sacked the Byzantine capital; the Latin Empire and Greek successor states arose on the lands of the empire.
- Date
- 12–13 April 1204exact date · duration: one dayDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Republic of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, Baldwin I, Latin Emperor, Byzantine Empire, Latin Empire
- Threads
- Europe and the Mediterranean in the 13th century
- Also known as
- Четвёртый крестовый поход; Разграбление Константинополя
Planned as an expedition against Egypt, the crusade was diverted to Constantinople by the crusaders’ debts to Venice and their intervention in the struggle for the Byzantine throne. On 12 April 1204 the city was stormed from the Golden Horn, and the looting went on for three days; the bronze horses of the Hippodrome were carried off to Venice. On 9 May Baldwin of Flanders was proclaimed emperor of the Latin Empire.
The sack of Constantinople weakened Byzantium for a long time and deepened the schism between the Orthodox East and the Catholic West.
Connections
Consequences
- Battle of Adrianople14 April 1205 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe Latin Empire, created in 1204, was trying to subdue Thrace
Related events
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe end of the Latin Empire, created in 1204
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe sack of 1204 crippled Byzantium, which never regained its former strength and fell in 1453
Same participants
- Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europevia Byzantine Empire
Same place
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 5 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Albigensian Crusade1209–1229
Africa
- Rock-hewn churches of Lalibelac. 1181 – c. 1221
Central and Northern Asia
- Kurultai of 12061206
South Asia
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Construction of Angkor Thom and the Bayon1181 – c. 1218
Latin America
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Sack of Constantinople
- Wikipedia (Russian): Осада и падение Константинополя (1204)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Четвёртый крестовый поход
- Queller D. E., Madden T. F. The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople. — 2nd ed. — Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
- Wikidata: Q1750892