The Crusades/IV

1202–1204 · 6 event records

Fourth Crusade

Planned to reach Jerusalem by way of Egypt, the crusade was diverted by its shipping debt to Venice and a Byzantine succession struggle.

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Fourth Crusade

01

Overview

The Fourth Crusade, called by Pope Innocent III in 1198, was planned to reach Jerusalem by way of Egypt. When the army could not pay for its large shipping contract with Venice, it besieged the Christian city of Zara in lieu of payment and sacked it in 1202 despite a papal ban.

The promises of Alexios IV, son of the deposed Isaac II, diverted the crusade to Constantinople. The city was first taken in July 1203; when the promises went unfulfilled, it was stormed a second time and sacked in April 1204. Baldwin of Flanders was elected Latin emperor and Byzantine lands were divided. The crusade never reached Jerusalem; it fragmented the Byzantine world and deepened the schism between the Eastern and Western churches.

02

Main route

Venice · Zara · Corfu · Constantinople · Adrianople

03

Outcome

Constantinople was sacked and the Latin Empire founded; the Byzantine world fragmented and the schism deepened.

CONTEXTUAL READING

Event records for this crusade

August 1198 · Rome and Western Europe

Call for the Fourth Crusade

In August 1198 Pope Innocent III proclaimed a new expedition to the East with the bull Post miserabile. Designed as a crusade directed by the papacy, it first targeted Egypt, but a transport contract with Venice and a dynastic struggle in Byzantium turned it toward Constantinople.

Open record →24 November 1202 · Zara / Zadar

Sack of Zara

Unable to pay its transport debt to Venice, the army of the Fourth Crusade besieged the Christian city of Zara (Zadar) on the Adriatic at Doge Enrico Dandolo's suggestion. The city surrendered on 24 November 1202 and was sacked; the pope excommunicated those who took part in the attack.

Open record →17 July 1203 · Constantinople

First capture of Constantinople

In July 1203 the army of the Fourth Crusade and the Venetian fleet took the tower of Galata and broke the chain across the Golden Horn. After the assault of 17 July, Emperor Alexios III fled; the blinded former emperor Isaac II and his son Alexios IV were placed on the throne.

Open record →12–15 April 1204 · Constantinople

Capture and sack of Constantinople

On 12 April 1204 the army of the Fourth Crusade and the Venetians attacked a second time and took Constantinople. In three days of looting the city's churches, palaces and houses were plundered; many works of art and holy relics were carried off to the West.

Open record →16 May 1204 · Constantinople

Foundation of the Latin Empire

After the capture of Constantinople, an electoral college chose Count Baldwin of Flanders as Latin emperor; Baldwin was crowned in Hagia Sophia on 16 May 1204. By the Partitio Romaniae, Byzantine territory was divided among the emperor, Venice and the crusade leaders.

Open record →14 April 1205 · Adrianople

Battle of Adrianople

On 14 April 1205 before Adrianople, the army of the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan lured the forces of the Latin emperor Baldwin into a trap with a feigned retreat by Cuman cavalry. The Latin army was defeated, Count Louis of Blois was killed, and Baldwin was captured and never returned.

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