Χρονολόγηση 13 April Γεωγραφικός Εντοπισμός Constantinople IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ. 1. Text of entry

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1 Περίληψη : Instead of fighting against the Muslims and deliberating the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade diverged from their course and were unexpectedly found on the shores of Bosporos. After occupying Constantinople on the April of 1204, they caused the collapse of the Byzantine Empire. Certain sources from the pen of the participants themselves or of the witnesses from the Byzantine (Niketas Choniates) or the Latin side (Geoffrey Villehardoin and Robert de Clari) described in detail these dramatic events after which the situation in the southeastern Europe totally changed. Χρονολόγηση 13 April 1204 Γεωγραφικός Εντοπισμός Constantinople 1. Text of entry The Fourth Crusade that ended with the capture of Constantinople in 1204, is one of the most important and most spectacular events in the medieval history. One and a half century later, Nikephoros Gregoras wrote that in those days the Byzantine Empire dissolved into many shreds like a ship in a storm. 1 With the collapse of Byzantium, of the state that exercised full right of authority over the entire Christian world, an entirely new system of Latin and Greek states was created in the region of the southeastern Europe and the northwestern fringe of Asia Minor. 2. Background The failure of the Third Crusade did not diminish the religious enthusiasm of the Western Europe. Under the auspices of pope Innocent III ( ) a new campaign was prepared and before the summer of 1202 the crusaders were gathered in Venice in order to sail with their ships to Egypt. However, because they did not have enough money for the expenses of the travel, the doge of Venice Enrico Dandolo proposed them to occupy the Hungarian city of Zara on the account of Venice. This was the first divergence of the crusaders and a symbolic prelude of what was going to happen next. Because they had occupied Zara on November 1202, the crusaders decided to spend their winter there. Then the Byzantine prince Alexios Angelos appeared in their camp, son of the blinded Isaac II, who was asking for help from the West so as to resume the Byzantine throne for his father s shake as well as for his own shake. He promised them large sums of money and, in order to please the pope, he said that he could take a look on the issue of the union of the Churches. The proposal was so tempting that the crusaders were unable to reject it and their conscience would stay tranquil because the crusade, after its sojourn in Constantinople, could be continued with more money. The two parties signed a treaty in Corfu on May 1203 and already on the 24 th of June the crusaders fleet appeared on the sea of Bosporos. 3. At the "Queen of cities" The crusaders first occupied Galata on the 5 th of July 1203 and cut the chain that was blocking the entry to the Golden Horn. Then their ships entered the harbor of Constantinople and the attack against the city walls by land and sea started. While intruding into Constantinople, the crusaders set some buildings on fire, but the fire rekindled so quickly that everything was on fire in an area extending from the hillock of Blachernai to the monastery of Evergetissa. As Geoffrey Villehardoin writes, the fire was so strong that the Byzantine defenders could not see the crusading invaders. 2 Although the Byzantine garrison strongly resisted, on the 17 th of July 1203 Constantinople fell on crusaders hands, while the emperor Alexios III Angelos ( ) escaped taking with him the state fiscus containing seventy-five thousand Byzantine golden pieces. Blinded Isaac II was restituted on the throne and his son Alexios IV was crowned co-emperor. After fulfilling their promises and receiving guarantees that the agreement which was closed in Zara would be kept, the crusaders came out of the city, settled in Galata Δημιουργήθηκε στις 21/1/2017 Σελίδα 1/8

2 and waited to get paid the agreed amount. Unable to pay the crusaders, Alexios IV was found between the crossfire of the impatient newcomers from the West on the one side, who demanded their money, and on the other side of the population of Constantinople, angry at the young emperor who had brought the crusaders in the city. 4. Fall of Constantinople At the end of January 1204 in Constantinople a revolt broke out that brought into power Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlos. Isaac II died and Alexios IV was murdered. The arrival of the anti-latin party accelerated only the last act of the Byzantine tragedy. When they realized that they would not receive their money, the crusaders started preparing themselves for a new fight. They decided to occupy once more the Byzantine capital, but this time not to establish a new Byzantine government but to utterly defeat Byzantium and to establish a Latin empire on its territories. After that the attack against Constantinople started and the unavoidable happened. On Tuesday, the 13 th of April 1204 the big city on Bosporos succumbed to the superiority of the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade. Thus Constantinople, which for centuries remained impregnable and lasted the mighty attacks of the Persians, the Arabs, the Avars, the Slavs, the Bulgarians and the Pechenegs, fell on the hands of the crusaders and of the Venetians. Robert de Clari, crusader and witness from a Latin point of view, wrote that French knights and crusaders of the Fourth Crusade believed to be descendants of the inhabitants of the ancient city of Troy. 3 This was a widely spread legend in 13 th -century France, which was used as one of the excuses for the capture of the Byzantine capital. We should note here that the Latin bishops were convincing the crusaders encamped on Bosporos that their military operation was legitimate because the Greeks offended the Roman religion by pointing out that it was preached by dogs, therefore the attack against Constantinople was not a sin but a pious action. 4 After occupying Constantinople, the crusaders for three days and three nights were plundering the city and committing cruel deeds. Niketas Choniates, an eyewitness, describes the horror on the streets of Constantinople after the crusaders entry on 13 April He writes that on the streets were heard cries, screams, mourning; at the crossroads moanings, in the churches weepings; men week because of the misery and the sorrow; women yelling because the arrogant invaders were drugging them on the streets, separating them from their men and then raping them. 5 Thereafter, he continues in the same tone that many were carrying on horses women that the crusaders had raped, wrapping some of them into large cloaks and tying back their interlacing curls and their mingled hair into a ball. 6 In a well-known formulation, Niketas Choniates comments on the atrocities of the Latin invaders in the Byzantine capital: Even the Saracens are merciful and gentle compared to these men that carried the cross on their shoulders. 7 Niketas Choniates, according to the medieval way of thinking, bitterly mourns and points out that no omen, heavenly or earthly in contrast to many older occasions had foretold the disaster of the Byzantine capital. Neither a bleeding rain from the sky, nor the crop being red like blood, nor burning rocks falling from the sky, nor any other omen came as forbearer of the forthcoming disaster. 8 When the Latins occupied Constantinople, precious treasures from the richest cultural center of the world were plundered and extracted, and a big part of it was ruthlessly destroyed. Robert de Clari is referred to the vast wealth that fell on the hands of the conquerors and points out that such a wealth existed neither in the period of Alexander nor in the period of Charlemagne, neither before nor after; hardly enough could be found so much wealth among the forty richest cities as the one in the Byzantine capital alone; besides, the Greeks as well believed that two thirds of the earthly riches have been gathered at Constantinople whereas the rest one third is scattered around the world. 9 It should be especially pointed out the barbarian behavior of the Latins against artistic monuments, the libraries and the Byzantine sacred spaces. By intruding into the churches, the crusaders turned on the religious objects and ornaments, violated reliquaries containing saints relics, stole religious vessels, demolished and broke off precious monuments, burnt manuscripts. Constantinople was never again capable of recovering from the Latin destruction, because the Empire deprived of its strength was not in a position of renewing the incomparable thousand-year treasures accumulated from the 4 th and the5 th centuries onwards. Monuments of classical Δημιουργήθηκε στις 21/1/2017 Σελίδα 2/8

3 art and sacred things from the apostolic era were destroyed or dispersed in all parts of Europe. We have to say in addition that Niketas Choniates in his historical work added a short tribute for the Constantinopolitan monuments ruined when the Latins occupied the city. 10 Niketas Choniates, who after five days of tremendous uncertainty in a city exposed to the devastation of the Latin knights and noblemen, managed to leave, describes his meeting with the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. It is a shocking testimony of the deep rupture within the Byzantine society of those days. He narrates about the disdain and the hate as well as the ill will with which the Thracian villagers welcomed the miserable and the once so much proud Byzantine aristocracy. The inhabitants of the villages near Constantinople not only mocked at the poverty and nudeness of the refugees but, in their fanaticism, they viewed their situation as a state of equality. They insisted that the poverty of the until yesterday rich nobles was now similar to their own, while there were some others who were thanking God for giving them the opportunity to get rich by purchasing goods at extremely low prices from their poor compatriots. 11 Due to the fall of Constantinople on the April of 1204, the Byzantine Empire collapsed. Upon the territory of the former Empire were created some Latin and Greek states. The Byzantine powers were pushed off towards the periphery and only after six decades did Constantinople return to the hands of the Byzantines and the Byzantine Empire was restored in On the contrary, the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders, kept off for ever the Christian East from the Christian West and both these cultural antipodes were settled in mutually excluding fronts of history. For that reason any attempts of a real approach between these two worlds could not have a future any more. In short, the Byzantines never forgave the westerns for this unheard of operation and for all those ensued from it. 1. Schopen, L. Bekker, I. (ed.), Nicephori Gregorae historiae Byzantinae 1 (CSHB, Bonn 1829), p Geoffroy de Villehardouin, La conquête de Constantinople I:176, ed. E. Faral (Paris 1973), σελ Robert de Clari, La conquête de Constantinople, ed. P. Charlot (Paris 1939), CVI, pp Robert de Clari, La conquête de Constantinople, ed. P. Charlot (Paris 1939), LXXII, pp Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), p Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), p Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), p Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), p Robert de Clari, La conquête de Constantinople, ed. P. Charlot (Paris 1939), LXXXI, pp Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), p Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), pp , , Δημιουργήθηκε στις 21/1/2017 Σελίδα 3/8

4 Βιβλιογραφία : Setton K.M., The Papacy and the Levant ( ), 1: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, Philadelphia 1976 Γεώργιος Ακροπολίτης, Χρονική Συγγραφή, Heisenberg, A. Wirth, P. (eds), Georgii Acropolitae Οpera 1 (αναθ. P. Wirth), Stuttgart 1978 Νικήτας Χωνιάτης, Χρονική Διήγησις, van Dieten, J.A. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae Historia, Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 11, Berlin New York 1975 Ahrweiler H., Byzance et la mer. La marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions maritimes de Byzance au VIIe-XVe siècles, Paris 1966 Gill J., Byzantium and Papacy , New Brunswick New Jersey 1979 Nicol D.M., Byzantium and Venice. A study in diplomatic and cultural relations, Cambridge 1988 Vryonis S., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century, Berkeley Los Angeles London 1971 Setton K.M., A History of Crusades, vol. II, The Later Crusades, , 2, Madison Wisc. London 1969, έκδ. R. L. Wolff / H. W. Hazard Μιχαήλ Χωνιάτης, Επιστολαί, Kolovou, F. (ed.), Michaelis Choniatae epistulae, Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 41, Berlin New York 2001 Ракова С., Четвъртият кръстоносен поход в историческата памет на православните славяни, София 2007 Angold M., The Fourth Crusade. Event and Context, London 2003 Заборов М.А., Крестовые походы, Москва 1956 Frolow A., "La déviation de la IVe Croisade vers Constantinople. Problème d'histoire et de doctrine", Revue de l'histoire des religions, 145 (jan.-mars 1954), (avr.-jun. 1954), Folda J., "The Fourth Crusade, : some reconsiderations", Byzantinoslavica, 26, 1965, Bradford E., The Great Betrayal. Constantinople 1204, London 1967 Queller D.E., Stratton S.J., "A Century of Controversy of the Fourth Crusade", Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, 6, 1969, Queller D.E., Compton Th. K., Campbell D.A., "The Fourth Crusade: The Neglected Majority", Speculum, 49, 1974, Dujčev I., "Le grand tournant historique de l an 1204", Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, 16, 1975, Godfrey J., The Unholy Crusade, Oxford New York Toronto Melbourne 1980 Brand C.M., "The Fourth Crusade: Some Recent Interpretations", Medievalia et humanistica, 12, 1984, Δημιουργήθηκε στις 21/1/2017 Σελίδα 4/8

5 Laiou A.E., "Observations on the Results of the Fourth Crusade: Greeks and Latins in Port and Market", Medievalia et humanistica, 12, 1984, Madden Th. F., Queller D.E., The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, , 2nd ed., Philadelphia 1997 Radić R., "Vizantijske kratke hronike o padu Carigrada godine", Niš i Vizantija, Treći naučni skup, Niš, 3-5. jun 2004, Niš 2005, Zbornik radova III, A. Laiou, Urbs Capta. The Fourth Crusade and its Consequences, Paris 2005, Réalités Byzantines 10 Δικτυογραφία : Medieval Sourcebook: Nicetas Choniates: The Sack of Constantinople (1204) Η Φραγκοκρατία στον ελλαδικό χώρο Γλωσσάριo : doge Title of the highest ruler. Πηγές Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 11, Berlin 1975). Kolovou, F. (ed.), Michaelis Choniatae epistulae (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 41, Berlin New York 2001). Heisenberg, Α. Wirth, P. (ed.), Georgii Acropolitae Opera I (Stuttgart 1978). Sathas, Κ.Ν., Bibliotheca Medii Aevi VII (Venice Paris 1894). Schreiner, P. (ed.), Die byzantinische Kleinchroniken I (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 12, Wien 1975). Geoffroy de Villehardouin, La conquête de Constantinople, I II, ed. E. Faral (Paris 1973). Robert de Clari, La conquête de Constantinople, ed. P. Charlot (Paris 1939). Gunther von Pairis, Historia Constantinopolitana, ed. P. Ort (Hildesheim Zürich 1994). Carile, Α., Partitio terrarum Imperii Romaniae, Studi Veneziani 7 (1965), pp Heisenberg, A., Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des lateinischen Kaisertums und der Kirchenunion I (Sitzungsberichte der Bayer. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philos. philol. U. Hist. Klasse, Jahrg. 1922, 5. Abh., München 1923), pp Παραθέματα Niketas Choniates describes the contempt and the mockery of the villagers around Constantinople at the refugees from the city: Οἱ δ ἀγκροῖκοι καὶ ἀγελαῖοι ἐπεκερτόμουν μᾶλλον τοῖς ἐκ Βυζαντίου ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ἐν πτωχείᾳ καὶ γυμνότητι κακουχίαν Δημιουργήθηκε στις 21/1/2017 Σελίδα 5/8

6 ἰσοπολιτείαν ἀφρόνως ὠνόμαζον, οὐ τοῖς τῶν πέλας κακοῖς παιδευόμενοι. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἀνομίαν ὑπολαμβάνοντες εὐλογητὸς Κύριος, ὅτι πεπλουτήκαμεν ἔλεγον, ὀλίγου τὰς τῶν συμφυλετῶν οὐσίας ἀποδιδομένας ὠνούμενοι. οὐ γάρ πω βουθοίνας εἰσῳκίσαντο Λατίνους, καὶ εἴδοσαν, ὅπως μὲν τὸν οἶνον ἄκρατον ὁμοῦ καὶ ζωρότερον ὥσπερ καὶ τὸν χόλον ἀκέραστον χέουσιν, ὅπως δὲ Ῥωμαίοις ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ καὶ ἐξουδενώσει προσφέρονται. Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), pp Niketas Choniates's account of the plundering of monuments in Constantinople after the establishment of the Latin Empire: Ἐκ πρώτης δ ὅ φασι γραμμῆς τὸ ἐθνικὸν παραδεικνύντες φιλόχρυσον ἐννοοῦσι πόρον λημματισμοῦ καινόν τε ἅμα καὶ λαθόντα ξύμπαντας, οἳ τὴν βασιλίδα πόλιν ἐσκύλευσαν. τὰς γὰρ τῶν βασιλέων θήκας ἀνοίξαντες, ὁπόσαι ἔνεισι τῷ ἡρῴῳ τῷ περὶ τὸ μέγα τέμενος ἱδρυμένῳ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ μαθητῶν, λωποδυτοῦσι νυκτὸς ἁπάσας καὶ παναθεμίτως ἐγκολπίζονται, εἴ τις χρύσειος κόσμος ἢ μαργάρων σφαίρωμα ἢ λίθος διαυγὴς καὶ πολύτιμος ἀδιάφθορος εἰσέτι ταύταις ἐνέκειτο. εὑρόντες δὲ καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν Ἰουστινιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως τοῖς μακραίωσιν ἀπαραλύμαντον ἔτεσι τὸ μὲν ὁραθὲν ἐν θαύματι ἔθεντο, τῶν δὲ νεκροταφίων οὐμενοῦν οὐδ ὅλως ἀπέσχοντο. ἔστιν οὖν εἰπεῖν ὡς οὔτε τῶν ἔτι ζώντων, οὔτε μὴν τῶν ἀπελθόντων οἱ ἐκ γενῶν τῶν ἑσπερίων ἐφείσαντο, ἀλλ ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ θεραπόντων ἀρξάμενοι πᾶσαν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἀδιαφορίαν τε καὶ ἀσέβειαν ἐπεδείξαντο. Μετ οὐ πολὺ δὲ κατασπῶσι καὶ τὸ τοῦ Μεγίστου Νεὼ καταπέτασμα ἐς μυρίας πολλάκις ἀργύρου μνᾶς ἀριθμούμενον, καὶ τούτου εὐροιζοτέρου παντός, καὶ εἰς βάθος χρυσῷ πυκαζόμενον. Ἐπεὶ δὲ χρημάτων καὶ οὕτως ἐσπάνιζον (οὐδὲ γὰρ φιλοπλουτίας κόρον ὅτε δὴ τὸ βάρβαρον ἴσησι) τοῖς χαλκοῖς ἐποφθαλμίζουσιν ἀνδριᾶσι καὶ παραδιδόασι τούτους πυρί. Ἥ τε οὖν ἐν τῇ Κωνσταντινείῳ ἀγορᾷ ἱσταμένη πολύχαλκος Ἥρα κέκοπται εἰς στατῆρας καὶ χωνείᾳ παραδίδοται, ἧς ἡ κεφαλὴ μόγις τέτρασι βοῶν ὑποτρόχοις ζεύγμασιν ἐς τὸ μέγα παλάτιον ἀποκεκόμισται. Van Dieten, J. (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), pp Geoffroy de Villehardouin describes the burning of Constantinople before its fall: (247). En cette nuit, devers lʹhéberge de Boniface le marquis de Montferrat, je ne sais quelles gens qui craignaient que les Grecs ne les assaillissent, mirent le feu entre eux et les Grecs. Et la ville commença à sʹéprendre et à sʹallumer très durement; et elle brûla toute cette nuit et le lendemain jusquʹà vêpres. Et ce fut le troisième feu qui fut en Constantinople depuis que les Francs vinrent au pays; et il y eut plus de maisons brûlées quʹil nʹy en a dans les trois plus grandes cités du royaume de France. Geoffroy de Villehardouin, La conquête de Constantinople IΙ:247, ed. E. Faral (Paris 1973). Nikephoros Gregoras writes of the fragmentation of the Byzantine Empire because of the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204: Τῆς γὰρ τοι Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ὑπὸ τῶν Λατίνων ἁλούσης, συνέβη τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν, καθάπερ ὁλκάδα μεγάλην, ἀνέμοις ἀγρίοις καὶ κύμασι θαλαττίοις συνειλημμένην, κατὰ τεμάχια καὶ μέρη πλεῖστα διαιρεθῆναι, καὶ ἄλλον ἄλλοθι κατὰ μόρια, καὶ ὡς ἕκαστοι τύχοιεν, ταύτην διαλαχόντας κληρώσασθαι, ἕως ὀψὲ καὶ μόλις περὶ τῆν Νικαέων μητρόπολιν ἀναγορευθῆναι συμπέπτωκε βασιλέα Θεόδωρον τὸν Λάσκαριν, τριακοντούτη ἤδη τυγχάνοντα. Schopen, L. Bekker, I. (ed.), Nicephori Gregorae historiae Byzantinae 1 (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, Bonn 1829), p. 13. The destruction of Galata by the fires ignited by the crusaders during the first siege of Constantinople: The suburb of Galata or Pera to the north of the Golden horn was the first area of Constantinople to suffer from destruction. The dense Jewish neighborhoo, located on the slope facing the walled city, close to the Galata tower, was consumed by fire early in July Contemporary sources emphasize the destruction of Jewish houses, yet we may safely assume that many structures of their Greek neighbors were also lost. Several large fires swept through Constantinople proper. The north western section of the city was damaged on July 1203, yet various buildings of the residential area of Petrion survived. Around or probably on 18 August 1203, the premises of Pisan and Amalfitan settlers located between the Golden horn and the northern city wall were destroyed by Δημιουργήθηκε στις 21/1/2017 Σελίδα 6/8

7 the urban mob. On 19 August, some Latins crossed the Golden Horn and attacked the Muslim mitaton located close to the church of St. Irene, which stood between the Pisan and the Venetian quarters. While retreating, they set fire to several buildings in the vicinity. For two days and two nights the blaze spread eastward and southward through the most populous regions of Constantinople, in which craft and local trade were also concentrated. the last fire ignited by the Crusaders extended on April 1204 along a section of the Golden Horn from a place to the east of the monastery of Christ Evergetes to the Droungarios, stopping at the western edge of the Venetian quarter which was thus entirely preserved. Jacoby D., ʺThe Urban Evolution of Latin Constantinople ( )ʺ, in Necipoğlou, N. (ed.), Byzantine Constantinople. Monuments, Topography and Everyday (Leiden Boston Köln 2001), pp Prophecies associated with the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders: a. ἀναστήσονται... γενεαὶ πικραί, ξανθαὶ καὶ πονηραὶ ἐν τῇ ἑπταλόφῳ καὶ ἀφανίσουσιν τὰς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ κυριοῦσιν τὸν ἄζυμον, καὶ φεύξονται ἀπʹαὐτῶν ἐκ τοῦ ἱερατικοῦ τάγματος τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ τῶν μοναχῶν οὐκ ὀλίγοι. Maisano, R. (ed.), L'Apocalisse apocrifa di Leone di Constantinopoli (Naples 1975), pp b. οὐαί σοι, ἑπτάλοφε Βαβυλών, ὅτι οὐ χιλιάσεις διὸ καὶ οὐαὶ φῶ ἐπὶ σοί, ὅτι κρατήσει τὸ ἀγγελόνυμον σκῆπτρον μετὰ τοῦ μείρακος καὶ πυρροῦ ἔθνους ἀνερχομένου. Pertusi, A., Fine di Bisanzio fine del mondo, p. 55, cited by Magdalino, P., «Prophecies on the Fall of Constantinople», in A. Laiou (ed.), Urbs Capta (Παρίσι 2005), p. 44 and n. 19. The suburb of Galata or Pera to the north of the Golden horn was the first area of Constantinople to suffer from destruction. The dense Jewish neighborhoo, located on the slope facing the walled city, close to the Galata tower, was consumed by fire early in July Contemporary sources emphasize the destruction of Jewish houses, yet we may safely assume that many structures of their Greek neighbors were also lost. Several large fires swept through Constantinople proper. The north western section of the city was damaged on July 1203, yet various buildings of the residential area of Petrion survived. Around or probably on 18 August 1203, the premises of Pisan and Amalfitan settlers located between the Golden horn and the northern city wall were destroyed by the urban mob. On 19 August, some Latins crossed the Golden Horn and attacked the Muslim mitaton located close to the church of St. Irene, which stood between the Pisan and the Venetian quarters. While retreating, they set fire to several buildings in the vicinity. For two days and two nights the blaze spread eastward and southward through the most populous regions of Constantinople, in which craft and local trade were also concentrated. the last fire ignited by the Crusaders extended on April 1204 along a section of the Golden Horn from a place to the east of the monastery of Christ Evergetes to the Droungarios, stopping at the western edge of the Venetian quarter which was thus entirely preserved. Jacoby D., ʺThe Urban Evolution of Latin Constantinople ( )ʺ, in Necipoğlou, N. (ed.), Byzantine Constantinople. Monuments, Topography and Everyday (Leiden Boston Köln 2001), pp Prophecies associated with the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders: a. ἀναστήσονται... γενεαὶ πικραί, ξανθαὶ καὶ πονηραὶ ἐν τῇ ἑπταλόφῳ καὶ ἀφανίσουσιν τὰς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ κυριοῦσιν τὸν ἄζυμον, καὶ φεύξονται ἀπʹαὐτῶν ἐκ τοῦ ἱερατικοῦ τάγματος τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ τῶν μοναχῶν οὐκ ὀλίγοι. Maisano, R. (ed.), L'Apocalisse apocrifa di Leone di Constantinopoli (Naples 1975), pp b. οὐαί σοι, ἑπτάλοφε Βαβυλών, ὅτι οὐ χιλιάσεις διὸ καὶ οὐαὶ φῶ ἐπὶ σοί, ὅτι κρατήσει τὸ ἀγγελόνυμον σκῆπτρον μετὰ τοῦ μείρακος καὶ πυρροῦ ἔθνους ἀνερχομένου. Pertusi, A., Fine di Bisanzio fine del mondo, p. 55, cited by Magdalino, P., «Prophecies on the Fall of Constantinople», in A. Laiou (ed.), Urbs Capta (Παρίσι 2005), p. 44 and n. 19. Δημιουργήθηκε στις 21/1/2017 Σελίδα 7/8

8 Χρονολόγιο June July 1202 : Arrival of the French crusaders in Venice August 1202: Arrival of Boniface of Montferrat in Venice with German and Lombard troops November 1202 : Siege and fall of Zara. January 1203: Arrival of prince Alexios (IV) Angelos in Zara February 1203: Agreement for the campaign against Constantinople. April 1203: Arrival in Corfu. 23 June 1203 : Arrival before Constantinople. 5 July 1203 : Break of the chain of the Golden Horn and landing of crusaders in Galata. 17 July 1203 : Approaching the Byzantine capital July 1203 : Flight of Alexios III Angelos from Constantinople. 18 July 1203 : Blinded Isaac II Angelos on the throne again. 1 August 1203 : Coronation of Alexios IV Angelos. November 1203: The dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of Constantinople increased. December 1203: Outbreak of hostilities between the Byzantines and the crusaders. End of January 1204: Revolt at Constantinople. 9 April 1204 : First attempt of an assault against Constantinople. 12 April 1204 : Second arrival of the crusaders before the city walls. 13 April 1204 : The crusaders occupied Constantinople. Δημιουργήθηκε στις 21/1/2017 Σελίδα 8/8