The Fourth Crusade, the Sack of Constantinople and the Latin Occupation of the ‘Queen of Cities’ (1204-1261)
A cycle of three lectures given by Yiannis Mavrikos
The capture of Constantinople by the Francs and the Venetians was one of the most remarkable episodes in medieval history. A member of the army wrote ‘No history could ever relate marvels greater than those as far as the fortunes of war are concerned’. On April 12th, 1204, an army of perhaps 20,000 men and a fleet of about 200 ships crewed by Venetian sailors and warriors, broke in and began to loot the greatest metropolis in the Christian world. Constantinople’s mighty walls had resisted numerous onslaughts until April 1204. Yet always ‘Polis’ (the City par excellence, as the Byzantines described their capital) had survived. What had brought the Crusaders to attack their fellow Christians – instead of the Muslims in the Holy Land – and how did they manage to succeed? What happened after their entrance into the City and how did they govern the occupied capital until July 1261?
Wednesday afternoon 18/11, 25/11 and 2/12 (6.30-9.00)
Repeated on Thursday morning 19/11, 26/11 and 3/12 (11.00-1.30)
