1204 · Constantinople (modern Istanbul), Turkey
Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople
Crusaders who set out to recapture Jerusalem ended up attacking and looting the Christian city of Constantinople instead, deepening the divide between Eastern and Western Christianity beyond repair.
The Fourth Crusade is one of the most shameful episodes in Catholic history, and there is no honest way around it. In 1202, a crusading army gathered in Venice, ostensibly headed for Egypt and then Jerusalem. They could not pay Venice for the ships, so the Venetians redirected them to attack Zara, a Christian city on the Adriatic, to settle a commercial dispute. Pope Innocent III excommunicated the whole army for attacking fellow Christians. Then it got worse. Through a complicated mix of Byzantine palace politics, Venetian greed, and crusader opportunism, the army ended up at the walls of Constantinople in 1203. After a puppet emperor they had installed failed to pay them, the crusaders stormed the city in April 1204 and sacked it for three days. They looted churches, smashed altars, destroyed relics, and terrorized the population. A drunken prostitute was reportedly placed on the patriarch's throne. The crusaders set up a Latin Empire in Constantinople that lasted until 1261, appointing Latin bishops over Greek congregations. The Eastern Christians never forgave it. The formal schism of 1054 had been largely a dispute among clergy, but the sack of 1204 burned the division into popular memory. When Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans in 1453, some Byzantine Christians reportedly said they would rather see the Turkish turban than the Latin miter. In 2004, Pope John Paul II formally apologized for the sack, acknowledging the gravity of what had been done.
Why it matters
Made the East-West Schism permanent in the hearts of ordinary Christians by destroying trust between the Latin and Greek churches through an act of betrayal and plunder.
What Happened
Crusaders who could not afford Venetian transport were diverted first to the Christian city of Zara, then to Constantinople. After initial intervention in Byzantine politics went wrong, the army stormed the city on April 12, 1204. Three days of looting followed. Churches were stripped of treasures, sacred relics were stolen and sent to Western Europe, and the civilian population suffered terribly. A Latin Empire was established, and Latin bishops replaced Greek ones. The arrangement lasted until the Byzantines recaptured the city in 1261.
Why It Still Matters
The sack of Constantinople is the single biggest obstacle in Catholic-Orthodox relations to this day. Pope Innocent III condemned it at the time, and Pope John Paul II apologized for it eight hundred years later. But the memory runs deep. When Catholics talk about reunion with the Orthodox, this is the elephant in the room. The episode also forced the Church to reckon with a hard question: what happens when a holy war loses all connection to anything holy?