This morning, 819 years ago, a northern wind blew from the Golden Horn. The Venetian Fleet engaged the Sea Walls & after a fierce, but brief fight, 70 crusaders managed to enter Constantinople.
3 days of fire, pillaging, murder, and rape would destroy the once-great metropolis.
In 1203, after the crusaders sacked Zara at the behest of the Venetians led by Doge Dandolo, the Pope excommunicated them for the brutal treatment of a Christian city while on a Crusade. Alexios IV, the deposed ruler of the Byzantine Empire, found the army wintering near Zara.
Alexios offered the crusaders an army of 10,000 soldiers to aid them on their crusade, a permanent force of 500 Byzantine cavalrymen in the Holy Land, and 20 ships to transport them in return for their aid in returning him to his throne.
To sweeten the deal, Alexios promised to repay Venice the debt Byzantium owed, totaling 200,000 silver marks & to bring the Greek Orthodox Church under the control of the Pope. Many crusaders found this task distasteful and made for Acre, including the famous Simon of Montfort.
However, the Venetians & others salivated at the riches of Constantinople, Byzantine military aid, & hoped for the forgiveness of Pope in bringing the Greek Orthodox under his control. The fleet of 200 galleys beached at Galatia, blocked by the Great Chain across the Golden Horn.
The Crusader host included roughly 20,000 men, half Venetians & half crusaders. The Byzantines, loyal to Alexios III, could rely on a garrison of 15,000. A large contingent being the fearsome Varangians, many being Anglo-Saxon, but having strong Danish & Russian contingents too.
The tower that held the Galatian side of the chain, protecting the Byzantine navy of 20 rotting hulks from Venice’s might, was garrisoned by English & Danish Varangians. The Varangians ferociously defended the tower and often made sallies to devastating effect.
The English Varangians, famed bowmen, were mentioned as especially deadly thanks to the withering volleys they rained down on their assailants. However, the Venetians placed giant shears on one of their galleys and broke the Great Chain.
Now cut off, and suffering heavy losses, the Varangians retreated to the city. With the Venetians in the Golden Horn, all of the city walls needed manning, straining the small garrison. On July 17th, 1203, the crusaders began their assault of the city.
The crusaders attacked the Theodosian Walls while the Venetians attacked the Sea Wall from the Golden Horn. The crusaders broke through near Blachernae but the Varangians counterattacked them & inflicted severe casualties on the attackers.
Meanwhile, the Venetians had captured 25 towers & a large section of the Sea Wall. The Varangians pivoted and repulsed the Venetians, who lit a fire in the city to cover their retreat. The flames engulfed a large section of the city & left 20,000 homeless.
Alexios III sallied out of the Land Walls with 8,500 men to counterattack a force of 3,500 crusaders. However, his nerve broke & he returned to the city without a fight. In the morning the crusaders attacked again. Alexios III fled for Thrace with all the treasure he could carry.
The eunuch Constantine, the Imperial Treasurer, offered the Varangians a large reward for bringing the deposed, blind, Isaac II, from prison and back to the throne. The Guard obliged, and Isaac II ruled jointly with his son Alexios IV.
Alexios was wildly unpopular. He melted down icons to pay the Latins & was considered their lackey. Romans & Latins rioted frequently in the city. Fearing for his safety & losing control, Alexios turned to the crusaders. Alexios Murzuphlus despised this deferral to the Latins.
Murzuphlus turned to the Varangians, informing them they would be replaced by Latins if the emperor got his way. The Varangians protested in front of the Emperor’s quarters & the frightened Basileus asked Murzuphlus to ensure his safety. Murzuphlus imprisoned the Emperor.
Murzuphlus the general was crowned Emperor Alexios V on February 5th, 1204. Alexios IV was strangled in his cell a few days later, his feeble father, Isaac II, allegedly died from the shock of witnessing his son’s murder.
Alexios V attempted to negotiate with the crusaders & convince them to leave Byzantine territory without further payment, but it was fruitless. Doge Dandolo demanded debt repayment & the death of Alexios IV gave the crusaders a reason to ravage the city.
On April 9th, the crusaders attacked the northwestern walls of the city. However, thanks to bad weather, they failed to breach the defenses & took heavy losses from archery fire in the open ground between the beach and walls. On April 12th, the weather turned.
The Venetians took some towers on the Sea Wall facing the Golden Horn and 70 crusaders managed to enter the city. Soon crusaders knocked holes into the walls & poured in. Despite ferocious & bloody resistance from the Varangians, the crusaders took Blachernae after heavy losses.
The Emperor’s Life Guard of Varangians didn’t believe they could withstand the crusaders and retreated to the Bukoleon Palace. The emperor, knowing all was lost, fled the burning city & abandoned his people. The surviving nobles gathered in the Hagia Sophia to find a new leader.
The nobles could not decide on an emperor. Theodore Lascaris urged the Varangian to fight, if only for the privileged position they would lose under the Latins, they refused unless they were given much greater pay to match the great risks. Soon looting crusaders appeared.
The nobles fled & the Varangians surrendered tamely, dooming the city to a horrific orgy of violence & destruction over the next three days. Priceless ancient & medieval works were destroyed, looted, or melted. Huge parts of the city burned & thousands were killed or raped.
The crusaders took 900,000 silver marks worth of loot, x4.5 the debt the Empire owed Venice. The Latin Empire squatted in the ashes of the once-great city while Theodore Lascaris set up a government-in-exile in Nicea. Others did the same in Epirus & Trebizond.
Some Varangian officers & their chaplains mediated with the Latins & created a short-lived imitation of the Guard in the Latin Empire while most journeyed to the courts in Epirus & Nicea, where the successor states were rebuilding the regiment with the remnants of the Varangians.
The Varangian Guard’s meek submission and the horrors that followed were the blackest stain on an otherwise exemplary record, and a mistake they would not repeat in 1453.
Remembering that Theodore of Sebasteia’s chronicle on the Reign of Basil II & only contemporary source for the Bulgarian War was probably destroyed during the sack.
@rattibha unroll
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