The Fourth Crusade (1202-4) was one of the key events in medieval history
The fall of Constantinople to the Venetians and the soldiers of the fourth crusade in April 1204 was its climax. It ensured that Byzantium’s days as a great power were over. It equally ensured that westerners would dominate the Levant – the lands of the old Byzantine Empire –until the end of the middle ages. This book asks just how important was the Fourth as a turning point in the Middle East.. The broad setting is the encounter of Byzantium with the West within the framework of the crusades. Differences of outlook and interest meant that this encounter was soon overburdened with mutual distrust. 1204 was some kind of a solution and created situations scarcely conceivable even two years before when the fourth crusade set sail from Venice.
PART I: THE FOURTH CRUSADE 1. Introduction: Sources and Perspectives 2. The View from Byzantium 3. The Western Assessment of Byzantium 4. The Events of the Fourth Crusade PART 2: THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FOURTH CRUSADE 5. Introduction: Reactions to 1204 6. The Latin Empire of Constantinople 7. The Venetian Dominio 8. The Latin Church of Constantinople 9. The Orthodox Revival 10. The Myth of Byzantium: Destruction and Reconstruction
Biography
Michael J Angold
