Editing Latin Empire (section)

=== Economy ===
The Latins did not trust the professional Greek [[bureaucracy]], and in the immediate aftermath of the conquest completely dismantled the Greek economic administration of the areas they controlled. The result was disastrous, disrupting all forms of production and trade. Almost from its inception the Latin Empire was sending requests back to the papacy for aid. For a few years, the major commodities it exported from the surrounding region of Thrace were [[wheat]] and [[furs]]; it also profited from Constantinople's strategic location on major trade routes. While the empire showed some moderate vitality while [[Henry of Flanders]] was alive, after his death in 1216 there was a major deficit in leadership. By the 1230s, Constantinople – even with its drastically reduced population – was facing a major shortage of basic [[foodstuff]]s. In several senses, the only significant export on which the economy of the Latin Empire had any real basis was the sale of [[relic]]s back to Western Europe which had been looted from Greek churches.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} For example, Emperor Baldwin II sold the relic of the [[Crown of Thorns]] while in France trying to raise new funds.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}