Editing Fourth Crusade (section)

=== Sack of Constantinople ===
{{Main|Sack of Constantinople}}
[[File:Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 012.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|''The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople'' ([[Eugène Delacroix]], 1840). The most infamous action of the Fourth Crusade was the sack of the Orthodox Christian city of [[Constantinople]].]]
The crusaders sacked Constantinople for three days, during which many ancient and medieval Greco-Roman works of art were stolen or ruined. Many of the civilian population of the city were killed and their property looted. Despite the threat of excommunication, the crusaders destroyed, defiled and looted the city's churches and monasteries.<ref name="Speros" /><ref name="Hughes" /> It was said that the total amount looted from Constantinople was about 900,000 silver marks. The Venetians received 150,000 silver marks that were their due, while the crusaders received 50,000 silver marks. A further 100,000 silver marks were divided evenly up between the crusaders and Venetians. The remaining 500,000 silver marks were secretly kept back by many crusader knights.<ref name="Ang">Konstam, ''Historical Atlas of The Crusades'', p. 162</ref><ref name="Tread663">W. Treadgold, ''A History of Byzantine State and Society'', p. 663</ref> The eyewitness accounts of [[Niketas Choniates]], [[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]], [[Robert of Clari]], and the anonymous Latin author of the ''[[Devastatio Constantinopolitana]]'' all accuse the crusaders of egregious rapacity.<ref name=":1" />

[[Speros Vryonis]] in ''Byzantium and Europe'' gives a vivid account of the sack:

{{blockquote|The Latin soldiery subjected the greatest city in Europe to an indescribable sack. For three days they murdered, raped, looted and destroyed on a scale which even the ancient Vandals and Goths would have found unbelievable. Constantinople had become a veritable museum of ancient and Byzantine art, an emporium of such incredible wealth that the Latins were astounded at the riches they found. Though the Venetians had an appreciation for the art which they discovered (they were themselves semi-Byzantines) and saved much of it, the French and others destroyed indiscriminately, halting to refresh themselves with wine, violation of nuns, and murder of Orthodox clerics. The Crusaders vented their hatred for the Greeks most spectacularly in the desecration of the greatest Church in Christendom. They smashed the silver iconostasis, the icons and the holy books of [[Hagia Sophia]], and seated upon the patriarchal throne a whore who sang coarse songs as they drank wine from the Church's holy vessels. The estrangement of East and West, which had proceeded over the centuries, culminated in the horrible massacre that accompanied the conquest of Constantinople. The Greeks were convinced that even the Turks, had they taken the city, would not have been as cruel as the Latin Christians. The defeat of Byzantium, already in a state of decline, accelerated political degeneration so that the Byzantines eventually became easy prey to the Turks. The Fourth Crusade and the crusading movement generally thus resulted, ultimately, in the victory of Islam, a result which was of course the exact opposite of its original intention.<ref name="Speros">{{cite book |last=Vryonis |first=Speros |author-link=Speros Vryonis |title=Byzantium and Europe |url=https://archive.org/details/byzantiumeurope00vryo |url-access=registration |publisher=Harcourt, Brace & World |location=New York |year=1967 |page=[https://archive.org/details/byzantiumeurope00vryo/page/152 152]}}</ref>}}

When Innocent III heard of the conduct of his pilgrims he was filled with shame and rage, and he strongly rebuked them.