Editing Alexios IV Angelos (section)

==Emperor==
[[File:Alessio Comneno, figlio del diseredato imperatore di Costantinopoli, giunge a Zara a invocare l'aiuto dei Crociati per scacciare dal trono lo zio Alessio usurpatore e rimettervi il proprio padre Isacco.png|thumb|right|Alexios comes to Zara to request the assistance of the Crusaders; sketch from a painting in the [[Doge's Palace]], Venice]]
On 18 July 1203, the Crusaders launched an assault on the city, and Alexios III immediately fled into [[Thrace]]. The next morning the Crusaders were surprised to find that the citizens had released Isaac II from prison and proclaimed him emperor, despite the fact that he had been blinded to make him ineligible to rule. The Crusaders could not accept this, and forced Isaac II to proclaim his son Alexios IV co-emperor.

Despite Alexios' grand promises, Isaac, the more experienced and practical of the two, knew that the Crusaders' debt could never be repaid from the imperial treasury. Alexios, however, had apparently not grasped how far the empire's financial resources had fallen during the previous fifty years. Alexios did manage to raise half the sum promised (100,000 silver marks), by appropriating treasures from the church and by confiscating the property of his enemies. He then attempted to defeat his uncle Alexios III, who remained in control of Thrace. The sack of some Thracian towns helped Alexios' situation a little, but meanwhile hostility between the restive Crusaders and the inhabitants of Constantinople was growing.

In December 1203, violence exploded between the citizens of Constantinople and the Crusaders. Enraged mobs seized and brutally murdered any foreigner they could lay hands upon, and the Crusaders felt that Alexios had not fulfilled his promises to them. Alexios refused their demands, and is quoted as saying, "''I will not do any more than I have done.''" While relations with the Crusaders were deteriorating, Alexios had become deeply unpopular with the [[Byzantine Greeks|Roman]] citizenry, and with his own father. Blinded and nearly powerless, Isaac II resented having to share the throne with his son; he spread rumours of Alexios' supposed sexual perversity, alleging he kept company with "''depraved men''". The chronicler [[Nicetas Choniates]] dismissed Alexios as "''childish''" and criticized his familiarity with the Crusaders and his lavish lifestyle. At the beginning of January 1204, Alexios IV retaliated against the Crusaders by setting fire to 17 ships filled with inflammable materials and sending them against the Venetian fleet, but the attempt failed.<ref name="Nicolle49">{{cite book
| last = Nicolle
| first = David
| title = The Fourth Crusade 1202–04 – the Betrayal of Byzantium
| publisher =Osprey Publishing Ltd
| location= Oxford
| year = 2011
| page=65
| isbn =978-1-84908-319-5}}</ref>