Editing Latin Empire (section)

== Organization and society ==
=== Administration ===
The empire was formed and administered on Western European feudal principles, incorporating some elements of the [[Byzantine bureaucracy]]. The emperor was assisted by a council, composed of the various barons, the Venetian [[Podestà of Constantinople]] and his six-member council. This council had a major voice in the governance of the realm, especially in periods of regency, when the Regent (''moderator imperii'') was dependent on their consent to rule. The podestà, likewise, was an extremely influential member, being practically independent of the emperor. He exercised authority over the Venetian quarters of Constantinople and [[Beyoğlu|Pera]] and the Venetian dominions within the empire, assisted by a separate set of officials. His role was more that of an ambassador and [[vicegerent]] of Venice than a vassal to the empire. The podestà was granted the title of Governor of One-Fourth and One-Half of the Empire of Romania, and was entitled to wearing the imperial crimson buskins like the emperor.<ref>Hazlitt, William Carew. The Venetian Republic: Its Rise, Its Growth, and Its Fall 421–1797. Vol. 1, A. And C. Black, 1900.</ref>

=== 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}}

=== Society ===
{{Expand section|date=May 2008}}
The elite of the empire were the Frankish and Venetian lords, headed by the emperor, the barons and the lower-ranking vassals and liege lords, including many former Byzantine aristocrats. The bulk of the people were [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] [[Greek people|Greeks]], still divided according to the Byzantine system in income classes based on land ownership.

=== Church ===
{{Main|Latin Patriarch of Constantinople}}
As with all Latin states, the Orthodox hierarchy was replaced by [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[prelate]]s, but not suppressed.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} An expansive Catholic hierarchy was established, under the dual supervision of the Latin [[archbishop]] of Constantinople and the [[Papal legate]], until the two offices were merged in 1231. Western Catholic religious orders, such as the [[Cistercians]], the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] and the [[Franciscans]] were established in the empire. The Orthodox clergy retained its rites and customs, including its right to marriage, but was demoted to a subordinate position, subject to the local Latin bishops.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}