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$Title{Venetians And Crusaders Take Constantinople}
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Title:       Venetians And Crusaders Take Constantinople
Author:      Pears, Edwin

Venetians And Crusaders Take Constantinople

Plunder Of The Sacred Relics, A.D. 1204

     In the treaty arranged at the end of the Third Crusade (1192) it was
stipulated that all hostilities between the Christians and the Moslems should
cease.  The Fourth Crusade (1196-1197), which is sometimes considered merely
as a movement supplementary to the Third, forced renewed hostilities, against
the wishes of the Palestine Christians, who preferred that the three-years'
peace should continue.  The Fourth Crusade ended disastrously, those who
remained longest to prosecute it being finally cut to pieces at Jaffa in 1197.
The travellers returning to the West from Syria besought immediate help for
the Christian survivors there.  The Byzantine empire had fallen into
decrepitude, and the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was reduced to a mere strip of
coast.  Only by prompt action could it be hoped to save any portion of it from
complete wreck.

     Innocent III, who became pope in 1198, well understood the meaning of the
Moslem triumphs.  The four crusades had already greatly extended the papal
jurisdiction, and Innocent himself was the moving spirit of the Fifth,
although an ignorant priest named Fulk also preached it with a success almost
equal to that of Peter the Hermit in the first expedition.  Vast numbers of
warriors took the cross, though no king and only a few minor princes joined
them.  Most famous among the leaders were Boniface II, Marquis of Montferrat,
and Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders.

     Venice joined the crusaders under the lead of her doge, Henry Dandolo,
then more than ninety years old.  When ambassador at the Byzantine court
(1173) he was blinded by order of the emperor Manuel I, and revenge was
probably one of the motives which took him again to the East.  The Venetians,
being asked to transport the crusaders, demanded an extortionate price; but as
Venice was the only power possessing the necessary ships, a contract was made
with her for the service in 1201.  Immediately the Venetians, by a secret
treaty with Egypt, for the sake of commercial privileges, betrayed the
crusaders to the Moslems.  Embarkation from Venice in the summer of 1202 was
made very difficult, and many intending crusaders went home in disgust. Still
Venice insisted upon the full price; but money to pay it was wanting; and in
spite of the Pope and many of the bitter spirits, a bargain was struck-the
crusaders agreed to help the Venetians in taking and plundering Zara, a rival
Christian city on the eastern coast of the Adriatic.  Zara was accordingly
captured-ultimately to be destroyed by the Venetians, who next drew some of
the crusaders into a plot to overthrow the Byzantine emperor Alexius IV, and
place his son on the throne.  By this means the Venetians thought to make good
their promise to frustrate the crusade, and at the same time to obtain great
commercial advantages at Constantinople.  Thus was the pilgrim host "changed
from a crusading army into a filibustering expedition."

     Having wintered at Zara, the crusaders were landed, in June, 1203, under
the walls of Constantinople.  The emperor was deposed by his own people, and
his son, Alexius V, crowned during a revolution in the city, which followed an
unsuccessful attack by the crusaders in July.  The second and successful
assault, in April, 1204, with its sequel of pillage and debauchery, forms the
subject of Pears' brilliant narrative.  The city, during these troubles,
suffered from two fires, of which the second, in July, 1203, deserves to be
reckoned among the great historic conflagrations of the world.

     The preparations which the leaders had been pushing on during several
weeks were completed in April, 1204, and that day was chosen for an assault
upon Constantinople.  Instead of attacking simultaneously a portion of the
harbor walls and a portion of the landward walls, Venetians and crusaders
alike directed their efforts against the defences on the side of the harbor.
The horses were embarked once more in the huissiers. ^1 The line of battle was
drawn up; the huissiers and galleys in front, the transports a little behind
and alternating between the huissiers and the galleys.  The whole length of
the line of battle was upward of half a league, and stretched from the
Blachern to beyond the Petrion. ^2 The Emperor's vermilion tent had been
pitched on the hill just beyond the district of the Petrion, where he could
see the ships when they came immediately under the walls.  Before him was the
district which had been devastated by the fire.

[Footnote 1: Transports.]

[Footnote 2: The Petrion, which is repeatedly mentioned by contemporary
writers, was a district built on the slope of a hill running parallel to the
Golden Horn for about one-third of the length of the harbor walls eastward
from Blachern.  It had apparently been a neglected spot during the early
centuries of the history of Constantinople, but had lately come to be the
residence of numerous hermits, and the site of several monasteries and
convents.  A great part is now occupied by the Jewish colony of Galata.]

     On the morning of the 9th the ships, drawn up in the order described,
passed over from the north to the south side of the harbor.  The crusaders
landed in many places, and attacked from a narrow strip of the land between
the walls and the water.  Then the assault began in terrible earnest along the
whole line.  Amid the din of the imperial trumpets and drums the attackers
endeavored to undermine the walls, while others kept up a continual rain of
arrows, bolts, and stones.  The ships had been covered with blanks and skins
so as to defend them from the stones and from the famous Greek fire, and, thus
protected, pushed boldly up to the walls.  The transports soon advanced to the
front, and were able to get so near the walls that the attacking parties on
the gangways or platforms, flung out once more from the ships' tops, were able
to cross lances with the defenders of the walls and towers.

     The attack took place at upward of a hundred points until noon, or,
according to Nicetas, ^1 until evening.  Both parties fought well.  The
invaders were repulsed.  Those who had landed were driven back, and amid the
shower of stones were unable to remain on shore.  The invaders lost more than
the defenders.  Before night a portion of the vessels had retired out of range
of the mangonels, ^2 while another portion remained at anchor and continued to
keep up a continual fire against those on the walls.  The first day's attack
had failed.

[Footnote 1: Nicetas' Chronicate, Greek authority on the Latin conquest.]

[Footnote 2: Engines for throwing stones and other missiles.]

     The leaders of both crusaders and Venetians withdrew their forces to the
Galata side.  The assault had failed, and it became necessary at once to
determine upon their next step.  The same evening a parliament was hastily
called together.  Some advised that the next attack should be made on the
walls on the Marmora side, which were not so strong as those facing the Golden
Horn.  The Venetians, however, immediately took an exception, which everyone
who knew Constantinople would at once recognize as unanswerable.  On that side
the current is always much too strong to allow vessels to be anchored with any
amount of steadiness or even safety.  There were some present who would have
been very well content that the current or a wind - no matter what - should
have dispersed the vessels, provided that they themselves could have left the
country and have gone on their way.

     It was at length decided that the two following days, the 10th and 11th,
should be devoted to repairing their damages, and that a second assault should
be delivered on the 12th.  The previous day was a Sunday, and Boniface and
Dandolo made use of it to appease the discontent in the rank and file of the
army.  The bishops and abbots were set to work to preach against the Greeks.
They urged that the war was just; that the Greeks had been disobedient to
Rome, and had perversely been guilty of schism in refusing to recognize the
supremacy of the Pope, and that Innocent himself desired the union of the two
churches.  They saw in the defeat the vengeance of God on account of the sins
of the crusaders.  The loose women were ordered out of the camp, and, for
better security, were shipped and sent far away. Confession and communion were
enjoined, and, in short, all that the clergy could do was done to prove that
the cause was just, to quiet the discontented, and to occupy them until the
attack next day.

     The warriors had in the mean time been industriously repairing their
ships and their machines of war.  A slight, but not unimportant, change of
tactics had been suggested by the assault on the 9th.  Each transport had been
assigned to a separate tower.  The number of men who could fight from the
gangways or platforms thrown out from the tops had been found insufficient to
hold their own against the defenders.  The modified plan was, therefore, to
lash together, opposite each tower to be attacked, two ships, containing
gangways to be thrown out from their tops, and thus concentrate a greater
force against each tower.  Probably, also, the line of attack was considerably
shorter than at the first assault.

     On Monday morning, the 12th, the assault was renewed.  The tent of the
Emperor ^1 had been pitched near the monastery of Pantepoptis, ^2 one of many
which were in the district of the Petrion, extending along the Golden Horn
from the palace of Blachern, about one-fourth of its length.  From this
position he could see all the movements of the fleet.  The walls were covered
with men who were ready again to fight under the eye of their Emperor.  The
assault commenced at dawn, and continued with the utmost fierceness.  Every
available crusader and Venetian took part in it.  Each little group of ships
had its own special portion of the walls, with its towers, to attack.  The
besiegers during the first portion of the day made little progress, but a
strong north wind sprang up, which enabled the vessels to get nearer the land
than they had previously been.  Two of the transports, the Pilgrim and the
Parvis, lashed together, succeeded in throwing one of their gangways across to
a tower in the Petrion, and opposite the position occupied by the Emperor.

[Footnote 1: Alexius V, Byzantine Emperor.]

[Footnote 2: The remarkable church of this monastery still exists as a mosque,
and is known as Eski imaret Mahallasse.  It still bears witness to its having
been arranged for both monks and nuns.  It is on the Fourth Hill, just above
the Phanar.]

     A Venetian, and a French knight, Andre d'Urboise, immediately rushed
across and obtained a foothold.  They were at once followed by others, who
fought so well that the defenders of the tower were either killed or fled. The
example gave new courage to the invaders.  The knights who were in the
huissiers, as soon as they saw what had been done, leaped on shore, placed
their ladders against the wall, and shortly captured four towers.  Those on
board the fleet concentrated their efforts on the gates, broke in three of
them, and entered the city, while others landed their horses from the
huissiers.  As soon as a company of knights was formed, they entered the city
through one of these gates, and charged for the Emperor's camp. Mourtzouphlos
^1 had drawn up his troops before his tents, but they were unused to contend
with men in heavy armor, and after a fairly obstinate resistance the imperial
troops fled.  The Emperor, says Nicetas - who is certainly not inclined to
unduly praise the Emperor, who had deprived him of his post of grand logothete
- did his best to rally his troops, but all in vain, and he had to retreat
toward the palace of the Lion's Mouth.  The number of the wounded and dead was
sans fin et sans mesure.

[Footnote 1: Alexius V, his Greek name.]

     An indiscriminate slaughter commenced.  The invaders spared neither age
nor sex.  In order to render themselves safe they set fire to the city lying
to the east of them, and burned everything between the monastery of Everyetis
and the quarter known as Droungarios. ^1 So extensive was the fire, which
burned all night and until the next evening, that, according to the marshal,
more houses were destroyed than there were in the three largest cities in
France.  The tents of the Emperor and the imperial palace of Blachern were
pillaged, the conquerors making their head-quarters on the same site at
Pantepoptis.  It was evening, and already late, when the crusaders had entered
the city, and it was impossible for them to continue their work of destruction
through the night.  They therefore encamped near the walls and towers which
they had captured.  Baldwin of Flanders spent the night in the vermilion tent
of the Emperor, his brother Henry in front of the palace of Blachern,
Boniface, the Marquis of Montferrat, on the other side of the imperial tents
in the heart of the city.

[Footnote 1: It was the quarter about the gate in the harbor walls, now known
as Zindan Capou, near the dried-fruit market.]

     The city was already taken.  The inhabitants were at length awakened out
of the dream of security into which seventeen unsuccessful attempts to capture
the New Rome ^1 had lulled them.  Every charm, pagan and Christian, had been
without avail.  The easy sloth into which the possession of innumerable
relics, and the consciousness of being under the protection of an army of
saints and martyrs, had plunged a large part of the inhabitants, had been
rudely dispelled.  The Panhagia of the Blachern, with its relic of the
Virgin's robe, the host of heads, arms, bodies, and vestments of saints and of
portions of the holy Cross, had been of no more use than the palladium which
lay buried then, as now, under the great column which Constantine had built.
The rough energy of the Westerns had disregarded the talismans of the Greek
Church as completely as those of paganism.  In vain had the believers in these
charms destroyed during the siege the statues which were believed to be of ill
omen or unlucky.  The invaders had a superstition as deep as their own, but
with the difference that they could not believe that a people in schism could
have the protection of the hierarchy of heaven, or be regarded as the rightful
possessors of so many relics.

[Footnote 1: Another name of Constantinople.]

     During the night following its capture the Golden Gate, which was at the
Marmora side of the landward walls, had been opened, and already an affrighted
crowd was pressing forward to make its escape from the captured city.  Others
were doing their best to bury their treasures.  The Emperor himself, either
seized with panic or finding that all was lost - as, indeed, everything was
lost so soon as the army had succeeded in obtaining a foothold within the
walls - fled from the city.  He, too, escaped by the Golden Gate, taking with
him Euphrosyne, the widow of Alexis.  The brave Theodore Lascaris determined,
however, to make one more attempt.  His appeal to the people was useless.
Those who were not panic-stricken appear to have been indifferent. Some, at
least, were apparently still dreaming of a mere change of rulers, like those
of which the majority of them had seen several.  But before any attempt at
reorganization could be made the enemy was in sight, and Theodore himself had
to fly.

     The crusaders had expected another day's fighting, and knew nothing of
the flight of Mourtzouphlos.  To their surprise they encountered no
resistance.  The day was occupied in taking possession of their conquest. The
Byzantine troops laid down their arms on receiving assurances of personal
safety.  The Italians who had been expelled took advantage of the entry of
their friends and appear to have retaliated upon the population for their
expulsion.  Two thousand of the inhabitants, says Gunther, were killed, and
mostly by these returned Italians.  As the victorious crusaders passed through
the streets, women, old men, and children, who had been unable to flee, met
them, and, placing one finger over another so as to make the sign of the
cross, hailed the Marquis of Montferrat as king, while a hastily gathered
procession, with the cross and the sacred emblems of Christ, greeted him in
triumph.

     Then began the plunder of the city.  The imperial treasury and the
arsenal were placed under guard; but with these exceptions the right to
plunder was given indiscriminately to the troops and sailors.  Never in Europe
was a work of pillage more systematically and shamelessly carried out. Never
by the army of a Christian state was there a more barbarous sack of a city
than that perpetrated by these soldiers of Christ, sworn to chastity, pledged
before God not to shed Christian blood, and bearing upon them the emblem of
the Prince of Peace.  Reciting the crimes committed by the crusaders, Nicetas
says, with indignation: "You have taken up the cross, and have sworn on it and
on the holy Gospels to us that you would pass over the territory of Christians
without shedding blood-and without turning to the right hand or to the left.
You told us that you had taken up arms against the Saracens only, and that you
would steep them in their blood alone.  You promised to keep yourselves chaste
while you bore the cross, as became soldiers enrolled under the banner of
Christ.  Instead of defending his tomb, you have outraged the faithful who are
members of him.  You have used Christians worse than the Arabs used the
Latins, for they at least respected women."

     An immense mass of treasure was found in each of the imperial palaces and
in those of the nobles.  Each baron took possession of the castle or palace
which was allotted to him, and put a guard upon the treasure which he found
there.  "Never since the world was created," says the marshal, "was there so
much booty gained in one city.  Each man took the house which pleased him, and
there were enough for all.  Those who were poor found themselves suddenly
rich.  There was captured an immense supply of gold and silver, of plate and
of precious stones, of satins and of silk, of furs, and of every kind of
wealth ever found upon earth."

     The sack of the richest city in Christendom, which had been the bribe
offered to the crusaders to violate their oaths, was made in the spirit of men
who, having once broken through the trammels of their vows, are reckless to
what lengths they go.  Their abstinence and their chastity once abandoned,
they plunged at once into orgies of every kind.

     The lust of the army spared neither maiden nor the virgin dedicated to
God.  Violence and debauchery were everywhere present; cries and lamentations
and the groans of the victims were heard throughout the city; for everywhere
pillage was unrestrained and lust unbridled.  The city was in wild confusion.
Nobles, old men, women, and children ran to and fro trying to save their
wealth, their honor, and their lives.  Knights, foot soldiers, and Venetian
sailors jostled each other in a mad scramble for plunder.  Threats of
ill-treatment, promises of safety if wealth were disgorged, mingled with the
cries of many sufferers.  These "pious brigands," as Gunther aptly calls them,
acted as if they had received a license to commit every crime.  Sword in hand,
houses and churches were pillaged.  Every insult was offered to the religion
of the conquered citizens.  Churches and monasteries were the richest
storehouses, and were therefore the first buildings to be rifled.

     Monks and priests were selected for insult.  The priests' robes were
placed by the crusaders on their horses.  The icons were ruthlessly torn down
from the screens or were broken.  The sacred buildings were ransacked for
relics or their beautiful caskets.  The chalices were stripped of their
precious stones and converted into drinking-cups.  The sacred plate was heaped
with ordinary plunder.  The altar cloths and the screens of cloth of gold,
richly embroidered and bejewelled, were torn down, and either divided among
the troops or destroyed for the sake of the gold and silver which were woven
into them.  The altars of Hagia Sophia, ^1 which had been the admiration of
all men, were broken for the sake of the material of which they were made.
Horses and mules were taken into the church in order to carry off the loads of
sacred vessels and the gold and silver plates of the throne, the pulpits, and
the doors, and the beautiful ornaments of the church.  The soldiers made the
chief church of Christendom the scene of their profanity.  A prostitute was
seated in the patriarchal chair, who danced, and sang a ribald song for the
amusement of the soldiers.

[Footnote 1: The Great Church, dedicated to the "Divine Wisdom"; the Santa
Sophia, built by Justinian.]

     Nicetas, in speaking of the desecration of the Great Church, writes with
the utmost indignation of the barbarians who were incapable of appreciating
and therefore respecting its beauty.  To him it was an "earthly heaven, a
throne of divine magnificence, an image of the firmament created by the
Almighty." The plunder of the same church in 1453 by Mahomet II compares
favorably with that made by the crusaders of 1204.

     The sack of the city went on during the three days after the capture. An
order was issued, probably on the third day, by the leaders of the army, for
the protection of women.  Three bishops had pronounced excommunication against
all who should pillage church or convent.  It was many days, however, before
the army could be reduced to its ordinary condition of discipline.  A
proclamation was made throughout the army that all the booty should be
collected, in order to be divided fairly among the captors.  Three churches
were selected as depots, and trusty guards of crusaders and Venetians were
stationed to watch what was thus brought in.  Much, however, was kept back,
and much stolen.  Stern measures had to be resorted to before order was
restored.  Many crusaders were hanged.  The Count of St. Paul hanged one of
his own knights with his shield round his neck because he had not given up the
booty he had captured.  A contemporary writer, the continuator of the history
of William of Tyre, forcibly contrasts the conduct of the crusaders before and
after the capture.  When the Latins would take Constantinople they held the
shield of God before them.  It was only when they had entered that they threw
it away, and covered themselves with the shield of the devil.

     The Italians resident in Constantinople, who had returned to the city
with their countrymen, were conspicuous in their hostility to the Greeks. Amid
this resentment there were examples, however, that former friendships were not
forgotten.  The escape of Nicetas himself is an illustration in point.  He had
held the position of grand logothete, ^1 but he had been deposed by
Mourtzouphlos.  When the Latins entered the city he had retired to a small
house near Hagia Sophia, which was so situated as to be likely to escape
observation.  His large house, and probably his official residence, which he
is careful to tell us was adorned with an abundant store of ornaments, had
been burned down in the second fire.  Many of his friends found refuge with
him, apparently regarding his dwelling as specially adapted for concealment.
Nothing, however, could escape the observation of the horde which was now
ransacking every corner.  When the Italians had been banished from the city
Nicetas had sheltered a Venetian merchant, with his wife and family.  This man
now clothed himself like a soldier and, pretending that he was one of the
invaders, prevented his countrymen or any other Latins from entering the
house.  For some time he was successful, but at length a crowd, principally of
French soldiers, pushed past and flocked within.  From that time protection
became impossible.

[Footnote 1: This office still exists.  The principal duty of the person who
holds it is to recite the creed in great religious services when the patriarch
officiates.]

     The Venetian advised Nicetas to leave, in order to prevent himself from
being imprisoned and to save the honor of his daughters.  Nicetas and his
friends accepted the advice.  Having clothed themselves in skins or the
poorest garments, they were conducted through the city by their faithful
friend as if they were his prisoners.  The girls and young ladies of the party
were placed in their midst, their faces having been intentionally smeared in
order to give them the appearance of being of the poorest class. As they
reached the Golden Gate the daughter of a magistrate, who was one of the
party, was suddenly seized and carried off by a crusader.  Her father, who was
weak and old, and wearied with the long walk, fell, and was unable to do
anything but cry for assistance.  Nicetas followed and called the attention of
certain soldiers who were passing, and after a long and piteous appeal, after
reminding them of the proclamation which had been made against the violation
of women, he ultimately succeeded in saving the maiden.  The entreaties would
have been in vain if the leader of the party had not at length threatened to
hang the offender.  A few minutes later the fugitives had passed out of the
city, and fell on their knees to thank God for his protection in having
permitted them to escape with their lives.  Then they set out on their weary
way to Silivria.  The road was covered with fellow-sufferers.  Before them was
the Patriarch himself, "without bag or money, or stick or shoes, with but one
coat," says Nicetas, "like a true apostle, or rather like a true follower of
Jesus Christ, in that he was seated on an ass, with the difference that
instead of entering the new Zion in triumph he was leaving it."

     A large part of the booty had been collected in the three churches
designated for that purpose.  The marshal himself tells us that much was
stolen which never came into the general mass.  The stores which had been
collected were, however, divided in accordance with the compact which had been
made before the capture.  The Venetians and the crusaders each took half.  Out
of the moiety belonging to the army there were paid the fifty thousand silver
marks due to the Venetians.  Two foot sergeants received as much as one horse
sergeant, and two of the latter sergeants received as much as a knight.
Exclusive of what was stolen and of what was paid to the Venetians, there were
distributed among the army four hundred thousand marks, or eight hundred
thousand pounds, and ten thousand suits of armor.

     The total amount distributed among the crusaders and Venetians shows that
the wealth of Constantinople had not been exaggerated.  Eight hundred thousand
pounds were given to the crusaders, a like sum to the Venetians, with the one
hundred thousand pounds due to them.  These sums had been collected in hard
cash from a city where the inhabitants were hostile, and where they had in
their wells and cisterns an easy means of hiding their treasures of gold,
silver, and precious stones - a means traditionally well known in the East.
Abundance of booty was taken possession of by the troops which never went into
the general mass.  Sismondi estimates that the wealth in specie and movable
property before the capture was not less than twenty-four million pounds
sterling.

     The distribution was made during the latter end of April.  Many works of
art in bronze were sent to the melting-pot to be coined.  Many statues were
broken up in order to obtain the metals with which they were adorned.  The
conquerors knew nothing and cared nothing for the art which had added value to
the metal.  The weight of the bronze was to them the only question of
interest.  The works of art which they destroyed were sacrificed not to any
sentiment like that of the Moslem against images which they believed to be
idols or talismans.  No such excuse can be made for the Christians of the
West.  Their motive for destroying so much that was valuable was neither
fanaticism nor religion.  It was the simple greed for gain.  No sentiment
restrained their cupidity.  The great statue of the Virgin which ornamented
the Taurus was sent as unhesitatingly to the furnace as the figure of
Hercules.  No object was sufficiently sacred, none sufficiently beautiful, to
be worth saving if it could be converted into cash.  Amid so much that was
destroyed it is impossible that there were not a considerable number of works
of art of the best periods.  The one list which has been left us by the Greek
logothete professes to give account of only the larger statues which were sent
to the melting-pot.  But it is worth while to note what were these principal
objects so destroyed.

     Constantinople had long been the great storehouse of works of art and of
Christian relics, the latter of which were usually encased with all the skill
that wealth could buy or art furnish.  It had the great advantage over the
elder Rome that it had never been plundered by hordes of barbarians.  Its
streets and public places had been adorned for centuries with statues in
bronze or marble.  In reading the works of the historians of the Lower Empire
the reader cannot fail to be struck alike with the abundance of works of art
and with the appreciation in which they were held by the writers.

     First among the buildings as among the works of art, in the estimation of
every citizen, was Hagia Sophia.  It was emphatically the Great Church. Tried
by any test, it is one of the most beautiful of human creations. Nothing in
Western Europe even now gives a spectator who is able with an educated eye to
restore it to something like its former condition, so deep an impression of
unity, harmony, richness, and beauty in decoration as does the interior of the
masterpiece of Justinian.  All that wealth could supply and art produce had
been lavished upon its interior - at that time, and for long afterward, the
only portion of a church which the Christian architect thought deserving of
study.  "Internally, at least," says a great authority on architecture, "the
verdict seems inevitable that Santa Sophia is the most perfect and most
beautiful church which has yet been erected by any Christian people.  When its
furniture was complete the verdict would have been still more strongly in its
favor."

     We have seen that to Nicetas, who knew and loved it in its best days, it
was a model of celestial beauty, a glimpse of heaven itself.  To the more
sober English observer, "its mosaic of marble slabs of various patterns and
beautiful colors, the domes, roofs, and curved surfaces, with gold-grounded
mosaic relieved by figures or architectural devices," are "wonderfully grand
and pleasing." All that St. Mark's is to Venice, Hagia Sophia was to
Constantinople.  But St. Mark's, though enriched with some of the spoils of
its great original, is, as to its interior at least, a feeble copy.  Hagia
Sophia justified its founder in declaring, "I have surpassed thee, O Solomon!"
and during seven centuries after Justinian his successors had each attempted
to add to its wealth and its decoration.  Yet this, incomparably the most
beautiful church in Christendom, at the opening of the thirteenth century was
stripped and plundered of every ornament which could be carried away.  It
appeared to the indignant Greeks that the very stones would be torn from the
walls by these intruders, to whom nothing was sacred.

     Around the Great Church were other objects which could be readily
converted into bronze, and the destruction of which was irreparable.  The
immense hippodrome was crowded with statues.  Egypt had furnished an obelisk
for the centre.  Delphi had given its commemoratory bronze of the victory of
Plataea.  Later works of pagan sculptors were there in abundance, while
Christian artists had continued the traditions of their ancestors.  The
cultured inhabitants of Constantinople appreciated these works of art and took
care of them.  In giving a list of the more important of the objects which
went to the melting-pot, Nicetas again and again urges that these works were
destroyed by barbarians who were ignorant of their value.  Incapable of
appreciating either their historical interest or the value with which the
labor of the artist had endowed them, the crusaders knew only the value of the
metals of which they were composed.

     The emperors had been buried within the precincts of the Church of the
Holy Apostles, the site of which was afterward chosen by Mahomet II for the
erection of the mosque now called by his name.  Their tombs, beginning with
that of Justinian, were ransacked in the search for treasure.  It was not
until the palaces of the nobles, the churches, and the tombs had been
plundered that the pious brigands turned their attention to the statues.  A
colossal figure of Juno, which had been brought from Samos, and which stood in
the forum of Constantine, was sent to the melting-pot.  We may judge of its
size from the fact that four oxen were required to transport its head to the
palace.  The statue of Paris presenting to Venus the apple of discord
followed.  The Anemodulion, or "Servant of the Winds," was a lofty obelisk,
whose sides were covered with bas-reliefs of great beauty, representing scenes
of rural life, and allegories depicting the seasons, while the obelisk was
surmounted by a female figure which turned with the wind, and so gave to the
whole its name.  The bas-reliefs were stripped off and sent to the palace to
be melted.

     A beautiful equestrian statue of great size, representing either
Bellerophon and Pegasus or, as the populace believe, Joshua on horseback
commanding the sun to stand still, was likewise sent to the furnace.  The
horse appeared to be neighing at the sound of the trumpet, while every muscle
was strained with the ardor of battle.  The colossal Hercules of Lysippus,
which, having adorned Tarentum, had thence been transported to the Elder and
subsequently to the hippodrome of the New Rome, met with a like fate.  The
artist had expressed, in a manner which had won the admiration of beholders,
the deep wrath of the hero at the unworthy tasks set before him.  He was
represented as seated, but without quiver or bow or club.  His lion's skin was
thrown loosely about his shoulders, his right foot and right hand stretched
out to the utmost, while he rested his head on his left hand with his elbow on
his bent knee.  The whole figure was full of dignity; the chest deep, the
shoulders broad, the hair curly, the arms and limbs full of muscle.

     The figure of an ass and its driver, which Augustus had had cast in
bronze to commemorate the news brought to him of the victory of Actium, met
with the same fate.

     For the sake of melting them down into money the barbarians seized also
the ancient statue of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus; the statues of a
sphinx, a hippopotamus, a crocodile, an elephant, and others, which had
represented a triumph over Egypt; the monster of Scylla and others; most of
which were probably executed before the time of Christ.

     The celebrated statue of Helen was destroyed by men who knew nothing of
its original.  There must be added to these the graceful figure of a woman who
held in her right hand the figure of an armed man on horseback.  Then near the
eastern goals, known as the "reds," stood the statues of the winners in the
chariot races.  They stood erect in their bronze chariots, as the originals
also had been seen when they gained their victories, as if they were still
directing their steeds to the goals.  A figure of the Nile bull in deadly
conflict with a crocodile stood near.  These and other statues were hastily
sent to the furnace to be converted into money.  We may judge of the value and
artistic merit of the bronze statues which were destroyed, by the specimens
which remain.  The four horses which the emperor Theodosius had brought from
Chios and placed in the hippodrome escaped, by some lucky chance, the general
plunder, and were taken to Venice, where they still adorn the front of St.
Mark's.

     The pillage of the relics of Constantinople lasted for forty years. More
than half of the total amount of objects carried off were, however, taken away
between the years 1204 and 1208.  During the few days which followed the
capture of the city the bishops and priests who were with the crusaders were
active in laying hands on this species of sacred spoil; and the statement of a
contemporary writer is not improbable, that the priests of the orthodox Church
preferred to surrender such spoil to those of their own cloth rather than to
the rough soldier or the rougher Venetian sailor.  On the other hand, the
highest priestly dignitaries in the army - men, even, who refused to take of
the earthly spoil - were eager to obtain possession of this sacred booty, and
unscrupulous as to the means by which they obtained it.  The holy Cross was
carefully divided by the bishops for distribution among the barons.

     Gunther gives us a specimen of the means to which Abbot Martin, who had
had the German crusaders placed under his charge, had recourse.  The abbot had
learned that many relics had been hidden by the Greeks in a particular church.
This building was attacked in the general pillage.  He, as a priest, searched
carefully for the relics, while the soldiers were looking for more commonplace
booty.  The abbot found an old priest, with the long hair and beard common
then, as now, to orthodox ecclesiastics, and roughly addressed him, "Show me
your relics, or you are a dead man."

     The old priest, seeing that he was addressed by one of his own
profession, and frightened probably by the threat, thought, says Gunther, that
it was better to give up the relics to him than to the profane and
blood-stained hands of the soldiers.  He opened an iron safe, and the abbot,
in his delight at the sight, buried his hands in the precious store.  He and
his chaplain filled their surplices, and ran with all haste to the harbor to
conceal their prize.  That they were successful in keeping it during the
stormy days which followed could only be attributed to the virtue of the
relics themselves.

     The way in which Dalmatius de Sergy obtained the head of St. Clement is
an illustration of the crusader's belief that the acquisition of a relic and
its transport to the West would be allowed as a compensation for the
fulfilment of the crusader's vow.  That knight was grievously afflicted that
he could not go to the Holy Land, and earnestly prayed God to show him how he
could execute some other task equivalent to that which he had sworn, but
failed, to accomplish.  His first thought was to take relics to his own
country.  He consulted the two cardinals who were then in Constantinople, who
approved his idea, but charged him not to buy these relics, because their
purchase and sale were forbidden.  He accordingly determined to steal them, if
such a word may be applied to an act which was clearly regarded as
praiseworthy.  The knight, in order to discover something of especial value,
remained in Constantinople until Palm Sunday in the following year.  A French
priest pointed out to him a church in which the head of St. Clement was
preserved.  He went there in the company of a Cistercian monk and asked to see
the relics.  While one kept the persons in charge speaking with him, the other
stole a portion of the relic.

     On leaving, the knight was disgusted to find that the whole head had not
been taken, and, on the pretext that he had left his gauntlet behind, a
companion regained admittance to the church, while the knight again kept the
monk in charge in conversation at the door.  Dalmatius went to the chest
behind the altar where the relic had been kept, stole the remainder, went out,
mounted his horse and rode away.  The head was placed with pious joy in the
chapel of his house.  He returned, disguised, some days after to the church,
in order, as he pretended, to do reverence to the relic - in order really to
ascertain that he had taken the right head, for there had been two in the
chest.  He was informed that the head of St. Clement had been stolen. Then,
being satisfied as to its authenticity, he took a vow that he would give the
relic to the Church of Cluny in case he should arrive safely.  He embarked.
The devil, from jealousy, sent a hurricane, but the tears and prayers before
the relic defeated him, and the knight arrived safely home. The monks of Cluny
received the precious treasure with every demonstration of reverent joy, and
in the fullest confidence that they had secured the perpetual intercession of
St. Clement on behalf of themselves and those who did honor to his head.  The
relics most sought after were those which related to the events mentioned in
the New Testament, especially to the infancy, life, and passion of Christ, and
to the saints popular in the West.

     In the years which followed the conquest Latin priests were sent to
Constantinople from France, Flanders, and Italy, to take charge of the
churches in the city.  These priests appear to have been great hunters after
relics.  Thus it came to pass that there was scarcely an important church or
monastery in most Western countries which did not possess some share of the
spoil which came from Constantinople.

     For some years the demand for relics seemed to be insatiable, and caused
fresh supplies to be forthcoming to an almost unlimited extent.  The new
relics, equally with the old, were certified in due form to be what they
professed to be.  Documents, duly attested and full of detailed evidence -
sometimes, doubtless, manufactured for the occasion - easily satisfied those
to whom it was of importance to possess certified relics, and throughout the
West the demand for relics which might bring profit to their possessors
continued to increase.  At length the Church deemed it necessary to put a stop
to the supply, and especially to that of the apocryphal and legendary acts
which testified to their authenticity, and in 1215 the fourth Lateran council
judged it necessary to make a decree enjoining the bishops to take means to
prevent pilgrims from being deceived.