Latin Empire: A Visual History

The Latin Empire was created when the Fourth Crusade, diverted from Egypt, stormed Constantinople in April 1204 and elected Baldwin of Flanders emperor. The Byzantine lands were parcelled out among Venetians and Frankish lords as feudal states, but Greek successor states at Nicaea, Epirus and Trebizond and the Bulgarians hemmed the Latins in; Baldwin was captured by the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan at Adrianople in 1205 and died in prison. Later emperors pawned relics and the emperor's own son to raise money. Michael VIII Palaiologos of Nicaea retook Constantinople in July 1261 while the Latin garrison was away.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Latin Empire of Constantinople. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Territory of the Latin Empire proper

Excludes semi-independent Latin states in Greece.

Timeline of the Latin Empire of Constantinople

1. 1204
   Constantinople sacked; Baldwin I crowned
2. 1205
   AdrianopleBaldwin captured by Bulgaria.
3. 1206
   Henry of Flanders emperor
4. 1225
   Nicaea takes most of Latin Asia Minor
5. 1237
   Crown of Thorns sold to Louis IX
6. 1259
   PelagoniaNicaea defeats the Latin allies.
7. 1261
   Constantinople retaken by the Greeks

The Fourth Crusade

Unable to pay Venice for their fleet, the crusaders agreed to restore a deposed Byzantine prince in return for money; when he could not pay either, they took the city on 12-13 April 1204 and sacked it for three days, looting relics, melting statues and installing a prostitute on the patriarch's throne. A council of six Venetians and six Franks chose Baldwin over Boniface of Montferrat; the Partitio Romaniae gave Venice three-eighths of the empire.

Enemies on every side

Boniface took Thessalonica; other lords set up in Athens and the Morea. Kaloyan of Bulgaria, spurned by the Latins, destroyed their army at Adrianople in April 1205 and captured Baldwin. Henry of Flanders (1206-1216) was the one able Latin emperor, holding the Bulgarians and Nicaeans at bay. After him weak regents lost Asia Minor and Thrace; John of Brienne, an octogenarian, held the walls in 1235.

Poverty and fall

Baldwin II (1228-1261) toured Europe begging, sold the Crown of Thorns to Louis IX (hence the Sainte-Chapelle), stripped lead from palace roofs and left his son as security for a Venetian loan. Nicaea's Michael VIII allied with Genoa; on 25 July 1261 his general Alexios Strategopoulos found the city almost undefended while the Venetian fleet was raiding, and entered through a postern. Baldwin fled by ship. Latin lordships survived in Greece for centuries, but the empire was over.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Byzantine Empire (395 to 1453)
• Bulgarian Empire (681 to 1396)
• Kingdom of France (Middle Ages) (987 to 1498)
• Holy Roman Empire (800 to 1806)
• Great Seljuk Empire (1037 to 1194)
• Almohad Caliphate (1121 to 1269)

Wars of the same era and region

• Crusades (1096 to 1291)
• Reconquista (718 to 1492)

8 surprising things about the Latin Empire of Constantinople

1. The four bronze horses on St Mark's in Venice were looted from Constantinople's hippodrome in 1204.
2. Baldwin II pawned his own son Philip to Venetian merchants as security for a loan; the boy was redeemed by Alfonso X of Castile.
3. The Latin emperors burned the roof timbers of imperial palaces for firewood in the last years.
4. The Latin patriarch was always a Venetian by the terms of the partition.
5. Michael VIII's recapture in 1261 was almost accidental; his general had only 800 men and was on reconnaissance.
6. The Latin Empire's title 'Emperor of Romania' was claimed by French and Italian nobles until the sixteenth century.
7. The 1204 sack was so traumatic that Pope John Paul II apologised to the Orthodox Church for it in 2001 and 2004.
8. The Duchy of Athens, a Latin offshoot, was ruled for a time by Catalan mercenaries and then Florentine bankers.

Sources

• Latin Empire of Constantinople Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Latin Empire Wikipedia
• Fourth Crusade World History Encyclopedia
• Jonathan Phillips, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople (2004) Jonathan Cape

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