The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople

The crusaders spared no one: They raped and massacred thousands, plundered churches, and torched the lavish city. A prostitute danced on the altar of the ravaged Hagia Sophia. And by 1204, barbarism masquerading as piety had shattered one of the great civilizations of history. Here, on the eight hundredth anniversary of the sack, is the extraordinary story of this epic catastrophe, told for the first time outside of academia by Jonathan Phillips, a leading expert on the crusades.

Knights and commoners, monastic chroniclers, courtly troubadours, survivors of the carnage, and even Pope Innocent III left vivid accounts detailing the events of those two fateful years. Using their remarkable letters, chronicles, and speeches, Phillips traces the way in which any region steeped in religious fanaticism, in this case Christian Europe, might succumb to holy war.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent history of a Crusading misfire, 2007-12-25
This book is, without a doubt, one of the best Crusade histories I've yet read. Author Jonathan Phillips deftly crafts a history that is both scholarly, deeply-researched, and as entertaining and exciting as any novel.

Of the much-maligned Crusades, the Fourth Crusade stands as one of the most maligned and misunderstood of all. Phillips places the Crusade in its proper historical context, quickly tracing the development of the idea of Crusading from its beginnings to the era that sent the Fourth Crusade abroad. This book's greatest strength is its careful attention to how a noble venture meant to be the largest and most successful of all Crusades to the Holy Land became a bloody failure. The Crusaders never intended to visit, much less sack, Constantinople, but through a combination of over-confidence, optimism, and poor timing, the Crusade almost immediately went astray and never made it to its true destination.

The narrative gives ample time to getting to know and understand the major players of the Crusade, Enrico Dondolo and the numerous Byzantine Emperors and pretenders in particular. Phillips makes historical figures come to life, a straightforward trait of good history but one that is often lacking in historical writing.

Of course, this book is not without faults. The early chapters were a bit tedious, as Phillips used framing devices--such as church councils and noble tournaments--to set out the background information. But once the Crusaders arrive in Venice and set out, the narrative enters high gear and never slows down.

The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople is an outstanding stand-alone history, but I would recommend reading it along with some other Crusade histories, as I did. Thomas Asbridge's The First Crusade is an excellent companion piece to this history, as is Thomas Madden's New Concise History of the Crusades. Read either way--by itself or with similiar works--Phillips's book is both informative and entertaining, which is always a good combination.

Highly recommended.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Incredible History, 2007-09-21
This is one of the best books I have ever read on Byzantine history. Most writers on Byzantine history are academics with a somewhat dry style. Jonathan Phillips writes in a way that makes the events of 800 years ago extremely accessible. He is the first writer to really convey to me what Constantinople was like prior to the Crusader sacking, and the enormity of the destruction that occured. And given that anyone who reads this already knows of the events, Mr. Phillips did give them some dramatic tension. The story of what happened confirms to me that there is much in Byzantine history that should provide lessons for today.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Good Popular History of the Sack of Constantinople, 2007-09-02
This book is an extremely well-written narrative that describes the sequence of events that initiated the fourth crusade and eventually lead up to the sacking of Constantinople. Some readers have pointed out that the author's position - that the attack on Constantinople was more a bumbling movement of a disorderly gang rather than a planned military expedition - is a thesis from a much earlier book, the 1978 Queller and Madden text, The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople. That may very well be true. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that Phillip's work here is compellingly written, with an exceptionally strong narrative and an engaging style that brings the subject to life for the average reader, and will reintroduce the subject to a new generation of readers who wish to learn about this period of history.

Phillip's book is immensely interesting to read, and the non-historian can easily follow and become engaged in the story. But the book also evokes sickeningly negative emotions as we watch the story unfold. As we read of Constantinople's sack, we can hardly bear the thought of the loss sustained by the city and its people. And it's not limited to the injury and death sustained by those who were there. It's the loss of untold centuries of art and craftsmanship destroyed and forever lost to history for want of a few melted pellets of gold and silver. If there is anything like "group hysteria," perhaps this is a best-case study in it, because to see so many pillage, plunder, and destroy what will never be replaced (the immense art collection in the city that spanned at least 500 years) is surely some form of sickness. We feel the revulsion rise up in us as we read Phillip's retelling of the story, and wonder what the true extent of the loss is.

There are a number of books out these days on the crusades, and perhaps it is a worthwhile undertaking for us to be reminded of what went on in this period of history. Selecting any one of them might be a bit more difficult. If you are looking for a popular history written to a general audience but that doesn't skimp on facts or "dumb down" the narrative, Phillip's book is a very good choice. It would help if the reader knew a little about the crusades before starting this book, but it really isn't fully necessary to enjoy the volume. Read it to learn about the fourth crusade, but be ready for some of the awful lessons the story has to teach us.



2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

For Readers interested in the Crusades & Medieval Times, 2006-09-16
At first it wasn't what I had hoped for. I would have preferred more/better graphics. If you're somewhat knowledgeable about the Crusades you might like it but it's not for a first time read. Check around.


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Good pace, excellent clarity, 2006-09-06
Religion, politics, murder, betrayal, intrigue, and war... in the early 13th century! Phillips keeps what was a rather complicated and messy affair well-organized with his writing, and follows the Crusaders on what was supposed to be a trip from all points in Europe to Jerusalem. It wound up in Constantinople, where Catholic Christians, who were supposed to be fighting the Muslims in the Holy Land were detoured by political expediency to attack fellow Catholics at Zara and fellow Christians in Constantinople. This book has something of a hidden message in that it shows how religious fanaticism mixed with politics can have disastrous results. It reads equally well as a history or a bit of an allegory to any other sort of political-religious axis in recent history.

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