The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople [Hardcover]

Jonathan Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2004

In 1202, zealous western Christians gathered in Venice determined to liberate Jerusalem from the grip of Islam. But the crusaders never made it to the Holy Land. Steered forward by the shrewd Venetian doge, they descended instead on Constantinople, wreaking devastation so terrible and inflicting scars so deep that as recently as 2001 Pope John Paul II offered an apology to the Greek Orthodox Church.

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While the first three Crusades were launched in an effort to reclaim Jerusalem from Muslims, the Fourth Crusade, begun in 1202, pitted Christians against Christians: Roman Catholics against Orthodox. In this authoritative and vivid account, historian and BBC commentator Phillips (Defenders of the Holy Land) uses monastic chronicles, letters and even the songs of court troubadours to reconstruct the brutal sacking of the Byzantine capital and its underlying causes. Although the enmity between East and West went back 150 years before the Crusade, the crusaders might never have sailed to Constantinople if Emperor Alexius III hadn't requested Pope Innocent to send troops to help him secure Eastern Christendom. When the French and Venetian soldiers arrived, however, they found themselves unwelcome and forced to camp outside Constantinople. As religious and political tensions evolved, the crusaders—already prepared to sacrifice themselves for their faith—grew restless and attacked the city, killing thousands, destroying churches and Constantinople itself. As Phillips points out, the destruction was so embedded in the collective memory of Christianity that in 2001 Pope John Paul II apologized to Greek Orthodox Christians. Phillips's book provides a first-rate narrative of this significant episode in medieval history. Illus. not seen by PW.
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About the Author

Jonathan Phillips, a senior lecturer in medieval history at Royal Holloway, University of London, is the author of a number of books on the crusades, including Defenders of the Holy Land and The Crusades: 1095–1197. Phillips’s articles have appeared in BBC History, History Today, and the Independent.

Phillips is a frequent guest on Radio 4 and BBC World Service, as well as England’s Channel 4, the BBC, The History Channel, and PBS.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1st Ed. (U.S.) edition (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670033502
• ISBN-13: 978-0670033508
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crusaders behaving badly, November 16, 2004

By 

Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople (Hardcover)

This is a well-written book that gives some background to the crusading movement in medieval Europe, but its primary focus is on the ill-starred Fourth Crusade. This was a crusade not led by monarchs, but rather like the First Crusade, an undertaking of many nobles of good family. The addition of the Venetian seamen with their needed ships, and an ill-advised agreement about men and money led this holy endeavor to attack, not the occupiers of Jerusalem, but rather the also Christian rulers of the Byzantine Empire. It's a somewhat convoluted tale, but the author tells it extremely well, and at no time does the reader feel that he is lost. This book gives some insight into the schism that exists still today between the Orthodox and Roman churches, and is excellent reading for anyone interested in this fractious history.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating look at Medieval Europe, January 10, 2005

By 

Darin A. Leviloff "amateur historian" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople (Hardcover)

I am not a medievalist in any way, shape, or form. But I decided to give this book a chance and learn about a period of time and event I knew so little about. What I found was an epic story of dramatic purportions. The characters and their motivations seem right out of a fictional drama: The elderly and manipulative Doge of Venice, the brash and ambitious Byzantine pretender, the hypocritical holy men, and the permissive Pope. The author not only provides the historical record, but provides real insight into the thinking of a time so different, and yet so similar, to our own. Replete with modern analogies and references, beyond a mere history book, its a real page-turner.

47 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Problems, Problems and More Problems, January 3, 2006

By 

David E. Blair (Columbia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople (Paperback)

This book is a quick and fun read. The first problem to be faced is that Donald Queller in 1978 wrote a book that covers almost exactly the same ground except for Phillips last two chapters on the Latin Empire after the Crusade. In 1978 when first published, Queller's thesis regarding the "accidental" nature of the 4th Crusade's final destination was sensational. His conclusions were opposed to Runciman, Norwich and others. Queller offered a persuasive revisionist history of the 4th Crusade. The second problem is that in 1997, Queller and Thomas Madden, updated and reissued the 1978 work under the title, "The 4th Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople," and it a far superior book to this one.

The third problem is that, to the best of my knowledge, there is not an original thought in Phillip's book. So, where do the two stars come from? One of the stars is issued for a generally readable and accurate assessment of the 4th Crusade that is derivative from other secondary sources. The second star is earned for the extensive translated quotes from the actual crusaders, Greeks, and other contemporaries involved with or around this incident. This helps illuminate the thinking of those involved within their own cultures and time. From there it is downhill. The last two chapters on the end of the Crusade and the Latin Empire are weak and weaker. The book occasionally delves off into tenuously related sidetracks. No author should use the same quotes more than once in a book. Phillips manages to do this on at least two occasions. There are other indications of sloppy editorial work, but I will not enumerate them. Phillips uses 21st Century analogies gratuitously and unenlighteningly. Penguin published the paperback on lousy paper, with weak print density, and almost no white space.

I suggest you buy Qeuller and Madden's book on this topic. However, if you prefer, you may buy this inferior mirror image of their book. I wish I could be kinder to this book. It is far better that you read this book rather than nothing at all as this is important material seldom approached. At least, we can be thankful that Phillips did not rewrite Runciman and Norwich on the topic. Then his book would not have been only generally derivative but historically inaccurate as well.