THE VENETIANS AND THE CRUSADERS SACK CONSTANTINOPLE:
The Pope and the European Christian monarchs pressed for a fourth crusade against the Moslems in the Holy Land and Venice agreed to supply ships for transporting the troops to Palestine. However, the Venetians took advantage of the situation to use the [G 07 / crusaders] for their own purposes.
Enroute to Palestine, the fleet stopped on the Dalmatian coast and the crusaders `subdued rebellious peoples ruled by the Venetians.' Doge Dandolo, who was nearly 90 at the time, then led a crazed attack on Constantinople, the center of the Greek Christian Empire. The city was devastated and plundered; the emperor was captured and deposed. In addition to sailing away with a fabulously wealthy cargo of jewels, gold and relics, the Venetians acquired Crete, Lacedaemon, Durazzo, the Cyclades and Sporades from the vanquished Byzantine Empire. Venice, as `Lords and Masters of a Quarter and a Half-quarter of the Roman Empire,' now controlled the major ports along the sea-route to Egypt and the Crimea, but their cruelty and avarice demonstrated in the rape of Constantinople made them hated in many parts of Europe.
