The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople

	Author(s): Phillips, Jonathan Publisher: Viking Books Format: Hardcover List Price:  $25.95
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Overview:
In 1202, Western Christians aflame with religious zeal gathered in Venice determined to liberate Jerusalem from the grip of Islam. But the Crusaders never made it to the Holy Land. Urged on by the canny Venetian doge and a pretender to the Byzantine throne, they descended instead on Constantinople, the world's most opulent city and the heart of Christian Byzantium. The Crusaders spared no one in their savagery: they raped and massacred thousands, plundered churches, and put the city to the torch. By 1204, barbarism masquerading as piety had swept aside one of the great civilizations of history. In this gripping account, Jonathan Phillips, using the letters of knights and commoners alike, traces the excruciating series of errors that led the expedition to commit the most infamous massacre of the Crusades.

Category: Asia