The Fourth Crusade
After the Third Crusade, the Crusaders never recaptured the power they used to have. In 1198, Pope Innocent III called for a new Crusade, more out of a desire to elevate the papacy than in response to events in the Holy Land.
This Crusade failed to rouse any monarchs. Led mainly by French knights, the Crusade set out for the Holy Land in 1202 only to be distracted by Venetian lords who convinced them to capture the wealth and splendor of Eastern Orthodox Constantinople instead.
Rather than retake the Holy Land from Muslim rule, the Fourth Crusade sacked the capital of the Byzantine Empire. However, the Crusaders’ control of Constantinople lasted less than a century.
The major accomplishment of this Crusade proved to be weakening the Byzantines enough that they could no longer hold off Muslim expansion.
This Crusade failed to rouse any monarchs. Led mainly by French knights, the Crusade set out for the Holy Land in 1202 only to be distracted by Venetian lords who convinced them to capture the wealth and splendor of Eastern Orthodox Constantinople instead.
Rather than retake the Holy Land from Muslim rule, the Fourth Crusade sacked the capital of the Byzantine Empire. However, the Crusaders’ control of Constantinople lasted less than a century.
The major accomplishment of this Crusade proved to be weakening the Byzantines enough that they could no longer hold off Muslim expansion.