The sack of Constantinople

[kyuneli]

Following is an excerpt from Nicholas A. Cook's article on Fourth Crusaders-1207AD.

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After receiving absolution, the Crusaders attacked. Constantinople fell after three days of the final, furious attack by land and by sea. Once inside the walls, the Crusaders began an orgy of carnage, brutality and vandalism not seen in Europe since the barbarians invaded seven centuries earlier. No one was spared: not bishop, priest, nun, man, woman or child. Few women escaped being violated, whether at home, in the street, or in the convent. Fires were started throughout the city. The butchery ended only when the Crusaders were so tired that they no longer could lift their swords. Then began looting and profanation on a scale unparalleled in history. A mob rushed into Santa Sophia. With the Image of the Pantacrator looking down upon them from the great dome, they broke up the altar for its gold content, smashed the icons, threw the Holy Gifts to the floor, seized the church vessels for their Jewels, and tore mosaics and tapestries from the walls. Horses and mules were brought into the church the better to carry off the sacred vessels, gold, silver, and whatever else they could gather. Drunken soldiers drank from chalices and ate from patens while riding asses draped with priestly vestments. A mocking prostitute was placed on the Patriarch's chair to dance and sing obscene songs. This pattern of pilferage and desecration was repeated in churches, monasteries and palaces throughout the city. The tombs of the emperors were rifled, and all of the classical statues and monuments which had survived from ancient Greece and imperial Rome were destroyed. One writer wrote that never in history had so much beauty, so much superb craftsmanship been so wantonly destroyed in so short a space of time. What was not carried off was burned, smashed, melted down for its precious metal content, or stripped for its jewels.

 

After the killing, after the city had been subdued, there began a slow and steady removal of treasures out of the Orthodox temples and into the cathedrals, churches, monasteries, convents, cities and towns of Latin Europe. Some of these items had been venerated, cherished, and protected for centuries, others for a millennium. Now they were being carted away from over a hundred and fifty churches: altars, altar screens, tabernacles, antimins, icons, icon frames, processional, pectoral and altar crosses, gold and silver chains, panagias, mitres, croziers, chalices, patens, star covers and spears, Gospels, Epistle books, ladles, church plate, censers, votive lights, relics, candelabra, epitaphia, fans, reliquaries, vestments, banners, manuscripts, miniatures, ivories, carvings, mosaics, thrones, tapestries, furniture and architectural items. Cartloads of gold and silver from Santa Sophia found their way into the Vatican treasury. Constantinople had become the gold mine which supplied Latin Christendom.

 

The wealth was so great that the looting continued for sixty years. A century earlier, after the First Crusade, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Edessa were similarly stripped for a period of forty years. Now it was happening to the imperial city. A scandalous traffic in relics was started. The head of St. John the Baptist was carried off to Amiens. Amalfi, Italy took the head of St. Andrew the First-Called from the Church of the Holy Apostles, along with a set of heavy bronze doors. The bishop of Soissons shipped home the head of St. Stephen and a relic of St. John. The remains of St. Clement, pillaged from the Church of St. Theodosia, were taken to Cluny. St. Albans received the relics of St. Marina. Halbstadt claimed the relics of St. James. The True Cross was divided up among the barons, with a portion sent to the pope, and another fragment taken to Paris. A priceless gold and enamel reliquary encrusted with jewels, containing a fragment of the Wood wound up in a nunnery in Steuben. King Louis IX of France paid 10,000 silver marks for the "true" Crown of Thorns, for which he built St. Chapells in Paris.

Please check the following URL to read full article: http://aggreen.net/church_history/1204_sack.html

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My comments: Some of these loot is still being displayed at Vatican. I was wondering as a good will gesture, shouldn't Vatican donate some of these art pieces to Ortodox Churches in Greece, Russia, Armenia, etc.

Kamil

[gamavor]

Recently, and not so recently Catholic representatives of highest ranks, including Pope John Paul II have expressed their sincere apologies and asked for forgiveness the Orthodox Church for the looting and the barbarism of the Crusaders toward Constantinopole. By the way, as part of washing their guilt, Catholics have helped immensely their Christian Orthodox brothers in their fight for freedom against filthy TATARS, MONGOLS, CHERKEZs, Seldjuks, Mameluks, Kazalbash etc... and all sorts of miserable creatures.

 

I would suggest to the descendants of the above mentioned half-educated and half-cultured tribes to follow the path of the Catholics in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holly Spirit. Amen!

[khodja]

Gamavor,

 

When one's throat is slit, does it matter whether it was slit by a Moslem, a Christian or a fellow Armenian?

[edward demian]

The silver lining to this stupid, senseless act of barbarism, is: At least the net worth of this plunder stayed within the European Christian world. The muslims would have done the same.

[bellthecat]

Most of it is still in Venice - which was the principle instigator of the crime. The Vatican had nothing to do with the sacking of Constantinople, and had excommunicated all those taking part after their earlier sacking of the Christian city of Zara. The trite saying that Venice seems to float upon the water is false, it would be more correct to say that it floats upon the blood of the hundreds of thousands of non-Venetians who died as a result of its actions.

Steve

[gamavor]

Listen Mehmet,

 

Open your Webster Dictionary and read at loud the meaning of the word "REPENTANCE.” Then, pay a visit to your local public school and write on the black board 50 times, "Repentance, Repentance, Repentance.." I hope, that would help!

 

Regards

[kyuneli]

This crime against humanity happened 800 years ago and Pope Innocent at that time condemned these actions, however took no action to stop looting of Constantinople, or made any effort to return any of the loot to their rightfull ownners. Well it was then, and now whoever possesses these articles is a receiver of, stolen goods. Moreover, they are a receiver of stolen goods obtained by murder, rape, and desecration--not an enviable position in which to be, especially if such a holder happens to be a Christian church. Repentance is nice and does not cost anything. How about as a goodwill returning at least some of the loot to the Eastern Ortodox Churches located in Greece, Russia, Armenia, etc.

Kamil

[gamavor]

The issue might be discussed. What is more important is that these stolen tresures by some evil ironiy survived because they have been stolen.

[kyuneli]

Gamavor, originally I searched for this article to post at another forum to show that some Christians could act as barbaric as any other ethnic group. However, reading this and many other articles about Constantinople, made me really feel sorry for the Byzantinum Empire. They collected these treasures for centuries, made it possible for all Christians, Moslems and other religions to view and enjoy these treasures. As a reward for their good will, they got looted. They never fully recovered from the devastation of the first conquest. Then 250 years later Ottomans came along and Kingdom got conquered again. Just made me think how splendid Constantinople could have been without these conquests.

Kamil

[gamavor]

Agree!

[gamavor]

Ani, Sebastia, Van also should have look nice, don't you think. (Although no match at all to Constantinopole.)

[kyuneli]

I'm familiar with Ani, and Van. However, I don't know where Sebastia is, or what it is called today. I definately feel sad for any place that has lost it's splendor, and it's inhabitants suffered due to actions of men.

Kamil

[Paul bunyan]

the cowardly byzantines asked for it they used to savage Armenian villiages and stood by while Arabs did the same. they were responsible for bringing the seljuks into asia minor. the venetian who organized the expedition against

the cowardly byzantines was blinded by

them. nothing liked being blind, no sight, no wife, no fun, no children, no dream, or joy.

[gamavor]

Well Paul,

 

They, (Byzantiums) blame us that we have not stoped the Seldjuks, as if we could.

[Paul bunyan]

the byzantines weakened the border defenses to spite Armenia so its was nearly impossible to stop the seljuks

[Juggernaut]

The Byzantines became too arrogant and that was their end, because they displayed this arrogance in diplomacy in relations with Armenians, Crusaders and other possible allies.

[bellthecat]

History repeats itself, the Venetians become flag-waving god-fearing mom-and-apple-pie Americans?

"Thy shrines and Holy places are desecrated and burned down all over our land; holy monastic communities are ruined and destroyed. The Venerable crosses and the icons of Thy Holy Saints and Martyrs are broken up and trampled on firstly by the feet of our own godless locals, then those of alien non-believers and other foreign invaders. Today as in times under the Turkish yoke, in this ancient Holy Land full of pious endowments of our Fathers "Christ alone spreads his hands awaiting the flock which is not there any more". And it is not there O Lord, simply because Thy flock was betrayed and sold out, abandoned to the wolves and delivered into the hands of monsters, intruders, and conquerors - sold out for next to nothing as Slavic slaves - then left at the mercy of Albanian oppressors and heedless foreigners with hardened hearts".
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/cryofserbs.htm

[bellthecat]

And even more unbelievable:

 

KFOR FORBIDS THE USE OF THE CHURCH BELLS

 

Kosovska Mitrovica - Belgrade, Мay 27, 2001

Priest Velimir Stojanovic, who lives with his family in the churchyard of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Sava in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, told Tanjug that the Greek soldiers protecting this shrine have forbidden the use of the church bells.

 

"Representatives of KFOR introduced this ban with the explanation that Orthodox church bells irritate the Albanians," says Father Velimir. "The last time the bells were heard was on Easter Sunday, April 15 of this year," he explained, adding that so far he has not publicized this ban because he thought it was temporary. "The church bells did not ring on Ascension Day (Spasovdan, May 25) and I think that this is not good for either the church or the people," said Father Velimir.

 

Every day, five times a day, the song of the muezzins from the minarets of three mosques in the southern, Albanian part of the town can be heard. A fourth mosque is open and undisturbed in the village of Zabari, near Kosovska Mitrovica.

 

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Remember how the Turks banned the use of bells in Armenian churches, or demanded the iron clappers be removed and replaced with wooden ones. And remember in 1999 all those pathetic diaspora Armenians who whored their way into supporting NATOs invasion - ready to say and support anything to get their miserable little penny's worth of publicity. I remember how one little Armenian ****er named Assadour Pilibossian actually called me up on the day after the bombing started, saying how fine it all was, how he thought the Albanians were like the Armenians of 1915.

[gamavor]

There is a huge difference between defending human rights and dropping bombs over the heads of the innocent ones. (Most definitely the bombs were not "Made in Armenia", nor the pilots were Armenians.

There were a small group of Armenians that were in favor of the "October Revolution" in Russia. I hope you will not blame Armenians for the Bolshevik revolution, or for the Apartheid in South Africa.

[ThornyRose]

Maybe he should. Fair is fair. After all, you call all Turks names because of the perpetrators of the genocide.

[Juggernaut]

I dont know what NATO is thinking in regards to the Balkans, as soon as their 'peacekeepers' are withdrawn open warfare will break-out again.

[gamavor]

Many "modern" turk barbarians like Thorny Whatever try to make analogues between Nazi Germany and Young Turk Government, thus trying to "excuse" the genetic imbecility of the turkish race. Indeed Armenian Genocide was "all nation" affair. Not only the regular turkish forces but the turkish people took part in the killings, rape, torture etc..... Afterwards, true to their "ancient" asian habits (tovar-istchi), they distributed the looted possessions of the expelled, killed and otherwise displaces Armenians.

 

 

For more info visit "Turkish barbarism" section of the Forum!

[khodja]

Gamavor,

 

What of the Assyrians massacred in Iraq, the Copts massacred in Egypt, the Christians being exterminated in Algeria? Do you claim that these were done by Turks also. You falsely place racial reasons upon what was essentially cultural and religious. Shame on you.

[Juggernaut]

quote

What of the Assyrians massacred in Iraq, the Copts massacred in Egypt, the Christians being exterminated in Algeria?

 

These have taken place in the past 100 years, mainly because of Muslim insecurity in the apparent Christian dominated world. They still think that Western Europe and the US are 'Christian' countries and therefore target Christians among themselves. The Turks however have been at it for centuries and have even massacred other Muslims (Kurds, Arabs, Allewites).

[gamavor]

Shame on me! I will go to bed with my sox tonight!