I will admit that I am not as "balanced" as you in my view of the world, but even if we set that aside, the Fourth Crusade wasn't just "an attack on co-religionists". Countless works of art from antiquity that had been saved from destruction elsewhere were totally annihilated, whether as the result of direct looting and destruction or in the fires that the Crusaders set. Thankfully, the Venetians tried to save what they could, but the other Crusaders melted down precious gold artwork for its base value, destroyed statues just for the fun of it and burned books. It certainly ranks in the top ten acts of barbarism, along with burning the Library of Alexandria (question mark on who is responsible for that), the destruction of Baghdad by Hulegu Khan and the modern-day Bamiyan Buddha destruction. It was a loss not just for the Byzantine Empire, but for humanity as well.
Why do I feel that comment about "balance" is not the compliment it would at first glance seem to be?
Fair enough about the sack of Constantinople ranking in the top ten acts of barbarism in world history, as a whole, but then considering that the Venetians for their part were quite selective and civilized in their looting, I'm not sure they should carry all of the blame. It doesn't seem very likely to me that they intended for such mass destruction to occur, nor can you use the argument (as in many other cases of city lootings getting out of hand) that they were nominally in charge of the looters and as such responsible for their actions.
It seems to me Venice has for centuries grown its wealth, power and influence through the same combination of pragmatism and brilliant opportunism that led them to do what they did in 1204 - as tragic as the consequences of that action were, I'm inclined to see it more as a blunder than as an act of unusual malice or perfidy. Certainly it doesn't seem quite as bad as, say, the capture of Jerusalem a century earlier. Even if perhaps in the long run its consequences were greater.
A History of Venice by John Julius Norwich
29/12/2012 11:39:31 PM
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Was I the one who recommended this book to you?
30/12/2012 03:28:16 PM
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I bought this one sua sponte from the Folio Society.
30/12/2012 05:02:12 PM
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This is definitely on my list.
31/12/2012 07:01:05 PM
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The Fourth Crusade was a travesty for world civilization
31/12/2012 09:48:20 PM
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Ah, I see your point.
31/12/2012 10:58:33 PM
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Well, the Venetians weren't the ones doing the worst of the looting...
01/01/2013 07:36:49 AM
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It's extremely readable
03/01/2013 02:09:23 AM
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I don't doubt that he extrapolates a bit much
04/01/2013 03:48:28 AM
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I don't recall the specifics.
05/01/2013 03:49:26 AM
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