Angel Dynasty – Wikipedia

After the reversal of the Comnens dynasty, the Byzantine Empire was governed for nineteen years by the Dynasty of Angels . The reign of his first representative, Isaac II Angel, was marked by the continuation of the decline initiated under the last two Comnenes: the administration of the State continued to crumble while the power of the great landowners increased and that The attempts of regional separatism were multiplied. Bulgaria and Serbia started their separation from the Empire thanks to the third crusade.

Tilled by a coup, Isaac II was replaced by Alexis III who turned out to be even more unfit in directing the Empire, leaving the state management to his wife while outside, the Turks continued Their progression in Asia Minor, Bulgaria and Serbia saw their recognized independence and Western Europe prepared the fourth crusade. Directed in theory by Boniface de Montferrat, but in reality by the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, the Crusade seized Zara (currently Zadar, in Croatia) before heading to Constantinople to restore the legitimate sovereign, Isaac II, on The throne with his son, Alexis IV. Unable to reimburse the debts contracted towards the Crusaders, the two emperors were overthrown by Alexis V Doukas. Anxious to continue their journey to Jerusalem, the crusaders delivered the final assault against Constantinople on April 12, 1204.

Backdrop: the attempted recovery of the Comnenes [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The last decades of the Macedonian dynasty had seen the Meso-Byzantine state disintegrating following the internal struggles between the civil and military aristocracies while the territory of the Empire was fragmented under the rushes of the Turks, Petchenègues and Normandy ^{[ first ]} . The Comnenes ended this decline and, under their dynasty, the Byzantine Empire experienced a period of recovery which remained incomplete however incomplete ^{[ 2 ]} .

The Byzantine Empire as it appeared in 1180.

Five emperors (Alexis I ^is , John II, Manuel I ^is , Alexis II et Andronic I ^is ) tried for 104 years to restore imperial power in the face of a landmark which was gradually replaced the state apparatus and the monasteries whose domains did not stop growing ^{[ 3 ]} . The first three Comnenes, energetic and enterprising emperors, managed to carry out this recovery; However, their successes, which resulted in a weakening of the nobility, deprived the state of servants of value whose lack was more and more felt under the last two Comnenes who did not have the qualities of their predecessors ^{[ 4 ]} . The reform of the monetary system led by Alexis I ^is enabled to relaunch economic and commercial life, but the latter was thwarted by the increasingly considerable ascendancy that the Italian merchants established in Constantinople, Venetians at first, then Genoese and Pisans in a second step ^{[ 5 ]} .

Outside, the Comnenes endeavored to establish mutually profitable relationships with the Western powers, in particular with the Italian maritime powers while contrasting the conquest projects of the Normans. In Asia Minor, they tried to prevent the progression of Turkish forces and establish their moral suzerainty on the Armenian dynasts of Cilicia and the Frankish principalities of Syria ^{[ 6 ]} . But he became obvious during the second part of the reign of Manuel I ^is That Byzantium had overestimated his forces in a world where the creation of feudal kingdoms in the west, from a powerful Turkish state to the east made it impossible for the rebirth of the Universal Empire to which he dreamed. Started during his reign, the decline only accentuated during the reign of Alexis II and Andronic I ^{is [ 7 ]} .

This decline process was accelerated by the successors of Manuel, his son and his cousin at first, then by their successors of the Angel Dynasty.

Inside, climbed the land aristocracy and regional separatism [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Currency of Isaac II, the first emperor of the Dynasty of Angels whose reign was marked by the beginning of the dislocation process of the Byzantine Empire.

The reign of Isaac II Angel (born CA 1155-Emperor in 1185, deposited in 1195; second reign 1203-1204) amorça a process of internal dissolution which went to accelerate. The angels, relatively obscure family of Philadelphia in Lydie, had entered the imperial aristocracy in favor of the marriage of the youngest daughter of Alexis I, the porphyrogen Théodora, with Constantin Ange, Alexis grandfather. Admitted in the imperial circle, the family saw their prestige and its fortune grows quickly. Several of its members were entrusted with important positions in the army, so that during the advent of Manuel, she was already among the most prominent families in Constantinople. The family’s opposition to Andronic’s policies made it legitimate that one of its representatives turned to replace the fallen emperor ^{[ 8 ]} .

However, his coming to power was rather the fruit of a competition of circumstances than to a well -planned plot. The Normans of Dyrrachium (today Durrës in Albania), then of Thessaloniki (where the Normans inflicted on the inhabitants the fate which had been reserved by the Greeks for the Latins three years earlier) had created in the population of Constantinople Indignation which quickly turned into panic. Outraged by Andronic’s inertia, she saw with the greatest apprehension the Norman army progress towards Constantinople. For fairly obscure reasons, Andronic then tried to have Isaac the Angel arrested, who had supported the revolt of Nicea and was now under house arrest. Isaac killed the officer who came to arrest him and ran to take refuge in Sainte-Sophie where he was joined by other members of his family. The crowd then took the cause in favor of Isaac and, under the impulse of the moment, proclaimed the emperor to replace Andronic who then stayed in one of his palaces outside Constantinople ^{[ 9 ]} .

The extension of Norman power in 1130

ASAAC was hardly prepared for this task. In pleasant manners but of a rough character, of medium intelligence, lazy by nature, only his tastes for the military thing gave him the appearance of a statesman: unlike Andronic, he succeeded from his advent to lift an army And to end the progress of the Normans ^{[ ten ]} .

However, his internal administration turned out to be disastrous. Other older and larger families could have sucked in the throne; To counter them, he found nothing better than relying on bureaucracy. Consequently, all the practices that Andronic had attempted to refer reappeared ^{[ 11 ]} . The currency was devalued to pay the officials, the taxes were increased and the large landowners took the place of the civil administration while the magistrates were “sold as vegetables to the market” ^{[ twelfth ]} .

Everything absorbed in maintaining the balance between factions and families of the capital, the government relied the administration of the provinces. During the XII ^{It is} Century, the themes that have constituted for centuries the backbone of the civil and military administration of the state had deteriorated at the same time as they multiplied. At the end of the century, they were twice as numerous as under the Macedonian dynasty even if the territory of the Empire was considerably narrowed. Due to the weakness of central power, their functions had gradually been recovered by the large landowners whose authority replaced that of the former governors ^{[ 13 ]} . Michel Choniatès, older brother of Nicétas Choniatès and Metropolitan of Athens, was to describe the situation:

“The citizens of Constantinople, everything has their concerns to enjoy their good fortune as much as possible, had no desire to leave the security of their gates and their walls, to take a look at the neighboring cities. All they knew how to do was send the tax collectors … waves and waves that were followed by and whose mission was to strip the cities of what remained wealthy ^{[ 14 ]} . »

Feeling abandoned by Constantinople, local powers and large pronoic ^{[ 15 ]} . began to rebel, even for the most distant, to seize.

Some of these revolts are to be brought to the account of the struggles of large families for power and had only few consequences for the Empire. This was the case, for example, of that of Alexis Branas, a valuable general that Isaac had loaded from the start of his reign to repel the Normans. When the 1185 revolts in Bulgaria were triggered, it was again towards Branas that Alexis turned. The Branas family was part of the aristocracy of Andrinople and had refrained from appearing at the Court of the Comnenes. Branas then judged the time to claim the throne. A first attempt failed and, after having refugee in Sainte-Sophie waiting for a popular uprising in his favor, he had no choice but to go and implore imperial forgiveness. His military talents being essential, the emperor quickly gave him command of the troops. A second attempt came to succeed in 1187. After being proclaimed emperor in his fief of Andrinople, Branas marched against Constantinople which he submitted to a severe blockade. Fortunately for Isaac, Conrad de Montferrat who had just married the emperor’s sister was still in Constantinople and, thanks to a charge of his francs, managed to defeat the army of Branas. The latter was himself killed during a singular fight with Montferrat ^{[ 16 ]} .

Other attempts rather illustrate autonomist, even separatist trends pronoic . In Asia Minor, Théodore Mangaphas governed the city of Philadelphia, capital of the theme of the Thracésians. With the help of the local aristocracy and that of the neighboring cities of Lydie, Théodore seceded, proclaimed himself emperor and began to mute money. In this case, it was an attempt to secession limited to the region and, unlike Branas, Théodore did not try to walk in Constantinople. Alarmed, Isaac came to besiege him in Philadelphia in 1189, but the advance of Frédéric Barberousse and the third Força Isaac crusade to deal with Théodore who received imperial forgiveness and was able to continue to govern Philadelphia provided that he abandoned any inclination of secession secession . Shortly after, however, the commander of the theme of Thracésiens, Basile Vatatzès, forced him to abandon the city to take refuge among the Iconium Seldjouk Turks from which he raised troops and ravaged the border territories of the Empire until his capture In 1196. taken prisoner by Alexis III, he remained in prison practically until the conquest of the Crusaders. After the fall of Constantinople, the Philadelphia region will form the heart of the Nicea empire ^{[ 17 ]} .

Some of these attempts succeeded. At the end of XI ^{It is} century, the inhabitants of Crete and Cyprus, crumbling under the weight of taxation, had proclaimed their independence, which was quickly repressed. In May 1123, the imperial governor was assassinated during a revolt, but it was not until 1184 that Isaac Comnene, a nephew of the Emperor Manuel Comnene, did not seize the island of Cyprus and proclaimed himself emperor . Supported by the local population he succeeded, thanks to the Sicilian fleet sent by Guillaume II of Sicily, to keep in check the naval expedition sent by Isaac II. However, his contempt for the local population and his institutions made him hate the population who welcomed Richard Coeur de Lion to the Savior, during the third crusade ^{[ 18 ]} .

Heavy consequence for the Empire was the secession of Bulgaria and Serbia since it had to put an end to the grip of Byzantium on the Balkans.

Etienne Némanja’s Serbia in 1189

At the beginning of Isaac’s reign, peace with Hungary had been sealed by the Emperor’s marriage to the daughter of Béla III, Marguerite, who brought the Balkans provinces conquered by the Hungarians as a dowry. The emperor decided to lift a special tax on these provinces to pay for the wedding fees, tax that the mountain valids (Stara Planina) refused to pay. In the meantime, two valid or Bulgarian nobles, the Petar brothers and the Assen required of the Emperor of Lands in pronone , request which was cavalryly rejected. The two brothers returned homely determined to take revenge. Wallands of the mountains and Bulgarians of the plains united their efforts to make a common front against the Coumans, Turkish nomads who, in return for their integration into the imperial army, had been given land in pronone , lands confiscated previously to valid and Bulgarian breeders. In 1187, Isaac led a first offensive against the Petar and Assen brothers who had to cross the Danube and take refuge in the Coumans. After defeating Alexis Branas’ revolt, Isaac resumed the offensive the following year and managed to continue them in the Sofia plain. But held by the Cyprus insurrection and that of Théodore Mangaphas in Asia Minor, the emperor preferred to negotiate a peace which conceded the whole country located between the Danube and the Balkans to the Valaques and the Bulgarians. A second Bulgarian empire was born and Assen received the imperial crown from the hands of the new Bulgarian arch in the Saint-Démetrius de Trnovo church ^{[ 19 ]} .

It was the moment that the big joupan From Serbia, Etienne Nemanja, the former ally of Manuel II, to get closer to the Bulgarians and extend his own domain at the expense of the Empire. He invited Frédéric Barberousse to Niš and, in concert with the Bulgarians, negotiated an alliance treaty against Byzantium. While Barberousse held the busy Byzantines, the Bulgarians invaded the Thrace, while the Serbs opened their way to the Adriatic by occupying the dioclée and the Dalmate territory to the Bouches de Cattaro. It was only after the tragic end of Frédéric Barberousse that Isaac was able to take over the initiative in the Balkans. Étienne Nemanja was beaten in 1190 on the Morava and had to retrocede his old conquests; However, he kept his old ones, however. In addition, the signing of a peace treaty constituted tacit recognition of the independent state of Serbia, an agreement sealed by the marriage of Etienne, the second son of Nemanja, with the niece of the emperor, and the granting in his favor of the title of Sébastocrator . From now on, relations between Byzantium on the one hand, Bulgaria and Serbia on the other hand, went from the internal affairs of the Empire to Foreign Affairs ^{[ 20 ]} .

Foreign policy: initial success in Europe [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Yet the reign of Isaac II had started in this chapter under the best auspices.

The fall of Andronic had been caused by the progression of the Norman army which, after having seized Thessaloniki, had headed for Constantinople. But decimated by epidemics, it collided with the forces of Alexis Branas. The Normans had divided their army into three groups: a garrison in Thessaloniki, a more east contingent on the Strymon river and the bulk of the forces in Mosynopolis (near Komotini) in Thrace. Branas first fell unexpectedly on the forces stationed in Mosynopolis then attacked the contingent on the Strymon which he also defeated in Dimitritsa in November 1185. Their commanders captured, more than ten thousand troops having been killed and Four thousand taken prisoners, the Normans withdrew and abandoned Thessaloniki, first, Dyrrachium and Corfu then, keeping only the islands of Cephallénie and Zacynthe. Norman danger was definitively dismissed ^{[ 21 ]} .

Tomb of Béla III in the Saint-Matthias church in Budapest. Under its reign, Hungary will become one of the great powers in the region.

While the Normans withdrew, Isaac, after having concluded a truce with Sultan Kilij Arslan, negotiated peace with the King of Hungary, Béla III, who had invaded the Balkans and was before Sofia. At the end of the negotiations, Isaac who had recently become widower married the daughter of Béla, Marguerite, who took the Byzantine name of Marie. Matrimonial alliances outside the imperial house, prohibited except in the event of absolute necessity under Constantine VII at X ^{It is} century thus became XII ^{It is} century A legitimate component of diplomatic negotiations ^{[ 22 ]} . The Hungarians withdrew to the Danube. Admittedly, the Byzantines had to accept to lose the Dalmatia, Bosnia and Sirmium conquered by Béla under the Regency of Mary The Foreign but, probably more important, they obtained the help of Hungary in their fight against Bulgarians and Serbs ^{[ 23 ]} .

The marriage of Constance, aunt of Guillaume de Sicily, with Henri de Hohenstaufen, son and heir to Frédéric Barberousse Alarma at the highest point the Venetians who saw the Germanic Emperor taking foot in the Italian peninsula by pretending to the crown of Sicily, former Byzantine possession. In 1187, the Venetians signed with Constantinople a treaty at the end of which they saw all their privileges restored and received the promise of the payment of a sum of 100,800 hyperpers in compensation for the losses suffered in 1171. Byzantium for its part undertook to defend Venice against any attack, whatever the source, barely veiled to the Germanic emperor. To replace the imperial fleet, the Venetians also undertook to build within six months of 40 to 100 galleys and to provide the crews. Five years later, Isaac also managed to regularize his relations with Pisans and Genoese. Two chrysobulles confirmed their old privileges, their districts in Constantinople were enlarged and the customs prices remained limited to 4% ^{[ 24 ]} .

The wind was to turn with the passage on the Empire lands of the third crusade.

The third crusade [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of Saladin on October 2, 1187. Almost immediately, the German emperor Frédéric I ^is Barberousse, Philippe II of France and Richard Coeur-de-Lion of England, took the cross.

Richard Coeur-de-Lion and Philippe Auguste went directly to Acre by sea and therefore had no direct relations with Constantinople. However, in May 1191, Richard Coeur-de-Lion took advantage of a judgment to seize the island of Cyprus then governed by Isaac Comnene (see above) which he first gave to the Templars, then, the ‘Following year, in Guy de Lusignan, the King deposited in Jerusalem. If Isaac could only see with pleasure the elimination of his former rival, the creation of a Latin state in Cyprus had as a consequence the subordination of the Greek clergy to the Latin clergy. In a country where the Greeks were mostly, the degradation of the Greek episcopate could only be another source of antipathy between Greeks and Latin ^{[ 25 ]} .

Frédéric I ^is Choose the grounding and began negotiations with Constantinople to cross the Empire. A treaty was concluded in Nuremberg in 1188 by which Isaac allowed free passage in its territories of the German army provided that it abstained from all violence. But Frédéric had also started negotiations with the sovereigns of other territories which were on his itinerary, including the Serbia and the Sultanate of Iconium. As we have seen, Étienne Némanja welcomed the opening of such negotiations and, in concert with the Bulgarians, both proposed to pay in Frédéric an oath of tribute which made them their suzerain in return for an alliance against Byzantium. Alarmed, the Government of Constantinople sought his alliance with the deadly enemy of the Crusaders, Saladin, with whom they renewed the Treaty of Alliance signed under Andronic I ^is by adding a clause to prevent the passage of the German armies ^{[ 26 ]} .

Frédéric I ^is Barberousse, dressed as a cross. According to a miniature of 1188. Vatican library

Leaving from Hungary, the emperor reached the border of the Empire in June 1189; He had to find the blocked roads, the convoys of arrested food and learned that the ambassadors sent to negotiate the clauses of the transport of the European troops in Asia had been thrown into prison by Isaac. In response, Frédéric began to ravage Thrace, seizing Philippopolis and promising to continue until his ambassadors were released. An acerbic correspondence exchange between the two sovereigns followed. Frédéric then resolved to walk on Constantinople while his son Henri, which remained in Germany, was to obtain the pope’s agreement for a crusade against Byzantium and lift a fleet to besiege Constantinople. His second son, Frédéric de Souabe, received as a mission to seize Didymotics. Cornered, Isaac had to resign themselves to release the German ambassadors and concluded in February of the following year a treaty at the end of which Frédéric obtained everything he wanted: ships to transport his troops to Asia, advantageous prices for the food that They needed, financial compensation for abused ambassadors and quality hostages as a guarantee that Isaac would faithfully fulfill its commitments. All that Isaac observed in exchange was that Frédéric would cross by the Dardanelles rather than by the Bosphorus, thus avoiding Constantinople ^{[ 27 ]} .

In the spring of 1190, the German army passed in Asia and pretended to advance to Jerusalem when it was attacked by the Turks made aware of its movements by Constantinople. Frédéric then resolved to take iconium and concluded a treaty with Kilidj Arslan. However, while walking on Tarsus, he drowned on June 10, 1190 while trying to cross the Calycadnus river (today Göksu) ^{[ 28 ]} .

Byzantium was released from Frédéric Barberousse, but the episode was to anchor even more deeply in the West the feeling that Constantinople, which had had excellent relations with the Latin states of Manuel, had now turned its back on Christianity and intended to enjoy From the fall of Jerusalem to the hands of Saladin to favor the Orthodox clergy in Palestine, while allowing Muslims to settle in Constantinople ^{[ 29 ]} . Constantinople had to become the objective of the next crusade, as Constantinople had to be advised by Frédéric Barberousse in a letter to his son ^{[ 30 ]} .

Released from the danger represented by Frédéric Barberousse, Isaac was able to take over the offensive in the Balkans. With the support of the Hungarians, Isaac undertook in 1195 a last campaign against the Bulgarians. This is the moment that his elder brother chooses, Alexis, to overthrow him and make him blind ^{[ thirty first ]} .

Born around 1153, Alexis III had passed most of the reign of Andronic I ^is in Syria and had been imprisoned in Tripoli around 1185-1187 ^{[ 32 ]} . Not finding the name of the angel enough, he affected to call himself communène ^{[ 33 ]} . Unfortunately he had none of the qualities of the first emperors in the previous dynasty. If the army officers and the nobility of the palace brought him to power hoping for a more active character than the unhappy Isaac, they were heavyly wrong ^{[ 34 ]} . Inside, the emperor was happy to let his wife direct the affairs of the state, while outside, Serbs and Bulgarians consolidated their empire and prepares for the fourth crusade ^{[ 35 ]} .

Domestic policy [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Executed by army officers, the coup who brought him to power was fomented by a group representing the great families of Constantinople led by Théodore Branas, Georges Paléologue, Jean Pétraliphas, Constantin Raoul and Manuel Cantacuzene ^{[ 36 ]} . Realizing that his throne depended on the goodwill of these families, Alexis followed the road with the slightest resistance, trying to please each other. Low of character, lazy and doing nothing without consulting the stars, he left his immediate family and in particular his wife, Euphrosyne, of the Doukas family, direct the affairs. Very ambitious, this one, helped by her favorite, Constantin Mesopotamitès, archbishop of Thessaloniki, undertook some reforms such as the abolition of the venality of charges which aroused the hatred of this same aristocracy which had carried Alexis in power and earned him be temporarily dismissed from the court while his favorite was exiled ^{[ 37 ]} .

The themes as they existed in 1025. For a long time, the themes will serve as the basis for the administrative organization of the Empire.

However, the public administration included competent men such as the columnist Nicétas Choniatès who will become Prime Minister. But the venality of charges under Isaac II had led to rapid growth of the bureaucracy that the idleness of the emperor let the affairs of the state led as it allowed him to satisfy the generous donations of land and income he kept making his favorites and members of his court. This policy had heavy repercussions on the economy of the provinces. In Constantinople itself, when Henri VI demanded at Christmas 1196 a sum of 360,000 hyperpers to set up a new crusade under threat of taking over the old Norman conquests in Greece, the people refused to pay. So much so that the emperor had to summon a “parliament” to know how to bring together the necessary sum for this “German tax” ( Alamanikon ). It was finally reduced to opening the imperial tombs to take the treasures they contained. But the amount required was not reunited; Only Henri VI’s death in September 1197 brought a stay ^{[ 38 ]} .

As for the army, it was only made up of foreign, German, Hungarian, Turkish, Varanges and Bulgarian mercenaries. Poorly paid, his thin effective threatened permanently threatened to defection. And since there was no more war fleet, piracy wreaked havoc. The Corsairs of Venice, Genoa and Raguse took advantage of the situation of weakness of the Empire to devastate the coasts. Alexis was reduced to negotiating with some of them like the Gafforio Genoese, so that they leave Greek or allies ships in peace and come to sell in Constantinople the fruit of their rapines by sharing the profits. But the favors granted to Genoa soon earned him the enmity of Venice. The embassy sent by the Doge Enrico Dandolo had to negotiate for three years an agreement which, as soon as concluded in 1198, was violated immediately, Alexis III encouraging the Pisans to attack Venice while the Venetian colony of Constantinople was charged with ^{[ 39 ]} .

Foreign politic [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Afflicting internally, Alexis III’s policy was to be disastrous outdoors.

In Asia Minor, the Greek population continued to regress before the progression of the Turks. In 1197, the Emir of Angora, Maçoûd seized Dadibra in Paphlagonia and replaced its population with Turks. Following an incident, the iconium sultan, Kaï-Khosrou, ravaged the Méandre valley the following year without being worried ^{[ 40 ]} .

But the real threat was in Europe.

Bulgaria under Jean Colojean who succeeded his brothers Petar and Assen.

Isaac II had been deposited when he was campaigning against the Bulgarians and the Wallacs in the Balkans. Immediately acclaimed by the troops, Alexis, who accompanied his brother, hastened to put an end to the countryside and to return to Constantinople, contenting himself with exploiting the divisions which were burst between the Valaque chiefs. In 1195 and 1196, the Bulgarians ransacked the region of Serres and defined the Byzantine army, capturing its leader, the Sébastocrator Isaac Comnène. Fortunately for the Byzantines, the Assen and Petar brothers who had separated in 1193, were murdered by their boyards in 1196 and 1197 respectively. The power expired to their youngest brother, Jean, nicknamed Kalojean (Jean le Bon) who, for having been sent as hostage to Constantinople, brought a deep hatred to the Greeks. After he seized Varna, Alexis had to negotiate an agreement with him according to which the Byzantines retained control of the Thrace but officially recognized the independence of the Bulgarian state. To put an end to the Byzantine influence, Jean entered into negotiation with Pope Innocent III, which was anxious to bring the Balkans back into the influence of Rome. In November 1204, shortly after the fall of Constantinople, a pontifical legate was to crumble a patriarch of Bulgaria which crowned the new Tsar the next day in the Trnovo cathedral with a crown sent by the pope ^{[ 41 ]} .

Like his father, Henri VI will want to use the crusade to make himself master of Byzantium.

The most serious danger, however, came less from the apathy of Alexis III than from the crusade spirit of Henri VI. Son of Frédéric Barberousse, he was determined not only to avenge the debacle that had followed the death of his father in the East, but also to take over the dream of a universal empire. His marriage to Constance de Sicily, legitimate heiress of Guillaume II gave him the opportunity to take a foothold in Norman Italy. After grabbing the kingdom to the death of Tancrède de Lecce, bastard son of Guillaume, in 1194 he had summoned Isaac II to restore the territories conquered by Guillaume in Macedonia. He also demanded a huge tribute (the one who gave birth to the Alamanikon ) to compensate for the losses suffered by his father during the third crusade and help him set up a new crusade. In addition, the marriage in May 1197 of his brother Philippe de Souabe in May 1197 with Irène the Angel, daughter of Isaac II and widow at sixteen years of the eldest son of Tancrède, allowed him to ask himself vigilante and defender of the dethroned emperor ^{[ 42 ]} .

At Easter 1195, taking over the work of his father, Henri VI took the cross and called for the crusade. He sent two armies to Palestine, one per sea, the other by land under the command of the Archbishop of Mainz Conrad I ^is de Wittelsbach, summarizing the emperor to provide the latter with the boats allowing him to cross in Asia. His oriental claims were encouraged by the arrival in October of an Embassy of Amaury de Lusignan, who became king of Cyprus, asking him for a royal crown. This delegation was followed soon after by a second coming from Leon II, lord of little Armenia. Henri hastened to satisfy one and the other request. Alexis III who had just overthrew his brother was thus taken in pincers and had no choice but to accept on all conditions. Fortunately for him, the announcement of Henri VI’s death in Messina, on September 28, 1197, Sauva Constantinople and allowed to stop the counting of the imperial vaults started to bring the sum required by Henri together ^{[ 43 ]} .

The crusade started by Henri VI was to last long. His call was hardly heard by the greats of the Empire, including the Archbishops of Mainz and Bremen, nine bishops, Duke Henri de Brabant, Henri de Brunswick, Frédéric d’Austria and Ulrich de Carinthie. Their little army left Messina in the summer of 1197 and threw themselves upon his arrival on the Saracens. After a few successes that allowed them to take Sidon and Beirut, they learned of Henri VI’s death. Most of the nobles then decided to return leaving their soldiers to face an Egyptian army alone who came to meet them through Sinai. Paniced, the armies went north where their boats were waiting for them in Tire from which they took the sea ^{[ 44 ]} .

The fourth crusade [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The fourth crusade was to be launched not by the successor of Henri VI, but by the new pope, Lothaire de Segni, elected in 1198 under the name of Innocent III. Very imbued with the temporal and spiritual powers of the papacy, he could not see without fear the Germanic emperor extend his power in Italy. So he first supported Otton IV’s claims against those of Philippe de Souabe. In addition, he was very eager to see the church of Rome replacing that of Constantinople in the Balkans and quickly reached the desires of the Bulgarians to recognize his suzerainty rather than that of Constantinople ^{[ 45 ]} .

One of his first gestures was to preach a new crusade. Recognizing that entrusting the conduct of the crusade to riding monarchs had given rise to endless problems of national rivalries and protocol and that on the other hand the struggle between Otton IV and Philippe de Souabe, that between the kings of France and From England for the succession of Richard Coeur-de-Lion made the participation of these sovereigns unlikely, the pope called for chivalry. During a tournament organized at his Château d’Ecly-sur-Aisne, the young count Thibault de Champagne, ignited by the preaching of Foulque de Neuilly, proposed to lead the expedition ^{[ forty six ]} .

As during the third crusade, the problem arose to decide whether one should go to the Holy Land by land or by sea. Shortly before leaving Palestine, Richard Coeur-de-Lion had clearly indicated that the most point Low among the Turks was Egypt and that any shipping should have this country as the first target. This favored the seaway. As we expected a force of around 33,500 soldiers, 200 boats were necessary. The only power capable of quickly building such a number of ships was the Republic of Venice where a delegation was dispatched to 1201 ^{[ 47 ]} .

Enrico Dandolo urging the Venetians at the Crusade according to Gustave Doré. Despite its age, the Doge quickly became the real leader of the fourth crusade.

Venice agreed to transport 4,500 knights and their horses, 9,000 servants and 20,000 infantrymen for a sum of 85,000 marks. In addition, she undertook to provide 50 galleys herself as long as the boot of war is shared equally ^{[ 48 ]} . This estimate was terribly exaggerated: the French were unable to bring together more than 650 knights and 1,300 troop men. When the time comes, they found themselves unable to pay the amount provided when the Venetians had scrupulously respected their share of the contract ^{[ 49 ]} . In exchange for a payment period, the Venetians then proposed to the Crusaders to help them capture Zara (now Zadar), an ancient independent city of the Byzantine Empire which Venice demanded possession, but which had put itself under the protection of Hungary which the king had met for several years ^{[ 50 ]} .

As soon as informed of this plan which aimed at a Christian city, the Pope prohibited the crusaders from attacking Zara. But the games were made and on November 8, 1202, 480 boats, led by the Doge himself despite his past eighty, sailed to Zara who was saved. Outraged, the Pope excommunicated the entire expedition first, then limited this excommunication to Venetians only while recommending to other crusaders to continue their collaboration with them, the Venetians holding the essential resources to the success of the expedition of the expedition ^{[ 51 ]} .

At the beginning of 1203, a second unforeseen event again changed the plans. Boniface de Montferrat (who had succeeded as an expedition chief at Thibaud de Champagne deceased in the meantime) received a letter from Philippe de Souabe, stepfall of Isaac II. Philippe explained that another Alexis, called “young Alexis”, son of Isaac II and brother of his wife, had escaped the prison where he was locked up with his father and had found refuge in his court. Philippe proposed that the crusade will make a new stage in Constantinople to overthrow Alexis III and give the throne to the legitimate sovereign, for what Alexis would finance the subsequent conquest of Egypt, would provide ten thousand additional soldiers for this purpose and would then maintain five hundred knights at his expense in the Holy Land. And to obtain the Pope’s support he added that the Church of Constantinople would submit to Rome ^{[ 52 ]} .

Neither the crusaders, who did not know Constantinople, nor undoubtedly the young Alexis himself did not realize how unrealistic this plan was; However, he carried the membership of the majority. Only a few crusaders preferred to embark directly for Palestine. The young Alexis arrived in Zara in April 1203 and a few days later, the fleet was sailing, stopping at Durrës and Corfu where Alexis was recognized as a legitimate emperor. Despite a new formal ban by the Pope, she arrived in June before Constantinople where Alexis III, faithful to his character, had taken no measure to defend the city. The assault took place in July 1203. From the first charge, the imperial army staggered and the emperor fled, leaving his wife and children to Constantinople, but taking with him his favorite daughter and bringing 10 000 golden books as well as a bag of jewelry ^{[ 53 ]} .

Alexis wandered a few months, but fell into the hands of Boniface de Montferrat towards the end of 1204. He remained prisoner until his ransom was paid in 1209 or 1210 by Michel I ^is Compid Dépids The Levent of the Vircuel of the Audant Setant KANKaukii kaws I ^is , son of Kilidj Arslan. When Théodore I ^is Laskaris defeated the sultan, Alexis was again taken prisoner and sent to a monastery where he died in 1211 or 1212 ^{[ 54 ]} .

Return from Isaac II (1203-1204); Alexis IV (1204) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Portrait of Alexis IV the Angel, taken from the History Par Jean Zonaras, Bibliotheca Universitaria, Moden

Believing, after the Emperor’s flight, that the return of Isaac II would be enough to stop the assault of the Crusaders, the councilors of Constantinople had hurried to release it and to restore it in its functions of legitimate emperor . Indeed, the attack ceased and a cross and Venetian delegation came to inform the notable Constantinopolitans of the promises made by Alexis, demanding that the latter be crowned coempreur with Isaac. After which, she withdrew to Galata where the crusaders had established their headquarters. Alexis IV, who was about twenty-one at the time, was actually crowned the first ^is August 1203. However, the two emperors were to fulfill their commitments towards the Crusaders. Alexis IV quickly realized that the treasure was empty. He was forced to raise new taxes which only made the inhabitants of Constantinople, those of the provinces refusing to recognize him as an emperor. These new taxes made it possible to bring together a sum of 100,000 Marks, which turned out to be enough to convince the crusaders to wait and delay their departure to Saint-Michel. But they returned the two emperors unpopular to the inhabitants of the capital, who realized that their money directly enriched to the opponents of the Empire. The sovereigns also alienated the clergy by forcing it to melt the sacred vases to obtain funds and announcing that the Greek church should submit to that of Rome ^{[ 55 ]} .

And to height of misfortune, while Alexis IV left in Thrace with the wholesale of the army to regain control of the situation, a group of crusaders set fire to a small mosque in the Muslim district during a brawl. The flames spread quickly, extended to the port which, in forty-eight hours, was completely razed. And when, a few days later, a delegation of crusaders came to town claiming the amounts due to them, the anger of the inhabitants of the capital no longer experienced a boundary. For their part, the crusaders were also eager to leave the country to finally head to the Holy Land ^{[ 56 ]} .

The Enrico Dandolo DOGE thus saw its goal come true: the destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the replacement of the emperor with a puppet devoted to the interests of Venice. He therefore recommended that the Crusade managers to take their due and replace the two emperors who had failed in their commitments with one of their own. Inside the city, the inhabitants also came to the conclusion that a change of emperor was essential. On January 24, 1204, a meeting bringing together the Senate, the clergy and representatives of the people voted the forfeiture of Alexis IV. After three days of discussion, we agreed to replace it with a stranger named Nicolas Canabus ^{[ 57 ]} .

Alexis V (1204) and the fall of Constantinople [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

This is the moment that Alexis Doukas, nicknamed Mourtzouphlos, was waiting for his eyebrows in battle who joined in the middle of the nose, to seize power. About sixty-five years old, he was in prison when the crusaders arrived, probably for having participated in the attempted usurpation of Jean Comnène in 1200. Released, he was entrusted with the function of Protovestiaros , which gave him access to the imperial apartments at all times ^{[ 58 ]} .

Resolved to take power, he sought to gain the support of the population by directing some raids against the crusaders outside the city. During discussions from January 24 to 27, he advised Alexis IV to ask for the help of the Crusaders, but when Canabus was elected, he did not hesitate to go in the middle of the Emperor’s apartments and, with the Help of the Varangian guard, to seize it and to have it locked in a dungeon where it died strangled. Having learned the news, Isaac II also died, according to Villehardouin, of natural cause ^{[ 59 ]} .

The Latin Empire and its vassals after sharing the Byzantine Empire between Crusaders, in 1204.

Crowned in Sainte-Sophie under the name of Alexis V, the new emperor immediately started to repair the city walls and lead ambushes against the Crusaders. Noting that the new emperor led a policy different from that of his predecessors, based on the fact that it was again a usurper, the Doge Dandolo, who had become the real leader of the Crusade, held a Series of meetings with crosses to discuss the future administration of the Empire. We got along to form a committee of twelve people with six Venetians and six crosses who were to elect a new emperor from their ranks. If the latter was to be chosen from the crusaders, the patriarch would be Venetian and vice versa. The emperor would reign over a quarter of the city and the Empire while the other three quarters would be divided equally between the Crusaders and Venice, the Doge being exempt from lending homage to the Emperor. The loot collected during the final conquest would be distributed in the same way ^{[ 60 ]} .

The entrance of the crusaders to Constantinople. Eugène Delacroix canvas, 1840, Louvre museum, Paris.

The final assault was to be given on April 9 at the very place where the crusaders had launched the first assault nine months earlier. He was to last three days, the walls and towers reinforced by Alexis V turning more difficult to take than expected. Finally, helped by a strong wind, the Venetian ships managed to establish a bridge between the mats of the ships and the top of the towers. Alexis V demonstrated great courage trying to rally his men, but realizing that everything was lost, he fled in the company of the wife of Alexis III and her daughter, Eudoxie, stayed in Constantinople. He went to take refuge with his predecessor in Mosynopolis where he received from Alexis permission to marry Eudoxia, his great love. Subsequently, however, Alexis III was to take him prisoner and blind him. Put back in the hands of Thierry de Loos, Alexis V was tried for betrayal to Alexis IV and thrown at the bottom of the column of Theodosius ^{[ sixty one ]} .

In Constantinople, the Crusaders leaving three days of looting, murders and sacrilets. For once, Latin and Greek chroniclers agreed. “Since the creation of the world, never such a loot had been done in a city” writes Villehardouin, while for its part Nicétas Choniatès noted: “The Saracens themselves are good and compassionate” in comparison of these people “who bear The cross of Christ on their shoulder ” ^{[ 62 ]} . Once the order is restored, the loot was picked up and shared as hear; Its total value amounted to around 3.6 million hyperpers. The Crusaders paid the Somme which was still due to Venice at Doge. Under the pressure of the Venetians, the Count Baudouin of Flanders and Hainaut crowned in Sainte-Sophie Le Emperitis. May 16 1204 , thus becoming the third emperor to be crowned there in a single year; The Doge of his side chose as patriarch, Tommaso Morosini, who received all orders and was sacred bishop in less than two weeks. Despite his antipathy to him, Innocent III ends up approving this choice. Delegates were sent from Rome to negotiate the Union of the two without success, the Pope, although accepting to recognize the status of patriarchy in Constantinople, always insisting that the Greeks conform to the doctrine and the Latin rites. Subsequently, the Pope had to treat the Orthodox Church as schismatic and heretics more and more ^{[ 63 ]} .

Admittedly, the Dynasty of Angels played an important role in the fall of Constantinople. But the causes of his decline were already apparent under the Comnens dynasty and it would be unfair to make them bear full responsibility for the angels. Profound changes had taken place both in the West and in the East during the XI ^{It is} And XII ^{It is} centuries. But resistance to stronger change in Constantinople than in the kingdoms that were formed in the West prevented him from adapting to new realities. In his book A History of the Byzantine State and Society , Warren Tardgold, mentions several distant causes which contributed to the disaster of 1204.

A merciless struggle Opposa Genoa and Venice for the control of commercial roads in the Mediterranean.

The first factor of dissolution of the Byzantine Empire was the growing show of regionalism. The loss of southern Italy in the hands of the Normans had serious economic repercussions for Byzantium, less, however, that the rise of the maritime powers constituted by Venice, Genoa and Pisa which, by establishing their counters within the Empire, gradually took place The place of Byzantine merchants unable to resist their competition. In the Balkan region, the importance of the Kingdom of Hungary as well as the creation of the Bulgarian and Serbian empires dubbed a fight of religious influence between Rome and Constantinople for the control of Christianity. Greece under the leadership of an aristocracy whose wealth depended on the stability of agriculture and trade remained relatively stable, even if the revolts in crest and in Cyprus and the loss of it gave the enemies of Byzantium useful navals and military. The situation was more fluid in Asia Minor where the Turks, a nomadic people without any other leader than the Sultan Seldjouk and the Danishmanditis emirs, gradually occupied the interior of Anatolia, replacing the Christian populations who migrated to the coast and the Balkans. In Cilicia, the Rubenian princes (or Rubenids) will become from 1099, “Kings of Armenia”, while in the Pont region, the brothers Alexis and David Comnène will create, after the fall of Constantinople, the “empire of Trébizonde ” ^{[ sixty four ]} .

The second was the rise of a new ruling class made up of large landowners and rich merchants who, especially in the provinces, gradually took the place of the Byzantine administration, heiress of the former Roman administration, which had done during centuries the strength of the Empire. While the themes stopped working, the civil servants were little or badly paid, the advancement became the prerogative of the rich landowners and the pronoic . When the Macedonian dynasty died, it was this aristocracy that produced seventeen of the twenty-two emperors belonging to the Doukas, Comnène and Angel families while the class of the big merchants arrived at the throne with the emperors Michel IV and Michel V. As a result of both a weakening of the imperial power, these large families being more difficult to master than the popular masses had been, and a multiplication of revolts and seditions which led to the reversal of several emperors ^{[ 65 ]} .

Like the aristocracy, the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church which had seen its influence grow during the XI ^{It is} century and then decreased under the Comnenes, saw a large number of patriarchs parade. From 1081 to 1204, twenty-two patriarchs were to follow one another who evit as much as possible to interfere in the political sphere. This did not prevent eight of them from abdicating or being deposited by the basileus. However, the impotence of the patriarchs occurred in a time when, in the west, the papacy was increasingly affirming its spiritual and temporal power. If the schism of 1054 did not substantially modify the relations between the churches of the East and the West, it did not the same with the support that granted the papacy to the Normans, which after having seized possessions Byzantines in southern Italy took it to the Balkans. The increasingly frequent contacts between crusaders and Byzantine authorities showed how much mentalities had moved from each other. This ditch had to grow when the crusaders established Latin churches in Syria and Palestine and replaced the Greek patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem with Latin archbishops. In addition, the discussions undertaken to restore the unity of the churches of the Orient and West continued to buy on the fundamental question of the papal primacy claimed by Rome at the expense of the pentarchy ^{[ 66 ]} What was demanding the Eastern Church ^{[ sixty seven ]} .

The historian Michel Psellos with his disciple, the emperor Michel VII Doukas.

Since the barbaric invasions, not only have cultural differences increase between the East and the West, but they ended up becoming a reason of pride. Traditionally, Byzantine culture had remained ahead of that of the West, succeeding in maintaining its classic heritage, that is to say Greek. To XI ^{It is} And XII ^{It is} A century, Byzantine authors began to be greater originality. The academy founded by Alexis I produced original writers and historians such as Michel Psellos, Anne Comnène, Nicétas Choniatès and Jean Zonaras or remarkable thinkers like Jean the Italian who had mesh from political power. Whether in the field of architecture or decorative arts that accompanied the construction of churches or public buildings or jewelry ^{[ 68 ]} , an art form specific to the Byzantine Empire developed and its representatives began to travel outside and lend a hand to their Western colleagues (Saint-Marc Cathedral of Venice). But while the Byzantines continued to boast of their intellectual superiority, Western Europeans began to make great technological progress whether in agriculture, in terms of armaments or even architecture ^{[ 69 ]} .

It is this technical superiority that the West exploited wisely during the fourth crusade, faced with an empire weakened by the problems of regional separatism, poor administration, military weakness and diplomatic errors. Alexis I ^is , John II and Manuel had succeeded thanks to their strong personality in controlling the land aristocracy, the merchants and civil servants who sought to weaken imperial power. Isaac II and Alexis III were hardly of the same caliber; Alexis IV and Alexis V were only puppets in the hands of their Latin donors. So that even if the fourth crusade had not overcome Constantinople, a substantial effort would have been necessary to give new life to the Empire and allow it to resist the appetites of its Bulgarian, Serbs, Hungarian or Hungarian or Hungarian neighbors Turks who, inevitably, extended at his expense ^{[ 70 ]} .

Constantin Ange (1093 † AP.1166)
X Theodora Comnene Angelina, daughter of Alexis I is │
├> Jean (1125/27 † 1200), Sébastocrate
│ X Zoé Doukaina
│ │
│ ├> Michel I is d'Apire (1170 † 1214/15)
│ │ x unknown
│ │ │
│ │ └> Michel II d'Apire († 1266/68) illegitimate │ │ X Théodora Pétraliphaina (1225 † AP.1270)
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Nicephorus I is d'Apire († 1297)
│ │ │ x 1) Maria Vatatzaina
│ │ │ x 2) Anne Cantacuzène Paleologist († AP.1313)
│ │ │ │
│ │ ├ │1> Maria
│ │ │ │ x jeans I is Orsini, Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zante
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ ├ ├2> Thamar († 1311)
│ │ │ x Philippe I is , prince of Taranto
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ └2> Thomas I is d'Apire (1285 † 1318)
│ │ │ x Anne paleologist, daughter of Michel IX │ │ │
│ │ ├> Jean
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Demetrios († 1304)
│ │ │ x 1) Anne Comnène Paléologue, daughter of Michel VIII │ │ │ x 2) Ana Terter, daughter of Georges I is Himter │ │ │ │
│ │ │ └ └1> Andronic (1282 † 1328), Protosébaste
│ │ │ x Kokala girl
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ └> Anne paleologist
│ │ │ x 1) Jean II Orsini , despot
│ │ │ x 2) Jean Comnène Asen († 1363)
│ │ │
│ │ ├ ├> Hélène (1242 † 1271)
│ │ │ x Manfred I is , king of Sicily
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Anne († 1286)
│ │ │ x 1) Guillaume II , Prince of Achaia
│ │ │ x 2) Nicolas II , Lord of Thebes
│ │ │
│ │ └> Jean I is de Thessalie († 1289) illegitimate │ │ x hypomone
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Constantin de Thessalie († 1303)
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ └> Jean II de Thessalie († 1318)
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Théodore de Thessalie († 1299)
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Hélène († 1299)
│ │ │ x Guillaume I is rock († 1287), Duke of Athens
│ │ │
│ │ └> Hélène
│ │ x Stefan Uroš II Milutin , Serbian swarm
│ │
│ ├─> Constantin (1172 † 1242), despote
│ │
│ ├─> Theodore I is de Thessalonique († 1253)
│ │ X Maria Petraliphaina
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Anne
│ │ │ x Stefan Radoslav, king of Serbia
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Jean de Thessalonique († 1244)
│ │ │
│ │ ├> Irene
│ │ │ x Ivan Assen II , king of Bulgaria
│ │ │
│ │ └> Demetrios de Thessalonique (1220 † ap.1246)
│ │
│ └─> Manuel (1187 † 1241), despote
│
└─> Andronic (1133 † 1183/85)
    X Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa
    │
    ├─> Constantin (1151 † ap.1199), sébastocrate
    │
    ├─> Alexis III (11533 4)
    — Capheroshoto doua Tentian (1155 1 ​​1, 1211).
    ✔s
    —mous OUMAS OUNESI OUR CHILING IS OUR.
    —mous ′ineou 1) ADronostepthotosipira
    —mous 2) Alexies palexide, decephere
    ✔s
    houst sites ′OMOU's Ee (1176 2 1212)
    —mous smother 1 Communic communication ( 1196)
    mous smostou 2) Theodore I is Lascaris, Emperor of Nicea
    │ │
    │ └ └> Eudoxie († 1211)
    │ x 1) Stefan I is Nemanjić, Grand Duke then King of Serbia
    │ x 2) Alexis IN († 1204), Byzantine emperor
    │ x 3) Léon Sgouros († 1208), lord of Naplie and Argolide
    │
    └> Isaac II (1156 † 1204)
        x 1) Irene
        x 2) Marguerite de Hungary (1175 † AP.1223)
        │
        ├1> Anna-Euphrosyne († 1253)
        │ X Roman Mstislavitch, Prince of Galicia-Volhynie
        │
        ├1> Irène (1181 † 1208)
        │ x 1) Roger III , king of Sicily
        │ x 2) Philippe de Souabe, king of Germania
        │
        ├1> Alexis IV (1182 † 1204)
        │
        └└2> Jean (1193 A 1253)
             x Mathoods the Vendes, feel the Henri I is The Vianden 

We will profitably consult the exhaustive bibliography contained in each volume of the trilogy The Byzantine world (Coll. Nouvelle Clio, Presses Universitaires de France) distributed for each of the periods studied (vol. 1-The Roman Empire of the East [330-641]; vol. 2-The Byzantine Empire [641-1204]; flight . 3 – The Greek Empire and its neighbors [ XIII ^{It is} – XV ^{It is} century] Between General bibliographic instruments, events, institutions (Emperor, Religion, etc.) and Regions (Asia Minor, Byzantine Egypt, etc.). Giving the point of research until 2010, it includes many references to online sites.

Primary sources [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

For the period of the last Comnenes and the Angels, Nicetas Choniatès remains the most important source. Originally from Chonai in Phrygia, he was first imperial secretary of the Court, then climbed all the ranks of the public service to become large logothe or Prime Minister under the angels. Its history deals with the period from Alexis’ reign until 1206. His living style and his description of the characters is compared to PSELLOS ^{[ 71 ]} . He owes the description of the conquest of Thessaloniki by the Normans in 1185 to the metropolitan of this city, Eustathe de Thessalonique. Choniatès also left outcry and writings of circumstance which date back to the period 1180-1210. An elder brother of Nicétas, Michel Choniatès, Metropolitan of Athens also left letters and other writings which provide important elements on the events of this period.

Among the many Western sources that describe the history of the crusades, we can mention the Transactions of the French just as the writings of Villehardouin and Robert de Clari who shed light on the relations between Byzantium and the West even if texts like the Transactions of the French were written to nourish the antibratin feeling that developed in the West. It is also necessary to mention a famous false who helped to spread in the West the idea that Alexis had betrayed the crusaders. This supposedly Alexis letter I ^is At the Count of Flanders reached us in its Latin form as a call to the crusade. In fact, it was probably made from a real letter from the emperor relating to the recruitment of Western mercenaries ^{[ 72 ]} .

For southern Slavic countries, we will mention the Chronic of the priest of Dioclée, written towards the middle or in the second part of XII ^{It is} century as well as the Life of Saint-Siméon (That is to say) of Etienne Nemanja and the life of Saint Sava by Domentijan, monk of Khilendar, disciple of Sava.

• Anonymous, The transactions of the French and other Hierosolymitanorum , ed. and trad. French L. Bréhier, Paris, C.H.F., 1924
• Bryennios, Nikephoros, Historiarum four , ed. and trad. Paul Gautier, Brussels, 1975
• Choniatès, Nicholls; Nicetae Choniatae History , I. A. van Dieten, Berlin/New York, 1975
• Claria, Robert, Conquest of Constantinople , trad. P. Charlot, Paris, 1939
• Comnena, Anna, The Alexiad , trans. E.A. Sewter, Harmondsworth, 1969
• Thessaloniki, Eustathe de. Brochures , Google book
• Tornikès, Georges & Demetrios. Letters and speeches , ed. J. Darrouzès, Paris, 1970
• Tyr, guillume of, War of the Holy History and the History of things in the parts of the transmarine achievements ” In Collection of Crusades Historians , Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, Paris 1841-1906, Vol 1; Translated into French in Collection of Memoirs relating to the History of France by F. Guizot, 29 flights. Paris, 1823-1827. For the Comnes: Flights. 16-18
• Villehardouin, Conquest of Constantinople , Éd. Et trad. E.Pharal, Paris, C.H.F. 1938-1939, 2 vol.
• Zonaras, Jean; Epitome stories , Google book

Secondary sources [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Michael Angold, The Byzantine Empire 1025-1204 , A Political History. Longman, London & New York, 1984 (ISBN  0-582-49060-X )
• Pierre Aubé, Oriental Norman empires , Paris, Tallendier, 1983 (ISBN  2-235-01483-6 )
• Malcolm Billing, The Cross & the Crescent, A History of the Crusades , New York, Sterling Publishing co, 1990 (ISBN  0-8069-7364-1 ) (Paper)
• Louis Bréhier, Byzantium life and death . Coll. The evolution of humanity, Albin Michel, Paris, 1946 and 1969
• Jean-Claude Cheynet (you), The Byzantine world-Tome II-The Byzantine Empire (641-1204) , Coll. History and its problems, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 2007 (ISBN  978-2-13-052007-3 ) erroneous edited
• John Haldon. Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 656-1204 , London & New York, Routledge, 1999 (ISBN  1 85728 495 X ) (paperback)
• Jonathan Harris, Byzantium and The Crusades , London, New York, Hambeldom Continuum, 2003 (ISBN  1 85285 501 0 ) (paperback)
• Judith Herrin. Byzantium, The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire , Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford, 2007 (ISBN  978-0-691-14369-9 ) (pbk)
• (in) Alexander Kazhdan ( you. ), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium , New York et Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991 , first ^re ed. , 3 tom. (ISBN  978-0-19-504652-6 And 0-19-504652-8 , LCCN 90023208 )
• A.P. Kazhds and in Wharton Epstein, Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries , University of California Press, Berkeley, 1985 (ISBN  0-520-06962-5 )
• Frederic C. Lane, Venice, A Maritime Republic , Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 1973 (ISBN  0-8018-1460-X ) (pbk.)
• Thomas F. Madden, Enrico Dandolo & The Rise of Venice , Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 2003 (ISBN  0-8018-7317-7-7 ) (One of the few books which makes a positive judgment on Enrico Dandolo and which considers its actions justified by the circumstances)
• Cyril Mango (ed.), The Oxford History of Byzantium , London, Oxford University Press, 2002 (ISBN  0-19-814098-3 )
• G. Moravcisk, «  Hungary and Byzantium in the Middle Ages  “, In Cambridge Medieval History , IV, part 1, Cambridge, 1966, p. 567-592
• John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice . Penguin Books, London, 1977,1981,1982 (ISBN  0-14-006623-3 ) .
• John Julius Norwich, Byzantium, The Decline and Fall , New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1996 (ISBN  0-679-41650-1 ) . (The work presents itself in three volumes: Byzantium: the Early Centuries ; Byzantium: The Apogee ; Byzantium: The Decline and Fall , with a double pagination, successive for the three volumes and individuals for each of them; It is the latter that we use in the references).
• Georges Ostrogorsky. History of the Byzantine State , Payot, Paris, 1983 (ISBN  2-228-07061-0 )
• Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades , 3 vols., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1951-1954.
• Steven Runciman, The Eastern Schism, A Study of the Papacy and the Eastern Churches during the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1955 (ISBN  0-19-826417-8 )
• Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society , Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1997 (ISBN  0-8047-26302 )