Fourth Crusade. Second assault on Constantinople. This time the Greeks resist the Crusader assault with greater tenacity. But the Venetians also deploy their forces with greater skill, such as placing the fighting platforms on the mainmasts so as to be higher than the tops of the Byzantine towers. The ships are also covered with soaked cloths to protect them from Greek fire. Twice, attempts to burn the fleet are thwarted, while on land the city blazes again. This time the entire attack comes from the sea. After various vicissitudes, the pitching of a ship hurls first a Venetian and then a Frenchman onto a tower, where they manage to tie a rope to a battlement and raise the Crusader standards. Once one tower is captured, many others fall. The gates are opened, and the invaders rush to sack the city. Three days of murder, robbery, rape, and sacrilege followed. The loot collected (aside from that secretly set aside) amounted to 400,000 marks and 10,000 suits of armor. The sum of 35,000 marks owed to the Venetians was finally paid. The four bronze horses (once located in Rome atop a triumphal arch) that overlooked the stadium in Constantinople were carried to the façade of St. Mark’s, proving that the Venetians had chosen their share of the loot wisely.
