Doge Enrico Dandolo,
architect of empire.
With those words, Enrico Dandolo, in his 80s and blind, seized control of the Fourth Crusade (1204). Dandolo was cunning, ruthless, and supremely ambitious. With one stroke he turned a Crusade originally aimed at the Moslem east into an imperialist adventure to secure Venice’s strategic objectives: smashing a rebellion in Zara to halt the Adriatic ambitions of the King of Hungary, and, more importantly, crippling Constantinople in order to control the gateway to the wealth of the East.
“I am aged and infirm and much need have I of quiet and repose: yet there is no one more capable of leading you in this expedition than I am, therefore if you will allow my son to remain here in my place to govern you, I will at once take the cross and go with the pilgrims, to live or die with them, as God shall think fit.”
Constantinople, capital for 1000 years of the Eastern Roman Empire, was a Christian city. Despite dissension among the Crusaders over attacking other Christians, the wealth of the imperial city blinded them, and for three days they looted and burned Constantine’s capital.
“The way in which he dominated events showed that, although the doge of Venice could not go against the views of his councils, he could be as powerful a ruler as any king, especially if he personally commanded the fleet and led it to victory. Enrico Dandolo’s leadership was economic as well as military.”
The Fall of Constantinople painted by Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) for the wall of the Great Council Chamber in the Doge’s Palace.
“...the Doge of Venice, who was an old man and stone blind, stood fully armed on the prow of his galley, with the banner of St. Mark before him, and cried out to his men to drive the ship ashore if they valued their skins. And so they did, and ran the galley ashore, and he and they leapt down and planted the banner before him in the ground. And when the other Venetians saw the standard of St. Mark and Doge’s galley beached before their own, they were ashamed and followed him ashore.”
The Fall of Constantinople hanging in the Great Council Chamber.
“[The Crusaders] smashed the holy images, hurled sacred relics of the Martyrs into places I am ashamed to mention ...seized the chalices and patens, tore out the jewels and used them as drinking cups... they destroyed the high altar [of Santa Sophia], a work of art admired by all the world...they brought horses and mules into the church, the better to haul off the holy vessels of silver and gold that they had torn from the throne and the pulpit and the doors, and when some beasts slipped and fell they ran them through with their swords, fouling the Church with their blood and ordure.”
In addition to looting, the streets of Constantinople ran with rivers of blood, men and women hacked to death, the women raped and tortured by fellow Christians.
John Julius Norwich (“A History of Venice”) goes on to say, “while the Frenchmen and Flemings abandoned themselves in a frenzy of wholesale destruction, the Venetians kept their heads. They knew beauty when they saw it. They too looted and pillaged and plundered — but they did not destroy. Instead, all that they could lay their hands on they sent back to Venice — beginning with the four great bronze horses which had dominated the Imperial Hippodrome since the days of Constantine… The north and south faces of [St. Mark’s] are also studded with sculptures and reliefs shipped back at the same time; within, in the north transept, hangs the miraculous icon of the Virgin Nicopoeia — Bringer of Victory — which the Emperors used to carry before them into battle; while the Treasury [of St. Mark’s] possesses one of the greatest collections of Byzantine works of art to be found anywhere — a further monument to Venetian rapacity.”
The four bronze horses — the Quadriga — date from classical antiquity and have been attributed by some to the 4th century BC Greek sculptor Lysippos. While 2nd or 3rd century AD is considered far more likely, some scholars claim the naturalistic rendering of the animals and technical expertise point to a Classical Greek origin. They were probably created to top a triumphal arch or some other grand building, perhaps commissioned by the Emperor Septimus Severus. They may originally have been made for the Eastern capital of Constantinople.
The walls of St. Mark’s are encrusted with loot from Constantinople and the Treasure is full of priceless Byzantine art.
Doge Enrico Dandolo wisely avoided becoming the new Emperor of the East. Here he places the ill-fated imperial crown on the head of Baldwin of Flanders. Instead, Dandolo became the “Lord of One Quarter and One-half of One Quarter” (i.e. three eighths) not only of all the loot but also of the territory held by the Byzantines, giving Venice strategic control of the major trade routes.
The route from Venice to Constantinople for the Fourth Crusade is also the map of Venetian-held territory after 1204, making the Serene Republic the Queen of the Mediterranean.