pecially to the infancy, life, and passion of
Christ, and to the saints popular in the West.

In the years which followed the conquest Latin priests were sent to
Constantinople from France, Flanders, and Italy, to take charge of the
churches in the city. These priests appear to have been great hunters
after relics. Thus it came to pass that there was scarcely an
important church or monastery in most Western countries which did not
possess some share of the spoil which came from Constantinople.

For some years the demand for relics seemed to be insatiable, and
caused fresh supplies to be forthcoming to an almost unlimited extent.
The new relics, equally with the old, were certified in due form to be
what they professed to be. Documents, duly attested and full of
detailed evidence--sometimes, doubtless, manufactured for the
occasion--easily satisfied those to whom it was of importance to
possess certified relics, and throughout the West the demand for
relics which might bring profit to their possessors continued to
increase. At length the Church deemed it necessary to put a stop to
the supply, and especially to that of the apocryphal and legendary
acts which testified to their authenticity, and in 1215 the fourth
Lateran council judged it necessary to make a decree enjoining the
bishops to take means to prevent pilgrims from being deceived.

LATIN EMPIRE OF THE EAST

ITS FOUNDATION AND FALL

A.D. 1204-1261

W.J. BRODRIBB AND SIR WALTER BESANT

As a result of the intrigues connected with the Fifth
Crusade, in which crusaders and Venetians--the latter for
their own commercial advantage--jointly participated, it was
decided to capture Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine
empire, and to partition the empire itself among the
captors. The combined forces of the Latins accordingly made
two assaults upon the capital of their Eastern
fellow-Christians, who had from the first made passive
opposition to the crusades, fearing for the integrity of
their empire. The city succumbed to the second attack and
was thoroughly plundered. The division of the empire was
especially insisted upon by Dandolo, the aged doge, who led
the Venetians in the expedition.

The Venetians well knew that whoever held the city of
Constantinople held the key of the East. It proved in the
end that they had an imperfect knowledge of the strength and
re