sade and chronicled all its events from 1198 to 1207.

THE SACK OF CONSTANTINOPLE[5]

(1204)

This night passed and the day came which was Thursday morning (13
April, 1204), and then every one in the camp armed themselves, the
knights and the soldiers, and each one joined his battle corps. The
Marquis of Montferrat advanced toward the palace of Bucoleon; and
having occupied it, determined to spare the lives of all those he
found therein. There were found there women of the highest rank, and
of the most honorable character; the sister of the King of France who
had been an empress; and the sister of the King of Hungary, and other
women of quality. Of the treasure that there was in the palace, I can
not speak; for there was so much that it was without end or measure.
Besides this palace which was surrendered to the Marquis Boniface of
Montferrat, that of Blachem was surrendered to Henry, brother of Count
Baldwin of Flanders.

[Footnote 5: From the "Chronicles." This work is important; first, as
a record, generally accepted as eminently trustworthy, and second, for
its literary excellence, in which sense it has been held in peculiar
esteem. George Saintsbury remarks that those chronicles "are by
universal consent among the most attractive works of the Middle Ages."
They comprize one of the oldest extant examples of French prose. The
passage here given was translated for this collection from the old
French by Eric Arthur Bell. A translation by T. Smith was published in
1829.

This sack of Constantinople followed what is known as the Latin
Conquest. More than thirty sieges of the city have occurred. After the
conquest here referred to Constantinople was occupied by the Latins.
It was finally wrested from them by Michael Palaeologus. The conquest
of 1204 was achieved during the Fourth Crusade. By Latin Conquest is
meant a conquest by Western Christians as against its long-time Greek
rulers. This conquest was also inspired by the commercial ambition of
the Venetians, who had long coveted what were believed to be the
fabulous riches of the city. The Latin Empire survived for fifty-six
years in a state of almost constant weakness. The conquest had no
direct relation to the original purpose of the Crusades, which was the
recovery of Jerusalem from the hands of the infidels.]

The booty that was found here was so great that it can only be
compared to that which was found in Bucoleon.[6] Each soldier filled
the room