The Fall of the New Rome (1)
The Sack of the New Rome on a Venetian mosaic https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frammenti_di_mosaico_pavimentale_del_1213,_09.JPG I have finished collecting data about the sack of Constantinople by a crusading army in 1204. The material is so extensive that it covers about one and a half "notebooks." By a "notebook," I mean up to 150 pages completed in Colibri 11. I have found several sources compiled by the witnesses, both Roman and Latin. On the Roman side, we have the superb "Annals of Niketas Choniates," the insider report of a Byzantine historian based in Constantinople who endured the siege and fall of the Queen of Cities. I reread this account and can't help admiring his style and vigor. I will adopt some of his descriptions in other narratives. In the following extract, Niketas refers to the emperor Alexios III Angelos as an unscrupulous pilot plunged in adorable pastime and sensitive to courtly flattery: "Like a steersman com...