Crusaders sack Christian Zara for Venice
1202
Unable to pay their passage, the Fourth Crusade's knights agreed to capture the Adriatic port of Zara on Venice's behalf. Pope Innocent III excommunicated the entire host for drawing swords against fellow Catholics, then quietly rescinded the sentence against the French. The precedent of holy warriors serving commercial interests would repeat itself, with greater consequences, at Constantinople the following year.
In context
Also in 1202 (3 other events on record)
- Fibonacci publishes Liber Abaci · Europe · Science
- Anasazi begin cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde · North America · Culture
- Champagne fairs at their medieval peak · Europe · Culture
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in War
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources