The destruction of books in the Fourth Crusade

Four Horses of St Marks Venice

The Fourth Crusade in 1204 CE is marked as a point in time when we have historical evidence that supports the destruction of books by the crusaders. Their intentions were to recapture Jerusalem from Muslim control, but after amassing a great debt in Venice, plans changed and they decided to capture Constantinople.

As (Murray 2009) indicates, the city of Constantinople was captured and ransacked by the crusaders in 1204 CE during this period of time the crusaders considered Orthodox religious books heretical, monasteries and libraries were looted, they would strip the rich covers and bindings and would destroy the books.

The reason that the Christians of the west would consider the eastern Christian books heretical is that in 1054 CE Christianity was divided in two groups, the East were the Orthodox Christians and in the West there were Catholic Christians (the great schism). Each side considered themselves to be the correct path of Christianity and the other to be heretical. (Polastron 2007) specifies that the Franks who were part of the crusade had no time for scribes and scholars. At the end of their spears they had inkpots and sheets of paper that they would parade in the streets. As the Greek historian Nicetas says “ignorant folk who were so openly illiterate and barbaric." Villerhardoin states “Splendid palaces full of ancient art works and classical manuscripts were annihilated.” Even Saladin who captured Jerusalem for the Muslims seventeen years earlier acted more decently.

(Staikos 2000) agrees with (Palatsron 2007) and reveals that many books were destroyed and used for fuelling fireplaces, those that survived were stripped and their valuable bindings were taken to St Mark’s in Venice which can be seen there today. Michael Choniates (c. 1138-1222) a book lover and later Archbishop of Athens wrote regarding the crusaders "A donkey would be more likely to appreciate the sound of the lyre, or a perfume jar the fragrance of the unguent, than those men to appreciate the delights of harmony and words.”

Ever wondered where the Horses of St Marks in Venice came from? The bronze statues were part of the ransacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade (pictured above). From what I discovered regarding this point in time is that the Fourth Crusade appears to be the destruction of property including books and the looting of valuable items. The crusaders remained in Constantinople from 1204-1261 CE when they were finally cast out. I located three monographs regarding the Fourth Crusade, I found that I was required to add some historical insight to the blog as the authors assume that you are acquainted with the schism of the Christian church, Saladin and the Fourth Crusade. I was again unable to locate a vast amount of  information in regard to this topic.


Murray, SAP 2009, The library: an illustrated history, Skyhorse Publishing, New York.
Polastron, LX 2007, Books on fire: the tumultuous story of the world’s great libraries, Thames and Hudson, London.
Staikos, K 2000, The great libraries: from antiquity to the renaissance, Oak Knoll Press, Delaware.