Massacre of the Latins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Massacre of the Latins
Map of Constantinople in the Byzantine period. The Latin quarters are captioned in purple.
Location	Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
Date	April 1182
Target	Roman Catholics ("Latins")
Attack type	Massacre
Deaths	several tens of thousands
Perpetrators	Andronikos Komnenos, Greek Eastern Christian mob

The Massacre of the Latins was a terrible event that happened in April 1182. Many Roman Catholic people, often called "Latins," were killed in Constantinople. This city was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The people who lived there, mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians, attacked the Latins.

At that time, Roman Catholics in Constantinople were very important for the city's sea trade and money business. We don't know the exact number, but about 60,000 Latins lived there. Most of them were killed or had to run away. The communities from Genoa and Pisa were hit especially hard. About 4,000 people who survived were sold as slaves to the (Turkish) Sultanate of Rum.

This massacre made things much worse between the Western (Catholic) and Eastern Christian churches. It led to more fights and bad feelings between them.

Why it Happened

From the late 1000s, merchants from Western Europe started coming to the East. These were mainly from Italian cities like Venice, Genoa, and Pisa. The Venetians were first. They got special trading rights from the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos.

These special rights grew over time. Also, the Byzantine Empire's navy wasn't very strong back then. This meant the Venetians almost completely controlled sea trade and had a lot of power over the Empire.

Changing Power

Alexios' grandson, Manuel I Komnenos, wanted to reduce Venice's power. So, he started to take away some of their special rights. Instead, he made deals with Venice's rivals: Pisa, Genoa, and Amalfi. Slowly, all four Italian cities were allowed to set up their own neighborhoods in Constantinople. These were in the northern part of the city, near the Golden Horn.

The Italian merchants became very powerful. This caused big economic and social problems in the Byzantine Empire. It made local merchants less important. Instead, big traders who worked with rich landowners became more powerful. These landowners also started to own huge amounts of land. People in the middle and lower classes, both in the countryside and cities, felt angry. They also thought the Italians were arrogant.

Religious Differences

The religious differences made the problem even worse. Both sides saw each other as "schismatics," meaning they believed the other church was wrong. The Italians were also hard for the emperor to control. For example, in 1162, people from Pisa and some Venetians attacked the Genoese neighborhood in Constantinople. They caused a lot of damage. After this, Emperor Manuel kicked most of the Genoese and Pisans out of the city. This gave the Venetians control for several years.

In early 1171, the Venetians attacked and destroyed much of the Genoese neighborhood in Constantinople. The Emperor fought back by ordering all Venetians in the Empire to be arrested. Their property was also taken away. Houses were burned too. A Venetian fleet then tried to attack in the Aegean Sea, but it failed. The Emperor's forces were too strong for a direct attack. The Venetians agreed to talk, but the Emperor purposely delayed the talks. The Venetian fleet waited at Chios through the winter. Then, a disease broke out, forcing them to leave.

The Venetians and the Empire stayed at war. The Venetians avoided direct fights. Instead, they supported Serb uprisings and attacked Ancona, which was Byzantium's last stronghold in Italy. They also signed a deal with the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Relations slowly got better. There's a record of a peace deal in 1179. But full peace didn't happen until the mid-1180s. Meanwhile, the Genoese and Pisans benefited from the fight with Venice. By 1180, it's thought that up to 60,000 Latins lived in Constantinople.

The Massacre Begins

Emperor Manuel I died in 1180. His wife, Maria of Antioch, who was a Latin princess, became the ruler for her young son, Alexios II Komnenos. People didn't like her rule because she seemed to favor Latin merchants and rich landowners. In April 1182, Andronikos I Komnenos took over. He entered the city with a lot of public support.

Almost right away, the celebrations turned violent. People started attacking the Latins, whom they hated. A mob entered the Latin quarter of the city and began attacking the people there.

Many Latins had seen this coming and escaped by sea. But for those who stayed, the killing was random. Homes, churches, and places that helped the poor were all robbed. Latin church leaders were especially targeted. Cardinal John, who was the Pope's representative, was even beheaded.

Andronikos himself didn't have strong anti-Latin feelings. But he let the massacre happen without stopping it. He had encouraged the people of Constantinople to feel anti-Latin. He told them that the empress and her chief minister had promised the Latins they could rob the city if they supported them.

During the massacre, Empress Maria was put under house arrest. She was later killed.

What Happened Next

The massacre made the Byzantines look even worse in Western Europe. Even though regular trade deals soon started again between Byzantium and Latin countries, the bad feelings remained. This led to a series of conflicts. In 1185, a Sicilian army led by William II of Sicily attacked and robbed Thessalonica, the Empire's second-largest city. German emperors Frederick Barbarossa and Henry VI also threatened to attack Constantinople.

The worsening relationship finally led to the brutal attack and looting of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. This event permanently separated the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. However, the massacre itself is not as well-known. Historian Warren Carroll pointed out that "Historians who get very upset and angry—for good reason—about the looting of Constantinople ... rarely ever mention the massacre of the Westerners in ... 1182."

Leo Tuscus, a translator and Byzantine official who was born in Italy, was one of the Latins who survived the massacre.

See also

• Venetian–Genoese Wars
• Battle of Demetritzes
• East–West Schism
• Catholic-Eastern Orthodox relations