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Massacre of the Latins

Coordinates: 41°00′58″N 28°58′30″E / 41.016°N 28.975°E / 41.016; 28.975
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Massacre of the Latins
Map of Constantinople in the Byzantine period. The Latin quarters are captioned in purple.
Location41°00′58″N 28°58′30″E / 41.016°N 28.975°E / 41.016; 28.975
Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
DateApril 1182
TargetGenoese and Pisan merchants
Attack type
Massacre
Deathsest. less than 3,900
Perpetrators
Motive
  • Displeasure with the merchants' wealth and privileged status
  • Desire to plunder

The Massacre of the Latins[1] was a massacre of Genoese and Pisans in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in April 1182.

After Manuel I Komnenos' death in 1180, the Genoese and the Pisans of Constantinople dominated the city's maritime trade and financial sector, largely due to favouritism by the Latin princess and regent Maria of Antioch. This caused a coup d'etat in April 1182 by Andronikos I Komnenos, who entered the city with a wave of popular support.

Almost immediately after the coup, violence erupted in the Latin quarters, inhabited by Genoese and Pisans, ending up in a massacre. Although Andronikos himself had no particular anti-Latin attitude, he allowed his Paphlagonian henchmen and the Constantinopolitan mob to proceed with the massacre unchecked. Displeasure with their wealth and privileged status of the merchants, as well as a desire by the mob to plunder and loot, are considered to have been the motives for the massacre.

Although precise numbers are unavailable, most Genoese and Pisans, which are estimated at less than 3,900 individuals, were either wiped out or forced to flee.

The impact of the massacre was negligible; it was almost immediately forgotten and only helped Venice re-establish relations with the Byzantine Empire, as their mercantile opponents, the Genoese and the Pisans, had been eliminated from the city.

Background

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From the late 11th century, Western merchants, primarily from the Italian city-states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, had started appearing in the East. The first had been the Venetians, who had secured large-scale trading concessions from Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Subsequent extensions of these privileges and Byzantium's own naval impotence at the time resulted in a virtual maritime monopoly and stranglehold over the Empire by the Venetians.[2]

Alexios' grandson, Manuel I Komnenos, wishing to reduce their influence, began to reduce the privileges of Venice while concluding agreements with her rivals: Pisa, Genoa, and Amalfi.[3] Gradually, all four Italian cities were also allowed to establish their own quarters in the northern part of Constantinople itself, towards the Golden Horn.

The predominance of the Italian merchants caused economic and social upheaval in Byzantium: it accelerated the decline of the independent native merchants in favour of big exporters, who became tied to the landed aristocracy, who in turn increasingly amassed large estates.[4] Together with the perceived arrogance of the Italians, it fueled popular resentment amongst the middle and lower classes both in the countryside and in the cities.[4] Displeasure with the merchants' wealth and privileged status, but also a desire by the mob to plunder and loot, are considered the motives for the massacre.[5]

The religious differences between the two sides, who viewed each other as schismatics, further exacerbated the problem. The Italians proved uncontrollable by imperial authority: in 1162, for instance, the Pisans together with a few Venetians raided the Genoese quarter in Constantinople, causing much damage.[4] Emperor Manuel subsequently expelled most of the Genoese and Pisans from the city, thus giving the Venetians a free hand for several years.[6]

In early 1171, however, when the Venetians attacked and largely destroyed the Genoese quarter in Constantinople, the Emperor retaliated by ordering the mass arrest of all Venetians throughout the Empire and the confiscation of their property. A subsequent Venetian expedition in the Aegean failed: a direct assault was impossible due to the strength of the imperial forces, and the Venetians agreed to negotiations, which the Emperor stalled intentionally. As talks dragged on through the winter, the Venetian fleet waited at Chios, until an outbreak of the plague forced them to withdraw.[7]

The Venetians and the Empire remained at war, with the Venetians prudently avoiding direct confrontation but sponsoring Serb uprisings, besieging Ancona, Byzantium's last stronghold in Italy, and signing a treaty with the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.[8] Relations were only gradually normalized: there is evidence of a treaty in 1179,[9] although a full restoration of relations would only be reached in the mid-1180s.[10] Meanwhile, the Genoese and the Pisans profited from the dispute with Venice.[4]

Death of Manuel I and massacre

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Following the death of Manuel I in 1180, his widow, the Latin princess Maria of Antioch, acted as regent to her infant son Alexios II Komnenos. Her regency was notorious for the favoritism shown to Latin merchants and the big aristocratic land-owners, and was overthrown in April 1182 by Andronikos I Komnenos, who entered the city with a wave of popular support.[4][11] Almost immediately, the celebrations spilled over into violence towards the hated Latins (Genoese and Pisans[12]), and after entering the city's Latin quarter, a mob began attacking the inhabitants.[13]

Many had anticipated the events and escaped by sea.[14] During the massacre, houses, churches, and charities were looted.[13] According to William of Tyre, the massacre was indiscriminate. He describes an event in which Cardinal John, the papal legate, was allegedly "murdered and his head was cut off and dragged through the streets fastened to the tail of a dog".[5][14][15] However, William was not a direct witness of the event and his account can be considered to have been exaggerated or biased,[16] as he is considered "notorious" for his anti-Byzantine bias.[5]

Although Andronikos himself had no particular anti-Latin attitude, he allowed the massacre to proceed unchecked.[17] According to William of Tyre, the massacre was the work of Andronikos' "innumerable troops of barbarian nations" (referring to Andronikos' Paphlagonian troops[5]) aided by a local mob.[5] Andronikos had managed to incite the anti-Latin sentiment of the mob, on the grounds that the empress and the protosebastos had bought Latin support by promising them the chance of plundering the city.[18]

During the massacre Empress Maria was arrested, before eventually being executed.[19]

Impact

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The massacre received negligible attention, at the time, and it quickly disappeared from the memories of the Latins in Constantinople.[5] In fact, some Genoese and Pisans, despite having been victims of the massacre, fought on the side of the Byzantine Empire during the Sack of Constantinople (Fourth Crusade) in 1204.[20]

Only a handful of Venetians were present in Constantinople during the massacre, as they were prohibited from doing business there, and the few who remained escaped the city safely, as they were warned by certain people, presumably by their Greek friends.[5][21] The only reference to the massacre in Venetian records appears tucked away in a commercial document made in Alexandria in June 1182.[21] Venetian chroniclers made no mention of the events and the Republic never requested restitution for damages from later Byzantine emperors either.[21]

Indeed, the events were a "boon" for Venice.[21] It greatly benefited from the massacre, as their Genoese and Pisan opponents were eliminated from the city and Andronikos was forced to turn to Venice for support.[12][21] According to historian Thomas F. Madden:[12]

The massacre of Pisans and Genoese was a stroke of good fortune for Venice, as it obliged Andronicus I (1183-5) to turn to Venice during his short reign for military support against the Normans, Genoese, and Pisans.

Death toll

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The death toll of the massacre is unknown, but it is assumed to have been between 1,300 and certainly under 6,000. Although Eustathios of Thessalonica estimated that up to 60,000 Latins lived in Constantinople,[4] this number is considered greatly exaggerated.[5][22][23] In 1162, the Genoese chronicle of Caffaro di Rustico da Caschifellone recorded that the to-be victims of the massacre, the Pisans and the Genoese, numbered 1,000 and 300 respectively.[5] Within twenty years, it is considered "hardly possible that their number increased more than a maximum of three times in the following two decades", i.e. 3,900.[5]

The Pisan translator and Byzantine chancery official Leo Tuscus was among the Latins who survived the massacre.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ (Italian: Massacro dei Latini; Greek: Σφαγὴ τῶν Λατίνων, lit. 'Sfagí tón Latínon')
  2. ^ Birkenmeier, John W. (2002). The Development of the Komnenian Army: 1081–1180. BRILL. pp. 39. ISBN 90-04-11710-5 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ Nicol 1988, p. 94.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Ducellier 1986, pp. 506–508.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Neocleous, Savvas (2013). "Greeks and Italians in Twelfth-Century Constantinople: Convivencia or Conflict?". In Crostini, Barbara; La Porta, Sergio (eds.). Negotiating Co-existence: Communities, Cultures and Convivencia in Byzantine Society. WVT, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier. pp. 221–250. ISBN 978-3-86821-504-5.
  6. ^ Nicol 1988, p. 95.
  7. ^ Nicol 1988, pp. 97–99.
  8. ^ Nicol 1988, p. 100.
  9. ^ Nicol 1988, p. 101.
  10. ^ Madden, Thomas F. (2003). Enrico Dandolo & the Rise of Venice. JHU Press. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-0-8018-7317-1 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ Nicol 1988, p. 106.
  12. ^ a b c Madden, Thomas F. (1995). "Outside and Inside the Fourth Crusade". The International History Review. 17 (4): 726–743. ISSN 0707-5332.
  13. ^ a b Vasiliev, Aleksandr (1958). History of the Byzantine Empire. 2. Vol. 2. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 446. ISBN 978-0-299-80926-3 – via Internet Archive. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  14. ^ a b Nicol 1988, p. 107.
  15. ^ Carroll, Warren (1993). The Glory of Christendom, Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press, pp. 157, 131
  16. ^ Melicharová, Petra (2004). "William of Tyre: shaping of anti-Byzantine sentiments in the period preceding the fourth crusade". Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity. C, Řada historická. 53 (C51): [5]–16. ISSN 0231-7710.
  17. ^ Harris, Jonathan (2006). Byzantium and the Crusades, ISBN 978-1-85285-501-7, pp. 111-112
  18. ^ Garland, Lynda (1999). Byzantine Empresses, Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204. London and New York: Routledge. p. 208. ISBN 0-415-14688-7 – via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ Niketas Choniates, Histories pp. 267-269 van Dieten; cf. Eustathios of Thessalonica, Sack of Thessalonica.
  20. ^ Lock, Peter (2013). The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. Routledge. p. 389. ISBN 978-1-135-13137-1.
  21. ^ a b c d e Madden, Thomas F. (2006). Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice. JHU Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8018-9184-7.
  22. ^ Bassett, Sarah (2022). The Cambridge Companion to Constantinople. Cambridge University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-108-49818-0.
  23. ^ Garland, Lynda (2002). Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527-1204. Routledge. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-134-75639-1.
  24. ^ Antonio Rigo (2005). "Leone Toscano". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 64: Latilla–Levi Montalcini. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-88-12-00032-6.

Sources

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