109 ([return])
[ See the final expulsion of the Franks, in Sanutus, l. iii. p. xii. c. 11—22; Abulfeda, Macrizi, &c., in De Guignes, tom. iv. p. 162, 164; and Vertot, tom. i. l. iii. p. 307—428. *
Note: * After these chapters of Gibbon, the masterly prize composition, “Essai sur ‘Influence des Croisades sur l’Europe,” par A H. L. Heeren: traduit de l’Allemand par Charles Villars, Paris, 1808,’ or the original German, in Heeren’s “Vermischte Schriften,” may be read with great advantage.—M.]
Chapter LX: The Fourth Crusade.—Part I.
Schism Of The Greeks And Latins.—State Of Constantinople.—
Revolt Of The Bulgarians.—Isaac Angelus Dethroned By His
Brother Alexius.—Origin Of The Fourth Crusade.—Alliance Of
The French And Venetians With The Son Of Isaac.—Their Naval
Expedition To Constantinople.—The Two Sieges And Final
Conquest Of The City By The Latins.
The restoration of the Western empire by Charlemagne was speedily followed by the separation of the Greek and Latin churches. [1] A religious and national animosity still divides the two largest communions of the Christian world; and the schism of Constantinople,
by alienating her most useful allies, and provoking her most dangerous
enemies, has precipitated the decline and fall of the Roman empire in the East.
1 ([return])
[ In the successive centuries, from the ixth to the xviiith, Mosheim traces the schism of the Greeks with learning, clearness, and impartiality; the filioque (Institut. Hist. Ecclés. p. 277,) Leo III. p. 303 Photius, p. 307, 308. Michael Cerularius, p. 370, 371, &c.]