Sir [[w:Edward Gibbon|Edward Gibbon]] stated that the spoils taken during one week in Constantinople equalled seven times the whole revenue of England at that time<ref>Treece, Henry. ''The Crusades''. London, 1962</ref>. The four magnificent bronze horses over the portals of San Marco's Basilica in Venice were snatched from the Byzantine hippodrome, standing monuments of one of the greatest acts of brigandage in history.

A Roman Catholic patriarch was established and attempted to introduce Roman Catholicism by force. The new Venetian Patriarch in Constantinople, Tommaso Morosini, was appointed by the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo (the main person who engineered the diversion of the Fourth Crusade); and according to Gibbon, the Venetians employed every art to perpetuate in their own nation the honors and benefices of the Greek church. Morosini appealed to the Pope for aid, and being unable to serve so many derisive masters, he died a madman. The new papal legate, Pelagius, rode into Constantinople dressed in scarlet from head to foot, like a Greek Emperor himself, and soon asserted that the easy days were over: Thenceforth the Greek clergy must adapt themselves in all religious rites and beliefs to those of the Church of Rome. He was prepared to wade through blood, he quickly showed, should the Orthodox Greeks deny any part of his assertion<ref>Treece, Henry. ''The Crusades''. London, 1962. pp.230-231</ref>.

[[Image:Greece_in_1214.JPG|right|thumb|Greece in 1214]]

===Recovery===