Massacre of the Latins

The Massacre of the Latins was a large-scale massacre of the Roman Catholics, called Latins, in Constantinople in April 1182. The Roman Catholics at the time dominated the city’s maritime trade and financial sector. Discontent among the city’s Eastern Orthodox citizens resulted in riots and mobs running through Catholic neighborhoods of the city, killing Catholics and looting their property. 60,000 Latins were killed or forced to flee. Some 4,000 who survived were sold as slaves to the Turks. The massacre soured Constantinople’s relationship with the Roman Catholic church. It resulted in the Fourth Crusade, when the Latins from Italy and Europe came to Constantinople and sacked it, burning much of the city, including the Hagia Sophia, and taking anything of value back to Europe.