
Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople in 1204, lithographic illustration from 'Bibliotheque des Croisades' by J-F. Michaud, 1877
The Fourth Crusade, launched in 1202, was meant to reclaim the Holy Lands via an invasion of Egypt. Instead, the rapacious Crusaders, with the blessing of the Italian Cardinal Peter of Capua, papal legate to the East, ended up sacking the Byzantine Christian metropolis of Constantinople. Amid the slaughter and pillage that followed, Peter managed to relieve the Byzantines of a number of their holy relics, including the supposed remains of St. Andrew, which were taken to Peter’s home town of Amalfi.