Massacre of the Latins

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The Massacre of the Latins 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...

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