Alexios IV Angelos
Alexios IV Angelos was the son of the blinded Isaac II who approached the leaders of the Fourth Crusade with a fateful offer: help him restore his father to the Byzantine throne and he would pay their debts, supply their army, submit the Greek church to Rome, and join the crusade to Egypt. The Crusade's leadership, mired in debt, accepted. In July 1203 the Crusaders appeared before Constantinople, and Alexios III fled. Alexios IV and his blind father Isaac II were restored as co-emperors. But Alexios IV now found himself unable to deliver on his extravagant promises. The Byzantine church rejected union with Rome. The treasury was empty. He attempted to extract funds by demanding money from monasteries and melting church treasures, which infuriated the population. In January 1204, the powerful court official Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos seized him, had him strangled, and proclaimed himself emperor. Alexios IV's reign had lasted barely six months and his naive reliance on the Crusaders had set in motion the events that would end in the sack of Constantinople in April 1204.
- Lived: 1182 CE – 1204 CE
- Nationality: byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
