Then, after the crusaders failed to take Zara and were still broke, a would-be Byzantine emperor named Alexius III promised the crusaders that he would pay them if they helped him out, so the excommunicated Catholic crusaders fought on behalf of the Orthodox Alexius, who soon became emperor in Constantinople. But it took Alexius a while to come up with the money he'd promised the crusaders, so they were waiting around in Constantinople, and then Alexius was suddenly dethroned by the awesomely named Morsophos, leaving the crusaders stuck in Constantinople with no money. Christian warriors couldn't very well sack the largest city in Christendom, could they? Well, it turns out they could, and boy did they. They took all the wealth they could find, killed and raped Christians as they went, stole the statues of horses that now adorn St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, and retook exactly none of the Holy Land. Thanks, Thought Bubble. So you'd think this disaster would discredit the whole notion of crusading, right?