Note 81 — Chapter IX · THE LATIN EMPIRE [1204-1261 A.D.]

One edition of Villehardouinb makes the plunder of Constantinople amount to 500,000 silver marks, equivalent to 24,000,000 francs; if we add to this sum the 50,000 marks due to the Venetians, and deducted before the division, and the part which they had in the division itself, we shall find the total amount of booty 50,400,000 francs [about £2,100,000, or $10,500,000]. As much, says the modern historian who supplies us with this note, perhaps, was appropriated secretly by individuals. The three fires which had consumed more than half the city had destroyed at least as much of its riches, and in the profusion that followed the pillage, the most precious effects had lost so much of their value, that the advantage of the Latins probably was not equivalent to a quarter of what they had cost the Greeks. Thus we may suppose that Constantinople, before the attack, contained 600,000,000 francs of wealth [£25,000,000 or $125,000,000].