In January 1204, the aged Isaac II passed away. In February, Alexios was strangled to death by a rival nobleman who declared himself emperor. The upstart emperor refused to pay the crusaders, and in response, in April 1204, the crusaders sacked Constantinople. They raped and pillaged. They burned large portions of the city to the ground. They destroyed art and looted large stores of wealth. In the aftermath of the war, the Byzantine Empire was dismembered and three-eighths of its territory passed to the Venetian Republic.
