Edward Gibbon, an English historian, published The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. This is Chapter 60 of that work. He follows Rome from the prosperous age of Trajan and the Antonines, around the year 100, through the fall of the West and on to the Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453.

Chapter 60 takes up schism of the Greeks and Latins—State of Constantinople—Revolt of the Bulgarians—Isaac Angelus dethroned by his brother Alexius—Origin of the Fourth Crusade—Alliance of the French and Venetians with the son of Isaac—Their naval expedition to Constantinople—The two sieges and final conquest of the city by the Latins. The footnotes are not in this reading; what you have is the narrative.