For 1,123 years, Constantinople remained the capital of the Byzantine Empire - the longest-lived and most continuously inspired Christian empire in the world. In this, the third and final volume of John Julius Norwich's magnificent and moving history, he tells of the dire consequences of the defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the battle of Manzikert in 1071; of the Fourth Crusade, whose Crusaders - led by the octogenarian Doge of Venice - turned their attention away from the Holy Places to hurl themselves against Constantinople, sacking the city and setting up a succession of Frankish thugs on the imperial throne; and of the two-hundred-year struggle by the restored Empire against the inexorable advance of the Ottoman Turks.
Chapter 1. The Rise of Alexius 1081
Chapter 2. The Normans 1081—91
Chapter 3. The First Crusade 1091—1108
Chapter 4. Alexius — The Last Years 1108-18
Chapter 5. John the Beautiful 1118-43
Chapter 6. The Second Crusade 1143-9
Chapter 7. Realignments 1149-58
Chapter 8. Manuel Comnenus — The Later Years 1158-80
Chapter 9. Andronicus the Terrible 1180-85
Chapter 10. The Fall of Jerusalem 1185-98
Chapter 11. The Fourth Crusade 1198-1205
Chapter 12. The Empire in Exile 1205-53
Chapter 13. The City Recovered 1253-61
Chapter 14. The Angevin Threat 1261—70
Chapter 15. The Uncertain Unity 1270-82
Chapter 16. The Catalan Vengeance 1282—1311
Chapter 17. The Two Andronici 1307-41
Chapter 19. The Reluctant Emperor 1347-54
Chapter 20. The Sultan's Vassal 1354-91
Chapter 21. The Appeal to Europe 1391-1402
Chapter 22. The Legacy of Tamburlaine 1402-25
Chapter 23. Laetentur Coeli! 1425-48