Η μείωση του πληθυσμού της πόλης
The sieges, the fighting, the fires and the Latin sack soon after the conquest inflicted severe material damage upon extensive sections of Constantinople, yet most of the urban territory was spared, especially areas with low population density. The events of 1203-1204 also caused a massive exodus of Greek population. The contraction of the urban economy contributed to the continuation of this outward flow in the following years, though on a smaller scale. these demographic losses were not compensated by the fairly low rate of Latin immigration that began in 1204.
Jacoby, D., “The Urban Evolution of Latin Constantinople (1204-1261)”, στο Necipoğlu, N. (επιμ.), Byzantine Constantinople. Monuments, Topography and Everyday (Leiden – Boston – Köln 2001), σελ. 280.
Η κατάσταση των ιταλικών εμπορικών παροικιών
In the twelfth century, Latins and Greeks involved in economic activities linked to maritime trade concentrated mainly in the area extending along the Golden Horn. This was also the case in the Latin period, but the events of 1203-124 resulted in some important developments in thta urban area. The Genoese quarter did not suffer from fires or fighting, yet it would seem that the tense relations between Genoa and Venice, the dominant maritime power in Latin Constantinople, prevented the return of that quarter's former residents and severely restricted economic activity within its boundaries. In any event, it ceased to be an autonomous area, despite four agreements concluded from 1218 to 1251 between Genoa and Venice. Genoese trade in Constantinpole appears to have resumed only after the treaty of 1232, and while there may have been some Genoese settlers before 1261, these were dispersed throughout the city. The autonomous Pisan quarter survived after the conquest. Yet the heavy damage it had suffered in August 1203 must have severely limited the resettlement of its former residents, prevented any later population growth and restricted its economic activity. [...] The decline of the Genoese and Pisan quarters after 1204 were among the factors that generated a shift in favor of Venice's ancient quarter, which became the hub of economic activity and apparently one of teh most dense occupied areas of Constantinople.
Jacoby, D., “The Urban Evolution of Latin Constantinople (1204-1261)”, στο Necipoğlu, N. (επιμ.), Byzantine Constantinople. Monuments, Topography and Everyday (Leiden – Boston – Köln 2001), σελ. 283.
Η παρακμή των εκκλησιών
The state of the ecclesiastical buildings in Latin Constantinople depended upon factors other than those affecting private ones. It is impossible to determine prcisely how many Greek institutions were destroyed by the fires of 1203-1204, abandoned later or taken over by the Latins until 1261. In any event, the economic condition of most urban churches and monsteries, whether in Greek or Latin hands, deteriorated substantially as a result of the conquest. Many of them were deprived of the revenue previously accuring from their widely scattered provincial estates, either because these were situated after 1204 in Byzantine territory or had been confiscated by Latin lords, as agreed between the crusader leaders and the Doge, Enrico Dandolo. Popes Innocent III and Honorius III urged the Latin emperors and Venice to indemnify the churches and monasteries for their losses. A financial settlement was eventually reached in 1223, by which laymen were to provide an eleventh of their income to these institutions. In Constantinople, however, the patriarch was the only beneficiary of that agreement.
Jacoby, D., “The Urban Evolution of Latin Constantinople (1204-1261)”, στο Necipoğlu, N. (επιμ.), Byzantine Constantinople. Monuments, Topography and Everyday (Leiden – Boston – Köln 2001), σελ. 285.