“Of the Franks (generic term for Crusaders at the time) at Constantinople, Speros Vyronis writes "For three days they murdered, raped, looted and destroyed on a scale which even the ancient Vandals and Goths would have found unbelievable. They smashed the silver iconostasis, the icons and the holy books of Hagia Sophia, and seated upon the patriarchal throne a whore who sang coarse songs as they drank wine from the Church’s holy vessels.” It was even worse that the Crusaders were giving up on the Holy Lands and sacking a Christian city after more than a century of East/West hostility and suspicion regarding the Crusades.“