About the book: year / Devastatio Constantinopolitana (Destruction of Constantinople, hereafter DC) is a short, mostly first-hand account of the Fourth Crusade, covering the period from the sermon Peter of Capua in France in 1198, incorrectly dated in DC to 1202, before the division of the spoils of Constantinople in the spring of 1204. The straightforward, fact-rich nature of the text and the abundance of dates give reason to believe that the author used entries from a personal journal. At the same time, structural and thematic connections suggest that the text is not an ordinary diary, but a work of a historical nature. Meanwhile, the date of creation of the source is unclear. In the scene that opens the text, the author says that the arrival of Cardinal Peter in France took place “at the time when the Roman Church was headed by Innocent III.” This suggests that the text was written after July 16, 1216, i.e. death of Pope Innocent III, but there is no data to determine the date before which the text was completed.