The king of Hungary was establishing his rule over the cities
of Dalmatia, which had been lost and reconquered; the last doge
Ordelaf Falier had been assassinated near Zara (Zadar). The Byzantine
emperor John Comnenus had refused in 1118 to recognize the privileges
granted by his predecessors to the Venetians. A besieging Egyptian
fleet had only just withdrawn from Jaffa. The Venetians gave chase,
drew it into battle, and defeated it off Ascalon on 30 May 1123.
Turning south, they captured some merchant ships laden with spices
and precious cargo. Finally they took part in the crusaders' siege
of Tyre, which fell on 7 July 1 124, and obtained their usual privileges.
On its way home the Venetian fleet sacked the Byzantine ports of
the Aegean and the Adriatic. In response to this pressure the concessions
granted by Alexius I
1143 Consilium Sapientium:
From this date we have records of a new body which had recently
been instituted "for the honour and benefit and salvation of our
country," the Council of Wise Men or Consilium Sapientium. This
may have had 35 members as we know it did later, at the beginning
of the 13th century. It was a deliberatory body, with the doge as
president, and was the first nucleus of the later Maggior Consiglio.
1145-53 Totius Istriae Dominator:
Venice's relations with Istria were ones of protection, involving
an obligation to provide defense by sea. These relations had been
strengthened during the reign of Pietro II Orseolo, but dated from
earlier than this. In 932 Capodistria had surrendered at the end
of the economic war which the Venetians had begun in retaliation
for various acts of provocation. This protectorate was transformed
into submission in a series of accords, with Pola and Capodistria
in 1145, and with Pola, Rovigno, Parenzo and Umago between 1148
and 1153. The cities had to swear fidelitas and recognize Venetian
dominion over the mainland. The doge was given the title Totius
Istriae Dominator.
1171 The crisis with the Eastern Empire:
The power of the Venetian traders in Constantinople was shared
by the Genoese and Pisans, who were present in equal numbers. As
diplomatic relations fluctuated, plunder and sacking were employed
as means of exerting pressure and ensuring that privileges were
renewed or extended. Greek resentment at this turned into open crisis
in 1171 when Manuel Comnenus destroyed the Genoese quarter and dispersed
the Venetian colony, arresting residents and confiscating their
goods.
1172 Doge Vitale II Michiel killed: Sebastiano Ziani elected:
Faced with the hostility of the emperor Manuel Comnenus Venice
reacted with force, and doge Vitale II Michiel sailed with a fleet
to the Aegean. He returned with his crew decimated by plague and
without having achieved anything. There were rumours of treachery,
and rebels broke up the Council of Wise Men and pursued the doge,
killing him near San Zaccaria. Sebastiano Ziani, the richest man
in Venice was chosen to succeed him, An indirect method of election
was used for the first time, I I electors being nominated, and their
choice made subject to the assembly's ratification. This was the
beginning of the complex and famous method of election and lottery
which was used in the later centuries.
1177 Pope, emperor, and doge: The Congress of Venice:
"Secure on all sides, fertile, abounding in all things, pleasant,
and with a quiet and peace-loving people," such was Venice in 1177,
when it witnessed the meeting between pope Alexander III and the
emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, who were received by doge Sebastiano
Ziani in St. Mark's. Here the war between the cities of northern
Italy and the Church on one side, and the Hohenstaufen empire on
the other, was brought to an end as a preliminary to the terms of
the peace of Constance. Tradition has it that it was on this occasion
that pope Alexander III presented the ring used in the ceremony
later known as the "marriage with the sea," which had already been
long in existence.
1178 The six Dogal Councillors:
The electoral procedure instituted in 1172 was completed in 1178
with the election of doge Orio Mastropiero, II men being designated
to elect electors of the doge. Six Dogal Councillors were now appointed
from the six sestieri of the city.
1201-04 A quarter and a half of the Eastern Empire:
A treaty had been made with the Byzantine emperor in 1 198, but
when the tension in the East was eventually resolved as a result
of the fourth crusade, the outcome was to prove surprisingly favourable
to Venice. This crusade was undertaken by the count of Champagne
and other great feudal lords of France. The crusader's envoys led
by Geoffroy de Villehardouin settled the terms of transport with
Venice in April 1201. More than 33,000 men were to be transported
for a vast sum equivalent to 20,000 kilograms (44,000 lbs) of silver.
The ships were ready by the spring of 1202,but the crusaders were
not as many as they should have been, neither had the agreed financial
terms been completely honoured. Doge Enrico Dandolo agreed that
the balance of the debt should be paid out of future booty, and
while they were on their way, he requested the crusaders to help
Venice recapture Zara (Zadar), which had rebelled with the support
of the Hungarian crown. In the winter they decided to attack Constantinople
at the request of the pretender Alexius, son of Isaac II, who had
been overthrown by his brother Alexius III and who wanted to regain
the throne usurped by his uncle. It is now thought that Venice did
not exert any particular pressure in this decision. By this time
the count of Champagne was dead, and the leader of the crusaders
was the Marquis Boniface of Montferrat, a friend of Philip of Swabia,
who was also his feudal overlord, and related to Alexius by marriage.
Venice, by contrast, had begun diplomatic overtures to Atexius III.
Nevertheless, in July 1203 the crusaders attacked Constantinople
by land but were thrown back. The Venetians, fired by the 90-year-old
blind Enrico Dandolo, sailed up the Golden Horn to attack the walls
of the city, and took it. The new emperor Alexius IV was not welcome
to the Greeks, and so proved extremely weak. Nor was the pressure
of the crusaders and Venetians welcome. Finally Alexius (V) Ducas
Mourtzuphlos proclaimed himself emperor with the aim of liberating
the empire from the tyrant and from the foreign powers. Afraid of
being crushed in the city by the uprising, the Venetians and the
crusaders assaulted Constantinople for the second time in April
1204, took it, and sacked it for three days. The Venetians and the
crusader barons drew up a new contract, forming the Eastern Latin
Empire. The emperor was chosen by a council of six Venetians and
six barons. Since Boniface of Montferrat was a former ally of the
Genoese, the Venetians cast all their votes in favour of Baldwin,
count of Flanders, who was elected. The emperor was given a quarter
of the empire, and the remaining three-quarters were divided up
between Venice and the barons, half going to each party. In this
way the Doge became "Lord of a quarter and a half of the empire."
The division was confused. With the fall of the empire, everyone
who was able attempted to take what he could, whilst the Venetians
were more interested in trade and naval bases than in territory.
Apart from three-eighths of the city of Constantinople, their main
gains were Negropont in Euboea, the two bases of Modon and Corone
(Methoni and Koroni) on the southern tip of Morea (the Peloponnese),
and lastly Candia (Crete). The latter had to be captured between
1207 and 1212 from the Genoese pirate Enrico il Pescatore, count
of Malta, who had already made himself master of it in 1207. Marco
Sanudo, a grandson of doge Enrico Dandolo, set up the duchy of Naxos
as a fief of the empire on the Aegean islands.
c.
1220 The Quarantia:
A new council appears in Venetian government in the first decades
of the 13th century, under the general heading "pro proficuo et
utilitatis Comunis Venecie." This was the Quarantia, the Council
of Forty, which was elected in the same way as the Council of Wise
Men, later to become the Maggior Consiglio, and consisting at that
time of 35 members. Later the members of the Quarantia and the holders
of individual magistracies and offices were made ex officio members
of the Maggior Consiglio, and the elected portion of this body,
the Council of Wise Men, was increased in size. In this way the
stage was set for the laws of 1297, the so-called serrata ("locking")
of the Maggior Consiglio.
1240 Control of the Po:
In 1240 the lord of Ferrara joined forces with the Hohenstaufen
emperor Frederick II. At the pope's request the Venetians sent a
naval squadron to besiege the city. The declaration of the citizens
of Ferrara in favour of the Este family contributed to the city's
fall. The Venetians concluded a treaty with the new lords of Ferrara,
giving them control of all trade between the city and the sea, all
merchandise coming from the Adriatic to Ferrara having to pass through
the port of Venice. In order to exercise this right unobstructed
they built the castle of Macramò at the mouth of the PO di
Primaro in 1258. Thus the PO, the great commercial route into the
plain of Padua, fell under their control.
1255 The Pregadi:
From 1255 we have secure records of the Consiglio dei Rogati or
dei Pregadi, those "invited" to give their advice and work. They
were known in Veneti an political life simply as the Pregadi, or
classically as the Senate. The council was founded with a brief
over naval material and certain international questions. It could
meet either alone, or in conjunction with the Maggior Consiglio,
in which it participated ex officio. Later, when the Maggior Consiglio
had increased in size, the Senate was elected by the Maggior Consiglio
and assumed the highest functions of state.
1255 The maritime code:
In 1255 doge Ranieri Zeno promulgated a code of maritime practice.
The first statutes date back to 1242 in the reign of Jacopo Tiepolo.
This regulated maritime affairs, the responsibilities of ship owners,
one of whom was designated as the ship's captain or "patrono" de
facto, the rights of the crew, sailors and merchant-seamen, who
were allowed to trade on their own account, and fixed the dates
for contracts and the dates of departure of the mude (convoys).
1257-70 The columns of St. John of Acre: the first war with Genoa:
The Genoese position in Acre, as in Tyre, was as strong as the
Venetian position, and a series of bloody incidents occurred between
the citizens of these two maritime republics. In 1257 the Venetian
Levantine merchant fleet was accompanied by a war fleet under the
command of Lorenzo Tiepolo, son of the doge. The Venetians broke
the chain which barred the port of Acre, and fired on the Genoese
ships. Next year a large Genoese fleet appeared, but Tiepolo too
had received reinforcements and the great naval battle which ensued
at Acre in 1258 resulted in a heavy defeat for the Genoese. Half
their ships were lost, and the survivors by land and sea retreated
to Tyre. The Venetians returned home from Acre taking the columns
which now adorn the southern side of St. Mark's. This was the beginning
of the fight with Genoa which was to end only after four wars more
than a century later. A few years after Acre, the Venetians suffered
a reversal in the greatest center of their colonial power. The Byzantine
emperor Michael Paleologus allied himself with the Genoese in the
treaty of Nymphaion in 1261, took Constantinople in July 1261 and
so put an end to the Eastern Latin Empire. The war at sea consisted
of the harassment of Venetian shipping, which was forced to adopt
the expensive procedure of sailing in convoy. This weighed heavily
on the trading activities of the Venetians, who had been expelled
from Constantinople where Michael Paleologus had conceded the suburb
of Pera to the Genoese. In spite of this, the Venetians won the
two main naval encounters, at Settepozzi in 1263, and at Trapani
in 1266. Michael Paleologus again permitted the Venetians into Constantinople
in 1268 although they were still at war with his Genoese allies,
and peace was concluded in 1270. The Genoese took part in these
negotiations more at the order of Louis IX of France, who needed
their fleet for his ill-fated crusade, than out of conviction.
1261-95 The Polos in the Far East:
In the same year in which Michael Paleologus retook the city of
Constantinople, 1261, two Venetian merchants, the brothers Nicolò
and Matteo Polo, who had commercial interests in Sondaia (Crimea),
set out to investigate the commercial possibilities of the hinterland
in the new circumstances prevailing in Asia in the wake of the creation
of the Mongol power. Failing to reach their goal of Tabriz in Persia
by way of Sarai and Bukhara, they crossed central Asia to visit
the Great Khan of the Mongols, Kubitai, who sent them back to the
West with a message to the pope. The Mongols were interested in
forming an anti Moslem entente with the Christians. When they set
out to return to the Mongol emperor in 1271 they were accompanied
by two friars sent by the pope, who soon gave up the journey out
of fear, and by Nicolò's son, the famous Marco Polo. They
journeyed on through Laiazzo, a port in lesser Armenia which was
to become an important point on the Asian caravan routes after the
Mameluke conquest of Syria, and through Tabriz in Persia, the Pamir,
and the oases of central Asia, the historical Silk Road, finishing
up at Peking. Marco journeyed extensively in the far eastern parts
of the Mongol empire, sometimes on official missions, eventually
reaching Burma in 1285. The three Venetians returned home in 1295,
25 years after setting out, by the sea route from the straits of
Malacca and the Indian Ocean, taking with them to Persia a betrothed
Mongol princess, and then through Persia via Trebizond on the Black
Sea. Marco Polo was subsequently captured in a naval encounter with
the Genoese, and as a prisoner dictated his famous book, II Milione
(The Travelv of Marco Polo) to another prisoner, the Pisan litterateur
Rustichello. Fabulous and controversial though it was, it was substantially
truthful. Marco Polo is alleged to have said on his death-bed in
1324, "Non scripsi medietatem de hiis que vidi" I did not write
half of what I saw.
1268 The Quarantaun:
The procedure for the election of the doge by the Maggior Consiglio
was completed with the introduction of a series of stages of alternate
voting and lottery, culminating in the selection of 41 electors
(the Quarantaun) who nominated the doge. This method was used for
the first time at the election of Lorenzo Tiepolo in 1268, and continued
unchanged thereafter.
1284 The Venetian gold ducat:
The first cities in the West to mint gold coins were Genoa and
Florence in 1252. This was because gold came mainly from the markets
of North Africa. Venice used its own silver and gold coin minted
in Byzantium. In 1284 she began to mint the gold ducat, later known
as the zecchino, with the same weight and fineness as the Florentine
florin. This was maintained until the fall of the Republic.
1294-99 The second war with Genoa:
The rivalry between the two maritime republics of Italy now became
more intense than ever over the Black Sea trade. This was not calmed
by the truce of 1270, and a new war broke out. This time it was
the Genoese who started, and won, the great naval battles while
the Venetians preferred to amass profits by plunder. The first Genoese
victory was in 1294 off Laiazzo, which had become the most important
Asian port after the fall of the crusaders' positions. The Venetians
then made an incursion into Pera, and finally 80 ships under the
command of Lamba Doria entered the Adriatic to ravage the Dalmatian
coast. The Genoese won the ensuing great battle or Curzola (I 298),
but with such losses that they were unable to pursue the Venetians
and carry the war into the lagoon. The peace of 1299 recognized
Genoese supremacy over the coast of Liguria, which the Venetians
had besieged with the help of Francesco Grimaldi, head of the Genoese
Guelphs who had taken Monaco in 1297, and Venetian supremacy over
the coast of the Adriatic. In the East their rivalry remained unresolved.
1297 The "locking" of the Maggior Consiglio:
With this reform in the reign of Pietro Gradenigo, admission into
the Maggior Consiglio was restricted to all those who were members
or had been members within the last four years, subject to the approval
of the Quarantia with at least 12 votes. New candidates required
the same approval. This more than doubled the number of members
of the Maggior Consiglio, bringing it to more than a thousand. The
rules for admission were subsequently made even more restrictive,
with the quorum of votes from the Quarantia required for approval
being raised first to 25, and later to 30. In 1323 membership of
the Maggior Con,viglio finally became permanent and hereditary.
Bartolo DI Sassoferrato remarked, "They are few in number in comparison
with the whole population, though many when compared to those who
rule in other cities, and so the people accept their government
with a good will."
1308-13 The war with Ferrara and the interdict:
The chief reason for Venice's dominance over the Gulf of the Adriatic
was to make sure that all goods passed through the market of Venice.
Vessels of all countries could sail to Venice and merchants from
every country did business there, but every transaction had to take
place in Venice's market. The cargoes of merchants from Dalmatia,
Zara and Ragusa (Dubrovnik) for example, bound for the plain of
Padua, had to be unloaded in Venice. The Venetian castle of Marcamò
on the PO delta made sure that trade bound for Lombardy from theRomagna
passed through Venice. In 1308 the Venetians saw an opportunity
to consolidate their control over the Po waterway by making themselves
masters of Ferrara. They joined in an internal dispute over succession
and sent troops to one side, eliciting from them the Castel Tedaldo,
the fortress commanding the bridge over the Po. From Avignon the
pope, overlord of Ferrara, placed Venice under an interdict, while
the victims of Venice's commercial supremacy combined to plunder
the Venetian markets and conqueredCastel Tedaldo. Venice treated
with Verona, and a waterway was planned to join the Adige and the
Po, allowing access to the Po upstream of Ferrara. With this the
interdict was eventually lifted in 1313.
1310 The plot of Baiamonte Tiepolo and the Council of Ten:
The architect of the expansionist policies in Ferrara which had
led to the war with the pope was the doge, Pietro Gradenigo. Other
families opposed this policy. This lay at the root of the conspiracy
of 1310, the leaders of which were Marco Querini, Baiamonte Tiepolo,
and Badoero Badoer. Three bands of armed men were supposed to attack
the Doge's Palace, Querini's band by the Calle dei Fabbri, Tiepolo's
from the Mercerie, and that of Badoer from the lagoon. The doge
was informed about the plot, and by night summoned the families
whom he could rely upon, gave the alarm to the Arsenal and ordered
the podesta of Chioggia to stop Badoer. The rebels failed to synchronize
their attack, and this together with the doge's preparations resulted
in their defeat. Querini died, and the two other leaders were allowed
to go into exile. The Querini and Tiepolo palaces were razed to
the ground. The danger had been great, however, and it remained
possible that the exiles might forge new alliances, a possibility
which had occurred and was even then occurring in other cities.
In order to prevent this and the formation of fresh conspiracies,
the Council of Ten was established. Its members held office for
a year, and one of three elected heads presided over them for a
month at a time. The council was at first provisional, but because
its small size allowed it to act with speed it was made permanent
in 1335.
1329 Galleys for auction:
Between the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century
important innovations and considerable technical advances had been
made in shipping. It now became possible, among other advantages,
to sail during the winter months. The port of Venice "opened" in
spring, but from the end of the 13th century it was open by February
or even January. Towards the end of the 14th century the large galley
came into use, which was capable of carrying more cargo. The same
years saw the gradual introduction of the cog, a large, broad vessel
with square sails. The state owned great galleys, and sailed on
trading missions in regular convoy twice a year to four destinations,
a system which reached full development at the end of the 14th century.
These destinations were the Eastern Empire (the Aegean, Constantinople,
and the Black Sea), Cyprus and Syria, Alexandria and Flanders. Alongside
this system were the "free" merchant galleys and cogs, which were
more numerous than the state-owned galleys. In 1329 the Pregadi
(the Senate) decided to auction the state galleys and offer them
on lease to the highest bidder voyage by voyage, on a given route
and under binding conditions. The experiment began with the Eastern
Empire galleys, and the success of the operation led to its being
extended to the galleys bound for the other destinations. This system
ensured work for the Arsenal, the largest state industry even in
time of peace.
1339 Treviso acquired:
The first city of the Veneto mainland over which Venice asserted
its rule was Treviso. At the rear of the lagoon the Della Scala
family had risen to threatening proportions, ruling from Verona
to Padua, Treviso and many other cities. The ambitions of these
lords of Verona were cut down by a timely series of alliances and
by a war. In Padua Venice lent its support to the rise of the Carraresi,
while Treviso, which controlled the trade routes north, was directly
taken over.
1340 The Hall of the Maggior Consiglio:
The number of those entitled to sit in the MaggiorConsiglio had
grown, and it was decided to build a hall worthy of the council.
This project took ten years to complete, and occupied the part of
the Doge's Palace facing on to the Molo. The Paduan artist Guariento
painted it with frescoes depicting the Coronation qf the Virgin
or Paradise between 1365 and 1367.
1347-48 The plague:
The Bubonic plague which was raging in the Tartar army besieging
the trading base of Kaffa in the Crimea, was brought to Italy by
a returning Venetian vessel in the autumn of 1347. Within 18 months
the city had lost three-fifths of its inhabitants.
1350-55 The third war with Genoa:
This began with a number of incidents connected with the Black
Sea trade. Venice was cast as the protector of the Byzantine empire
against growing pressure from Genoa. In 1530 the Venetian fleet
under Marco Ruzzini attacked a number of Genoese galleys in the
port of Castro near Negro Pont, a few of which managed to escape
because the Venetian crews, largely Greek and Dalmatian mercenaries
(the Venetians having been decimated in the plague of 1347-48) began
to plunder too soon. The Venetians gained reinforcements by hiring
the allied fleets of Catalonia and Byzantium, and set out against
Pera, the Genoese base close to Constantinople. Here the Genoese
had a large fleet under Paganino Doria. The allied fleets failed
to meet up, causing a series of delays and diversions, but eventually
there was a bitter and bloody encounter in the Bosphorus in the
winter of 1352. So great was the number of dead on both sides that
the tactical outcome of the battle was uncertain. however, the Catalans
and Venetians retreated, and Pera remained in Genoese hands. The
following year, 1353, the Venetians under Nicol6 Pisani together
with the Catalans won a great victory over the Genoese off Alghero.
Later, however, the Venetian fleet was surprised unarmed by Paganino
Doria as it was wintering at Portolongo near Modon, and Pisani himself
was captured. This victory proved of no advantage to Genoa. Racked
with internal strife, the Genoese submitted to the lord of Milan,
Giovanni Visconti, who engineered a compromise agreement in 1355.
1355 The doge beheaded:
Internal strife following the defeat at Alghero brought Genoa under
Milanese subjection. TheVenetian defeat at Portolongo led to an
attempted dictatorship by the newly-elected doge, the septuagenarian
Marino Falier. In Venice, however, the outcome was quite different.
The Dogal Councillors were warned by denunciations, and summoned
the Council of Ten. Among the conspirators who were at once arrested
and condemned was Filippo Calendario, a building contractor, who
has wrongly been credited with the construction of the Doge's Palace.
When the doge's involvement was discovered, he was sentenced and
beheaded on 17 April 1355. In the series of portraits of the doges
in the Hall of the Maggior Consiglio, there is a black curtain in
Marino Falier's place.
1358 Dalmatia ceded:
The cities, ports and islands of Dalmatia had been in Venice's
possession since the profitable crusade of doge Pietro II Orseolo
three and a half centuries before. However the kings of Hungary
had cast their eyes on these lands in the course of their expansion
over the Slav hinterland towards the sea. The cities of Dalmatia
were themselves turbulent and often rebelled against Venetian rule.
At the end of 1355, after the peace with Genoa, Venice had to deal
with the "whole of Slavonia in tumult." Arrayed against Venice in
1356 were the dukes of Austria, the patriarch of Aquileia, the Carrarese
lord of Padua, and worst of all, the Hungarians, who were laying
siege to Zara (Zadar). Zara fell, Tra6 (Trogir) and Spalato (Split)
went over to the Hungarians, and in June 1358 Venice ceded her claim
to the possessions in Dalmatia to the Hungarian crown.
1363-66 The revolt of Candia:
A local revolt led by John Kalergis was joined by a group of noble
Venetians who had settled on the island, including members of the
Venier, Gradenigo, Sagredo and Molin families. The rebels were thrown
back but not eliminated by a Venetian fleet with the land army of
Luchino dal Verme and the governor Pietro Morosini. The rebels reorganized
in the mountains and made renewed attempts, until their leaders
were captured and beheaded in April 1366.
1378-81 The war of Chioggia, and the fourth war with Genoa:
The origins of the fourth war with Genoa lay in rivalry over the
conquest of the island of Tenedos, which was a potential base commanding
the straits coveted by both Venetians and Genoese. The Venetians
occupied it in 1376; war was not far behind. Against Venice were
Genoa, the Carraresi of Padua, and the king of Hungary, while Dalmatia,
ceded in 1368, could not longer be counted upon; indeed the Dalmatian
bases and strongholds were now the preserve of Venice's enemies.
In 1378 the Venetian fleet under Vittor Pisani sailed on an offensive
war to the West, achieved a brilliant victory, and returned to winter
at Pola. Here they were attacked by the Genoese in the spring of
1379. Pisani was lured into a trap, and his victory was turned into
defeat. Returning home, he was thrown into prison. The Genoese were
reinforced, and attacked the coast of the lagoon, taking Chioggia
with the help of the Paduans on 16 August 1379. Never had Venice
stood in greater danger. All reserves were mobilized. The populace
and sailors forced the release of Vittor Pisani, "the chief and
father of all the seamen of Veniexia." During the night of 22 December
1379, the aged doge Andrea Contarini and Vittor Pisani blockaded
Chioggia, cutting off the occupying forces from both the Paduans
and the Genoese fleet. Meanwhile another Venetian squadron under
Carlo Zeno which had left on a plundering expedition before the
battle of Pola was inflicting heavy damage on Genoese trade in the
Tyrrhenian and Aegean seas as far as Beirut and Rhodes. Zeno returned
home on I January 1380, just in time to join the blockade of Chioggia.
Failing in an attempt to subdue the mercenaries employed by the
Venetians who were besieging them, the Genoese in Chioggia surrendered
six months later in June 1380, allowing the Venetians to sally forth
and regain control of the Adriatic. On land they tried to win over
Gian Galeazzo Visconti as an ally, alarming the count of Savoy,
who was in favour of a compromise. The peace of Turin of 1381 seemed
to favour Genoa more than Venice, but Venice's greater political
stability meant that she emerged victorious from the centuries of
conflict. Thirty new families were admitted to the Maggior Consiglio
after the peace, drawn from those who had most distinguished themselves
in the war effort.
1386 The occupation of Corfu:
The island of Corfu was occupied with the consent of its rulers
in 1386; legal rights of possession were later obtained from Charles,
pretender to the throne of Naples. Corfu was strongly fortified
and became a very important base, commanding the lower Adriatic.
It remained in Venice's possession until the end of the Republic.
1389-1420 Expansion over the mainland of the Veneto:
Venice was a seafaring and mercantile power, whose main interests
were trade and commerce. Just as in the Adriatic and in the Levant
Venice's policy was to control ports, bases and tradingstations,
so in the hinterland of the lagoon her policy was to keep the roads
free so that her trade could flow unhindered. So long as there was
only a sprinkling of communes to its rear, the Republic felt no
great need to exert its rule over them, but with the flowering of
the age of the great lords ruling over large stretches of land and
ambitious to expand their territories, the situation was radically
altered. The natural result of Venice's policy of playing off the
ambitions of the different lords against each other was that Venice
became involved herself in the struggle for territory, eventually
becoming one of the five great states of the ]5th century. There
were three main pawns in Venice's game, the Scaligeri of Verona,
the Carraresi of Padua, and the Visconti of Milan. Farther to the
East were the lands of the patriarch of Aquileia, and here it was
necessary to keep an eye on the ambitions of powers north of the
Alps. The first stage in Venice's expansion over the mainland was
the recovery of Treviso, which had previously belonged to Venice
but had been ceded to the dukes of Austria during the war of Chioggia,in
order to keep the Carraresi at a distance. The alliance of Venice
and the Visconti against the Carraresi in 1388 created the opportunity
for the surrender of Treviso to Venice in 1389. On the other hand,
although the Visconti were farther off than the Carraresi, they
represented a far greater threat, especially when Gian Galeazzo
ambitiously attempted to unite the whole of northern Italy under
him. His death from the plague in 1402 left Venice facing Francesco
Novello di Carrara. Vicenza, Belluno, and Bassano submitted to Venice
in 1404. In 1405 Padua and Verona were conquered. Francesco Novello
and two other members of his family were thrown into prison and
strangled by order of the Council of Ten.Within the lands of the
patriarchate, the house of Savorgnan at Udine held firm with Venetian
support, but here too the Carraresi had made attempts to expand,
and Trieste had been given over to the dukes of Austria in 1382.
When the emperor Sigismund of Hungary, with whom Venice was also
fighting over Dalmatia, intervened, the military campaign of 1418
20 broke out. On 16 June 1420, Tristano di Savorgnan entered Udine
bearing the banner of St. Mark. Venice now possessed almost the
whole of the modern Veneto and Friuli.
1409-20 Dalmatia regained:
At the beginning of the 15th century there were two kings of Hungary,
Sigismund of Luxembourg, son of the emperor Charles IV and himself
emperor from 1411 (who effectively held the state), and Ladislas
of Anjou-Durazzo, king of Naples, who was in possession of Dalmatia
which he had conquered in an expedition against Zara (Zadar) in
1403 as part of his struggle to acquire the throne of Hungary. In
January 1409 Venice regained its rights over Dalmatia, ceded in
1358, from Ladislas who was in difficulties. Less than a third of
the intitial asking price of 300,000 ducats was paid. The little
which Ladislas retained, principally Zara, was handed over to Venice,
and the rest, Trafi, Sebenico, Spalato, Cattaro, Curzola (Trogir,
Sebenik, Split, Kotor, Korcula), and the other islands she won in
the war with Sigismund in 1420. |
