recalled the fact that the election of the doge had originally
been subject to the approval of the popular assembly, although it
had long been a pure formality. In 1423 the formula was abolished;
henceforth the Maggior Consiglio alone, and the patriciate which
constituted it, was the sovereign master. In 1423 Francesco Foscari
was elected doge to succeed Tommaso Mocenigo, who had in vain warned
the Maggior Consiglio not to choose him: "the said Francesco Foscari
spreads rumours and many other matters without any basis, and stoops
and climbs more than a falcon." The Foseari led Venice into costly
wars with Milan to which Mocenigo had been opposed; meanwhile Turkey
was growing into a great sea power. Thus while Mocenigo looked to
the sea, Foscari looked to the mainland.
1424-30 Thessalonica:
The Turks had occupied nearly all the Byzantine Empire with the
exception of Constantinople. The city of Thessalonica entrusted
its defense to Venetian sea power, and the Republic dispatched a
fleet there under Pietro Loredan. It was he who in 1416 had destroyed
a Turkish fleet at Gallipoli in the first naval battle between the
Turks and the Venetians. Thessalonica was soon lost, however (in
1430), while Venice was caught up in the wars in Italy against Milan.
1425-54 The wars in Lombardy:
"I counsel you to pray to the almighty power of God who has inspired
us to make peace, as we have done, and to follow Him and render
Him thanks. If you follow my advice, you will see that from now
on we will be lords of all Christendom; the whole world will revere
and fear you. Beware of the desire to take what belongs to others,
and of making unjust war, for God will destroy you." These were
the words of the aged doge Tommaso Mocenigo shortly before his death
in 1423. Soon afterwards Venice was caught up in 30 years of war,
precisely to "take what belongs to others," i.e. Lombardy. This
carried Venice's frontiers to the Adda, convulsed the whole of Italy
and ended in compromise with the Peace of Lodi in 1454 which brought
40 years of peace to Italy, but not to Venice. The prelude to the
war against the rule of the Visconti house in the person of duke
Filippo Maria (wars therefore of supremacy, or from the other point
of view, to protect the balance of power in Italy which was threatened
by the expansion of the Visconti), was the League between Venice
and Florence of 4 May 1425. There were four wars. In the first,
(1425 26),VenicetookBresciawithanarmyledby Carmagnola, and the fleet
on the Po advanced as far as Padua. The second (1427-28) saw a Venetian
victory at Maclodio on 4 October 1427, and ended with Venice being
granted Bergamo as well as Brescia. In the third war of 1431-33,
the Po fleet was defeated at Cremona but Venice won a naval victory
over Genoa, which was at that time a dependency of the Visconti,
at San Fruttuoso on 27 August 1431. Carmagnola failed to act, and
was suspected of having come to terms with the enemy. He was recalled
from the field by the Council of Ten for consultation, arrested
in March 1432, and tried. A month later he was beheaded between
the two columns of the Piazzetta. The peace of Ferrara in 1433 left
things as they stood. In the fourth war Venice's sea-captains were
first Gattamelata, and later Francesco Sforza, while the Visconti
side was led by Niccol6 Piccinino. Sforza and Piccinino were in
fact fighting a personal war in which the interests of the opposing
powers were secondary. Piccinino laid siege to Brescia in 1438 and
penetrated the Veronese defenses. Venice's response to this crisis
was the famous transportation of six galleys and other lesser craft
by land from the Adige to Lake Garda, more than 2,000 oxen being
used in the operation (1439). On the field of Cavriana, Sforza acted
as mediator between the two sides accomplishing the act for which
Carmagnola had lost his head. No territorial changes were made in
the ensuing Peace of Cremona of 20 November 1441. None of these
treaties was more than a truce, and no general accord between the
Italian states was reached, as Venice would have preferred. Instead,
important political changes occurred. Francesco Sforza entered the
service of Visconti and married his daughter, while Florence took
a new turn under Cosimo de' Medici. Visconti died in 1447, and in
May 1450 Francesco Sforza entered Milan in triumph, after the demise
of the short-lived Ambrosian Republic (in 1449 Venice had acquired
Crema). Two coalitions were now formed, Sforza Milan with Medici
Florence on the one hand, against Venice and Aragonese Naples on
the other. The main theater of war was still Lombardy, where Venice
clashed with Francesco Sforza. Worn out, both sides joined in the
Peace of Lodi in May 1454, a peace which formed the basis for a
general accord between the four contenders, Venice, Milan, Florence
and Naples, under the leadership of the pope.
1463-79 The Turkish advance:
On 3 April 1463, ten years after the capture of Constantinople,
the Turks seized the Venetian fortress of Argos in a surprise attack.
A long war ensued from which Venice emerged defeated. At first the
Venetians launched a counter-attack by sea and land with the help
of their Hungarian allies, and gained some positive results (1463-68).
In spring 1470 the Turks attacked the base of Negropont in force
with both land and sea troops. Poorly supported by the naval squadron
commanded by the hesitant Nicol6 Canal, the base fell, along with
the whole of Euboea. During the course of fruitless negotiations,
Turkish squadrons sailed into Friuli in 147 1, repeating the attack
in 1477 and 1478. Venice had meanwhile succeeded in drawing the
Shah of Persia into the war, and attacked the coast of Asia from
the sea. However the Persians were put to rout (1472-74). The Turksbegan
to press on the lower Adriatic, where the Venetians put up a tenacious
resistance in Scutari. The peace of 24 January 1479 was humiliating:
Venice lost Argos, Euboea and Scutari, and had to payanannualtributeoflO,000ducats.
TheTurks went on to attack peninsular Italy, landing at Otranto,
but were unsuccessful in this attempt. The death of Mehmed 11 brought
Turkey a period of crisis, which allowed Venice to take and hold
Zante in the Ionian islands, and to improve the terms of the treaty.
The tribute was abolished, duty was lowered from five to four per
cent, and the privileges and immunities of the Venetian bailo in
Constantinople were renewed.
1473 Cyprus acquired:
During the course of the disastrous war with the Turks, Venice
managed to consolidate her hold on the island of Cyprus, where there
were strong Venetian, and specifically Corner, interests. The king
of Cyprus was Giacomo 11 Lusignano, who married Caterina Corner
in 1472. A revolt against the queen broke out on the king's sudden
death in 1473, with the aim of giving the throne to a natural son
of Ferdinand of Naples. Venice reacted promptly and energetically,
calling back Barbaro with his Venetian fleet from Asia to take charge
of the island, and of the interests of Giacomo Lusignano's widow.
The kingdom remained in the possession of Caterina Corner and of
her baby son Giacomo III Lusignano, who died in 1474, under strict
Venetian control until she was forced to abdicate on 24 February
1489. She ceded the island to the direct administration of Venice
and was granted the signory of Asolo, were she continued to maintain
a brilliant court.
1484 The Polesine:
The pope had sought Venice's help against the king of Naples, leaving
her a free hand against Ferrara (1482). He subsequently became alarmed
by Venice's success, however, and while Florence and Milan intervened
in Ferrara's favour, Sixtus IV had recourse to an interdict in order
to stop Venice. At the peace of 1484 Venice was allowed to retain
the Polesine, which she had conquered. A year later The French ambassador,
Philippe de Commines, wrote of Venice, "It is the most splendid
city I have ever seen, and the one which governs itself the most
wisely."
1495-1503 Between land and sea:
Charles VIII of France's descent into Italy in order to conquer
the kingdom of Naples in 1494 is one of the turning points in Italian
history. It marks the beginning of the crisis of Italian freedom.
Venice was one of the architects of the anti-French league which,
however, failed to destroy the French king's army at Fornovo in
1495 as it returned home. Nevertheless Venice occupied the Apulian
ports, important strategic bases commanding the lower Adriatic and
the Ionian islands. A few years later in 1499 Venice allied itself
with Louis XII against Milan, and gained Cremona. In the same year
the Ottoman sultan moved to attack Lepanto by land, and sent a large
fleet to support his offensive by sea. Antonio Grimani, more a businessman
and diplomat than a sailor, was defeated in the sea battle of Zonchio
in 1499. The Turks once again sacked Friuli. Preferring peace to
total war both against the Turks and by sea, Venice surrendered
the bases of Lepanto, Modon, and Corone in 1499. Her supremacy in
Italy seemed to be in peril ' and her ambitions on the mainland
won the day. Some believe that this decision, and this period were
the critical point in Venice's fortunes.
1508-17 The League of Cambrai:
The area which had tempted Venice to divert her attention from
her maritime position, with its promises of expansion, was the Romagna.
This Venice hoped to remove from the control of the pope, now that
the Malatesta lords of Rimini were passing through a period of crisis,
and the meteoric career of the duke of Valentinois, Cesare Borgia,
son of pope Alexander VI was over. Venice's power was at its height,
but this brought her enemies. Eager to take some of Venice's lands,
these all joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508. The pope wanted
Romagna, the emperor Friuli and the Veneto, Spain the Apulian ports,
the king of France Cremona, the king of Hungary Dalmatia, and each
of the others some part. The offensive against the huge army e-ilisted
by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509 Venice was defeated
at Agnadello in the Ghiara d'Adda; the city was in the gravest danger.
French and imperial troops were occupying the Veneto, but Venice
extricated herself by her efforts and her political skill. The Apulian
ports were ceded in order to come to terms with Spain, and pope
Julius 11 was placated when he perceived how much more dangerous
Venice would be destroyed than powerful. The citizens of the mainland
rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco." Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua
in July 1509, and successfully defended it against the besieging
imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with
France, and Venice regained Brescia and Verona from France also.
After seven years of ruinous war, Venice regained her domains on
the mainland up to the Adda, which she held until the end of the
Republic.
1520-30 "Thanks to the virtue and wisdom of our ancestors":
In 1544 Gasparo Contarini, politician and Venetian diplomat, and
later a cardinal, wrote his De Magistratibus et Republica Venetorum.
In this work he expressed the approval and interest which surrounded
Venice's constitutional arrangements, not only among the patricians
of Venice but throughout Italy and in foreign lands, where men were
astonished at Venice's greatness, her long independence, her resistance
to Italy's tragic loss of freedom and, not least, her emerging unscathed
from the war against the League of Cambrai. In this work Contarini
suggested that the secret of Venice's greatness lay in the co-existence
of Aristotle's three types of government, monarchy, oligarchy, and
democracy. In his opinion, the Maggior Consiglio was the "democratic"
part, the Senate and the Ten were the oligarchy, while the doge
represented monarchy. The combination of these three principles
in the Venetian government came as close as was possible to perfection
in the mechanism of government. At the same time the patrician Marino
Sanudo, a politician who had a remarkable career, and a celebrated
diarist, was bewailing the corruption which resulted from the great
number of poor or impoverished patricians. "Votes are sold for money
. . . . May God help this poor Republic...." (1530).
1538 Preveza:
When the struggle for supremacy in Italy between France and Spain
was resolved in favour of Spain, ruled by the emperor Charles V
Hapsburg, Venice found herself caught between the Turks and Spain
(and later between Hapsburg Austria and the Turks). To this her
only possible response was to put up a long, tough, and often skilful
defense. The interests of Spain and Venice were united against the
Turks, though only in part. Venice's maritime aid was potentially
useful to Spain, but not to the point of allowing her to reinforce
her position in the Levant, which would increase her strength in
Italy as well, where she was practically the only Italian state
not subject to Spain. In the Turkish war of 1537-40, Venice was
allied to Charles V. Andrea Doria was the emperor's admiral and
commander of the allied fleets. He was unable to fulfil his instructions
successfully, and was defeated at Preveza in 1538. In 1540 Venice
made peace, and the Turks took the Aegean duchy of Naxos from the
Sanudo family. After Preveza the supremacy of the sea passed to
Turkey.
1539 The three Inquisitors:
The State Inquisitors, later known as the Supreme Tribunal, were
instituted, and their duties laid down, in a law of 1539. There
were three Inquisitors, one known popularly as il rosso, "the red
one," who was chosen from the Dogal Councillors, who wore scarlet
robes, and two from the Council of Ten, known as i negri, "the black
ones." They began as a security body at the difficult time when
Venice felt herself encircled by the Hapsburgs, and gradually assumed
some of the powers of the Council of Ten. By means of espionage,
counterespionage and internal surveillance, they made use of a network
of informers and "confidants."
1545 Enforced galley service:
Until 1545 the oarsmen in the galleys were free sailors enrolled
on a wage. They were originally Venetians, but later Dalmatians,
Cretans and Greeks joined in large numbers. Because of the difficulty
in hiring sufficient crews, Venice had recourse to conscription,
chaining the oarsmen to the benches as other navies had already
done. Cristoforo da Canal was the first Venetian to command such
a galley.
1556 The provveditori ai beni inculti:
This office was founded in 1556, and was established for the improvement
of agriculture by increasing the acreage under cultivation and encouraging
private investment in agricultural improvement. The consistent rise
in the price of grain during the 16th century encouraged the transfer
of capital from trade to the land.
1571 The loss of Cyprus and the battle of Lepanto:
Venice's political situation now resembled that at the time of
the battle of Preveza. Allied with Spain and the pope, she was able
to assemble a grand fleet of 208 galleys, 110 of which were Venetian,
equal in numbers to the Turkish fleet, under the command of John
of Austria, half-brother of Philip 11. The Venetians were commanded
by Sebastiano Venier. The Turkish fleet had sailed up the Adriatic
as far as Lesina, and then returned to Lepanto in the Gulf of Patras
for provisions. The Christian fleet had assembled at Messina and
encountered the Turkish fleet off Lepanto on 7 October 1571. Lepanto
was a great Venetian and Christian victory, and the victors divided
up 117 galleys captured from the Turks. But the Venetians gained
no strategic advantage. Philip 11 was concerned with the balance
of power in the eastern Mediterranean and Africa, and was unwilling
for the fleet to become involved in the Levant. Famagusta, the last
stronghold on the island of Cyprus, had been attacked by the Turks
in 1570 and had surrendered before Lepanto. The Turkish commander
had had the Venetian provveditore Marcantonio Bragadin flayed alive.
The loss of Cyprus was ratified in the peace of 1572.
1577 The fire in the Doge's Palace:
On 20 December a fire broke out in the Doge's Palace and destroyed
the ffalls of the Maggior Con.viglio and the Scrutinio. The Signori
summoned the 15 greatest architects of the time. Palladio's proposed
new building in the classical style was rejected, and the contract
given to Antonio Da Ponte, who completed the reconstruction in under
a year. Guariento's great fresco of The Coronation (@f' the Virgin
was beyond repair, and Jacopo Tintoretto's huge canvas of Paradive
was placed over it (I 588-90).
1587 The public bank:
The first public bank was set up by the Venetian government in
1587 after the collapse of a private bank, ai-nid public outcry.
It was known as the Banco delta Piazza. A second public bank, the
Banco del Giro, was started in 1619, and in 1638 the Banco delta
Piazza was abolished. These banks played a very important role in
financing the Republic's wars, by issuing representative money.
1593 The stronghold of Paimanova:
After the war against the League of Cambrai, Venice had to cede
Gradisca and retreat to the west of the Isonzo. Then came the Turkish
incursions into Friuli. In order to reinforce the eastern border
against the Turks and the Hapsburgs, Venice decided to build a fortress.
In this way Paimanova was built to the design of Giulio Savorgnan,
in a nine-pointed star. The first stone was ceremonially laid on
7 October 1593, on the twenty-second anniversary of the battle of
Lepanto.
1605-7 Paolo Sarpi and the interdict:
The famous conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with
the arrest of two members of the clergy who were guilty of petty
crimes, and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and
acquire landed property. Paul V held that these provisions were
contrary to canon law, and demanded that they should be repealed.
When this was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict, which
forbade priests from carrying out their religious duties and excommunicated
the rulers. The Republic paid no attention to the interdict or the
act of excommunication, and ordered its priests to carry out their
ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the Servite monk
Paolo Sarpi, a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the
Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict
was lifted after a year, when the French intervened and proposed
a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the
principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of
law. In 1607 Sarpi was wounded in an assault by three ruffians,
and said that in the dagger which wounded him he recognized "lo
stile (=the style, or the dagger) of the Roman curia." To him Venice
also owed two essays on The Rule of the Adriatic in which he defended
Venice's jurisdiction over this "enclosed and restricted sea, which
has since time immemorial been owned and guarded at [great] expense
and labour."
1613-17 The pirates and the war of Gradisca:
"The whole house of Austria is displeased and disgusted at the
just rule of the Most Serene Republic over the Gulf, and it appears
to [us] that they are disturbing Venice's peaceful jurisdiction
and possession with the frequent raids of the Uzkoks," so Venice
wrote.The Uzkoks were Christian refugees from Bosnia and Turkish
Dalmatia who had been enlisted by the Hapsburgs to defend their
borders after the peace between Venice and the Ottomans following
the battle of Lepanto. They settled in Segna and lived as pirates
in the Adriatic, causing Venice to worry that they would complicate
relations with the Sublime Porte. When Venice acted against these
Uscocchi in 1613, she found herself at odds on land with their protector,
the archduke of Austria. An army was sent against Gradisca, which
belonged to the archduke, and financial support was given to the
duke of Savoy who was pinning down the Spanish army in Lombardy.
The military operations on the eastern frontier were not decisive,
but among the terms of the peace of 1617 the Hapsburgs undertook
to solve the problem of the Uzkoks, whom they moved inland.
1617-18 The war of Ossuna and the Marquis of Bedmar's
conspiracy:
Whether on his own initiative, or supported by his king, the Spanish
viceroy of Naples attempted to break Venetian dominance in the Gulf
by sending a naval squadron to the Adriatic. His expedition met
with mixed success in 1617, and he retired from the Adriatic. Rumours
of sedition and conspiracy were meanwhile circulating in Venice,
and there were disturbances between mercenaries of differentnationalities
enrolled for the war of Gradisca. The Spanish ambassador, the Marquis
of Bedmar, was wise to the plot, if not the author of it. Informed
of this by a Huguenot captain, the Ten acted promptly. Three "bravos"
were hanged, and the Senate demanded the immediate recall of the
Spanish ambassador.
1622 The Foscarini affair:
Antonio Foscarini, a senator and ambassador to England, was accused
of acting for foreign powers during his time as ambassador and of
spying for Spain after his return. He was tried, acquitted of the
first charge, found guilty of the second and hanged from a gallows
between the columns of the Piazzetta in 1622. A few months later
the Ten discovered that he had been the innocent victim of a plot.
He was rehabilitated, and the news circulated around all the chancelleries
of Europe.
1628-30 The Mantuan succession and the plague:
On the death of Ferdinando Gonzaga, duke of Mantua and Monferrato,
the succession developed upon a French prince, Charles of Gonzaga-Nevers.
This changed the balance of power in northern Italy, which had until
now been controlled by the Spanish through Milan. In the ensuing
war, Venice was allied with France against the Hapsburgs and Savoy.
The Venetian army was defeated in an attempt to come to the aid
of Mantua which was under siege by German troops, and Mantua itself
was savagely sacked. The peace which recognized Charles of Gonzaga-Nevers
as duke of Mantua and Monferrato was made practically without Venice's
participation. War brought plague in 1630. In 16 months 50,000 people
died in Venice, one third of the population. The first stone of
the church of Santa Maria della Salute was laid as a thanksoffering
for the end of the plague.
1638 Valona bombarded:
While the Venetian fleet was cruising off Crete, a corsair fleet
from Barbary consisting of 16 galleys from Algiers and Tunis entered
the Adriatic. When the fleet returned, the corsairs repaired to
the Turkish stronghold of Valona. In spite of this Marino Cappello
attacked the corsairs, bombarded the forts and captured their galleys,
freeing 3,600 prisoners. The sultan reacted to the bombardment of
his fortress by arresting the bailo Alvise Contarini. War was averted
and the matter settled by diplomacy.
1644 The sultan's harem:
The Knights of Malta raided a Turkish convoy en route from Alexandria
to Constantinople and captured part of the sultan's harem returning
from Mecca. On their way home the Maltese landed on Crete. Christian
pirates were no less active in the Mediterranean than Moslem ones,
and Crete was an irritant to Turkish shipping. The sultan prepared
a fleet to punish Malta, but it attacked Crete instead. So began
the 25-year-long war of Candia.
1645-69 The war of Candia:
In the middle of 1645 the Turks attacked the frontiers of Dalmatia
and landed on Crete. On 22 August, Khania was forced to capitulate.
Dalmatia too was heavily attacked but the Venetians were able to
save their coastal positions because of their command of the sea.
The greatest Turkish effort was directed against Sebenico (Sebenik),
to which they laid siege in August-September 1647, but the siege
failed, and in the succeeding year the Venetians recovered several
fortresses inland, such as Clissa. In Crete, however, the situation
was more serious. The Turks attacked the capital of Candia, which
held out for 20 years. Throughout the long war the Venetian strategy
was to blockade the Dardanelles in order to surprise the Turkish
fleet on its way to supply the troops on Crete. There were some
signal successes, but they failed to alter the strategic situation.
There were two victories in the Dardanelles, in 1655 and 1656. In
the second of these battles on 26 August 1656, the Turks suffered
their most crushing defeat since Lepanto, and the commander Lorenzo
Marcello fell. The next year there was a three-day-long sea-battle
(17-19 July 1657), in which the captain Lazzaro Mocenigo was killed
by a failing mast. The battle was on the whole a defeat. With the
end of the war between France and Spain in 1659, Venice received
more aid from the Christian states than the small contingents which
she had received in the first years. In 1666 an expedition to retake
Khania failed, and in 1669 another attempt to lift the siege of
Candia with joint action on land with the French contingent and
by sea under Mocenigo, was also a failure. The French returned home,
and only 3,600 fit men were left in the fortress of Candia. Francesco
Morosini negotiated its surrender on 6 September 1669. The island
of Crete was ceded, except for some small Venetian bases, while
Venice retained the islands of Tinos and Cerigo, and its conquests
in Dalmatia.
1667 The tine-of-battle ship:
The backbone of the Venetian fleet had always been its galleys
and galleasses. Naval battles were decided by boarding, as had been
the case at Lepanto. But naval tactics had been revolutionized by
the galleon, with rows of cannon on its sides, and by the line-of-battle
ship, which derived fromit. Venice chartered some Dutch and British
ships, and adapted merchant ships to military purposes, After this
the first line-of-battle ship was built in the Arsenal in 1667,
to the design of a British battle00 ship. In the next half-century
68 line-of-battle ships came from the Arsenal stocks.
1684-99 The Morea conquered:
In September 1683 John Sobieski routed the Turks besieging Vienna.
From this time the Ottoman power of expansion was broken, and the
empire started the long course of its decline over the next few
centuries. In 1684 Venice formed an alliance with Austria; Russia
was later included in the league. Francesco Morosini occupied the
island of Levkas and set out to recapture the Greek ports. Between
June 1685 when he landed at Corone, and August when he occupied
Patras, Lepanto and Corinth, he secured the Peloponnese for Venice.
In September during the attack on Athens, a Venetian cannon blew
up the Parthenon. Venetian possessions were greatly increased in
Dalmatia too, although the attempt to regain Negropont in 1688 was
a failure. Morosini's successors failed to obtain lasting results
in the next years, although large fleets were sent out, and in spite
of some brilliant victories - at Mitylene in 1695. Andros in 1697
and the Dardanelles in 1698. The peace of Carlowitz in 1699 favoured
Austria and Russia more than Venice, which failed to regain its
bases in the Mediterranean taken by the Turks in the last two centuries,
in spite of its conquests.
1700 Neutrality:
New conflict was brewing over the question of the Spanish succession.
Both France and the Hapsburg empire, the two European powers which
had been fighting in Europe for 200 years, attempted to gain an
active ally in Venice, despatching envoys with authority there in
1700. The Venetian government preferred to remain neutral rather
than accept hypothetical advantages offered by interested parties.
The Republic remained faithful to this policy of neutrality to the
end, caught in un avoidable decline but living out its life in enviable
luxury.
1714-18 The Morea lost:
In December 1714 the Turks declared war when the Peloponnese (the
Morea) was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable
even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable
to attack from the sea." The Turks took the islands of Tinos and
Aegina, crossed the isthmus and took Corinth. Daniele Dolfin, commander
of the fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than torisk it
for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia,
Modon, Corone and Malvasia had fallen. Levkas in the Ionian islands,
and the bases of Spinalonga and Suda on Crete which still remained
in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on Corfu,
but its defenders managed to throw them back. In the meantime, the
Turks had suffered a grave defeat by The Austrians at Petervaradino
on 3 August 1716. Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean and the Dardanelles
in 1717 and 1718 met with little success. With the peace of Passarowitz,
of 21 July 1718, Austria, the conquering power, made large territorial
gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which her small gains in Albania
and Dalmatia were little compensation. This was her last war with
Turkey.
1733 Losses from rivals:
In 1733 the five sari alla mer(-an ia wrote, "We have many ports
in the Mediterranean which cause losses to our trade." Trade passed
direct to Lombardy and Germany from Genoa, Venice's old rival, and
Leghorn, created by the grand dukes of Tuscany and a staging-post
for English trade in the Mediterranean. Still more injurious were
the papal town of Ancona and Hapsburg Trieste, a free port since
1719, in the Adriatic, which no longer constituted a Venetian "Gulf."
"Apart from the residue which is left to us, Ancona robs us of the
trade from both the Levant and the West, from Albania and the other
Turkish provinces. Trieste takes nearly all the rest of the trade
which comes froi-n Germany." Even the cities or the eastern i-nainland
up to Verona got their supplies from Genoa and Leghorn.
1744-82 The sea walls:
In 1744 the construction of sea walls was undertaken to protect
the shore of the lagoon between Pellestriiia and Chioggia to a plan
drawn up by father Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, cartographer to the
Republic in 1716. The thick wall ol'Istria stone, 14 meters (46
feet) wide and four-and-a-half meters (15 reet) above i-nean tide
level were in two parts. The sea walls of Pellestrina were four
kilometers (two and a half miles) long, and were finished in 1751,
while the walls of Sottomarina were 1200 meters (I mile) long and
were finished in 1782. They were "a work which recalls the greatness
of the Romans, outdoing men, sea, and time" (1777). They were the
last great public work of the Venetian state, which had always devoted
its skill, its persistence, and its money to the defense of the
lagoon.
1762 Tribunalisti and querinivti:
Angelo Maria Querini, "intervened" in a sentence of the Supreme
Tribunal (the three Inquisitors of State), and was arrested by order
of the Inquisitors. In protest the MaggiorCon.yiglio refused to
vote in the elections for the Council of Ten, nominating four "correctors"
to revise the laws. The head of the party of reformers, known as
the qiieri),ii.vti was Paolo Renier, while the tribu alisti, those
who upheld the power of the Supreme Tribunal, were led by Marco
Foscarini. The parliamentary battle concluded with the vote of 16
March 1762, in the Maggior Consiglio, in which the "conservative"
proposals of' the correctors were accepted by a majority of only
two votes. Marco Foscarini and Paolo Renier were both subsequently
elected doge.
1766 The Barbary pirates: Jacopo Nani
at Tripoli:
Venetian trade with the western Mediterranean was seriously affected
by the wars of the Barbary pirates on the coast of the Maghreb,
who were only nominally under the control of the Sublime Porte.
In 1750 the sari lamented that "the pirates are multiplying their
arms, losses are unceasing, and we are reduced to either remaining
in port, or to sailing with excessive expenses in crew and safeguards,
or else losing our ships and disgracingour nation". Diplomatic delegations
between 1761 and 1765 to Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and Morocco, led
to agreements for which the Venetians had to pay large annual indemnities.
The bey of Tripoli later caused further incidents, and Jacopo Nani's
squadron was charged with undertaking military action. This turned
out to be a simple demonstration of strength, since the bey hastily
accepted the Venetian demands as soon as the fleet appeared. The
goodwill purchased from the Barbary states bore fruit. From an original
40 Venetian vessels the number rose in 1774 to 303, and later to
405.
1779-80 Attempts at reform:
"All is in disorder, everything is out of control," exclaimed Carlo
Contarini in the M(iggior Consiglio on 5 December 1779. He was talking
of a "commotion" in demand of a plan of reform also supported by
Giorgio Pisani. The idea was to remove the monopoly of power enjoyed
by the small number of rich patricians to the advantage of the very
large number of poor ones. This gave rise to fears of "overturning
the system" and the doge, Paolo Renier, opposed the plan. "Prudence"
suggested that the agitations in favour of reform were a conspiracy.
The Inquisitors took the arbitrary step of confining Pisani in the
castle of San Felice in Verona, and Contarini in the fortresss of
Cattaro.
1784 The lament of "el Paron":
On 29 May 1784 Andrea Tron, known as el paron (the chief) because
of his political influence, said that trade "is falling into final
collapse. The ancient and long-held maxims and laws which created
and could still create a state's greatness have been forgotten.
[We are] supplanted by foreigners who penetrate right into the bowels
of our city. We are despoiled of our substance, and not a shadow
of our ancient merchants is to be found among our citizens or our
subjects. Capital is lacking, not in the nation, but in commerce.
It is used to support effeminacy, excessive extravagance, idle spectacles,
pretentious amusements and vice, instead of supporting and increasing
industry which is the mother of good morals, virtue, and of essential
national trade."
1784-86 The last naval venture:
The bey of Tunis's Barbary pirates renewed their acts of piracy
following claims of compensation for losses suffered by Tunisian
subjects in Malta, due to no fault of the Venetians. When diplomatic
efforts to reach an agreement failed, the government was forced
to take military action. A fleet under Angelo Emo blockaded Tunis
and bombarded Susa (November 1784 and May 1785), Sfax (August 1785)
and La Coletta (September), and then Sfax and Susa again, and Biserta
in 1786. These brilliant military successes brought no cornparable
political results in their train, and the Senate recalled Emo and
his fleet to Corfu. After Emo's death on I March 1792, peace was
made with Tunis by increasing the bey's dues.
1789 The last doge:
In January 1789 Lodovico Manin, from a recently ennobled mainland
family, was elected doge. The expenses of the election had grown
throughout the 18th century, and now reached their highest ever.
The patrician Pietro Gradenigo remarked, "I have made a Friulian
doge; the Republic is dead." In Valence Napoleon Bonaparte was serving
the king of France as an artillery lieutenant.
1797 The end:
In spring 1796 Piedmont fell and the Austrians were beaten from
Montenotte to Lodi. The Italian army under Napoleon crossed the
frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end
of the year the French troops were occupying the Venetian state
up to the Adige. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians.
With the campaigns of the next year Napoleon aimed for the Austrian
possessions across the Alps. In the preliminaries to the peace of
Leoben, the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to
take the Venetian possessions as the price of peace (18 April 1797).
Nevertheless the peace envisaged the continued survival of the Venetian
state, although confined to the city and the lagoon, perhaps with
compensation at the expense of the papal states. In the meanwhile
Brescia and Bergamo revolted to Venice, and anti French movements
were arising elsewhere. Napoleon threatened Venice with war on 9
April. On 25 April he announced to the Venetian delegates at Graz,
"I want no more Inquisition, no more Senate; I shall be an Attila
to the state of Venice." Domenico Pizzamano fired on a French ship
trying to force an entry from the Lido forts. On I May, Napoleon
declared war. The French were at the edge of the lagoon. Even the
cities of the Veneto had been "revolutionized" by the French, who
had established provisional municipalities. On 12 May, the Maggior
Consiglio approved a motion to hand over power "to the system of
the proposed provisional representative government," although there
was not a quorum of votes: 512 voted for, ten against, and five
abstained. On 16 May the provisional municipal government met in
the Hall of the Maggior Co siglio. The preliminaries of the peace
of Leoben were made even harsher in the FrancoAustrian treaty of
Campoformido, and Venice and all her possessions became Austrian.
The accord was signed at Passariano, in the last doge's villa, on
18 October 1797. |
