Chapter DXV: Section 2: The Congress shall have power to enforce this (5)

"It was by slow and artfully disguised encroachments that the
nobility of Venice succeeded in substituting itself for the
civic power, and investing itself with the sovereignty of the
republic. During the earlier period, the doge was an elective
prince, the limit of whose power was vested in assemblies of
the people. It was not till 1032 that he was obliged to
consult only a council, formed from amongst the most
illustrious citizens, whom he designated. Thence came the name
given them of 'pregadi' (invited). The grand council was not
formed till 1172, 140 years later, and was, from that time,
the real sovereign of the republic. It was composed of 480
members, named annually on the last day of September, by 12
tribunes, or grand electors, of whom two were chosen by each
of the six sections of the republic. No more than four members
from one family could be named. The same counsellors might be
re-elected each year. As it is in the spirit of a corporation
to tend always towards an aristocracy, the same persons were
habitually re-elected; and when they died their children took
their places. The grand council, neither assuming to itself
nor granting to the doge the judicial power, gave the first
example of the creation of a body of judges, numerous,
independent, and irremovable; such, nearly, as was afterwards
the parliament of Paris. In 1179, it created the criminal
'quarantia'; called, also, the 'vecchia quarantia,' to
distinguish it from two other bodies of forty judges, created
in 1229. The grand council gave a more complete organization
to the government formed from among its members. It was
com·posed of a doge; of six counsellors of the red robe, who
remained only eight months in office, and who, with the doge,
formed the 'signoria'; and of the council of pregadi, composed
of 60 members, renewed each year. …
{3605}
In 1249, the sovereign council renounced the election of the
doge, and intrusted it to a commission drawn by lot from among
the whole council; this commission named another: which,
reduced by lot to one fourth, named a third; and by these
alternate operations of lot and election, at length formed the
last commission of 41 members, who could elect the doge only
by a majority of 25 suffrages. It was not till towards the end
of the 13th century that the people began to discover that
they were no more than a cipher in the republic, and the doge
no more than a servant of the grand council,—surrounded,
indeed, with pomp, but without any real power. In 1289, the
people attempted themselves to elect the doge; but the grand
council obliged him whom the popular suffrages had designated
to leave Venice, and substituted in his place Pietro
Gradenigo, the chief of the aristocratic party. Gradenigo
undertook to exclude the people from any part in the election
of the grand council, as they were already debarred from any
participation in the election of a doge. … The decree which he
proposed and carried on the 28th of February, 1297, is famous
in the history of Venice, under the name of 'serrata del
maggior consiglio' (shutting of the grand council). He legally
founded that hereditary aristocracy,—so prudent, so jealous,
so ambitious,—which Europe regarded with astonishment;
immovable in principle, unshaken in power; uniting some of the
most odious practices of despotism with the name of liberty;
suspicious and perfidious in politics; sanguinary in revenge;
indulgent to the subject; sumptuous in the public service,
economical in the administration of the finances; equitable
and impartial in the administration of justice; knowing well
how to give prosperity to the arts, agriculture, and commerce;
beloved by the people who obeyed it, whilst it made the nobles
who partook its power tremble. The Venetian aristocracy
completed its constitution, in 1311, by the creation of the
Council of Ten, which, notwithstanding its name, was composed
of 16 members and the doge. Ten counsellors of the black robe
were annually elected by the great council, in the months of
August and September; and of the six counsellors of the red
robe, composing a part of the signoria, three entered office
every four months. The Council of Ten, charged to guard the
security of the state with a power higher than the law, had an
especial commission to watch over the nobles, and to punish
their crimes against the republic. In this they were
restrained by no rule: they were, with respect to the
nobility, the depositaries of the power of the great council,
or rather of a power unlimited, which no people should intrust
to any government. Some other decrees completed the system of
the 'serrata del maggior consiglio.' It was forbidden to the
quarantia to introduce any 'new man' into power. In 1315, a
register was opened, called the Golden Book, in which were
inscribed the names of all those who had sat in the great
council. In 1319, all limitation of number was suppressed;
and, from that period, it sufficed to prove that a person was
the descendant of a counsellor, and 25 years of age, to be by
right a member of the grand council of Venice."

_J. C. L. de Sismondi,
History of the Italian Republics,
chapter 5._

"When the Republic was hard pressed for money, inscriptions in
the Golden Book were sold at the current price of 100,000
ducats. … Illustrious foreigners were admitted, as they are
made free of a corporation amongst us. … The honour was not
disdained even by crowned heads. … The original 'Libro d' oro'
was publicly burned in 1797, but extracts, registers, and
other documents are extant from which its contents might be
ascertained."

_The Republic of Venice
(Quarterly Review, volume 137, page 433)._

ALSO IN:
_E. Flagg,
Venice, the City of the Sea,
introduction._

_Mrs. Oliphant,
The Makers of Venice,
chapter 4._

_H. F. Brown,
Venice,
chapters 5 and 9._

VENICE: A. D. 1085.
Acquires the sovereignty of Dalmatia and Croatia.

See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 1081-1085.

VENICE: A. D. 1099-1101.
The first Crusade.

"The movement of the crusades brings Venice to the very
forefront of European history. Her previous development had
been slowly preparing the way for her emergence. The Council,
held at Clermont in 1095, resolved that the armament should
leave Europe early in the following year. The Pope and the
leaders of the Crusades were obliged to turn their attention
to the question of transport for the vast and amorphous mob,
which, without discipline, with no distinction of ranks, with
no discrimination between soldier and monk, between merchant
and peasant, between master and man, was now bent on reaching
the Holy Land, almost as eager to die there as to achieve the
object of their mission, the recovery of the Sepulchre. The
three maritime states of Italy—Genoa, Pisa, and Venice—were
each ready to offer their services. Each was jealous of the
other, and each determined to prevent the other from reaping
any signal commercial advantage from the religious enthusiasm
of Europe. Venice was not only the most powerful, but also the
most eastern, of the three competitors. It was natural that
the choice should fall on her. When the Pope's invitation to
assist in the Crusade reached the city, however, it seems that
the Government did not at once embrace the cause officially in
the name of the whole Republic. There was, at first, a
tendency to leave the business of transport to private
enterprise. But on receipt of the news that Jerusalem had
fallen, the Venetian Government began to take active steps in
the matter. … The Crusade was accepted with enthusiasm. The
whole city engaged in preparing a fleet which should be worthy
of the Republic. Then, after a solemn mass in S. Mark's, at
which the standard of the Cross and the standard of the
Republic were presented to the leaders, the soldiers of the
Cross embarked on the fleet which numbered 200 ships, and set
sail down the Adriatic, making for Rhodes, where they were to
winter. At Rhodes two incidents of great significance in
Venetian history took place. The Eastern Emperors had never
viewed with favour the incursion of the Crusaders. The
creation of the kingdom of Jerusalem was really a usurpation
of Imperial territory. Alexius I. now endeavoured to persuade
the Venetians to withdraw from the enterprise. In this he
failed; Venice remained true to the Cross, and to her
commercial interests. It is at this point that we find the
beginnings of that divergence between Constantinople and the
Republic, which eventually declared itself in open hostility,
and led up to the sack of Constantinople in the fourth
Crusade.

{3606}

Alexius, finding that the Venetians were not inclined to obey
him, resolved to punish them. An instrument was ready to his
hand. The Pisans saw with disfavour the advent of their
commercial rivals in Eastern waters. They were willing to
hoist the Imperial standard as opposed to the crusading cross,
and to sail down upon the Venetians at Rhodes. They were
defeated. The Venetians released all the prisoners except
thirty of the more prominent among them who were detained as
hostages. The first fruits of the Crusade, as far as Venice
was concerned, were the creation of two powerful enemies, the
Emperor and the Pisans."

_H. F. Brown,
Venice,
chapter 6._

VENICE: A. D. 1102.
Hungarian conquest of Dalmatia.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 972-1114.

VENICE: A. D: 1114-1141.
Wars for Dalmatia with the Hungarians.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1114-1301.

VENICE: A. D. 1127-1128.
Beginning of quarrels with the Byzantine Empire.

"Previous to this time [about 1127], the Venetian republic had
generally been a firm ally of the Byzantine empire, and, to a
certain degree, it was considered as owing homage to the
Emperor of Constantinople. That connection was now dissolved,
and those disputes commenced which soon occupied a prominent
place in the history of Eastern Europe. The establishment of
the Crusaders in Palestine had opened a new field for the
commercial enterprise of the Venetians, and in a great measure
changed the direction of their maritime trade; while the
frequent quarrels of the Greeks and Franks compelled the
trading republics of Italy to attach themselves to one of the
belligerent parties, in order to secure a preference in its
ports. For a short time, habit kept the Venetians attached to
the empire; but they soon found that their interests were more
closely connected with the Syrian trade than with that of
Constantinople. They joined the kings of Jerusalem in
extending their conquests, and obtained considerable
establishments in all the maritime cities of the kingdom. From
having been the customers and allies of the Greeks, they
became their rivals and enemies. The commercial fleets of the
age acted too often like pirates; and it is not improbable
that the Emperor John had good reason to complain of the
aggressions of the Venetians. Hostilities commenced; the Doge
Dominico Michieli, one of the heroes of the republic,
conducted a numerous fleet into the Archipelago, and plundered
the islands of Rhodes and Chios, where he wintered. Next year
he continued his depredations in Samos, Mitylene, Paros, and
Andros. … Peace was re-established by the emperor reinstating
the Venetians in the enjoyment of all the commercial
privileges they had enjoyed before the war broke out."

_G. Finlay,
History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires,
book 3, chapter 2, section 2._

VENICE: A. D. 1177.
Pretended Papal Grant of the sovereignty of the Adriatic.
Doubtful story of the humiliation of Frederick Barbarossa.

A "notable epoch in early Venetian history is the grant on
which she based her claim to the sovereignty of the Adriatic.
In the course of the fierce struggle between Alexander III.
and Frederick Barbarossa [see ITALY: A. D. 1174-1183], the
Pope, when his fortunes were at the lowest, took refuge with
the Venetians, who, after a vain effort at reconciliation,
made common cause with him, and in a naval encounter obtained
so signal a victory that the Emperor was compelled to sue for
peace and submit to the most humiliating terms. The crowning
scene of his degradation has been rendered familiar by the
pencil, the chisel, and the pen. … The Emperor, as soon as he
came into the sacred presence, stripped off his mantle and
knelt down before the Pope to kiss his feet. Alexander,
intoxicated with his triumph and losing all sense of
moderation or generosity, placed his foot on the head or neck
of his prostrate enemy, exclaiming, in the words of the
Psalmist, 'Super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis' &c. ('Thou
shalt tread upon the asp and the basilisk' …). 'Non tibi, sed
Petro' ('Not to thee, but Peter'), cried the outraged and
indignant Emperor. 'Et mihi et Petro' ('To both me and
Peter'), rejoined the Pope, with a fresh pressure of his heel.
… Sismondi (following a contemporary chronicler} narrates the
interview without any circumstance of insult, and describes it
as concluding with the kiss of peace. There are writers who
contend that Alexander was never at Venice, and that the
Venetians obtained no victory on his behalf. But the weight of
evidence adduced by Daru strikes us to be quite conclusive in
favour of his version. … In return for the good offices of
Venice on this occasion … Alexander presented the reigning
Doge, Ziani, with a ring, saying, 'Receive this ring, and with
it, as my donation, the dominion of the sea, which you, and
your successors, shall annually assert on an appointed day, so
that all posterity may understand that the possession of the
sea was yours by right of victory, and that it is subject to
the rule of the Venetian Republic, as wife to husband.' … The
well-known ceremony of wedding the Adriatic, religiously
observed with all its original pomp and splendour during six
centuries, was in itself a proclamation and a challenge to the
world. It was regularly attended by the papal nuncio and the
whole of the diplomatic corps, who, year after year, witnessed
the dropping of a sanctified ring into the sea, and heard
without a protest the prescriptive accompaniment: 'Desponsamus
te, mare, in signum veri perpetuique domini' (we espouse thee,
sea, in sign of true and perpetual dominion)."

_The Republic of Venice
(Quarterly Review, October, 1874, volume 137),
pages 421-423._

ALSO IN:
_G. B. Testa,
History of the War of Frederick I.
against the Communes of Lombardy,
book 11._

_Mrs. W. Busk,
Mediæval Popes, Emperors, Kings, and Crusaders,
book 2, chapter 8 (volume 2)._

VENICE: A. D. 1201.
Cause of Hostility to Constantinople.

"Of late years the Venetians had had difficulties with the New
Rome. … These difficulties arose, in great measure, from the
fact that the influence of Venice in Constantinople was no
longer sufficient to exclude that of the other Italian
republics. … But the hostility to Constantinople reached its
height when the Venetians learned that Alexis had, in May
1201, received an embassy from Genoa, and was negotiating with
Ottobono della Croce, its leader, for the concession of
privileges for trade in Romania which Venice had hitherto
regarded as exclusively her own. From this time the Doge
appears to have determined to avenge the wrongs of his state
on the ruler who had ventured to favour his rivals."

_E. Pears,
The Fall of Constantinople,
chapter 8._

{3607}

VENICE: A. D. 1201-1203.
Perfidious part in the conquest of Constantinople.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1201-1203.

VENICE: A. D. 1204.
Share of the Republic in the partition of the Byzantine Empire.

See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 1204-1205.

VENICE: A. D. 1216.
Acquisition of the Ionian Islands.

See CORFU: A. D. 1216-1880;
and IONIAN ISLANDS: To 1814.

VENICE: A. D. 1256-1258.
Battles with the Genoese at Acre.

"At the period of the Crusades, it was usual in those cities
or towns where the Christians held sway, to assign to each of
the mercantile communities which had borne a part in the
conquest or recovery of the particular district, a separate
quarter where they might have their own mill, their own oven,
their own bath, their own weights and measures, their own
church, and where they might be governed by their own laws,
and protected by their own magistrates. … At Saint Jean
d'Acre, however, the Church of Saint Sabbas was frequented by
the Venetians and the Genoese in common; and it happened that,
in course of time, both nations sought to found a right to the
exclusive property of the building." Collisions ensued, in one
of which (1256), the Genoese drove the Venetians from their
factory at Acre and burned the church of Saint Sabbas. The
Venetians retaliated by sending a squadron to Acre which
destroyed all the Genoese shipping in the port, burned their
factory, and reduced a castle near the town which was held by
a Genoese garrison. Early in 1257 the fleets of the two
republics met and fought a battle, between Acre and Tyre, in
which the Venetians were the victors. On the 24th of June,
1258, a second battle was fought very nearly on the same spot,
and again Venice triumphed, taking 2,600 prisoners and 25
galleys. Through the efforts of the Pope, a suspension of
hostilities was then brought about; but other causes of war
were working in the east, which soon led to fresh encounters
in arms between the two jealous commercial rivals.

_W. C. Hazlitt,
History of the Venetian Republic,
chapter 11 (volume 1)._

VENICE: A. D. 1261-1263.
The supplanting of the Venetians by the Genoese at
Constantinople and in the Black Sea.
War between the Republics.
The victory at Malvasia.

See GENOA: A. D. 1261-1299.

VENICE: A. D. 1294-1299.
War with Genoa.
Disastrous defeat at Curzola.

See GENOA: A. D. 1261-1299.

VENICE: 14th Century.
Fleets.
Commerce.
Industries.

"In the 14th century Venice had 3,000 merchantmen manned by
25,000 sailors. A tenth part of these were ships exceeding 700
tons burden. There were besides 45 war-galleys manned by
11,000 hands; and 10,000 workmen, as well as 36,000 seamen,
were employed in the arsenals. The largest of the war-galleys
was called the Bucentaur; it was a state vessel of the most
gorgeous description. Every year the Doge of Venice, seated
upon a magnificent throne surmounted by a regal canopy,
dropped from this vessel a ring into the Adriatic, to
symbolise the fact that land and sea were united under the
Venetian flag. This ceremony commemorated the victory gained
over the fleet of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa In 1177,
when the Venetians obliged him to sue for peace.

See VENICE: A. D. 1177.

Ascension Day was selected for its celebration, and the
Bucentaur, glorious with new scarlet and gold, its deck and
seats inlaid with costly woods, and rowed with long banks of
burnished oars, for many years bore the Doge to plight his
troth with the words, 'We espouse thee, O Sea! in token of
true and eternal sovereignty.' The merchant fleet of Venice
was divided into companies sailing together according to their
trade. Their routes, and the days for departure and return,
their size, armament, crew, and amount of cargo, were all
defined. In those times the seas were as much infested with
pirates as the deserts with robbers; each squadron therefore
hired a convoy of war-galleys for its protection on the
voyage. There were six or seven such squadrons in regular
employment. The argosies of Cyprus and Egypt, and the vessels
engaged in the Barbary and Syrian commerce, concentrated their
traffic chiefly at Alexandria and Cairo. The so-called
Armenian fleet proceeded to Constantinople and the Euxine,
visiting Kaffa and the Gulf of Alexandretta. A Catalonian
fleet traded with Spain and Portugal, and another with France;
while the most famous of all, the Flanders galleys, connected
the seaports of France, England, and Holland with the great
commercial city of Bruges. The internal traffic with Germany
and Italy was encouraged with equal care, oriental produce
arriving from Constantinople and Egypt, and many other
commodities being distributed, at first by way of Carinthia,
and afterwards of the Tyrol. Germans, Hungarians, and
Bohemians conducted this distribution. In Venice a bonded
warehouse (fondaco dei tedeschi), or custom-house, was
accorded to the Germans, where they were allowed to offer
their wares for sale, though only to Venetian dealers. Similar
privileges were granted to the Armenians, Moors, and Turks,
but not to the Greeks, against whom a strong animosity
prevailed. … The ancient industries of preparing salt and
curing fish were never disregarded. The Adriatic sands
supplied material adapted for a glass of rare beauty and
value, of which mirrors and other articles of Venetian
manufacture were made. Venetian goldsmiths' work was
universally famed. Brass and iron foundries prepared the raw
material for the armourers, whose weapons, helmets, and
bucklers were unsurpassed for strength and beauty.
Ship-building, with a people whose principle it was always to
have more ships than any other state, was necessarily a very
important branch of industry. Not satisfied with penetrating
to every part already opened to enterprise, the Venetians
travelled into regions before unknown, and gave to the world
the record of their daring adventures. Maffeo and Nicolo Polo
spent fifteen years visiting Egypt, Persia, India, the Khan of
Tartary, and the Grand Khan or Emperor of China. Marco Polo,
son of Nicolo, as well as Barthema and Joseph Barbaro,
extended the knowledge obtained by their precursors in
northern Europe and Asia."

_J. Yeats,
Growth and Vicissitudes of Commerce,
page 98-101._

See (In Supplement) COMMERCE, MEDIÆVAL.

ALSO IN:
_A. Anderson,
Origin of Commerce,
volume 1._

_Venetian Commerce
(Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, volume 5, pages 393-411)._

VENICE: A. D. 1336-1338.
Alliance with Florence against Mastino della Scala.
Conquest of Treviso and other territory on the mainland.

See VERONA: A. D. 1260-1338.

{3608}

VENICE: A. D. 1351-1355.
Alliance with the Greeks and Aragonese in war with Genoa.

See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1348-1355.

VENICE: A. D. 1358.
Loss of Dalmatia.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1301-1442.

VENICE: A. D. 1378-1379.
Renewed war with Genoa.
The defeat at Pola.

The treaty of June, 1355, between Venice and Genoa (see
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1348-1355), established a peace which
lasted only until April, 1378, when, "a dispute having arisen
between the rival States in relation to the island of Tenedos,
which the Venetians had taken possession of, the Signory
formally declared war against Genoa, which it denounced as
false to all its oaths and obligations. On the 26th of this
month, Vettore Pisani was invested with the supreme command of
the naval forces of the republic. … The new commander-in-chief
was the son of Nicolo Pisani, and had held a commission in the
Navy for 25 years. … Of the seamen he was the idol. … Pisani
sailed from Venice early in May, with 14 galleys; and, on the
30th of the month, while cruising off Antium, came across a
Genoese squadron of 10 galleys, commanded by Admiral Fieschi.
It was blowing a gale at the time, and five of Pisani's
vessels, which had parted company with him, and fallen to
leeward, were unable to rejoin him, while one of Fieschi's
drifted ashore, and was wrecked. Thus the battle which
immediately ensued was between equal forces; but the Genoese
admiral was no match for Vettore Pisani," and sustained a
disastrous defeat, losing four vessels, with all their
officers and crew. "During the summer, Pisani captured great
numbers of the enemy's merchantmen; but was unable to find
their fleet, which, under Luciano Doria, was actively engaged
in cutting up Venetian commerce in the East. In November he
asked permission to return to Venice to refit his vessels,
which were in a very bad condition, but this was denied him;
and, being kept constantly cruising through the winter, at its
expiration only six of his vessels were found to be seaworthy.
Twelve others, however, were fitted out at their own expense
and sent to him by his friends, who perceived that his
political enemies were making an effort to ruin him. At the
end of February, 1379, Michele Steno and Donato Zeno were
appointed by the Government' proveditori' of the fleet. These
officers, like the field deputies of the Dutch republic in
later times, were set as spies over the commander-in-chief,
whose operations they entirely controlled. On the 1st of May,
Pisani left Brindisi, bound to Venice, having a large number
of merchantmen in charge, laden with wheat; and, on the 6th
instant, as the weather looked squally, put into Pola, with
his convoy, for the night. On the following morning, at
day-break, it was reported to him that Doria was off the port
with 25 vessels; whereupon he determined not to leave his
anchorage until Carlo Zeno, whom he was expecting with a
reenforcement of 10 galleys, should be seen approaching. But
the Proveditori, loudly denouncing such a determination as a
reflection upon the valor of his officers and men, ordered
him, peremptorily, in the name of the Senate, to engage the
enemy without delay." The result was an overwhelming defeat,
out of which Pisani brought six galleys, only—" which were all
that were saved from this most terrible engagement, wherein
800 Venetians perished and 2,000 were taken prisoners. …
Pisani was now violently assailed by his enemies; although
they well knew that he had fought the battle of Pola against
his own judgment, and agreeably to the wishes of the
government, as made known to him by its accredited agents,
Michele Steno and Donato Zeno. The Great Council decreed his
immediate removal from the supreme command, and he was brought
to Venice loaded with chains." Condemned, upon trial before
the Senate, he was sentenced to imprisonment for six months.

_F. A. Parker,
The Fleets of the World,
pages 100-105._

VENICE: A. D. 1379-1381.
The war of Chioggia.
The dire extremity of the Republic and her deliverance.

After the great victory of Pola, which cost the Genoese the
life of Luciano D'Oria, they lost no time in pressing their
beaten enemy, to make the most of the advantage they had won.
"Fresh galleys were forthwith placed under the command of
Pietro, another of the noble D'Oria family; and before the
eyes of all Genoa, and after the benediction of the
archbishop, the fleet sailed from the harbour, and a great cry
was raised from roof to roof, and from window to window, and
each alley and each street re-echoed it with enthusiasm, 'to
Venice! to Venice!' On arriving in the Adriatic, Pietro D'Oria
joined the fleet already there, and prepared for his attack on
Venice. These were pitiful days for the Queen of the Adriatic,
the days of her greatest peril and humiliation. The Lord of
Padua joined the Genoese; the King of Hungary sent troops, as
did also the Marquis of Friuli, and all seemed lost to her
both by sea and land. Everywhere within the city was misery
and dismay. … To possess himself of Chioggia, which was 25
miles distant from Venice, was D'Oria's first plan. It was the
key of the capital, commanded the entrance to the harbour, and
cut off any assistance which might come from Lombardy.
Chioggia was very strong in itself, defended by bastions on
all sides; its weak point lay in being built on two sides of a
river, which was spanned by a large wooden bridge. It was the
first care of the defenders to block up the mouth of this
river. After a few days of gallant defence, and a few days of
gallant attack by sea and land, the defenders of Chioggia were
reduced to the last extremity. The entrance to the river was
broken open, and the bridge, which for some time was a
stumbling-block to the besiegers, was destroyed with all the
soldiers upon it by the bravery of a Genoese sailor, who took
a boat laden with tar and wool and other combustible
materials, and set fire to it, escaping by means of swimming.
The defenders having thus perished in the flames, and Chioggia
being taken [August, 1379], the triumph of the Genoese was at
its height. It now seemed as if Pietro D'Oria had but the word
of command to give, and Venice would have met with the same
fate as Pisa had but a century before. But with this the
fortune of the Ligurians began to wane. One small cannon of
leather, with a wooden car, brought from Chioggia as a trophy
to Genoa, is all that exists to-day to testify to their
victory." The Venetians, in consternation at the fall of
Chioggia, sent a deputation to D'Oria humbly offering to
submit to any terms of peace he might dictate; but the
insolent victor ordered them home with the message that there
could be no peace until he had entered their city to bridle
the bronze horses which stand on the Piazza of St. Mark.
{3609}
This roused the indignation and courage of Venice anew, and
every nerve was strained in the defense of the port. "Vettor
Pisani, who since the defeat at Pola had languished in prison,
was brought out by unanimous consent, and before an assembled
multitude he quietly and modestly accepted the position of
saviour of his country. … The one saving point for Venice lay
in the arrival of a few ships from Constantinople, which …
Carlo Zeno had under his command, endeavouring to make a
diversion in the favour of the Venetians at the Eastern
capital. Pending the return of this fleet, the Venetians made
an attack on Chioggia. And an additional gleam of hope raised
the spirits of Pisani's men in the disaffection of the King of
Hungary from the Genoese cause; and gradually, as if by the
magic hand of a fickle fortune, Pietro D'Oria found himself
and his troops besieged in Chioggia, instead of going on his
way to Venice as he had himself prophesied. But the Genoese
position was still too strong, and Pisani found it hopeless to
attempt to dislodge them; his troops became restless: they
wished to return to Venice, though they had sworn never to go
back thither except as conquerors. It was in this moment of
dire distress that the ultimate resort was vaguely whispered
from the Venetian Council Hall to the Piazza. A solemn decree
was passed, 'that if within four days the succour from Carlo
Zeno did not arrive, the fleet should be recalled from
Chioggia, and then a general council should be held as to
whether their country could be saved, or if another more
secure might not be found elsewhere.' Then did the law-givers
of Venice determine that on the fifth day the lagunes should
be abandoned, and that they should proceed en masse to Crete
or Negropont to form for themselves a fresh nucleus of power
on a foreign soil. It is indeed hard to realize that the fate
of Venice, associated with all that is Italian, the offspring
of the hardy few who raised the city from the very waves, once
hung in such a balance. But so it was, when towards the
evening of the fourth day [January 1, 1380] sails were
descried on the horizon, and Carlo Zeno arrived to save his
country from so great a sacrifice. Meanwhile, at Chioggia the
Genoese were day by day becoming more careless; they felt
their position so strong, they talked merrily of fixing the
day when they should bivouac on the Piazza of St. Mark. Little
did they dream of the net of misfortune into which they were
being drawn so fast. Besides reinforcements by sea, assistance
by land flocked in towards Venice. Barnabo Visconti, and his
company of the Star, a roving company of Germans, and the
celebrated Breton band under Sir John Hawkwood, the
Englishman, all hurried to assist the fallen banner of St.
Mark. Pietro D'Oria did all he could to maintain discipline
amongst his troops; but when he fell one day in an engagement,
through being struck by a Venetian arrow, a general
demoralization set in, and their only thought was how to save
themselves and abandon Chioggia. … On the 18th of February,
1380, the Venetians made another gallant attack. Both sides
fought with desperation, the Genoese for life, their rivals
for their country and their country's fame. Fearful slaughter
occurred amongst the Genoese, and they were obliged to retire
within the walls. … Driven to extremities, on the 22nd of June
In that year, 4,000 Genoese were taken to the public prisons
in Venice. … Since both parties were tired of war, and
weakened with these extreme efforts, it was no difficult
matter to establish a peace [August 8, 1381]."

_J. T. Bent,
Genoa,
chapter 8._

ALSO IN:
_W. O. Hazlitt,
History of the Venetian Republic,
chapter 20 (volume 3)._

_H. F. Brown,
Venice,
chapter 12._

VENICE: A. D. 1386.
Acquisition of Corfu.

See Corfu: A. D. 1216-1880.

VENICE: A. D. 1406-1447.
Acquisition of neighboring territory in northeastern Italy.

On the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the first Duke of
Milan (see MILAN: A. D. 1277-1447), the eastern parts of his
duchy, "Padua, Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, were gradually added
to the dominion of Venice. By the middle of the 15th century,
that republic had become the greatest power In northern
Italy."

_E. A. Freeman,
Historical Geography of Europe,
page 241._

See ITALY: A. D. 1402-1406.

VENICE: A. D. 1426-1447.
League with Florence, Naples, Savoy, and other States
against the Duke of Milan.

See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.

VENICE: A. D. 1450-1454.
War with Milan and Florence.
Alliance with Naples and Savoy.

See MILAN: A. D. 1447-1454.

VENICE: A. D. 1454-1479.
Treaty with the Turks, followed by war.
Loss of ground in Greece and the islands.

See GREECE: A. D. 1454-1479.

VENICE: A. D. 1460-1479.
Losing struggle with the Turks in Greece and the Archipelago.

See TURKS: A. D. 1451-1481;
and ITALY: A. D. 1447-1480.

VENICE: A. D. 1469-1515.
The early Printers.
The Aldine Press.

See PRINTING AND THE PRESS: A. D. 1469-1515.

VENICE: A. D. 1489.
Acquisition of Cyprus.

See Cyprus: A. D.1489-1570.

VENICE: A. D. 1492-1496.
The invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. of France.
Alliance with Naples, Milan, Spain, the Emperor and the Pope.
Expulsion of the French.

See ITALY: A. D. 1492-1494; and 1494-1496.

VENICE: A. D. 1494-1503.
The rising power and spreading dominion of the republic.
The fears and jealousies excited.

"The disturbances which had taken place In Italy since Charles
VIII.'s advent there, came very opportunely for their [the
Venetians'] plans and policy.

See ITALY: A. D. 1494-1496; 1499-1500; 1501-1504.

On every available occasion the Venetians spread their power
all round about them. In the struggle between Charles and
Ferrantino [or Ferdinand, of Naples] they acquired five fine
cities in Apulia, excellently situated for their requirements,
which they peopled by the reception of fugitive Jews from
Spain. Moreover, in the kingdom of Naples, one party had
declared for them. … Tarento raised their standard. During the
Florentine disorders they were within an ace of becoming
masters of Pisa. In the Milanese feuds they acquired Cremona
and Ghiara d'Adda. Their power was all the more terrible, as
they had never been known to lose again anything which they
had once gotten. No one doubted that their aim was the
complete sovereignty over the whole of Italy.
{3610}
Their historians always talked as if Venice was the ancient
Rome once more. … The Turkish war, which had kept them a while
employed, now at an end, they next tried their fortune in
Romagna, and endeavoured, availing themselves of the quarrels
between the returning nobles and Cesar [Borgia, son of Pope
Alexander VI.], to become, if not the sole, at all events the
most powerful, vassals of the papal chair. … The Venetians
prepared to espouse the cause of those whom Cesar had
suppressed. The cities reflected how genuine and substantial
that peace was that the lion of Venice spread over all its
dependencies. Having appeared in this country at the end of
October, 1503, and having first promised the Malatesti other
possessions in their own country, they took Rimini, with the
concurrence of the prince and citizens. Without ado they
attacked Faenza. … They continued their conquests, and, in the
territories of Imola, Cesena, and Forli, took stronghold after
stronghold. … Then it was that the first minister of France
stated his belief that, 'had they only Romagna, they would
forthwith attack Florence, on account of a debt of 180,000
guilders owing them.' If they were to make an inroad into
Tuscany, Pisa would fall immediately on their arrival. Their
object in calling the French into the Milanese territory was,
that they considered them more fitted to make a conquest than
to keep it; and, in the year 1504, they were negotiating how
it were possible to wrest Milan again from them. Could they
only succeed in this, nothing in Italy would be able longer to
withstand them. 'They wanted,' as Macchiavelli said, 'to make
the Pope their chaplain.' But they met with the staunchest
resistance in Julius [the Pope, Julius II.], as in him they
could discover no weak point to attack. As pointedly as he
could express himself, he declared to them, on the 9th
November, 1503, that, 'though hitherto their friend, he would
now do his utmost against them, and would besides incite all
the princes of Christendom against them.'"

_L. von Ranke,
History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations,
book 2, chapter 3._

VENICE: A. D. 1498-1502.
War with the Turks.

See TURKS: A. D. 1498-1502.

VENICE: A. D. 1499-1500.
Alliance with France against the Duke of Milan.
French conquest of the duchy.
Acquisition of Cremona.

See ITALY: A. D. 1499-1500.

VENICE: 15-17th Centuries.
The decline of Venetian commerce and its causes.

"Commerce was for a long time free at Venice; and the republic
only began to decline when its government had caused the
source of its prosperity to be exhausted by monopoly. At first
all the young patricians were subjected to the most severe
ordeals of a commercial training. They were often sent as
novices on board state-vessels to try fortune with a light
venture, so much did it enter into the views of the
administration to direct all citizens toward industrial
occupations! The only reproach that can be brought against the
Venetians, is the effort to exclude foreigners from all
competition with them. Although commercial jealousy had not
yet erected prohibitions into a system, and the ports of the
republic were open to all the merchandise of the world, yet
the Venetians only permitted its transportation in their own
ships; and they reigned as absolute masters over all the
Mediterranean. War had given them security from the Pisans,
the Sicilians and the Genoese. Spain, long occupied by the
Moors, gave them little occasion of offence. France disdained
commerce; England had not yet begun to think of it; the
republic of Holland was not in existence. Under cover of the
right of sovereignty on the gulf, which she had arrogated to
herself, Venice reserved the almost exclusive right to
navigate. Armed flotillas guarded the mouths of all her
rivers, and allowed no barque to enter or depart without being
vigorously examined. But what profited that jealous solicitude
for the interests of her navigation? A day came when the
Portuguese discovered the Cape of Good Hope, and all that
structure of precautions and mistrust suddenly fell to pieces.
Here begin the first wars of customs-duties, and political
economy receives from history valuable instruction. The
Venetians had levelled all obstacles, but for themselves
alone, and to the exclusion of other nations. Their
legislation was very strict in respect to foreigners, in the
matter of commerce. The laws forbade a merchant who was not a
subject of the republic to be even received on board a vessel
of the state. Foreigners paid customs-duties twice as high as
natives. They could neither build nor buy vessels in Venetian
ports. The ships, the captains, the owners, must all be
Venetian. Every alliance between natives and strangers was
interdicted; there was no protection, no privileges and no
benefits save for Venetians: the latter, however, all had the
same rights. In Venice itself, and there alone, was it
permitted to negotiate with the Germans, Bohemians and
Hungarians. As national manufactures acquired importance, the
government departed from the liberal policy it had hitherto
pursued, and the manufacturers obtained an absolute
prohibition of such foreign merchandise as they produced. In
vain, in the 17th century, did declining commerce urge the
reestablishment of former liberties and the freedom of the
port: the attempt was made for a brief moment, but the spirit
of restriction won the day, and the prohibitory regime early
prepared the way for the death of the republic. The people of
Ita]y, however, pardoned the Venetians for their commercial
intolerance, because of the moderate price at which they
delivered all commodities. The Jews, Armenians, Greeks and
Germans flocked to Venice and engaged with safety in
speculations, which were always advantageous, because of the
security which the credit institutions gave and the recognized
probity of the merchants. But soon Venice saw numerous
manufactures spring up in Europe rivaling her own, and her
commerce encountered most formidable competition in that of
the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish and English. The discovery of
the Cape of Good Hope took away from her the monopoly of the
spices of the Indies.

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1463-1498.

The taking of Constantinople, by Mahomet II, had already
deprived her of the magnificent privileges which her subjects
enjoyed in that rich capital of the Orient. But the discovery
of America and the vigorous reprisals of Charles V, who, at
the commencement of his reign, in 1517, doubled the
customs-duties which the Venetians paid in his states,
completed the ruin of that fortunate monopoly which had made
all Europe tributary. Charles V raised the import and export
duties on all Venetian merchandise to twenty per cent; and
this tariff, which would to-day appear moderate, sufficed then
to prevent the Venetians from entering Spanish ports.
{3611}
Such was the origin of the exclusive system, the fatal
invention which the republic of Venice was so cruelly to
expiate. So long as she sought fortune only in the free
competition of the talent and capital of her own citizens, she
increased from age to age and became for a moment the arbiter
of Europe; but as soon as she wished to rule the markets by
the tyranny of monopoly, she saw a league formed against her
commerce, formidable for a very different reason from that of
Cambray."

_J. A. Blanqui,
History of Political Economy in Europe,
chapter 20._

See, also (in Supplement) COMMERCE, MODERN.

VENICE: A. D. 1501.
Hostile schemes of the Emperor and the King of France.

See ITALY: A. D. 1501-1504.

VENICE: A. D. 1508-1509.
The League of Cambrai.
The republic despoiled of her continental provinces.

"The craving appetite of Louis XII., … sharpened by the loss
of Naples, sought to indemnify itself by more ample
acquisitions in the north. As far back as 1504, he had
arranged a plan with the emperor for the partition of the
continental possessions of Venice. …

See ITALY: A. D. 1504-1506.

The scheme is said to have been communicated to Ferdinand [of
Aragon] in the royal interview at Savona [1507]. No immediate
action followed, and it seems probable that the latter
monarch, with his usual circumspection, reserved his decision
until he should be more clearly satisfied of the advantages to
himself. At length the projected partition was definitely
settled by the celebrated treaty of Cambray, December 10th,
1508, between Louis XII. and the emperor Maximilian, in which
the Pope, King Ferdinand, and all princes who had any claims
for spoliations by the Venetians, were invited to take part.
The share of the spoil assigned to the Catholic monarch
[Ferdinand] was the five Neapolitan cities, Trani, Brindisi,
Gallipoli, Pulignano, and Otranto, pledged to Venice for
considerable sums advanced by her during the late war. The
Spanish court, and, not long after, Julius II., ratified the
treaty, although it was in direct contravention of the avowed
purpose of the pontiff, to chase the 'barbarians' from Italy.
It was his bold policy, however, to make use of them first for
the aggrandisement of the church, and then to trust to his
augmented strength and more favorable opportunities for
eradicating them altogether. Never was there a project more
destitute of principle or sound policy. There was not one of
the contracting parties who was not at that very time in close
alliance with the state, the dismemberment of which he was
plotting. As a matter of policy, it went to break down the
principal barrier on which each of these powers could rely for
keeping in check the overweening ambition of its neighbors,
and maintaining the balance of Italy. The alarm of Venice was
quieted for a time by assurances from the courts of France and
Spain that the league was directed solely against the Turks,
accompanied by the most hypocritical professions of good will,
and amicable offers to the republic. The preamble of the
treaty declares that, it being the intention of the allies to
support the pope in a crusade against the infidel, they first
proposed to recover from Venice the territories of which she
had despoiled the church and other powers, to the manifest
hindrance of these pious designs. … The true reasons for the
confederacy are to be found in a speech delivered at the
German diet, some time after, by the French minister Hélian.
'We,' he remarks, after enumerating various enormities of the
republic, 'wear no fine purple; feast from no sumptuous
services of plate; have no coffers overflowing with gold. We
are barbarians. Surely,' he continues in another place, 'if it
is derogatory to princes to act the part of merchants, it is
unbecoming in merchants to assume the state of princes.' This,
then, was the true key to the conspiracy against Venice; envy
of her superior wealth and magnificence, hatred engendered by
her too arrogant bearing, and lastly the evil eye with which
kings naturally regard the movements of an active, aspiring
republic. To secure the co-operation of Florence, the kings of
France and Spain agreed to withdraw their protection from
Pisa, for a stipulated sum of money.

See PISA: A. D. 1494-1509.

There is nothing in the whole history of the merchant princes
of Venice so mercenary and base as this bartering away for
gold the independence for which this little republic had been
so nobly contending for more than 14 years. Early in April,
1509, Louis XII. crossed the Alps at the head of a force which
bore down all opposition. City and castle fell before him, and
his demeanor to the vanquished, over whom he had no rights
beyond the ordinary ones of war, was that of an incensed
master taking vengeance on his rebellious vassals. In revenge
for his detention before Peschiera, he hung the Venetian
governor and his son from the battlements. This was an outrage
on the laws of chivalry, which, however hard they bore on the
peasant, respected those of high degree. … On the 14th of May,
1509, was fought the bloody battle of Agnadel, which broke the
power of Venice and at once decided the fate of the war.
Ferdinand had contributed nothing to these operations, except
by his diversion on the side of Naples, where he possessed
himself without difficulty of the cities allotted to his
share. They were the cheapest, and, if not the most valuable,
were the most permanent acquisitions of the war, being
reincorporated in the monarchy of Naples. Then followed the
memorable decree by which Venice released her continental
provinces from their allegiance, authorizing them to provide
in any way they could for their safety; a measure which,
whether originating in panic or policy, was perfectly
consonant with the latter. The confederates, who had remained
united during the chase, soon quarrelled over the division of
the spoil. Ancient jealousies revived. The republic, with cool
and consummate policy, availed herself of this state of
feeling. Pope Julius, who had gained all that he had proposed,
and was satisfied with the humiliation of Venice, now felt all
his former antipathies and distrust of the French return in
full force. The rising flame was diligently fanned by the
artful emissaries of the republic, who at length effected a
reconciliation on her behalf with the haughty pontiff. The
latter … planned a new coalition for the expulsion of the
French, calling on the other allies to take part in it."

_W. H. Prescott,
History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella,
part 2, chapter 22 (volume 3)._

ALSO IN:
_T. A. Trollope,
History of the Commonwealth of Florence,
book 9, chapter 10 (volume 4)._

_The City in the Sea,
chapter 21._

_M. Creighton,
History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation,
book 5, chapter 14._

_L. von Ranke,
History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations from 1494 to 1514,
book 2, chapter 3._

_H. F. Brown,
Venice,
chapters 17-18._

{3612}

VENICE: A. D. 1510-1513.
The breaking of the League of Cambrai.
The" Holy League" of Pope Julius with Venice,
Ferdinand, Maximilian, and Henry VIII. against France.
The French expelled from Italy.
The Republic recovers its domain.

See ITALY: A. D. 1510-1513.

VENICE: A. D. 1517.
Peace with the Emperor Maximilian.
Recovery of Verona.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1516-1517.

VENICE: A. D. 1526.
The Holy League against the Emperor, Charles V.

See ITALY: A. D. 1523-1527.

VENICE: A. D. 1527.
Fresh alliance with France and England against the Emperor.

See ITALY: A. D. 1527-1529.

VENICE: A. D. 1570-1571.
Holy League with Spain and the Pope against the Turks.
Great battle and victory of Lepanto.

See TURKS: A. D. 1566-1571.

VENICE: A. D. 1572.
Withdrawal from the Holy League.
Separate peace with the Turks.

See TURKS: A. D. 1572-1573.

VENICE: 16th Century.
The Art of the Renaissance.