TheRepublic of Venice (Venetian:Repùblega Vèneta;Italian:Repubblica di Venezia) was asovereign state andmaritime republic inNortheast Italy, which existed for a millennium between the 8th century and 1797.
It was based in thelagoon communities of the historically prosperous city ofVenice, and was a leading Europeaneconomic and trading power during theMiddle Ages and theRenaissance, the most successful of Italy'smaritime republics. By the late Middle Ages, it held significant territories in the mainland of northern Italy, known as theDomini di Terraferma, along with most of theDalmatian coast on the other side of theAdriatic Sea, andCrete and numerous small colonies around theMediterranean Sea, together known as theStato da Màr.
A slow political and economic decline had begun by around 1500, and by the 18th century the city of Venice largely depended on the tourist trade, as it still does, and theStato da Màr was largely lost.
Although no surviving historical records deal directly with the founding of Venice,[1] the history of the Republic of Venice traditionally begins with the foundation of the city at Noon on Friday, 25 March, AD 421, by authorities fromPadua, to establish a trading-post in that region of northern Italy. The founding of the Venetian republic is also said to have been marked at that same event with the founding of the church of St. James.[2] However, the church (believed to be Saint Giacomo di Rialto) dates back no further than the eleventh century, at the earliest, or the mid-twelfth century, at the latest. The 11th centuryChronicon Altinate also dates the first settlement in that region, Rivo Alto ("High Shore", laterRialto), to the dedication of that same church (i.e., San Giacometo on the bank of the currentGrand Canal).[3][4][2]
According to tradition, the original population of the region consisted of refugees—from nearby Roman cities such asPadua,Aquileia,Treviso,Altino, and Concordia (modernConcordia Sagittaria), as well as from the undefended countryside—who were fleeing successive waves ofHun andGermanic invasions from the mid-second to mid-fifth centuries.[5] This is further supported by documentation on the so-called "apostolic families", the twelve founding families of Venice who elected the first doge, who in most cases traced their lineage back to Roman families.[6][7]
TheQuadi andMarcomanni destroyed the main Roman town in the area, Opitergium (modernOderzo) in AD 166–168. This part of Roman Italy was again overrun in the early 5th century by theVisigoths and byAttila of the Huns who sacked Altinum (a town on the mainland coast of the lagoon of Venice) in 452. The last and most enduring immigration into the north of the Italian peninsula, that of theLombards in 568, was the most devastating for the north-eastern region,Venetia (modernVeneto andFriuli). It also confined the Italian territories of the Eastern Roman Empire to part of central Italy and the coastal lagoons of Venetia, known as theExarchate of Ravenna. Around this time,Cassiodorus mentions theincolae lacunae ("lagoon dwellers"), their fishing and their saltworks and how they strengthened the islands with embankments.[8] The former Opitergium region had finally begun to recover from the various invasions when it was destroyed again, this time for good, by theLombards led byGrimoald in 667.
As the power of theByzantine Empire dwindled in northern Italy in the late 7th century, the lagoon communities came together for mutual defence against the Lombards, as the Duchy of Venetia. The Duchy included thepatriarchates ofAquileia andGrado, in modern Friuli, by the Lagoon of Grado and Carole, east of that of Venice. Ravenna and the duchy were connected only by sea routes, and with the duchy's isolated position came increasing autonomy. Thetribuni maiores formed the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the lagoon - traditionally dated to c. 568.[9][2]
Early in the 8th century, the people of the lagoon elected their first leaderOrso Ipato (Ursus), who was confirmed by Byzantium with the titles ofhypatus anddux.[10] Historically, Ursus was the firstDoge of Venice. Tradition, however, since the early 11th century, dictates that the Venetians first proclaimed onePaolo Lucio Anafesto (Anafestus Paulicius) duke in AD 697, although the tradition dates only from the chronicle ofJohn, deacon of Venice (John the Deacon); nonetheless, the power base of the first doges was inEraclea.
Initially, the main settlement was elsewhere in the lagoon and not on the islands of the Rialto group which would later be the heart of Venice. One of the few early settlements attested in the Rialto group was the island of Olivolo (now calledS. Pietro in Castello), at the western end of the archipelago, closer to the sandbars of the lagoon. Archaeological excavation shows that this island was already inhabited in the 5th century. 6th and 7th century Byzantine imperial seals indicate that, at this time, it was politically important. There was also a castle, perhaps from the 6th century. John the Deacon's early 11th centuryChronicon Venetum reports that the diocese of Olivolo was founded in 774-76 by the dogeMaurizio Galbaio (764-87), that a bishop Olberio was established in Olivolo by 775 and attributes the foundation of the cathedral ofS. Pietro to bishop Orso Partecipazio and its completion to 841. Another attestation of an early settlement in the Rivo Alto group is in what was to become thesestriere (district) ofCannaregio. Whatever early settlements there were in the Rivo Alto group of islands, which was to form the city of Venice, the area did not begin to become properly urbanised until the 9th century.
Orso Ipato's successor,Teodato Ipato, moved his seat from Eraclea toMalamocco (onthe Lido) in the 740s.[2] He was the son of Orso and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more than commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history, but all were ultimately unsuccessful.
The changing politics of theFrankish Empire began to change the factional division of Venice. One faction was decidedly pro-Byzantine. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire. Another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish. Supported mostly by clergy (in line with papal sympathies of the time), they looked towards the newCarolingian king of the Franks,Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard, faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers and interested in maintaining peace with the neighbouring Lombard kingdom, which surrounded Venice except on the seaward side.
Teodato Ipato was assassinated and his throne usurped, but the usurper,Galla Gaulo, suffered a like fate within a year. During the reign of his successor,Domenico Monegario, Venice changed from a fisherman's town to a port of trade and centre of merchants. Shipbuilding was also greatly advanced and the pathway to Venetian dominance of theAdriatic was laid. Also duringDomenico Monegario's tenure, the first dualtribunal was instituted. Each year, two new tribunes were elected to oversee the doge and prevent abuse of power.
In that period because, Venice had established itself a thriving slave trade, buying in Italy, among other places, and selling to the Moors in Northern Africa (Pope Zachary himself reportedly forbade such traffic out ofRome).[11][12][13]
The pro-Lombard Monegario was succeeded in 764, by a pro-Byzantine Eraclean,Maurizio Galbaio.[14] Galbaio's long reign (764-787) vaulted Venice forward to a place of prominence not just regionally but internationally and saw the most concerted effort yet to establish a dynasty. Maurizio oversaw the expansion of Venetia to theRialto islands. He was succeeded by his equally long-reigning son,Giovanni. Giovanni clashed withCharlemagne over the slave trade and entered into a conflict with the Venetian church.
Dynastic ambitions were shattered when the pro-Frankish faction was able to seize power underObelerio degli Antoneri in 804. Obelerio brought Venice into the orbit of theCarolingian Empire. However, by calling in Charlemagne's sonPepin,rex Langobardorum, to his defence, Obelerio raised the ire of the populace against himself and his family and they were forced to flee during Pepin's siege of Venice. The siege proved a costly Carolingian failure. It lasted six months, with Pepin's army ravaged by the diseases of the local swamps and eventually forced to withdraw. A few months later Pepin himself died, apparently as a result of a disease contracted there.
Venice thus achieved lasting independence by repelling the besiegers. This was confirmed in an agreement betweenCharlemagne andNicephorus which recognized Venice as Byzantine territory and also recognized the city's trading rights along the Adriatic coast, where Charlemagne previously ordered the Pope to expel the Venetians from thePentapolis.[15]
The successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By thePax Nicephori (803), the two emperors had recognised Venetiande facto independence, while it remained nominally Byzantine in subservience.[16] During the reigns ofAgnello Participazio (c. 810–827) and his two sons, Venice grew into its modern form. Around 810, Agnello moved the ducal seat from Malamocco to an island of the Rivo Alto group close to the family's property near the Church of Santi Apostoli, near the eastern bank of the Grand Canal, afterPepin, theFrankish king of Italy, attacked Malamocco but failed to invade the lagoon. This marked the beginning of the urbanisation of the islands of the Rivo Alto group, heart of the modern city of Venice.[17] Agnello's dogeship was marked by the expansion of Venice into the sea through the construction of bridges, canals, bulwarks, fortifications, and stone buildings. The modern Venice, at one with the sea, was being born. Agnello was succeeded by his sonGiustiniano, who brought the body ofSaint Mark the Evangelist to Venice fromAlexandria and made him the patron saint of Venice.[18]
During the reign of the successor of the Participazio,Pietro Tradonico, Venice began to establish its military might which would influence many a later crusade and dominate the Adriatic for centuries, and signed a trade agreement with theHoly Roman EmperorLothair I, whose privileges were later expanded byOtto I. Tradonico secured the sea by fightingNarentine andSaracenpirates. Tradonico's reign was long and successful (837 – 864), but he was succeeded by the Participazio and it appeared that a dynasty might finally be established.[19]
In thepactum Lotharii of 840 between Venice and theCarolingian Empire, Venice promised not to buy Christian slaves in the Empire, and not to sell Christian slaves to Muslims.[20][21][22] The Venetians subsequently began to sell Slavs and other Eastern European non-Christian slaves in greater numbers. TheVenetian slave trade was divided in to several routes, such as theBalkan slave trade and theBlack Sea slave trade. Caravans of slaves traveled from Eastern Europe, through Alpine passes in Austria, to reach Venice. Surviving records valuedfemale slaves at atremissa (about 1.5 grams of gold or roughly1⁄3 of adinar) and male slaves, who were more numerous, at asaiga (which is much less).[20][23]Eunuchs were especially valuable, and "castration houses" arose in Venice, as well as other prominent slave markets, to meet this demand.[24][25]
Around 841, theRepublic of Venice sent a fleet of 60 galleys (each carrying 200 men) to assist the Byzantines in driving theArabs fromCrotone, but failed.[26]
UnderPietro II Candiano,Istrian cities signed an act of devotion to the Venetian rule. His father (Pietro Candiano I) attempted to attack and destroy Marania or Pagania or Narentines and secure safe passage to Venetian fleets and treaders near Croatian Dalmatia . On 887 September 18, Candiano was captured by the Admiral of the Maranium Navy and killed. He was the first and only Duke of Venice to lose his life in an attempt to secure the Dalmatian Coast to Venice.[27] The autocratic, philo-Imperial Candiano dynasty was overthrown by a revolt in 972, and the populace elected dogePietro I Orseolo; however, his conciliating policy was ineffective, and he resigned in favour ofVitale Candiano.
Starting fromPietro II Orseolo, who reigned from 991, attention towards the mainland was definitely overshadowed by a strong push towards control of Adriatic Sea. Inner strife was pacified, and trade with the Byzantine Empire boosted by the favourable treaty (Grisobolus orGolden Bull) with EmperorBasil II.The imperial edict granted Venetian traders freedom from taxation paid by other foreigners and the Byzantines themselves.
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OnAscension Day in 1000 a powerful fleet sailed from Venice to resolve the problem of the Narentine pirates.[28] The fleet visited all the main Istrian and Dalmatian cities, whose citizens, exhausted by the wars between the Croatian kingSvetislav and his brotherCresimir, swore an oath of fidelity to Venice.[28] the Main Narentine harbours (Lagosta,Lissa andCurzola) tried to resist, but they were conquered and destroyed (see:battle of Lastovo).[28] The Narentine pirates were suppressed permanently and disappeared.[29] Dalmatia formally remained under Byzantine rule, but Orseolo became "Dux Dalmatie" (Duke of Dalmatia"), establishing the prominence of Venice over the Adriatic Sea.[28] The "Marriage of the Sea" ceremony was established in this period. Orseolo died in 1008.
Venice's control over the Adriatic was strengthened by an expedition by Pietro's sonOttone in 1017, by which time Venice had assumed a key role in balancing power between the Byzantine and Holy Roman Empires.
During the longInvestiture Controversy, an 11th-century dispute betweenHenry IV, Holy Roman Emperor andPope Gregory VII over who would control appointments of church officials, Venice remained neutral, and this caused some attrition of support from the Popes. DogeDomenico Selvo intervened inthe war between theNormans ofApulia and the Byzantine EmperorAlexios I Komnenos in favour of the latter, obtaining in exchange a bull declaring the Venetian supremacy in the Adriatic coast up toDurazzo, as well asthe exemption from taxes for his merchants in the whole Byzantine Empire, a considerable factor in the city-state's later accumulation of wealth and power serving as middlemen for the lucrativespice andsilk trade that funnelled through theLevant andEgypt along the ancientKingdom of Axum andRoman-Indian routes via theRed Sea.
The war was not a military success, but with that act the city gained total independence. In 1084,Domenico Selvo led a fleet against theNormans, but he was defeated and lost 9 great galleys, the largest and most heavily armed ships in theVenetian navy.[30]
In theHigh Middle Ages, Venice became wealthy through its control of trade between Europe and theLevant, and began to expand into theAdriatic Sea and beyond. Venice was involved in theCrusades almost from the very beginning; 200 Venetian ships assisted in capturing the coastal cities ofSyria after theFirst Crusade, and in 1123 they were granted virtual autonomy in theKingdom of Jerusalem through thePactum Warmundi.[31] In 1110,Ordelafo Faliero personally commanded a Venetian fleet of 100 ships to assistBaldwin I of Jerusalem in capturing the city ofSidon.[32]
In the 12th century, the republic built a large national shipyard that is now known as theVenetian Arsenal. Building new and powerful fleets, the republic took control over the eastern Mediterranean. The first exchange business in the world was started in Venezia, to support merchants from all over Europe. The Venetians also gained extensive trading privileges in the Byzantine Empire, and their ships often provided the Empire with a navy. In 1182 there wasan anti-Catholic massacre by the Orthodox Christian population of Constantinople, with the Venetians as the main targets.
Venice was asked to provide transportation for theFourth Crusade, but when the crusaders could not pay forchartering their shipping, the dogeEnrico Dandolo[33] offered to delay the payment in exchange for their aid inrecapturing Zara (todayZadar), which had rebelled against Venetian rule in 1183, placing itself under the dual protection of the Papacy and KingEmeric of Hungary, and had proved too well fortified[citation needed] for Venice to retake alone.
Upon accomplishing this in 1202,[34] the crusade was again diverted toConstantinople, the capital of theByzantine Empire. After being deposed from power,Alexios IV Angelos offered to the Crusaders 10,000 Byzantine soldiers to help fight in the Crusade, maintain 500 knights in the Holy Land, the service of the Byzantine navy (20 ships) in transporting their army toEgypt, and 200,000 silver marks to help pay off the Crusaders' debt toVenice if the Crusaders helped re-install him as emperor.
The Crusaders agreed and restored Alexiosto power in 1203; however, he refused to hold up his end of the bargain. The Venetians and French crusaders responded by commencing a siege of Constantinople and in 1204, theycaptured and sacked the city.[35] Venetians saved from the sack several artistic works, such as the famousfour bronze horses and brought them back to Venice.[35]
Byzantine hegemony was destroyed, and in thepartition of the Empire that followed, Venice gained strategic territories in theAegean Sea (three-eighths of the Byzantine Empire), including the islands ofCrete andEuboea. Moreover, some present day cities, such asChania on Crete, have corearchitecture that is substantially Venetian in origin.[36] The Aegean islands formed the VenetianDuchy of the Archipelago.
The Republic of Venice signed a trade treaty with theMongol Empire in 1241.[37]
In 1295,Pietro Gradenigo sent a fleet of 68 ships to attack aGenoese fleet atAlexandretta, then another fleet of 100 ships were sent to attack the Genoese in 1299.[38] In 1304, Venice fought a briefSalt War with Padua.
In the 14th century, Venice faced difficulties to the east, especially during the reign ofLouis I of Hungary. In 1346 he made afirst attempt to freeZara from Venetian suzerainty, but was defeated. In 1356 an alliance was formed by the counts of Gorizia,Francesco I da Carrara, lord ofPadua,Nicolaus, patriarch of Aquileia and his half brotheremperor Charles IV, Louis I, and the dukes of Austria. The league's troops occupiedGrado andMuggia (1356), while Louis stripped Venice ofDalmatia.
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Along the Dalmatian coast, his army had attacked the Dalmatian cities ofZara,Traù,Spalato andRagusa. The siege ofTreviso (July–September 1356) was a failure. Venice suffered a severe defeat at Nervesa (13 January 1358), being forced to withdraw from Dalmatia and give it again to theKingdom of Hungary. Venetians resigned themselves to the unfavorable conditions stipulated in theTreaty of Zara, which was signed on February 18, 1358.
From 1350 to 1381, Venice also fought an intermittentwar with the Genoese. Initially defeated, the Venetians destroyed the Genoese fleet at theBattle of Chioggia in 1380 and retained their prominent position in eastern Mediterranean affairs at the expense of Genoa. However, the peace caused Venice to lose several territories to other participants to the war:Conegliano was occupied by theAustrians;Treviso was taken over byCarraresi;Tenedos fell to the Byzantine Empire; Trieste fell to thePatriarchate of Aquileia; and the Serenissima lost control of Dalmatia to Hungary.
In 1363, acolonial revolt broke out in Crete that needed considerable military force and five years to suppress.
In the early 15th century, the Venetians furtherexpanded their possessions in Northern Italy, and assumed the definitive control of theDalmatian coast, which was acquired fromLadislaus of Naples. Venice installed its own noblemen to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zara. This move by the Venetians was in response to the threatened expansion ofGiangaleazzo Visconti, Duke ofMilan. Control over the north-east cross-country routes was also needed to ensure the safety of travelling merchants. By 1410, Venice had a navy of some 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and had taken over most of Venetia, including such important cities asVerona andPadua.[40]
The situation in Dalmatia was settled in 1408 by a truce withSigismund of Hungary. When this expired, Venice immediatelyinvaded the Patriarchate of Aquileia, and subjugatedTraù,Spalato,Durazzo, and other Dalmatian cities. The difficulties of Hungary allowed the Republic to consolidate its Adriatic dominions.
Under dogeFrancesco Foscari (1423–57) the city reached the height of its power and territorial extent. In 1425 a new war broke out, this time againstFilippo Maria Visconti of Milan. The victory at theBattle of Maclodio ofCount of Carmagnola, commander of the Venetian army, resulted in the shift of the western border from the Adige to theAdda. However, such territorial expansion was not welcome everywhere in Venice; tension with Milan remained high, and in 1446 the Republic had to fight another alliance, formed by Milan, Florence, Bologna, and Cremona. After an initial Venetian victory underMicheletto Attendolo atCasalmaggiore, however, Visconti died and arepublic was declared in Milan. The Serenissima had then a free hand to occupyLodi andPiacenza, but was halted byFrancesco Sforza; later, Sforza and the Doge allied to allow Sforza the rule of Milan, in exchange for the cession ofBrescia andVicenza. Venice, however, again changed side when the power of Sforza seemed to become excessive: the intricate situation was settled with thePeace of Lodi (1454), which confirmed the area ofBergamo and Brescia to the Republic. At this time, the territories under the Serenissima included much of the modernVeneto,Friuli, the provinces of Bergamo, Cremona and Trento, as well asRavenna, Istria, and Dalmatia. Eastern borders were with thecounty of Gorizia and the ducal lands of Austria, while in the south was theDuchy of Ferrara. Oversea dominions includedEuboea andEgina.
On May 29, 1453Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, but Venice managed to maintain a colony in the city and some of the former trade privileges it had had under the Byzantines.[41] Indeed, in 1454, the Ottomans granted the Venetians their ports and trading rights.[41] Despite the recent Ottoman defeats byJohn Hunyadi of Hungary and bySkanderbeg in Albania, war was unavoidable. In 1463 the Venetian fortress ofArgos was ravaged. Venice set up an alliance withMatthias Corvinus of Hungary and attacked the Greek islands by sea and Bulgaria by land. The allies were forced to retreat on both fronts, however, after several minor victories. Operations were reduced mostly to isolated ravages and guerrilla attacks, until the Ottomans moved on a massive counteroffensive in 1470: this resulted in Venice losing its main stronghold in the Aegean Sea,Negroponte. The Venetians sought an alliance with the Shah ofPersia and other European powers, but, receiving only limited support, could make only small-scale attacks atAntalya,Halicarnassus andSmirne.
The Ottomans conquered the Peloponnesus and launched an offensive in the Venetian mainland, closing in on the important centre ofUdine. The Persians, together with the Caramanian amir, were severely defeated at Terdguin, and the Republic was left alone. Further, much of Albania was lost after Skanderbeg's death. However, the heroic resistance ofScutari underAntonio Loredan forced the Ottomans to retire from Albania, while a revolt inCyprus gave back the island to theCornaro family and, subsequently, to the Serenissima (1473).[a] Its prestige seemed reassured, but Scutari fell anyway two years later, and Friuli was again invaded and ravaged. On January 24, 1479, a treaty of peace was finally signed with the Ottomans. Venice had to cede Argo, Negroponte,Lemnos and Scutari, and pay an annual tribute of 10,000 goldenducati. Five years later the agreement was confirmed byMehmed II's successor,Bayezid II, with the peaceful exchange of the islands ofZakynthos andKefalonia between the two sides.
In 1482 Venice allied withPope Sixtus IV in hisattempt to conquer Ferrara, opposed to Florence, Naples, Milan, andErcole d'Este. When Papal-Venetianmilices were smashed at theBattle of Campomorto, Sixtus changed side. Again alone, the Venetians were defeated in the Veronese by Alfonso of Calabria, but conqueredGallipoli, inApulia, by sea. The balance was changed byLudovico Sforza of Milan, who ultimately sided with Venice: this led to a quick peace, which was signed near Brescia on 7 August 1484. In spite of the numerous setbacks suffered in the campaign, Venice obtained thePolesine andRovigo, and increased its prestige in the Italian peninsula at the expense of Florence especially. In the late 1480s, Venice fought two brief campaigns against the newPope Innocent VIII andSigismund of Austria. Venetian troops were also present at theBattle of Fornovo, in which the Italian League fought againstCharles VIII of France. Alliance with Spain/Aragon in the following reconquest of the Kingdom of Naples granted it the control of the Apulian ports, important strategic bases commanding the lower Adriatic, and theIonian islands.
Despite the setbacks in the struggle against the Turks, at the end of the 15th century, with 180,000 inhabitants, Venice was the second largest city in Europe after Paris and probably the richest in the world.[42] The territory of the Republic of Venice extended over approximately 70,000 km2 (27,000 sq mi) with 2.1 million inhabitants (for comparison, at about the same time England had three million inhabitants, the whole of Italy 11 million, France 13 million, Portugal 1.7 million, Spain six million, and the Holy Roman Empire ten million).[citation needed]
Administratively the territory was divided into three parts:
In 1485, 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.
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In 1499 Venice allied withLouis XII of France against Milan, gainingCremona. In the same year the Ottoman sultan moved to attackLepanto by land and sent a large fleet to support the offensive by sea.Antonio Grimani, more a businessman and diplomat than a sailor, was defeated in the seaBattle of Zonchio in 1499. The Turks once again sacked Friuli. Preferring peace to total war against the Turks, Venice surrendered the bases of Lepanto,Modon andCoron.
Venice became rich on trade, but theguilds in Venice also produced superior silks, brocades, goldsmith jewelry and articles, armour and glass in the form of beads and eyeglasses.[41] However, Venice's attention was diverted from its usual trade and maritime position by the delicate situation inRomagna, then one of the richest lands in Italy. Romagna was nominally part of the Papal States but effectively divided into a series of small lordships that were difficult for Rome's troops to control. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in theLeague of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership ofPope Julius II. The pope wanted Romagna, emperorMaximilian IFriuli andVeneto, 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 enlisted by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509 Venice was crushingly defeated at theBattle of Agnadello, in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points of Venetian history. French and Imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded in order to come to terms with Spain, and Pope Julius II soon recognized the danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face large states like France or Ottoman Turkey). The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", andAndrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging Imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice also regained Brescia and Verona from France. After seven years of ruinous war, the Serenissima regained her mainland dominions up to the Adda. Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion.
TheGasparo Contarini bookDe Magistratibus et Republica Venetorum (1544) illustrates the unique system of government in Venice and extols its various institutions. It also shows the astonishment of foreigners at the independence of Venice and its resistance to Italy's loss of freedom – and at it having emerged unscathed from the war against the League of Cambrai. Contarini suggested that the secret of Venice's greatness lay in theco-existence of the three types of government identified byAristotle:monarchy,oligarchy, anddemocracy. In the opinion of Contarini, theMaggior Consiglio was the democratic part, the Senate and theCouncil of Ten were the oligarchy, while the doge represented monarchy. The combination of these three principles in the Venetian government came as close as possible to perfection in the mechanism of government. At the same time thepatricianMarino Sanudo, a politician who had a remarkable career, and a celebrated diarist, was bemoaning the corruption resulting from the great number of poor or impoverished patricians.
The struggle for supremacy in Italy between France and Spain was resolved in favour of the latter. Caught between the Imperial-Spanish and Turkish superpowers, the Republic adopted a skilful political strategy of quasi-neutrality in Europe, which turned into a defensive stance against the Ottomans. Venice's maritime aid was potentially useful to Spain, but not to the point of allowing it to reinforce its position in the Levant, which would increase its strength in Italy as well, where it was practically the only Italian state not subject to Spain. In theTurkish war of 1537-40, Venice was allied with the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain,Charles V.Andrea Doria, commander of the allied fleets, was defeated atPreveza in 1538, and two years later Venice signed a treaty of peace by which the Turks took the Aegeanduchy of Naxos from the Sanudo family. After Preveza the supremacy of the sea passed to the Ottomans.
Difficulties in the rule of the sea brought further changes. 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. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people.[42]
With the outbreak of anotherwar with the Ottomans in 1570, Venice, Spain and the Pope formed theHoly League, which was able to assemble a grand fleet of 208 galleys, 110 of which were Venetian, under the command ofJohn of Austria, half-brother ofPhilip II of Spain. The Venetians were commanded bySebastiano Venier. The Turkish fleet, equal in number to the allied one, 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 offLepanto on 7 October 1571. The Christians were victorious, and divided up 117 galleys captured from the Turks. But the Venetians gained no strategic advantage. Philip II 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 ofCyprus, had been attacked by the Turks in 1570 and had surrendered before Lepanto. The Turkish commander,Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha, had had the VenetianprovveditoreMarcantonio Bragadin flayed alive. The loss of Cyprus was ratified in the peace of 1573. In 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but dropped to 124,000 people by 1581.[42]
In 1605 a conflict between Venice and theHoly 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.Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary tocanon law and demanded they be repealed. When this was refused, he placed Venice under aninterdict. The Republic, under DogeLeonardo Donà, decided to ignore the interdict and excommunication, ordering local clergy to continue carrying out their ministries as before as if nothing had changed. It was supported by the Servite friarPaolo Sarpi, a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be theSignoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict was lifted after a year, when France 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.
A new war occurred in the years 1613–1617. The government of Venice wrote:
The wholehouse 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 theUzkoks.
The Uzkoks (Italian:Uscocchi) were Christian refugees fromBosnia and Turkish Dalmatia who had been enlisted by the Austrian Habsburg to defend their borders after the peace between Venice and the Ottomans following the Battle of Lepanto. They settled in Segna and many lived as pirates in the Adriatic, causing concern in Venice that they would complicate relations with the Sublime Porte. When Venice acted against theseUscocchi in 1613, she found herself at odds on land with their protector, the archduke of Austria. An army was sent against Gradisca, an archducal possession, with financial support given to theduke of Savoy, who was pinning down the Spanish army in Lombardy. The military operations on the eastern frontier were not decisive, but the terms of peace in 1617 required the Habsburgs to solve the problem of the Uzkoks, who were moved inland.
In 1617, whether on his own initiative, or supported by his king, the Spanish viceroy of Naples, theDuke of Osuna attempted to break Venetian dominance. He sent a naval squadron to the Adriatic, leading to theBattle of Ragusa. Rumours of sedition and conspiracy were meanwhile circulating in Venice, and there were disturbances between mercenaries of different nationalities enrolled for theUskok War. The allegations of the supposedBedmar Conspiracy were against the Spanish ambassador, who left Venice, and others.
Tension with Spain increased in 1622, whenAntonio 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.
In 1628 Venice was involved in Italian politics for the first time in more than a century. On the death ofFerdinando I Gonzaga,duke of Mantua andMontferrat, the succession devolved 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 Habsburgs 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 recognizedCharles 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 ofSanta Maria della Salute in the city was laid as a thanks offering for the end of the plague.
In 1638, while the Venetian fleet was cruising off Crete, a corsair fleet from Barbary consisting of 16 galleys fromAlgiers andTunis entered the Adriatic. When the fleet returned, the corsairs repaired to the Turkish stronghold ofValona. The Venetian commanderMarino 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 Venetianbailo (ambassador) in Constantinople,Alvise Contarini. War was momentarily averted and the matter settled by diplomacy; however, six years later the Ottoman attack againstCandia, the mainCretan port, left no easy terms to resort to. TheCretan War lasted for some 25 years and was the dominant question of the whole Republic's history in the 17th century.
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War also moved to the mainland in the middle of 1645, when the Turks attacked the frontiers of Dalmatia. In the latter the Venetians were able to save their coastal positions because of their command of the sea, but on 22 August, the Cretan stronghold ofKhania was forced to capitulate.
The greatest Turkish effort was directed againstSebenico, in today's Croatia, which was besieged in August–September 1647. 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. Throughout all the war the Venetian strategy was to blockade theDardanelles in order to surprise the Turkish fleet on its way to supply the troops on Crete. There were some signal successes, including two victories in the Dardanellesin 1655and 1656, but they failed to alter the strategic situation. The next year there was athree-day-long sea-battle (17–19 July 1657), in which the captainLazzaro Mocenigo was killed by a falling mast, and turning into a crushing 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 thesiege of Candia with joint action on land with the French contingent and by sea under Mocenigo also turned out to be a failure. The French returned home, and only 3,600 fit men were left in the fortress of Candia. CaptainFrancesco 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 ofTinos andCerigo, and its conquests in Dalmatia.
In 1684, soon after the Turkish defeat in thesiege of Vienna, Venice entered an alliance, theHoly League, with Austria against the Ottomans; Russia was later included. At the beginning of theMorean War (1684–99) 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 onAthens, a Venetian cannon blew up theParthenon. 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. TheTreaty of Karlowitz (1699) favoured Austria and Russia more than Venice, which failed to regain its bases in the Mediterranean taken by the Turks in the previous two centuries, in spite of its conquests.
New conflict was brewing over the question of theSpanish Succession. Both France and the Habsburg empire, attempted now 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 unavoidable decline but living out its life in a luxury famous throughout Europe.
In December 1714the Turks declared war on the Republic, at a time when Venice's major overseas possession, the "Kingdom of the Morea" (Peloponnese), 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".[citation needed]
The Turks took the islands of Tinos andAegina, crossed theisthmus and tookCorinth.Daniele Dolfin, commander of the Venetian fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than risk it for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia, Modon, Corone and Malvasia had fallen. Lefkas 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 onCorfù, but its defenders managed to throw them back. In the meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the Austrians atPetrovaradin on 3 August 1716. New Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean and the Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With theTreaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which her small gains in Albania andVenetian Dalmatia ("Linea Mocenigo"[43]) were little compensation. This was the last war of the Republic with Turkey.
The decline of Venice in the 18th century was also due not only to Genoa, Venice's old rival, but also toLivorno, a new port on theTyrrhenian Sea created by thegrand dukes of Tuscany and chosen as staging-post for British trade in the Mediterranean. Still more injurious were the Papal town ofAncona and HabsburgTrieste, a free port since 1719, in the Adriatic Sea, which no longer constituted a "Venetian Gulf". An eminent Venetian politician of the time declared, "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 from Germany."[citation needed]
Even the cities of the eastern mainland up to Verona got their supplies from Genoa and Leghorn. The presence of pirates from the coast of Maghreb worsened the situation.
"All is in disorder, everything is out of control" exclaimed Carlo Contarini in the Maggior 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 fortress ofCattaro.
On 29 May 1784Andrea Tron, known asel paron ("the patron") because of his political influence, said that trade:[citation needed]
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.
The last Venetian naval venture occurred in 1784–86. Thebey of Tunis' 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 underAngelo Emo blockaded Tunis and bombardedSousse (November 1784 and May 1785),Sfax (August 1785 and March 1786),La Goletta (September 1785), andBiserta (July 1786). These brilliant military successes brought no comparable political results in their train, and the Senate recalled Emo and his fleet to Corfù. After Emo's death, peace was made with Tunis by increasing the bey's dues. By the year 1792, the once great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309merchantmen.[44]
In January 1789Ludovico 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."[citation needed]
C. P. Snow suggests that in the last half century of the republic, the Venetians knew "that the current of history had begun to flow against them," and that to keep going would require "breaking the pattern into which they had crystallised." Yet they were "fond of the pattern" and "never found the will to break it."[45]
By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself. Though the Republic still possessed a fleet of 13 ships of the line, only a handful were ready for sea,[46][unreliable source?] and the army consisted of only a few brigades of mainly Dalmatiansoldiers. In spring 1796 Piedmont fell and the Austrians were beaten fromMontenotte toLodi. The army underNapoleon 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 Austrian possessions across the Alps. In the preliminaries to thePeace 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 against Venice, and anti-French movements were rising elsewhere. Napoleon threatened Venice with war on 9 April. On 25 April he announced to the Venetian delegates atGraz, "I want no more Inquisition, no more Senate; I shall be anAttila to the state of Venice."[citation needed]
Domenico Pizzamano fired on a French ship trying to force an entry from the Lido forts. On 1 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 Consiglio. The preliminaries of the peace of Leoben were made even harsher in thetreaty of Campoformio, and Venice and all her possessions became Austrian. The accord was signed at Passariano, in the last doge's villa, on 18 October 1797.
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