Everything about Venetian Republic totally explained
The
Most Serene Republic of Venice (), was an
Italian state originating from the city of
Venice (today in
Northeastern Italy). It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until the late 18th century (
1797).
It is often referred to as
La Serenissima, in reference to its title in Venetian,
The Most Serene Republic. It is also referred to as the
Republic of Venice or the
Venetian Republic.
History
The city of Venice originated as a collection of lagoon communities banded together for mutual defence from the
Lombards,
Huns and other steppe peoples as the power of the
Byzantine Empire dwindled in
northern Italy. Sometime in the first decades of the eighth century, the people of the lagoon elected their first leader
Ursus, who was confirmed by Byzantium and given the titles of
hypatus and
dux. He was the first historical
Doge of Venice. Tradition, however, first attested in the early 11th century, states that the Venetians first proclaimed one
Anafestus Paulicius duke in 697, though this story dates to no earlier than the chronicle of
John the Deacon. Whatever the case, the first doges had their power base in
Heraclea.
Rise
Ursus's successor,
Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to
Malamocco in the 740s. He was the son of Ursus 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. During the reign of Deusdedit, Venice became the only remaining Byzantine possession in the north and the changing politic of the
Frankish Empire began to change the factional division of Venetia. 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 new
Carolingian 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 (and surrounding, but for the sea) Lombard kingdom.
Early Middle Ages
The successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the
Pax Nicephori (803) the two emperors had recognised Venetian
de facto independence, while it remained nominally Byzantine in subservience. During the reign of the Participazio, Venice grew into its modern form. Though Heraclean by birth,
Agnello, first doge of the family, was an early immigrant to Rialto and his dogeship was marked by the expansion of Venice towards the sea via 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 son
Giustiniano, who brought the body of
Saint Mark the Evangelist to Venice from
Alexandria and made him the patron saint of Venice.
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. Tradonico secured the sea by fighting
Slavic and
Saracen pirates. Tradonico's reign was long and successful (837–64), but he was succeeded by the Participazio and it appeared that a dynasty may have finally been established. Around 841, the Republic of Venice sent a fleet of 60 galleys (each carrying 200 men) to assist the Byzantines in driving the
Arabs from
Crotone, but it fails. In 1000,
Pietro II Orseolo sent a fleet of 6 ships to defeat the
Croatian pirates from
Dalmatia.
High Middle Ages
In the
High Middle Ages, Venice became extremely wealthy through its control of trade between Europe and the
Levant, and began to expand into the
Adriatic Sea and beyond. In 1084,
Domenico Selvo personally led a fleet against the
Normans, but he was defeated and lost 9 great galleys, the largest and most heavily armed ships in the
Venetian war fleet. Venice was involved in the
Crusades almost from the very beginning; 200 Venetian ships assisted in capturing the coastal cities of
Syria after the
First Crusade, and in 1123 they were granted virtual autonomy in the
Kingdom of Jerusalem through the
Pactum Warmundi. In 1110,
Ordelafo Faliero personally commanded a Venetian fleet of 100 ships to assist
Baldwin I of
Jerusalem in capturing the city of
Sidon. In the 12th century, the Venetians also gained extensive trading privileges in the Byzantine Empire and their ships often provided the Empire with a navy. In 1182 there was an anti-Western riot in
Constantinople, of which the Venetians were the main targets. Many in the Empire had become jealous of Venetian power and influence, and thus, when in
1182 the pretender
Andronikos I Komnenos marched on Constantinople, Venetian property was seized and the owners imprisoned or banished, an act which humiliated, and angered the Republic. The Venetian fleet was crucial to the transportation of the
Fourth Crusade, but when the crusaders couldn't pay for the ships, the cunning and manipulative Doge
Enrico Dandolo quickly exploited the situation and offered transport to the crusaders if they were to
capture the (Christian) Dalmatian city of Zadar (
Italian:
Zara), which had rebelled against the Venetian rule in 1183, placed itself under the dual protection of the Papacy and King
Emeric of Hungary and had proven too well fortified to retake for Venice alone. Upon accomplishing this the crusade was again diverted to
Constantinople, the capital of the
Byzantine Empire, another rival of Venice in revenge for the 1182 massacre of Venetian citizens living in Constantinople. The city was captured and sacked in 1204; the sack has been described as one of the most profitable and disgraceful sacks of a city in history. The Byzantine Empire, which until 1204 had resisted several attacks and kept the Islamic invaders out of
Western Anatolia and the
Balkans, was re-established in 1261 by
Michael VIII Palaiologos but never recovered its previous power and was eventually conquered by the
Ottoman Turks, who later occupied the Balkans and
Hungary and on two occasions even besieged
Vienna. The Venetians, who accompanied the crusader fleet, claimed much of the plunder, including the famous
four bronze horses which were brought back to adorn
St. Mark's basilica. As a result of the subsequent partition of the Byzantine Empire, Venice gained a great deal of territory in the
Aegean Sea (three-eighths of the Byzantine Empire), including the islands of
Crete and
Euboea. The Aegean islands came to form the Venetian
Duchy of the Archipelago.
In 1295,
Pietro Gradenigo sent a fleet of 68 ships to attack a
Genoese fleet at
Alexandretta, then another fleet of 100 ships were sent to attack the Genoese in 1299. From 1350 to 1381, Venice fought an intermittent
war with the Genoese. Initially defeated, they devastated the Genoese fleet at the
Battle of Chioggia in 1380 and retained their prominent position in eastern Mediterranean affairs at the expense of Genoa's declining empire.
15th century
In the early fifteenth century, the Venetians also began to expand in
Italy, as well as along the
Dalmatian coast from Istria to
Albania, which was acquired from King
Ladislas of Naples during the civil war in Hungary. Ladislas was about to lose the conflict and had decided to escape to Naples, but before doing so he agreed to sell his now practically forfeit rights on the Dalmatian cities for a meager sum of 100,000 ducats. Venice exploited the situation and quickly installed nobility to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zadar. This move by the Venetians was a response to the threatening expansion of
Giangaleazzo Visconti,
Duke of Milan. Control over the north-east main land routes was also a necessity for the safety of the trades. By 1410, Venice had a navy of 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and taken over most of Venetia, including such important cities as
Verona (which swore its loyalty in the
Devotion of Verona to Venice in 1405) and
Padua.
The situation in Dalmatia had been settled in 1408 by a truce with King
Sigismund of Hungary but the difficulties of Hungary finally granted to the Republic the consolidation of its Adriatic dominions. At the expiration of the truce, Venice immediately invaded the
Patriarchate of Aquileia, and subjected
Traù,
Spalato,
Durazzo and other Dalmatian cities.
Slaves were plentiful in the Italian city-states as late as the 15th century. Between 1414 and 1423, some 10,000
slaves were sold in Venice, almost all of whom were "nubile" young women from Russia, Greece, Bosnia, Georgia, Armenia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
In February 1489, the island of
Cyprus, previously a
crusader state (the
Kingdom of Cyprus), was annexed to Venice.
League of Cambrai, Lepanto and the loss of Cyprus
The
Ottoman Empire started sea campaigns as early as 1423, when it waged a seven year war with the Venetian Republic over maritime control of the
Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea. The wars with Venice resumed in 1463 until a favorable peace treaty was signed in 1479. In 1480 (now no longer hampered by the Venetian fleet) the Ottomans
besieged Rhodes and
captured Otranto. By 1490, the population of Venice had risen to about 180,000 people.
War with the Ottomans resumed from 1499 to 1503. In 1499, Venice allied itself with
Louis XII of France against
Milan, gaining
Cremona. In the same year the Ottoman sultan moved to attack
Lepanto by land, and sent a large fleet to support his offensive by sea.
Antonio Grimani, more a businessman and diplomat than a sailor, was defeated in the sea
battle of Zonchio in 1499. The
Turks once again sacked Friuli. Preferring peace to total war both against the Turks and by sea, Venice surrendered the bases of Lepanto,
Modon and
Coron.
Venice's attention was diverted from its usual maritime position by the delicate situation in
Romagna, then one of the richest lands in Italy, which was nominally part of the
Papal States but effectively fractionated in a series of small lordship of difficult control for Rome's troops. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in the
League of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership of
Pope Julius II. The pope wanted
Romagna;
Emperor Maximilian I:
Friuli and
Veneto;
Spain: the
Apulian ports; the
king of France: Cremona; the
king of Hungary: Dalmatia, and each of the others some part. The offensive against the huge army enlisted by Venice was launched from France. On
14 May 1509, Venice was crushingly defeated at the
battle of Agnadello, in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points of the entire Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying the 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 kingdoms like France or empires like the Ottomans). The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and
Andrea 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 regained
Brescia and
Verona from France also. After seven years of ruinous war, the Serenissima regained its mainland dominions west to the Adda river. Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion.
In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the
Karpasia Peninsula, pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539 the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed
Limassol. Fearing the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified
Famagusta,
Nicosia, and
Kyrenia, but most other cities were easy prey. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people.
The fall of the Republic
By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself since its war fleet numbered only 4
galleys and 7
galliots. In spring 1796,
Piedmont fell and the Austrians were beaten from
Montenotte to
Lodi. The army under
Bonaparte crossed the frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the
Adige. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians. With the campaigns of the next year, Napoleon aimed for the Austrian possessions across the
Alps. In the preliminaries to the
Peace of Leoben, the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to take the Venetian possessions as the price of peace (
18 April 1797).
Government
In the early years of the republic, the
Doge ruled Venice in an
autocratic fashion, but later his powers were limited by the
promissione, a pledge he'd to take when elected. As a result powers were shared with the
(Major) Council, composed of 480 members taken from certain families, so that "He could do nothing without the Major Council and the Major Council could do nothing without him".
In the 12th century, the aristocratic families of Rialto further diminished the Doge's powers by establishing the
Minor Council (1175), composed of six advisors of the Doge, and the
Quarantia (1179) as a supreme tribunal. In 1223, these institutions were combined into the
Signoria, which consisted of the Doge, the Minor Council and the three leaders of the Quarantia. The Signoria was the central body of government, representing the continuity of the republic as shown in the expression: "si è morto il Doge, no la Signoria" ("Though the Doge is dead, not the Signoria").
Also created were the
sapientes, two (and later six) bodies that combined with other groups to form a
collegio, which formed an executive branch. In 1229, the
Consiglio dei Pregadi, a senate, was formed, being 60 members elected by the Major Council. These developments left the Doge with little personal power and saw actual authority in the hands of the Major Council.
Venice described its
political system as a '
classical republic'
combining the monarchy in the Doge, aristocracy in the senate, and democracy in the Major Council.. Machiavelli also refers to Venice as a republic..
In 1335, a
Council of Ten was established and became the central political body whose members operated in secret. Around 1600, its dominance over the Major Council was considered a threat and the Ten's reduced.
In 1454, the
Supreme Tribunal of the three state inquisitors was established to guard the security of the republic. By means of
espionage,
counterespionage, internal
surveillance and a network of informers, they ensured that Venice didn't come under the rule of a single "signore", as many other Italian cities did at the time. One of the inquisitors - popularly known as
Il Rosso ("the red one") because of his scarlet robe - was chosen from the Doge's councillors, two - popularly known as
I negri ("the black ones") because of their black robes - were chosen from the Council of Ten. The Supreme Tribunal gradually assumed some of the powers of the Council of Ten.
In 1556, the
provveditori ai beni inculti were also created for the improvement of agriculture by increasing the area under cultivation and encouraging private investment in agricultural improvement. The consistent rise in the price of grain during the 16th century encouraged the transfer of capital from trade to the land.
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