He was the son of Encagilio. Already a
tribune during the dogeship of
Giovanni Galbaio, he and other Venetian pro-Frankish leaders fled to
Treviso. There they elected Obelerio their leader and he led them back to Venice, whence the Galbaii fled, and was elected doge at
Malamocco. Obelerio immediately copied his predecessors and appointed as associate doge one of his relatives, his brother
Beato. Soon the Antenori were out of favour and the feud between the various factions, the pro-Byzantine at
Heraclea and the republican at Malamocco, had fired up. The exiled
patriarch of Grado,
Fortunatus, returned to Venice from the court of
Charlemagne at
Aachen and offered to put Venetia under the protection of the Franks if he was reinstated. Obelerio obliged him and happily recognised Frankish sovereignty in return for Frankish protection and legitimation. Obelerio and Beato did homage to Charlemagne in Aachen on Christmas Day 805. Obelerio even chose a Frankish bride:
Carola, the first ''''. This act precipitated a war with
Byzantium. In 809, a fleet landed in the Venetian lagoon and attacked a Frankish flotilla at
Comacchio but was defeated. Obelerio and Beato then raised their other brother
Valentino to the dogeship alongside them. This was the last straw and the people rose against them; they called in King
Pepin of Italy. He besieged Venice, but only at the last minute did the Antenori try to save face by taking up arms against him. They were booted and
Agnello Participazio, who had defended Venice from the beginning, was elected doge. Obelerio spent the next two decades in exile in
Constantinople. He returned on the death of
Giustiniano Participazio in 832 with a band of faithful men to reclaim the dogeship. He landed at Vigilia, near Malamocco, but the legitimate doge,
Giovanni Participazio, razed the two cities and killed Obelerio, displaying his head in the market. ==Sources==