9th–10th century: The ducal age , on the island of
Torcello, was the main place of worship in the
Venetian Lagoon between the 7th and 9th centuries. The Duchy of Venice was born in the 9th century from the
Byzantine territories of
Maritime Venice. According to tradition, the
first doge was elected in 697, but this figure is of dubious historicity and comparable to that of the
exarch Paul, who, similarly to the doge, was assassinated in 727 following a revolt. Father Pietro Antonio of Venetia, in his history of the lagoon city published in 1688, writes: "The precise time in which that family arrived in the Adria is not found, but rather, what already an inhabitant of the islands, by the princes, who welcomed citizens, and supported with the advantage of significant riches, in the year 697 she contributed to the nomination of the first Prince Marco Contarini, one of the 22 Tribunes of the Islands, who made the election". In 726,
Emperor Leo III attempted to extend
iconoclasm to the Exarchate of Ravenna, causing numerous revolts throughout the territory. In reaction to the reform, the local populations appointed several
duces to replace the Byzantine governors and in particular
Venetia appointed
Orso as its doge, who governed the lagoon for a decade. Following his death, the Byzantines entrusted the government of the province to the regime of the
magistri militum, which lasted until 742 when the emperor granted the people the appointment of a
dux. The Venetians elected by acclamation
Theodato, son of Orso, who decided to move the capital of the duchy from
Heraclia to
Metamauco. The Lombard conquest of Ravenna in 751 and the subsequent conquest of the
Lombard kingdom by
Charlemagne's
Franks in 774, with the creation of the
Carolingian Empire in 800, considerably changed the geopolitical context of the lagoon, leading the Venetians to divide into two factions : a pro-Frankish party led by the city of
Equilium and a pro-Byzantine party with a stronghold in
Heraclia. After a long series of skirmishes in 805, Doge
Obelerio decided to attack both cities simultaneously, deporting their population to the capital. Having taken control of the situation, the doge placed
Venezia under Frankish protection, but a Byzantine naval blockade convinced him to renew his loyalty to the Eastern Emperor. With the intention of conquering
Venezia in 810, the Frankish army commanded by
Pepin invaded the lagoon, forcing the local population to retreat to
Rivoalto, thus starting a siege which ended with the arrival of the Byzantine fleet and the retreat of the Franks. Following the failed Frankish conquest, Doge Obelerio was replaced by the pro-Byzantine nobleman
Agnello Participazio who definitively moved the capital to
Rivoalto in 812, thus decreeing the birth of the city of
Venice. With his election, Agnello Partecipazio attempted to make the ducal office hereditary by associating an heir, the
co-dux, with the throne. The system brought Agnello's two sons,
Giustiniano and
Giovanni, to the ducal position, who was deposed in 836 due to his inadequacy to counter the
Narentine pirates in
Dalmatia. Following the deposition of Giovanni Partecipazio,
Pietro Tradonico was elected who, with the promulgation of the
Pactum Lotharii, a commercial treaty between Venice and the Carolingian Empire, began the long process of detachment of the province from the Byzantine Empire. After Tradonico was killed following a conspiracy in 864,
Orso I Participazio was elected and resumed the fight against piracy, managing to protect the
Dogado from attacks by the
Saracens and the
Patriarchate of Aquileia. Orso managed to assign the dukedom to his eldest son
Giovanni II Participazio who, after conquering
Comacchio, a rival city of Venice in the salt trade, decided to abdicate in favor of his brother, at the time patriarch of Grado, who refused. Since there was no heir in 887 the people gathered in the
Concio and elected
Pietro I Candiano by acclamation. The
Concio managed to elect six doges up to
Pietro III Candiano who in 958 assigned the position of
co-dux to his son Pietro who became doge the following year. Due to his land holdings,
Pietro IV Candiano had a political vision close to that of the
Holy Roman Empire and consequently attempted to establish
feudalism in Venice as well, causing a revolt in 976 which led to the burning of the capital and the killing of the doge. These events led the
Venetian patriciate to gain a growing influence on the doge's policies and the conflicts that arose following the doge's assassination were resolved only in 991 with the election of
Pietro II Orseolo.
11th–12th century: Relations with the Byzantine Empire . , built in the 12th century, is an example of
Byzantine influence in Venetian culture. Pietro II Orseolo gave a notable boost to Venetian commercial expansion by stipulating new commercial privileges with the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. In addition to diplomacy, the doge resumed the war against the Narentan pirates that began in the 9th century and in the year 1000 he managed to subjugate the coastal cities of
Istria and Dalmatia. The
Great Schism of 1054 and the outbreak of the
investiture struggle in 1073 marginally involved Venetian politics which instead focused its attention on the arrival of the
Normans in southern Italy. The Norman occupation of
Durrës and
Corfu in 1081 pushed the Byzantine Empire to request the aid of the Venetian fleet which, with the promise of obtaining extensive commercial privileges and reimbursement of military expenses, decided to take part in the
Byzantine-Norman wars. The following year, Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos granted Venice the
chrysobull, a commercial privilege that allowed Venetian merchants substantial tax exemptions in numerous Byzantine ports and the establishment of a Venetian neighbourhood in Durrës and
Constantinople. The war ended in 1085 when, following the death of the leader
Robert Guiscard, the Norman army abandoned its positions to return to Puglia. Having taken office in 1118, Emperor
John II Komnenos decided not to renew the chrysobull of 1082, arousing the reaction of Venice which declared war on the Byzantine Empire in 1122. The war ended in 1126 with the victory of Venice which forced the emperor to stipulate a new agreement characterized by even better conditions than the previous ones, threatening to make the Byzantine Empire totally dependent on Venetian trade and protection. With the intention of weakening the growing Venetian power, the emperor provided substantial commercial support to the
maritime republics of
Ancona,
Genoa and
Pisa, making coexistence with Venice, which was now hegemonic on the
Adriatic Sea, increasingly difficult, so much so that it was renamed the "Gulf of Venice". In 1171, following the emperor's decision to expel the Venetian merchants from Constantinople, a
new war broke out which was resolved with the restoration of the
status quo. At the end of the 12th century, the commercial traffic of Venetian merchants extended throughout the East and they could count on immense and solid capital. As in the rest of Italy, starting from the 12th century, Venice also underwent the transformations that led to the age of the
municipalities. In that century, the doge's power began to decline: initially supported only by a few judges, in 1130 it was decided to place the
Consilium Sapientium, which would later become the
Great Council of Venice, alongside his power. In the same period, in addition to the expulsion of the clergy from public life, new assemblies such as the
Council of Forty and the
Minor Council were established and in his inauguration speech the Doge was forced to declare loyalty to the Republic with the
promissione ducale; thus the
Commune of Venice, the set of all the assemblies aimed at regulating the power of the doge, began to take shape.
13th–14th century: The Crusades and the rivalry with Genoa In the 12th century, Venice decided not to participate in the
Crusades due to its commercial interests in the East and instead concentrated on maintaining its possessions in Dalmatia which were repeatedly besieged by the
Hungarians. The situation changed in 1202 when the Doge
Enrico Dandolo decided to exploit the expedition of the
Fourth Crusade to conclude the Zara War and the following year, after twenty years of conflict, Venice
conquered the city and won the war, regaining control of Dalmatia. The Venetian crusader fleet, however, did not stop in Dalmatia, but continued towards Constantinople to
besiege it in 1204, thus putting an end to the Byzantine Empire and formally making Venice an independent state, severing the last ties with the former Byzantine ruler. The
empire was dismembered in the Crusader states and from the division Venice obtained numerous ports in the
Morea and several islands in the
Aegean Sea including
Crete and
Euboea, thus giving life to the
Stato da Màr. In addition to the territorial conquests, the doge was awarded the title of Lord of a quarter and a half of the Eastern Roman Empire, thus obtaining the faculty of appointing the
Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople and the possibility of sending a Venetian representative to the government of the Eastern
Latin Empire. With the end of the Fourth Crusade, Venice concentrated its efforts on the conquest of Crete, which intensely involved the Venetian army until 1237. Venice's control over the eastern trade routes became pressing and this caused an increase in conflicts with Genoa which in 1255 exploded into the
War of Saint Sabas; on 24 June 1258 the two republics faced each other in the
Battle of Acre which ended with an overwhelming Venetian victory. In 1261 the
Empire of Nicaea with the help of the Republic of Genoa managed to dissolve the Eastern Latin Empire and re-establish the Byzantine Empire. The war between Genoa and Venice resumed and after a long series of battles the war ended in 1270 with the
Peace of Cremona. In 1281 Venice defeated the Republic of Ancona in battle and in 1293 a new
war between Genoa, the Byzantine Empire and Venice broke out, won by the Genoese following the
Battle of Curzola and ending in 1299. During the war, various administrative reforms were implemented in Venice, new assemblies were established to replace popular ones such as the
Senate and in the
Great Council power began to concentrate in the hands of about ten families. To avoid the birth of a lordship, the Doge decided to increase the number of members of the Maggior Consiglio while leaving the number of families unchanged and so the
Serrata del Maggior Consiglio was implemented in 1297. Following the provision, the power of some of the old houses decreased and in 1310, under the pretext of defeat in the
War of Ferrara, these families organized themselves in the
Tiepolo conspiracy. Once the coup d'état failed and the establishment of a lordship was averted, Doge
Pietro Gradenigo established the
Council of Ten, which was assigned the task of repressing any threat to the security of the state. In the Venetian hinterland, the war waged by
Mastino II della Scala caused serious economic losses to Venetian trade, so in 1336 Venice gave birth to the anti-Scaliger league and the
Scaliger War. The following year the coalition expanded further and
Padua returned to the dominion of the
Carraresi. In 1338, Venice conquered
Treviso, the first nucleus of the
Domini di Terraferma, and in 1339 it signed a peace treaty in which the
Scaligeri promised not to interfere in Venetian trade and to recognize the sovereignty of Venice over the Trevisan March. In 1343 Venice took part in the
Smyrniote crusades, but its participation was suspended due to the
siege of Zadar by the Hungarians. The Genoese expansion to the east, which caused the
Black Death, brought the rivalry between the two republics to resurface and in 1350 they faced each other in the
War of the Straits. Following the defeat in the
Battle of Sapienza, Doge
Marino Faliero attempted to establish a city lordship, but the
coup d'état was foiled by the Council of Ten which on 17 April 1355 condemned the Doge to death. The ensuing political instability convinced
Louis I of Hungary to attack Dalmatia which was conquered in 1358 with the signing of the
Treaty of Zadar. The weakness of the Republic pushed
Crete and
Trieste to revolt, but the rebellions were quelled, thus reaffirming Venetian dominion over the
Stato da Màr. The skirmishes between the Venetians and the Genoese resumed and in 1378 the two republics faced each other in the
War of Chioggia. Initially the Genoese managed to conquer
Chioggia and vast areas of the Venetian Lagoon, but in the end it was the Venetians who prevailed; the war ended definitively on 8 August 1381 with the
Treaty of Turin which sanctioned the exit of the Genoese from the competition for dominion over the Mediterranean.
15th century: Territorial expansion depicting
St Mark's Square in the 1490s In 1403, the last major battle between Genoa (now under French protection) and Venice was
fought at Modon, and the final victory resulted in maritime hegemony and dominance of the eastern trade routes. The latter would soon be contested, however, by the inexorable rise of the
Ottoman Empire. Hostilities began after Prince
Mehmed I ended the civil war of the
Ottoman Interregnum and established himself as
sultan. The conflict escalated until
Pietro Loredan won a crushing victory against the Turks
off Gallipoli in 1416. Venice expanded as well along the Dalmatian coast from
Istria to
Albania, which was acquired from King
Ladislaus of Naples during the
civil war in Hungary. Ladislaus 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 the reduced sum of 100,000 ducats. Venice exploited the situation and quickly installed nobility to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zara. This move by the Venetians was a response to the threatening expansion of
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. Control over the northeast main land routes was also a necessity for the safety of the trades. In the first decade of 15th century Venice employed navy of around 10 war galleys. In 1424 it was increased to 25 galleys. In 1420-1450, Venice had around 3,345 ships crewed by 36,000 men (45 galleys by 11,000 men, 300
navi ships by 8,000 men, 3000 small ships by 17,000 men), was the 65th Doge of the Republic of Venice from 1423 to 1457. In the early 15th century, the republic began to expand onto the
Terraferma. Thus,
Vicenza,
Belluno, and
Feltre were acquired in 1404, and
Padua,
Verona, and
Este in 1405. 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. The situation culminated in the
Battle of Motta in late August 1412, when an invading army of Hungarians, Germans and Croats, led by
Pippo Spano and
Voivode Miklós Marczali attacked the Venetian positions at
Motta and suffered a heavy defeat. At the expiration of the truce in 1420, Venice immediately invaded the
Patriarchate of Aquileia and subjected
Traù,
Spalato,
Durazzo, and other Dalmatian cities. In
Lombardy, Venice acquired
Brescia in 1426,
Bergamo in 1428, and
Cremona in 1499. In 1454, a
conspiracy for a rebellion against Venice was dismantled in Candia. The conspiracy was led by Sifis Vlastos as an opposition to the religious reforms for the unification of Churches agreed at the
Council of Florence. In 1481, Venice retook nearby
Rovigo, which it had held previously from 1395 to 1438. 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, the Ionian, and the Adriatic Seas. The wars with Venice resumed after the Ottomans
captured the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463, and lasted until a favorable peace treaty was signed in 1479 just after the troublesome
siege of Shkodra. In 1480, no longer hampered by the Venetian fleet, the Ottomans
besieged Rhodes and
briefly captured Otranto. In February 1489, the island of
Cyprus, previously a
crusader state (the
Kingdom of Cyprus), was added to Venice's holdings. By 1490, the population of Venice had risen to about 180,000 people.
16th century: League of Cambrai, the loss of Cyprus, and Battle of Lepanto , which triggered the
War of the League of Cambrai at
Lepanto 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,
Durazzo,
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 divided into a series of small lordships which were difficult for Rome's troops to control. 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 one some of another's 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 in Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded to come to terms with Spain, and 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. In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again but this time with a
full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of
Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on 2 July 1570 and laid siege to Nicosia. On 9 September 1570, the city fell; in the ensuing sack, 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later, Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571. The fall of Famagusta marked the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus. Two months later, the naval forces of the
Holy League, composed mainly of Venetian,
Spanish, and papal ships under the command of
Don John of Austria, defeated the Turkish fleet at the
battle of Lepanto. Despite victory at sea over the Turks, Cyprus remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries. By 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but partly as a result of the plague of 1575–76 the population dropped to 124,000 people by 1581.
17th century , during the
Cretan War, was from 1648 to 1669 the second longest siege in history. at the
Dardanelles According to economic historian Jan De Vries, Venice's economic power in the Mediterranean had declined significantly by the start of the 17th century. De Vries attributes this decline to the loss of the
spice trade, a declining uncompetitive textile industry, competition in book publishing from a rejuvenated Catholic Church, the adverse impact of the
Thirty Years' War on Venice's key trade partners, and the increasing cost of cotton and silk imports to Venice. In 1606, a conflict between Venice and the
Holy See began with the arrest of two clerics accused 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 to
canon law, and demanded that they be repealed. When this was refused, he placed Venice under an
interdict which forbade clergymen from exercising almost all priestly duties. The republic paid no attention to the interdict or the act of
excommunication and ordered its priests to carry out their ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the
Servite friar
Paolo Sarpi, a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict was lifted after a year, when 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. Rivalry with
Habsburg Spain and the
Holy Roman Empire led to Venice's last significant wars in Italy and the northern Adriatic. Between 1615 and 1618 Venice fought
Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in the
Uskok War in the northern Adriatic and on the Republic's eastern border, while in Lombardy to the west, Venetian troops skirmished with the forces of
Don Pedro de Toledo Osorio, Spanish governor of Milan, around
Crema in 1617 and in the countryside of
Romano di Lombardia in 1618. During the same period, the Spanish governor of Naples,
Don Pedro Téllez-Girón, clashed against Venice for commercial disputes at the
battle of Ragusa, having previously indirectly supported Ferdinand during the Uskok War. A fragile peace did not last, and in 1629 the Most Serene Republic returned to war with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in the
War of the Mantuan Succession. During the brief war a Venetian army led by provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo and reinforced by French allies was disastrously routed by Imperial forces at the
battle of Villabuona, and Venice's closest ally
Mantua was sacked. Reversals elsewhere for the Holy Roman Empire and Spain ensured the republic suffered no territorial loss, and the
duchy of Mantua was restored to
Charles II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, who was the candidate backed by Venice and France. The latter half of the 17th century also had prolonged wars with the Ottoman Empire; in the
Cretan War (1645–1669), after a heroic siege that lasted 21 years, Venice lost its major overseas possessionthe island of Crete (although it kept the control of the bases of Spinalonga and Suda)while it made some advances in Dalmatia. In 1684, however, taking advantage of the Ottoman involvement against Austria in the
Great Turkish War, the republic initiated the
Morean War, which lasted until 1699 and in which it was able to conquer the
Morea peninsula in southern Greece.
18th century: Decline on board the
Leon Trionfante at
Imbros These gains did not last, however; in December 1714, the Turks began the last
Turkish–Venetian War, when the Morea was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable to attack from the sea". The Turks took the islands of
Tinos and
Aegina, crossed the isthmus, and took
Corinth. Daniele Dolfin, commander of the 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. Levkas in the
Ionian islands, and the bases of
Spinalonga and
Suda on Crete, which still remained in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on
Corfu, but its defenders managed to throw them back. In the meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the
Austrians in the
Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716.
Venetian naval efforts in the
Aegean Sea and the
Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With the
Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which its small gains in
Albania and Dalmatia were little compensation. This was the last war with the Ottoman Empire. By the year 1792, the once-great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309
merchantmen. Although Venice declined as a seaborne empire, it remained in possession of its continental domain north of the
Po Valley, extending west almost to Milan. Many of its cities benefited greatly from the
Pax Venetiae (Venetian peace) throughout the 18th century.
Angelo Emo was named the last Captain General of the Sea (
Capitano Generale da Mar) of the Republic in 1784.
Fall (1797): the abdication of the last
Doge,
Ludovico Manin By 1796, the Republic of Venice was attempting to negotiate with both Austria and France to avoid conflict knowing they sat between the two major powers and facing internal pressure from the traditionalists of the Venetian system and a growing number of people who were embracing the French values of Revolution. In spring 1796,
Piedmont (the
Duchy of Savoy) fell to the invading French, and the Austrians were beaten from
Montenotte to
Lodi. The army under
Napoleon crossed the frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year, the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the
Adige River. 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 in the
Balkans as the price of peace (18 April 1797) while France acquired the
Lombard part of the state. After Napoleon's ultimatum,
Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on 12 May and
abdicated, while the Major Council declared the end of the republic. According to Bonaparte's orders, the public powers passed to a provisional municipality under the French military governor. On 17 October, France and Austria signed the
Treaty of Campo Formio, agreeing to share all the territory of the republic, with a new border just west of the Adige. Italian democrats, especially young poet
Ugo Foscolo, viewed the treaty as a betrayal. The metropolitan part of the disbanded republic became an Austrian territory, under the name of
Venetian Province ( in Italian, in German).
Legacy Though the economic vitality of the Venetian Republic had started to decline since the 16th century with the movement of international trade towards the Atlantic, its political regime still appeared in the 18th century as a model for the philosophers of the
Enlightenment.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was hired in July 1743 as secretary by Comte de Montaigu, who had been named ambassador of the French in Venice. This short experience, nevertheless, awakened the interest of Rousseau to the policy, which led him to design a large book of political philosophy. After the
Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755), he published
The Social Contract (1762). ==Politics==