Republic of Venice

The République of Venice is a State gradually made up with the Middle Ages around the city of Venice, and which developed by the annexation of various territories and commercial counters along the coasts of the Adriatic Sea, in the Eastern Mediterranean and Italy of north until becoming one of the principal European economic powers. Venice played a paramount role in the economic exchanges between the Occident and the Mediterranean East, which it was Byzantine or Moslem, as well as an essential political role. From, the Republic of Venice knew a political phase of decline and territorial regression somewhat occulted by an extraordinary artistic flowering, before disappearing in 1797 pennies the blows from the French general Napoleon Bonaparte. Venice and what remained of its territorial field passed under the sovereignty of Austria, before its fastening with the unified Italy in 1866.

History

Creation

Venice depended since its birth at the 6th century on the Byzantine Empire but the weakness of the Exarchat de Ravenne vis-a-vis the Lombards supported the emergence of a local authority incarnated by the first duke or “doge”, Paolucio Anafesto (697-717), character with the borders of the legend and the history. The first doges, resided at Heraclea (today Cittanova), like had made the representative of the Byzantine capacity or magister militum . The second doge of the tradition - Marcello Tegalliano (717-726) - would have been itself besides magister militum when Paolo Lucio treated with the sovereign lombard Liutprand. The third doge - and first history - was the hypatus Orso Ipato (726 to 737), hypatus meaning about “consul” in Greek. He tried to shake the Byzantine supervision at the time of the crisis iconoclast and finishes assassinated. The capacity was exerted during five years by magistri militum before being begun again by the son of Orso, Teodato. This one transferred its seat to Malamocco.

In the 9th century, Venice émancipa of the Byzantine Empire.

The medieval expansion

The rise of Venice was based initially on its commercial relations with Constantinople. In 1082, the Venetian ones accepted important commercial privileges, in reward of the naval assistance which they brought to the Byzantine Empire against the Norman ones. The expansion initially took for framework the Adriatic Sea. The 10th century, the Venetian ones made sure control of the Dalmatian coast. They eliminated in particular the Croatian pirates who harmed their trade.

Like the three other large wearing of Italy, Genoa, Pisa and Amalfi, Venice was a city-State which establishes its capacity by the maritime proximity, in Italian Repubblica Marinara . It outdistanced its competitors in several stages, the first being the fourth Crusade. In 1202-1204, the Crusaders helped it to conquer several stages on the road of the East (Zara, the Ionian islands) then launched out to the attack of Constantinople although it was not in the beginning the goal of forwarding. The cutting-up of the Byzantine Empire founded the size of Venice. It accepted several territories, in particular many Greek islands and part of the town of Constantinople. These positions ensured to him the commercial control of all Eastern Mediterranean. Until there queen of the Adriatic, it became a point of required passage between the maritime East and the continental Occident. The merchant Marco Polo symbolized his company spirit at the 13th century.

The Republic of Venice was with the head of a garland of maritime possessions. Its domination on the Dry land was reduced. In Italy of north, its territory did not go beyond Vicence, Vérone, Padoue and of the coasts of the the Friuli.

The Venetian expansion passed to a second phase the shortly after the Guerre of Chioggia (1378-1381). On several occasions between the 13th century and the last third of the 14th century, Venetian and Génois were delivered wild combat. The war of Chiogga devoted finally the primacy of Venice on Genoa. A primacy which made city of the doges the center of the Mediterranean exchanges until the beginning of the Guerres of Italy (1494). The Republic dominated the economy world of the time thanks to its control over the majority of the coast Adriatique (in particular majority of the Dalmatian city-States ), of the islands of the Aegean Sea, of which the Crete and Cyprus and thanks to its notable influence with the the Middle East. Venice was “in the middle of the vastest system of the circulation of the time, extended to the whole sea”. It allocated “the largest share of the purchases of pepper and of spices of Raising, at least come from the Indian Ocean on the Ports of the Levant” and it was “par excellence the retailer of these invaluable food products in the Occident, in particular to Germany, the large-scale consumer of Europe”. The historian Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan notes that the Venetian merchants were active on all the commercial places, of Constantinople in Crete, Bruges to Arménie, of North Africa in Eubée. This domination was ensured by the technical superiority of the galère S left the Arsenal of Venice.

The income per capita in 1400 was then fifteen times higher than that of Paris, Madrid or London.

Wars of Italy

At the 15th century, the Republic belonged to the five principal powers in Italy, at the sides of the Duché of Milan, of the Royaume of Naples, the République of Florence, and of the States of the Church. These various States clashed for supremacy in Italy. Venice benefitted from it to extend its territory on the Dry land (Bergamo, Brescia, Lodi, the Friuli), in particular with the costs of the duchy of Milan.

The Paix of Lodi in 1454 ensured a statu-quo between these regional powers but the irruption of foreign great powers at the end of the 15th century disturbed balance. In 1494, the king of France Charles VIII entered to Italy then subjected Naples. Venice took the initiative of the reaction. It gathered a coalition, holy Ligue, made up of the principal Italian States (except Florence and Naples). But their army could not block with Fornoue the return of the king in France.

In 1499, Venice took Crémone, Rimini in Romagna and Trieste. This growth on the Dry land worried its neighbors who formed in 1508 an alliance against it: the League of Cambric. It comprised frightening enemies, namely the pope, the emperor, the kings of France, of England, of Spain and Hungary. Without counting Florence and Ferrare. The pope Jules II, of which the temporal power was threatened by the Venetian ones in Romagna, pronounced the Excommunication Republic on April 27th 1509. In theory, it could not thus celebrate religious offices any more on its territory. In parallel, the king of France Louis XII led military operations. He penetrated in Venezia and demolished the Venetian troops with Agnadel (in Italian Ghiaradadda). In spite of this resounding defeat, Venice miraculeusement managed to save its State. The city was not taken and was even able to reestablish on the Dry land thanks to the support of peasants or craftsmen. Better, in 1511, the Cambric League was turned over against the king of France: the pope, the Spaniards and the English drove out it of Italy.

A few years later, alliances still changed. The Venetian ones supported this time the king of France François I {{er}} which engaged in a reconquest of the Milanese. This support proved to be decisive in the free-Venetian victory of Marignan in 1515.

In the following years, Italy remained a battle field. François Ier and Charles Quint clashed there. Venice was one of the rare Italian capitals not to be taken. Even Rome, the papal city, undergoes a bag in 1527.

Loss of commercial and maritime supremacy (16th century-1797)

The historian Fernand Braudel bring the two reasons which explain the decline of the Republic as from the 16th century: “What was right of Venice, in fact the roads of the world move slowly of the Mediterranean in the Atlantic; in fact the national States grow. As of the 16th century, Venice runs up against these thick bodies: Spain, France, one and the other with imperial claims; more still emerges the Turkish Empire, colossus of another age, but colossus, against which it will become exhausted”.

The first reason, the questioning of old trade route, intervened as of the end of the 15th century when, on the one hand, Christophe Colomb approached America and when, on the other hand, Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. New spaces and new promising routes opened thus for the ship-owners and the merchants. By sailing round Africa, the road of the Cape of Good Hope made it possible to Europeans to go to seek silk trade and spices of the East without passing by the usual Venetian intermediary. Venice, as the remainder of the Mediterranean, was marginalized and saw its traffic decreasing. However, the growth of worldwide consumption made it possible the Republic to find its level of trade in the years 1560. A return which should not mask the fact that it was not any more the largest European port. It never recovered its dominant position more especially as starting from the end of the 16th century, the Scandinavian ones (English and Dutchman) interfered into the Mediterranean trade and diverted it with their profit.

The second reason of the Venetian decline lies in its confrontation at the great Neighboring states. The republic of Venice, in spite of its richness and its cultural glare, weighed politically and militarily little vis-a-vis the France or with the Spain. But it was the last come in the concert from the European great powers, the Ottoman Empire, which caused him the most concern. The Turks one by one removed the Venetian counters on the roads of Raising. In 1571, the Venetian ones provided approximately half of the ships of the Christian fleet which defied the Othomans. It was the victory of Lépante (1571). In spite of this success, Venice continued to lose ground. One year after Lépante, it had to give up Cyprus, in 1669, Candie. In 1718, the peace of Passarovitz ratified the loss of the Morée that the Republic had temporarily succeeded in reconquering in 1697.

The Patriciat of Venice had consequently recomposed its economic base. The farm of the Dry land (silk, rice, hemp, breeding of sheep) attracted the capital hitherto a41dernier $c-b1, e,10 $c-b26 ce $c-b16 $c-b43, bn,84 invested in the remote trade.

In spite of this difficult context, complicated by the epidemics of Plague at the end of the 16th century, the State was tolerant in the field of the Religion; free from any fanaticism, it did not carry out any execution for Hérésie during the years of the Counter-Reformation although the population mainly remained catholic.

Vis-a-vis the Turkish threat, Venice had to be combined with the Austria, which had become the principal power in Italy of North. Its economy was harshly shaken by the wars. After approximately a millenium of independence, the Republic of Venice was conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte the May 12th 1797 at the end of the countryside of Italy. The invasion of the French thus put a term at the century when Venice had known the apogee of its radiation, while becoming the most elegant and refined European city 18th century, with a strong influence on the Art, the Architecture and the Littérature. On the other hand, Napoleon was perceived like a kind of liberator by the Jewish population of Venice. He removed the barriers of the Ghetto as well as the restrictions of circulation imposed to the Jews.

There was a republic of Venice or Venetian in 1848-1849.

Institutions

The system of government of this State, relatively original for the time, was the Republic. But an oligarchical republic, like Florence, the free cities of Empire, the United Provinces, and the Swiss Confederation. The big families of the city, represented with the Great Council, elected the Doge (Duke) which led the policy its life during. The Venetian ones worked out during the centuries an original and very complex institutional organization aiming, on the one hand to concentrate the capacities between a restricted number (42 in all) patricians families of old origin, on the other hand to avoid any evolution towards a system of the monarchical type, in spite of the preeminence of a character, the Doge, which symbolized the capacity of the State and represented the Sérénissime République .

Arengo

In the beginning, the popular assembly or arengo , had the legislative power and she elected the doge, Head of the invested of executive powers and legal State. The arengo gradually the Great Council replaced.

The great Council

The Great Council - supreme authority - replaced the called popular assembly arengo . From him all the other institutions emanated: their multiplication and the tangle of competences supported the collegial structure of the decisions but also the reciprocal monitoring. It was composed of the family members registered with the Patriarchate. All the men of more than 25 years could take part in it, in condition of however not having married of commoner. The Venetian aristocracy was composed especially of ship-owners, traders and bankers, whose incomes were based more on the trade than on the ground. By the Serrata del Consiglio in 1297, the access to the Great Council was restricted with those whose ancestors had been members. Insertion within the Venetian patriciat was thus of closed right.

Joined together every Sunday, the Great Council made the political decisions, promulgated the laws and chose the high-ranking magistrates. The tendency to delegate to the capacities of a many body at a restricted commission specialists was a durable characteristic of the organization of this oligarchical republic.

Senate

Legislative body composed of 200 members, the Senate was in charge with the foreign policy and the nomination of the ambassadors. The Venetian ambassadors of this time sent secret reports/ratios on the policy and the rumors circulating in the courses European, which constituted a mine of information for the modern Historien S.

The Doge

The chief of the executive carried the title of doge (duke). He was theoretically elected with life. The character for life was to remain without change during the centuries whereas the doge lost little by little any personal capacity. The function of doge was reserved for a member of a family Patricien selected in a restricted circle, but the transmission never became hereditary about it in spite of the attempts at some. Besides these attempts led to make evolve/move the mode of nomination of the doge so as to exclude any possibility of hereditary transmission or monopolization by factions. Thereafter, the doges rather often resigned to withdraw themselves in a monastic life, under the pressure of the oligarchs, when they were discredited by their political action.

The Supreme College

Composed of the Doge, of his six advisers, the chancellor and the president of the Council of the ten, the Supreme College was the supreme body of the Republic.

The Council of the Ten

Created in 1310 on a purely provisional basis, then made final in 1335, the Council of the Ten is an legal institution intended to sanction the plots warped against the Republic. Actually constituted of 17 members, it had particularly wide capacities, enabling him even to relieve the doge.

Territories ultramarins

During centuries, Venice occupied of many territories of the basin of the Adriatic and the Eastern Mediterranean, with a predilection for the islands and the ports being able to serve its commercial interests. Such of the colonies of exploitation, these territories supplied it with wine, cereals, fruits, honey, wood and construction materials. One distinguishes two groups in this Venetian empire whose limits often varied:

Possessions of the Gulf

The Gulf corresponds to the Adriatique. Of IXe at the 11th century, Venice pursued the goal to dominate all the shores of this sea because it was aware of the risks of asphyxiation for its trade if an enemy had the idea to bar the Gulf. Belonged to its possessions, not always at the same time:

Trieste and the Istrie
Zara
Raguse, which will affirm then its independence
Spalato

“Undoubtedly these cities never recognized in Venice but one remote sovereignty”. But what imported the Venetian ones, it was to oblige all the Adriatic traffics to forward by the wearing of Venice. The fleet of Sérénissime was there to recall to the order the recalcitrant cities with this commercial monopoly.

Possessions of Raising

The IV {{E}} crusade generated the first extension of Venice in the Greek East. Thanks to the logistic assistance brought to the Crusaders, the Venetian ones took part in the division of the skins of the Byzantine Empire in 1204. They accepted the coasts and the islands of the Ionian Mer, the greatest part of the Peloponnese, the Cyclades and some of the Sporades, of the places in Eubée, the positions of Gallipoli and Rodosto on the Straits, the three-eighth of Constantinople finally, with the Holy-Sophie church. The restoration of the Byzantine Empire in 1261 eliminated the Venetian ones from several of these territories.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Republic had:

Corfou
the Crete (Crystallized), bought to the marquis de Montferrat. Very important stopover on the road of Cyprus, Beirut or Alexandria.
Mining cottage and Modon, “eyes of the Republic” in the extreme south of the Peloponnese.
Négrepont (Eubée)
Cyprus,
Lajazzo (?)
Accre (?)

This unit formed stopovers, strategic places on the road of Constantinople, of the Black Sea, Syria or Egypt.

See too

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