HISTORY OF VENICE
~ expansion on seas and land ~
697 The first doge
Paoluccio Anafesto, the first doge of Venice, marked Venetian independence from Byzantium.
810 The attack of king Pippin and birth of city of Venice
Charlemagne's son, Pippin, king of Italy, was severely beaten by the venetici on the lagoon in 810. The territorial integrity of the duchy of Venice situated on the lagoon between Grado and Chioggia was guaranteed in the pax Nicephori concluded between the two emperors in 814.
828 The body of St. Mark the evangelist strengthening Venetian independence
Two Venetian merchants purloined the body of St. Mark the evangelist from Alexandria and brought it back to their home town in 828. The transfer of the body of St. Mark was of political significance. It symbolized the independence of the church and community of Venice from both the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire, not to mention Rome itself, by linking the city with one of the founding saints of Christianity who was neither Byzantine nor Roman.
840 Pactum Lotarii recognizing Venice's right of control over the Adriatic
At the request of Venice, the Frank-Byzantine treaty of mutual respect of territory (814) was renewed entrusting the Venetian fleet with the defense of the sea (since there was no imperial fleet, and the Byzantine fleet was elsewhere), thus implicitly recognizing Venice's right of control over the Adriatic.
1000 Dux Dalmatinorum
On Ascension Day 1000 a seaborne expedition left for Dalmatia. Pietro II Orseolo received homage from the Dalmatians at Ossero, Veglia, Arbe and Zara. From Zara he fought the Croats, while at Spalato (Split) he forced the Narentines to negotiate, and took from them Curzola and Lagosta. He thus removed the Slavs from the sea, and placed the Byzantine Dalmatian coast under Venice's protection, assuming the title Dux Dalmatinorum.
1099-1100 The first crusade and trading rights in Holy Land
Only in 1099 did a Venetian fleet set out on the crusades, wintering in Rhodes. Venetian fleet left Rhodes at the end of May I 100. At Jaffa the Venetians made an agreement with Godfrey of Bouillon to help him to extend the control of the crusaders over the coast, at the cost of granting them a colony (with a church, square, market, freedom to trade and tax exemptions) in every city conquered. Only Haifa was taken, and the fleet returned to Venice before the year ended.
1104 The Arsenal
The Arsenal was founded in 1104 and constantly further enlarged to house an arms magazine, naval equipment and provisions, repair shops, a protected base, and a construction yard.
1145-53 Totius Istriae Dominator
Venice's relations with Istria were ones of protection, involving an obligation to provide defense by sea. The cities had to swear fidelitas and recognize Venetian dominion over the mainland. The doge was given the title Totius Istriae Dominator.
1201-04 Major gains during the fourth crusade: "A quarter and a half" of the Eastern Empire
The fourth crusade was undertaken by the count of Champagne and other great feudal lords of France. More than 33,000 men were to be transported for a vast sum equivalent to 20,000 kilograms (44,000 lbs) of silver. The ships were ready by the spring of 1202, but the crusaders were not as many as they should have been, neither had the agreed financial terms been completely honoured. Doge Enrico Dandolo agreed that the balance of the debt should be paid out of future booty, and while they were on their way, he requested the crusaders to help Venice recapture Zara (Zadar), which had rebelled with the support of the Hungarian crown. In the winter they decided to attack Constantinople. The Venetians and the crusaders took the city in April 1204 and sacked it for three days. The Venetians and the crusader barons drew up a contract, forming the Eastern Latin Empire. The emperor was chosen by a council of six Venetians and six barons. The Venetians cast all their votes in favour of Baldwin, count of Flanders, who was elected. The emperor was given a quarter of the empire, and the remaining three-quarters were divided up between Venice and the barons, half going to each party. In this way the Doge became "Lord of a quarter and a half of the empire." The division was confused. With the fall of the empire, everyone who was able attempted to take what he could, whilst the Venetians were more interested in trade and naval bases than in territory. Apart from three-eighths of the city of Constantinople, their main gains were Negropont in Euboea, the two bases of Modon and Corone (Methoni and Koroni) on the southern tip of Morea (the Peloponnese), and lastly Candia (Crete).
1240 Control of the Po
In 1240 the lord of Ferrara joined forces with the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II. At the pope's request the Venetians sent a naval squadron to besiege the city. The declaration of the citizens of Ferrara in favour of the Este family contributed to the city's fall. The Venetians concluded a treaty with the new lords of Ferrara, giving them control of all trade between the city and the sea, all merchandise coming from the Adriatic to Ferrara having to pass through the port of Venice. In order to exercise this right unobstructed they built the castle of Macramò at the mouth of the PO di Primaro in 1258. Thus the PO, the great commercial route into the plain of Padua, fell under their control.
1255 The maritime code
In 1255 doge Ranieri Zeno promulgated a code of maritime practice. The first statutes date back to 1242 in the reign of Jacopo Tiepolo. This regulated maritime affairs, the responsibilities of ship owners, one of whom was designated as the ship's captain or "patrono" de facto, the rights of the crew, sailors and merchant-seamen, who were allowed to trade on their own account, and fixed the dates for contracts and the dates of departure of the mude (convoys).
1257-70 The columns of St. John of Acre: the first war with Genoa
The Genoese position in Acre, as in Tyre, was as strong as the Venetian position, and a series of bloody incidents occurred between the citizens of these two maritime republics. 1257 marked the beginning of the fight with Genoa which was to end only after four wars more than a century later. A few years after the initial victory in Acre (1258), the Venetians suffered a reversal in the greatest center of their colonial power. The Byzantine emperor Michael Paleologus allied himself with the Genoese in 1261, took Constantinople in July 1261 and so put an end to the Eastern Latin Empire. The war at sea consisted of the harassment of Venetian shipping, which was forced to adopt the expensive procedure of sailing in convoy. In spite of this, the Venetians won the two main naval encounters, at Settepozzi in 1263, and at Trapani in 1266. Michael Paleologus again permitted the Venetians into Constantinople in 1268 although they were still at war with his Genoese allies, and peace was concluded in 1270.
1261-95 The Polos in the Far East
In the same year in which Michael Paleologus retook the city of Constantinople, 1261, two Venetian merchants, the brothers Nicolò and Matteo Polo set out to investigate the commercial possibilities of the hinterland in the new circumstances prevailing in Asia in the wake of the creation of the Mongol power. On their second trip to the Mongol emperor in 1271 they were accompanied by Nicolò's son, the famous Marco Polo. They journeyed on through Laiazzo, a port in lesser Armenia which was to become an important point on the Asian caravan routes after the Mameluke conquest of Syria, and through Tabriz in Persia, the Pamir, and the oases of central Asia, the historical Silk Road, finishing up at Peking. Marco journeyed extensively in the far eastern parts of the Mongol empire, sometimes on official missions, eventually reaching Burma in 1285. The three Venetians returned home in 1295, 25 years after setting out, by the sea route from the straits of Malacca and the Indian Ocean.
1294-99 The second war with Genoa
The rivalry between the two maritime republics of Italy now became more intense than ever over the Black Sea trade. The first Genoese victory was in 1294 off Laiazzo, which had become the most important Asian port after the fall of the crusaders' positions. The Venetians then made an incursion into Pera, and finally 80 ships under the command of Lamba Doria entered the Adriatic to ravage the Dalmatian coast. The Genoese won the ensuing great battle or Curzola (I 298), but with such losses that they were unable to pursue the Venetians and carry the war into the lagoon. The peace of 1299 recognized Genoese supremacy over the coast of Liguria and Venetian supremacy over the coast of the Adriatic. In the East their rivalry remained unresolved.
1308-13 The war with Ferrara and the interdict
The chief reason for Venice's dominance over the Gulf of the Adriatic was to make sure that all goods passed through the market of Venice. Vessels of all countries could sail to Venice and merchants from every country did business there, but every transaction had to take place in Venice's market. The Venetian castle of Marcamò on the PO delta made sure that trade bound for Lombardy from theRomagna passed through Venice. In 1308 the Venetians saw an opportunity to consolidate their control over the Po waterway by making themselves masters of Ferrara. From Avignon the pope, overlord of Ferrara, placed Venice under an interdict. Venice treated with Verona, and a waterway was planned to join the Adige and the Po, allowing access to the Po upstream of Ferrara. With this the interdict was eventually lifted in 1313.
1339 Treviso acquired
The first city of the Veneto mainland over which Venice asserted its rule was Treviso. At the rear of the lagoon the Della Scala family had risen to threatening proportions, ruling from Verona to Padua, Treviso and many other cities. The ambitions of these lords of Verona were cut down by a timely series of alliances and by a war. In Padua Venice lent its support to the rise of the Carraresi, while Treviso, which controlled the trade routes north, was directly taken over.
1347-48 The plague
The Bubonic plague, which was raging in the Tartar army besieging the trading base of Kaffa in the Crimea, was brought to Italy by a returning Venetian vessel in the autumn of 1347. Within 18 months the city had lost three-fifths of its inhabitants.
1350-55 The third war with Genoa
This began with a number of incidents connected with the Black Sea trade. Venice was cast as the protector of the Byzantine empire against growing pressure from Genoa. After a series of bloody battles and victories and defeats on both sides, racked with internal strife, the Genoese submitted to the lord of Milan, Giovanni Visconti, who engineered a compromise agreement in 1355.
1358 Dalmatia lost
Three and a half centuries after the profitable crusade of doge Pietro II Orseolo, at the end of 1355, after the peace with Genoa, Venice had to deal with the "whole of Slavonia in tumult." Arrayed against Venice in 1356 were the dukes of Austria, the patriarch of Aquileia, the Carrarese lord of Padua, and worst of all, the Hungarians, who were laying siege to Zara (Zadar). Zara fell, Trag (Trogir) and Spalato (Split) went over to the Hungarians, and in June 1358 Venice ceded her claim to the possessions in Dalmatia to the Hungarian crown.
1378-81 The war of Chioggia, and the fourth war with Genoa
The origins of the fourth war with Genoa lay in rivalry over the conquest of the island of Tenedos, which was a potential base commanding the straits coveted by both Venetians and Genoese. The Venetians occupied it in 1376; war was not far behind. Against Venice were Genoa, the Carraresi of Padua, and the king of Hungary. In 1378 the Venetian fleet under Vittor Pisani sailed on an offensive war to the West, achieved a brilliant victory, and returned to winter at Pola. Here they were attacked by the Genoese in the spring of 1379. Pisani was lured into a trap, and his victory was turned into defeat. Returning home, he was thrown into prison. After the initial defeats, the Genoese attacked the coast of the lagoon, taking Chioggia with the help of the Paduans on 16 August 1379. Never had Venice stood in greater danger. During the night of 22 December 1379Venetians blockaded Chioggia, cutting off the occupying forces from both the Paduans and the Genoese fleet. The Genoese in Chioggia surrendered six months later in June 1380, allowing the Venetians to sally forth and regain control of the Adriatic. The peace of Turin of 1381 seemed to favour Genoa more than Venice, but Venice's greater political stability meant that she emerged victorious from the centuries of conflict.
1386 The occupation of Corfu
The island of Corfu was occupied with the consent of its rulers in 1386; legal rights of possession were later obtained from Charles, pretender to the throne of Naples. Corfu was strongly fortified and became a very important base, commanding the lower Adriatic. It remained in Venice's possession until the end of the Republic.
1389-1420 Expansion over the mainland of the Veneto
Venice was a seafaring and mercantile power, whose main interests were trade and commerce. Just as in the Adriatic and in the Levant Venice's policy was to control ports, bases and tradingstations, so in the hinterland of the lagoon her policy was to keep the roads free so that her trade could flow unhindered. But with the flowering of the age of the great lords ruling over large stretches of land and ambitious to expand their territories, the situation was radically altered. There were three main pawns in Venice's game, the Scaligeri of Verona, the Carraresi of Padua, and the Visconti of Milan. Farther to the East were the lands of the patriarch of Aquileia, and here it was necessary to keep an eye on the ambitions of powers north of the Alps. Vicenza, Belluno, and Bassano submitted to Venice in 1404. In 1405 Padua and Verona were conquered. Within the lands of the patriarchate, the house of Savorgnan at Udine held firm with Venetian support, but here too the Carraresi had made attempts to expand, and Trieste had been given over to the dukes of Austria in 1382. When the emperor Sigismund of Hungary, with whom Venice was also fighting over Dalmatia, intervened, the military campaign of 1418-20 broke out. On 16 June 1420, Tristano di Savorgnan entered Udine bearing the banner of St. Mark. Venice now possessed almost the whole of the modern Veneto and Friuli.
1409-20 Dalmatia regained
At the beginning of the 15th century there were two kings of Hungary, Sigismund of Luxembourg and Ladislas of Anjou-Durazzo, king of Naples, who was in possession of Dalmatia which he had conquered in an expedition against Zara (Zadar) in 1403. In January 1409 Venice regained its rights over Dalmatia, ceded in 1358, from Ladislas who was in difficulties. Less than a third of the intitial asking price of 300,000 ducats was paid. The little which Ladislas retained, principally Zara, was handed over to Venice, and the rest, Trafi, Sebenico, Spalato, Cattaro, Curzola (Trogir, Sebenik, Split, Kotor, Korcula), and the other islands she won in the war with Sigismund in 1420.
1424-30 Loss of Thessalonica to the Turks
The Turks had occupied nearly all the Byzantine Empire with the exception of Constantinople. Thessalonica was soon lostin 1430, while Venice was caught up in the wars in Italy against Milan.
1425-54 The wars in Lombardy
The prelude to those four wars of supremacy, or from the other point of view, to protect the balance of power in Italy which was threatened by the expansion of the Visconti house was the League between Venice and Florence of 4 May 1425. In the first, (1425 26), Venice took Brescia. The second (1427-28) saw a Venetian victory at Maclodio on 4 October 1427, and ended with Venice being granted Bergamo as well as Brescia. The peace of Ferrara in 1433 after the third war, despite of Venetian victories over Genoa, at that time a dependency of the Visconti, left things as they stood. In the fourth war Milan laid siege to Brescia in 1438 and penetrated the Veronese defenses. Venice's response to this crisis was the famous transportation of six galleys and other lesser craft by land from the Adige to Lake Garda, more than 2,000 oxen being used in the operation (1439). No territorial changes were made in the ensuing Peace of Cremona of 20 November 1441. None of these treaties was more than a truce, and no general accord between the Italian states was reached, as Venice would have preferred. Instead, important political changes occurred. After the Visconti dieath Francesco Sforza was ruling Miland, while Florence took a new turn under Cosimo de' Medici. Two coalitions were now formed, Sforza Milan with Medici Florence on the one hand, against Venice and Aragonese Naples on the other. The main theater of war was still Lombardy, where Venice clashed with Francesco Sforza. Worn out, both sides joined in the Peace of Lodi in May 1454, a peace which formed the basis for a general accord between the four contenders, Venice, Milan, Florence and Naples, under the leadership of the pope. After 30 years of war Venice's frontiers was moved o the Adda river, giving her Brescia and Bergamo. Peace of Lodi brought 40 years of peace to Italy, but not to Venice.
1463-79 The Turkish advance
On 3 April 1463, ten years after the capture of Constantinople, the Turks seized the Venetian fortress of Argos in a surprise attack. A long war ensued from which Venice emerged defeated. The peace of 24 January 1479 was humiliating: Venice lost Argos, Euboea and Scutari, and had to pay an annual tributeof lO,000 ducats. TheTurks went on to attack peninsular Italy, landing at Otranto, but were unsuccessful in this attempt. The death of Mehmed II brought Turkey a period of crisis, which allowed Venice to take and hold Zante in the Ionian islands, and to improve the terms of the treaty. The tribute was abolished, duty was lowered from five to four per cent, and the privileges and immunities of the Venetian bailo in Constantinople were renewed.
1473 Cyprus acquired
During the course of the disastrous war with the Turks, Venice managed to consolidate her hold on the island of Cyprus. The kingdom remained in the possession of Caterina Corner and of her baby son Giacomo III Lusignano, who died in 1474, under strict Venetian control until she was forced to abdicate on 24 February 1489. She ceded the island to the direct administration of Venice.
1484 The Polesine taken from Ferrara
The pope had sought Venice's help against the king of Naples, leaving her a free hand against Ferrara (1482). He subsequently became alarmed by Venice's success, however, and while Florence and Milan intervened in Ferrara's favour, Sixtus IV had recourse to an interdict in order to stop Venice. At the peace of 1484 Venice was allowed to retain the Polesine, which she had conquered.
1495-1503 Forced to chose between land and sea: gained Cremona but lost Lepanto, Modon and Corone
Charles VIII of France's descent into Italy in order to conquer the kingdom of Naples in 1494 is one of the turning points in Italian history. Venice, as one of the architects of the anti-French league which failed to destroy the French king's army at Fornovo in 1495, occupied the Apulian ports, important strategic bases commanding the lower Adriatic and the Ionian islands. A few years later in 1499 Venice allied itself with Louis XII against Milan, and gained Cremona. In the same year the Ottoman sultan moved to attack Lepanto. Preferring peace to total war both against the Turks and by sea, Venice surrendered the bases of Lepanto, Modon, and Corone in 1499. Her supremacy in Italy seemed to be in peril and her ambitions on the mainland won the day. Some believe that this decision, and this period were the critical point in Venice's fortunes.
1508-17 The League of Cambrai: Venetians land ambitions in Italy stopped
Taking full control over Romagna from the pope was the next Venetian goal in Italy. Venice's power was at its height, but this brought her enemies. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, these all joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508. The pope wanted Romagna, the emperor Friuli and the 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 enilisted by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509 Venice was defeated at Agnadello, French and imperial troops were occupying the Veneto, but Venice extricated herself by her efforts and her political skill. The Apulian ports were ceded in order to come to terms with Spain, and pope Julius II was placated when he perceived how much more dangerous Venice would be destroyed than powerful. Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, and successfully defended 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, Venice regained her domains on the mainland up to the Adda.
(read the full text at
http://www.veneto.org/history)
In 1323 membership of the Maggior Consiglio finally became permanent and hereditary. This became known as the "locking" of the Maggior Consiglio] 
