No More Learning

These actions opened the eyes of the
lagoon-population to the approaching crisis.
The situation was complicated by the attitude of the Patriarchs of
Grado, who, as good Churchmen, favoured the Pope's allies, the Franks.
Thus two parties were clearly defined inside the lagoons: the party of
the doges, the Byzantine party which clung to its allegiance to the
Empire as its safeguard against the danger of being absorbed by the
Franks; and the party of the Patriarchs, the party of the Church, the
Francophil party which seemed willing to carry the whole community
over to Charles, rather than risk the loss of commerce on the mainland
which would be entailed by a rupture with the Franks. How far there
was a third party, a Venetian party, determined to save the State from
the Franks while preserving its de facto independence of Byzantium, is
not clear. Inside the lagoon the crisis was brought to an issue and the
party positions defined over the newly-created see of Olivolo. The
Doge John, son of Mauritius, who had first been doge-consort to his
father (778) and then reigning doge (787), nominated to the see a young
Greek, named Christopher, only sixteen years old. The Patriarch of
Grado refused to consecrate him (798). A little later it was known that
the Patriarch was urging Charles' son, Pepin of Italy, to form a navy in
Ravenna for the subjugation of the lagoons. The doge sent his son,
Mauritius the younger, to attack Grado, and the Patriarch was fung
from the highest tower of his palace and killed (802).
But this high-handed act made no difference in the policy of the
patriarchal see. The murdered John was succeeded by his nephew
Fortunatus, a restless, capable, enterprising man, of Francophil leanings
even more pronounced than those of his uncle. Fortunatus received the
pallium in 803 and at once set to work to develop the Frankish party.
Along with others of the faction, Obelerius and Felix the Tribune, he
formed a plot against the doge. It was discovered, and the conspirators
fled to Treviso, whence Fortunatus proceeded alone to the court of
Charles at Seltz. He brought the Emperor many and costly presents,
and found him in a mood to listen to his plans for the expulsion of the
Byzantine doges and their party, as the Frankish embassy to the court
at Constantinople (803), commissioned to secure recognition of Charles'
new imperial title, had just been haughtily repulsed.
Meanwhile, encouraged no doubt by news from Fortunatus, the
Francophil conspirators in Treviso elected Obelerius as doge (804). He
made a dash for the lagoons, entered his native town of Malamocco
amid popular acclaim, and the Doges Johu and Mauritius were forced
to Ay along with their creature Christopher, Bishop of Olivolo.
This revolution of 804 meant the complete triumph of the Francophil
party. How complete that triumph was is proved by the fact that the
Doge Obelerius and the Doge-consort, his brother Beatus, paid a visit
CU. XIII.


## p. 394 (#436) ############################################

394
Pepin's attack
to the court of Charles at Thionville (Theodonis Villa) about Christmas
805, and early in the next year the Emperor made an ordinatio or
disposition for the government of the doges and populace of Venice as
well as for Dalmatia. Venice, Istria, and Dalmatia were declared to be
parts of Pepin's kingdom of Italy.
This deliberate challenge to Nicephorus and the Eastern Empire was
at once taken up. In 807 the patrician Nicetas appeared in the Adriatic
with the imperial fleet. Charles and Pepin were possessed of no sea-power
capable of offering resistance, and Nicetas met with none. If Charles had
counted on the Venetians for support he was deceived. Dalmatia returned
to its allegiance, as did the doges. Obelerius was rewarded with the title
of Spatharius, but Beatus was sent to Constantinople as a hostage for
Venetian loyalty. Nicetas made a truce with Pepin and withdrew his
fleet in the autumn of 807. The truce came to an end in the autumn of
808, and the patrician Paul appeared with the Greek fleet in the Adriatic.
After wintering in Venetian waters, he attacked Comacchio and was re-
pulsed. The Frankish party in the lagoons was strong enough to render
his position insecure. He withdrew his fleet down the Adriatic (809),
leaving Venice to the wrath of Pepin, who was resolved to make good
his claims to the lagoons and to punish the doges for their perfidy in
violating the ordinatio of Thionville. In the autumn of 809 the attack
was delivered from north and south, by land and by sea. The lagoon-
dwellers offered a vigorous resistance, and the king's progress was slow.
What remained of Heraclea fell; so did Brondolo, Chioggia, Pelestrina,
Albiola, and even the capital Malamocco; both doges were taken
prisoners; but the lagoons were not conquered. The population of
Malamocco withdrew to the central group of islands, called Rialto,
and thence defied the conqueror. In vain he attempted to reach and
capture the core of the lagoons; the intricate channels through the mud
banks baffled him; he was eventually forced to withdraw in 810; and he
died in July of the same year.
Recent historians, relying on the testimony of Einhard, claim that
this event was a Venetian defeat, a Frankish victory. But Einhard,
though a contemporary, was far away from the scene of action, and was
moreover in the service of the Carolingians. Though there can be no
doubt that Pepin captured the lidi up to Malamocco, the capital, and
made the doges prisoners, compelling them to consent to a yearly tribute,
yet the fact remains that he did not conquer Rialto, the heart of the
lagoons, and that the lagoon-population compelled him to abandon his
enterprise and to retire. It is not surprising that Constantine Porphyro-
genitus in the next century, and the Venetians ever after, should have
looked upon the repulse of Pepin as the cardinal point in their early history
and have eventually surrounded it with a mass of patriotic legend.
Pepin's attack on the lagoons, and the large measure of success which
crowned it, alarmed Constantinople; and in 810 Arsafius, the Spatharius,


## p. 395 (#437) ############################################

Rialto, the City of Venice
395
was sent to negotiate with the king, but finding him dead the envoy
proceeded direct to Charles at Aix-la-Chapelle. In the spring of 811
Arsafius left Aix on his return to Constantinople, bearing Charles’ terms,
which were that he would surrender Venice, Istria, Liburnia, and Dalmatia
in return for recognition of his imperial title. It may be observed that,
even if Charles considered that Pepin had conquered Venice, Dalmatia
certainly was in no sense his, as Pepin's fleet had immediately retired before
the fleet of Paul, the Praetor of Cephalonia. More probably Charles based
his claim to Venice on the ordinatio of Thionville. Arsafius on his way
through Venice nominated an Heracleote noble, Agnellus Particiacus, to
the vacant dogeship. The Doges Obelerius and Beatus were both in the
custody of Arsafius, the former to be consigned, as Charles had ordained,
to his lawful sovereign (ad dominum), the Emperor Nicephorus, a phrase
which can hardly be reconciled with the claim that Venice and the Vene-
tians were Frankish territory and people. By the summer of 812 the
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, and Venice returned to her ancient
position as vassal of the Eastern Empire. The result of the whole episode,
as far as Venice was concerned, was that internally a concentration of all
the lagoon-townships took place at Rialto, which now became the capital.
The rivalries and jealousies between the lagoon-centres came to an end.
Further, the new city emerged from Pepin's attack Byzantine in sympa-
thies, and with an Heracleote Byzantine noble as doge. And, with the
failure of the Francophil policy of the Patriarch Fortunatus, the power
of the Church as an independent political element in Venice began to
decline, and Grado slowly waned in power and influence. Externally
Venice remained Eastern not Western, aloof from the rest of Italy, look-
ing eastward for the most part, a fact of the highest importance in
determining the subsequent character and career of the race.
We are now entering on a new period of Venetian history which goes
down to the reign of Peter II Orseolo (991-1009). It is possible now
to talk of Venice as a city-state. The characteristic notes of the period
are: firstly, the development of the dukedom with its growing dynastic
tendencies; the accumulation in single houses of dignities and wealth,
thanks to private trading by the doges under special privileges ; and the
revolt of the Venetian people against these dynastic tendencies. Secondly,
we note the relations of the state with the Western Empire, the effort to
maintain its independence and to extend its commerce, which are revealed
in the series of pucta and praecepta. And thirdly, the relations of the
state with the East; the gradual loosening of the formal bonds which
bound it as a vassal to the Eastern Empire, and the extension of its
trading privileges in the Levant. For many years to come (down to 979
at least) the formal dependence on the Eastern Empire was fully recog-
nised by the use of the imperial date in public documents, by public
prayers for the Emperor, and by the obligations of transport, affirmed
and acknowledged in the various imperial bulls; but in fact, owing to
CH, XIII.


## p. 396 (#438) ############################################

396
Commerce
the growing sea-power of the Venetians, the relations gradually became
rather those of allies. The final note of the period is the growth and the
embellishment of the new capital.
The young state soon began to display those commercial instincts
which were destined to mark its whole career. Either by a separate
treaty—a theory strenuously combated by recent historians-or at least
by a special clause in the Treaty of Aix, Charles renewed the privileges,
endorsed the tribute, and confirmed the frontiers established by the treaty
with King Liutprand. This treaty formed the charter of Venetian trading
rights on the mainland, and was frequently rehearsed and re-confirmed
during the ninth and tenth centuries.
The valley of the Po formed the natural trade-route from the head
of the Adriatic to Lombardy, France, and West Germany; but for the
command of this route the lagoon-city of Comacchio was an active com-
petitor, lying as it did near the mouth of that river. At Pavia, the
capital of the Italian kingdom, two great trade-routes converged, the
Po-valley route, and the route from Rome across the Apennines. Already
in the days of Charles, the monk of St Gall reports, Venetian mer-
chants frequented the markets of Pavia, bringing with them “from over
seas all the wealth of the orient," chiefly, it seems, silks, spices, golden
pheasant and peacock feathers. The life of St Gerald of Aurillac shews
us how a Venetian merchant at Pavia acted as expert-adviser on the
current prices of silk webs in the markets of Constantinople. The trade
of Comacchio was chiefly confined to salt, but we shall presently see how
Venice went to war with her rivals in order to secure a monopoly of this
commodity.
As regards relations with the East we naturally find no treaties during
the ninth century. The formal position of vassal and suzerain was fully
recognised ; the Emperors, through their officers and bulls, sent their
orders, as, for example, those forbidding the Venetians to trade with
enemies of the Empire in arms and timber; these orders were obeyed as
long as the interests of Venice and of the East were identical. We have
a proof that Venetians were already trading far afield in' the Levant, for
in 829 the body of St Mark was brought from Alexandria to Venice by
Venetian merchants on board their own ship; and by 840, on the request
of the Emperor Theophilus, Venice was able to send sixty ships to sea:
Indeed we find that from the reign of Michael II (820–829) onwards the
Emperors made frequent calls on the naval power of Venice. The claim
was, no doubt, a right (see the chrysobull of 991), but it gradually assumed
the aspect of an appeal to an ally, until it definitely took that form in
the dogeship of Peter II Orseolo.
The city itself, during the reigns of the first three doges of the house
of Particiacus, shewed a rapid extension in buildings. Agnellus began the
first ducal palace, a wooden structure; his son Justinian founded the
first church of St Mark, a small basilica, with apse and crypt, occupying


## p. 397 (#439) ############################################

Constitution. Dynastic tendencies
397
the site of the present Capello Zen. The basilica was built to receive the
body of St Mark, the translation of whose remains from Alexandria to
Venice is an essential point in the ecclesiastical history of the City; for
by the possession of the Saint's body the Venetians, in a manner, asserted
their superiority to Aquileia and also to Grado, a superiority which was
finally confirmed in 1445 by the removal of the patriarchal see of Grado
to Venice. By his will (June 829) the Doge Justinian left instructions
that the stones of the house of a certain Theophylact of Torcello were
to be used in the construction of the Church. During this same period
the famous monastery of Sant'Ilario on the Brenta, the convent of San
Zaccaria near the ducal palace, and the cathedral church of San Pietro
at Olivolo, came into being and received large endowments from members
of the ducal family.
As to the constitution of the new state we have little information ;
we know that Agnellus had two tribunes appointed as assessors in the
interests of the Greek Empire, but we hear nothing of their action.
The doge seems to have had the sole disposal of the treasury and to have
been, for administrative purposes, quite uncontrolled. The tribunes still
existed in the various lagoon-townships, but after the concentration at
Rialto they possessed but restricted powers. The national assembly seems
to have been of vital significance only on the occasions when it was con-
vened. Its voice was heard in the election of the doge, and the doges
seem to have called it to confirm their public acts; for example, in May
819, the Doges Agnellus and Justinian Particiacus, who in a possibly
spurious passage are styled per divinam gratiam duces, declare that, in a
donation to the Abbot of San Servolo, they are acting in concert cum
universis Venecie populis habitantibus.
The dynastic tendency in the dukedom was clearly marked under the
first three doges of the house of Particiacus. We find the system of
appointing a doge-consort from the reigning family in full force, while
the important see of Olivolo-Castello was filled for the long period of
thirty-two years (822-854) by Ursus, son of John. Resentment at
this tendency to concentrate the supreme power in a single house took
definite shape in two conspiracies against the Doge John Particiacus; the
first, in 835, headed by the Tribune Carosus, failed after a brief success;
the second, under the leadership of the noble family of the Mastalici,
deposed the doge (836) and compelled him to retire to a monastery near
Grado. The choice of the Venetians then fell upon Peter Tradonicus, a
man of noble blood, strong and vigorous, but illiterate-he could not even
sign his name. His long reign of twenty-eight years (836-864) was signal-
ised by unsuccessful sea-campaigns against the Slav pirates of the Dal-
matian coast, who had already begun to harass the rich and growing trade
of Venice in the Adriatic, and against the Saracens in the south of Italy.
At the request, or order, of the Emperor Theophilus, conveyed by the
patrician Theodosius, the doge fitted out sixty ships for the unlucky
CH. XIII.


## p. 398 (#440) ############################################

398
The pactum of Pavia
expedition to Taranto (840). Unfortunate as were these earliest naval
enterprises of the growing State of Venice, they were fruitful in calling
out the energy and resolution of the people and in leading to a revolution
in Venetian ship-building. It was under Tradonicus that the first great
ships were built in Venetian docks, and the type established which was
to serve both for trade and war.
A second important point in the reign of Tradonicus, a point which
bears upon Venetian relations with the West, was the conclusion of the
pactum, or treaty, with the Emperor Lothar in 840, the very year in
which the Emperor of the East had summoned the Venetians to his aid
against the Saracens. This remarkable document, the earliest extant
monument of Venetian diplomacy, was prepared during preliminary
negotiations in Ravenna, but was signed on 22 February 840 at Pavia.
It undoubtedly referred to and recited the terms of the special Venetian
clauses in the Treaty of Aix (812), of the ordinatio of Thionville
(806), and of King Liutprand's treaty of 713. It was to last for five
years, and as a matter of fact we find it being renewed every five years
down to the Treaty of Mülhausen (19 July 992). It stipulated for the
payment of fifty librae of Venetian coinage (parve), equal to twenty-five
librae of the Pavese' coinage, as an annual tribute from Venice, due in
March each year. But the payment of this tribute is not to be taken as
in any sense a token of vassalage; it was merely a return for the privileges
conceded by the pactum ; peace and good friendship are to exist between
Venice and various neighbouring districts inside the kingdom of Italy;
these districts are specified and include Istria, Friuli, the Trevisan
Marches, Vicenza, Monselice, Ravenna, and the ports on the Adriatic
down to Fermo. Neither party is to injure the other. Venetian fugitives
inside the kingdom are to be extradited; envoys and couriers are to be
protected. The confines of Venetian territory as defined in the treaty
with Liutprand are recognised. The Venetians may trade freely in the
kingdom, except for the customary dues of water and land transit, and
Italian subjects are to enjoy a like privilege by sea. The subjects of the
Empire are to lend no aid to enemies of Venice, while Venice is to lend
her aid by sea against all Slav freebooters. The importance of the docu-
ment lies in the fact that it is an independent contract between the
Doge of Venice and the rulers of the mainland, and that it confirms
and extends existing trading privileges, which were subsequently still
further enlarged. At Thionville, by a praeceptum dated 1 September 841,
the Emperor formally recognised Venetian possessions inside the Empire.
The Doge Tradonicus did not escape the dynastic ambitions which
were common to all the earlier holders of the ducal throne. He sur-
1 Biremes with a crew of 150 men. The proper name for this vessel was Chelandia
(Xedávòia). Johannes Diaconus (ed. Monticolo, Chron. Venet. Ant. in Fonti, p. 115)
calls it Zalandria. Thietmar (Chronicon, SGUS, p. 62) says:
“ salandria. . . est. . . nauis
mirae longitudinis et alacritatis. ” See also infra, Chapter xxiii, p. 743.


## p. 399 (#441) ############################################

Secular versus ecclesiastical power
399
rounded himself with a body-guard of foreign soldiers, Croats, devoted
to his service. This, and his attempt to raise his relative, Dominicus, to
the bishopric of Olivolo-Castello, gave the Particiaci faction, which was
still strong, the desired opportunity. The doge was murdered on his
way from the palace to San Zaccaria (13 September 864).
The murder of Tradonicus cannot be considered as a popular demon-
stration against the dynastic principle; it was carried out by a group of
nobles instigated by the Patriarch of Grado who was a Particiacus, and
in the interest of that family. Tradonicus was succeeded by Ursus Parti-
ciacus and subsequently by three other members of his house before the
Particiaci gave way to the powerful family of the Candiani.
With the Western Empire Ursus maintained friendly relations and on
11 January 880 the pactum of Lothar was renewed with Charles the Fat
in Ravenna. The modifications in the terms prove the extent to which
Venice was growing in power and importance. It is no longer the case
of certain specified places inside the kingdom entering on a treaty with
Venice, but the Emperor himself treats on behalf of his whole kingdom
(etiam tocius regni nostri). The slave trade is again to be condemned by
a decree signed by doge and patriarch, and, most important of all, the
doge's personal merchandise, his private trading stock, was to go free of
customs dues. Ursus was further successful in a sharp encounter with
the Patriarch of Grado, the upshot of which was to demonstrate and
establish the supremacy of State over Church in Venice. The doge
insisted on raising to the see of Torcello a eunuch named Dominicus.
The Patriarch Peter Marturius refused to consecrate him as being
canonically unfit, but had to fly before the doge's wrath. He appealed
to the Pope, who summoned Dominicus and the Bishops Peter of Jesolo
and Felix of Malamocco to Rome; in obedience to the doge they did
not respond. The Pope convened a council in Ravenna (22 July 877),
but the Venetian bishops did not appear till it was closing. Finally
the Patriarch of Grado came to terms with the doge; he permitted
Dominicus to reside at Torcello and to enjoy the revenues of the see,
but the bishop was only consecrated by Marturius' successor. The whole
episode, however, was a triumph for the doge and the secular authority.
Ursus was succeeded by his son John (881–887), in whose reign
Venice embarked on her first aggressive commercial war. Comacchio,
lying in its lagoons, near the mouth of the Po, was a serious commercial
rival, both on account of its commanding position on the great trade-
route and because of its salt industry which brought it into contact
with the whole of North Italy. John made an effort to secure by
diplomacy the lordship of Comacchio. He sent his brother Badoero to
Rome to beg the Pope to grant him investiture. But on his way Badoero
was wounded and captured by Marinus, Count of Comacchio, who was
alive to the danger. Badoero returned to Venice and there died of his
wounds. The doge and the whole population seized the opportunity to
CH. XIII.


## p. 400 (#442) ############################################

400
Pacta and praecepta
sack Comacchio and to establish Venetian officials in the town. Charles III,
no more than the Pope, seems to have taken notice of this high-handed
attack, and at Mantua (10 May 883) he confirmed by a praeceptum
the Ravenna pactum of 880 with several important additions: the
private goods of the doge and his heirs were exempt from the ordinary
dues of teloneum and ripaticum (land and water transit) which other
Venetians had to pay ; conspiracy against the life of any prince, and
therefore of the doge, on the part of any subject of the Empire was a
crime; the doge was to enjoy full judicial powers over Venetian subjects
in the Empire.
John and his brother and doge-consort resigned their offices in
887, and the choice fell upon Peter Candianus, member of a family
destined to play a prominent part in the ensuing years of Venetian
history. Peter's brief reign of a few months (April to September 887)
at once indicated the lines along which the other doges of his house
would move. He immediately undertook an expedition against the Slav
pirates of the Dalmatian coasts, a proof that the security of the sea
route down the Adriatic was becoming an imperative necessity for the
growing state of Venice. The expedition was a failure. The doge fell,
and was buried in the church of Santa Eufemia at Grado. The next two
reigns, those of Peter Tribunus (888-911) and Ursus (Paureta) Parti-
ciacus (911-932), proved to be a long period of quiet and growth for
Venice, except for the terror of the Hungarian raid in 900. Venice was
threatened by the Magyar hordes who came down the Piave in their
coracles of osier and hides and devastated the territories of Heraclea
and Jesolo. The alarm at their coming led to the fortification of the
city by the construction of a great wall along the line of the present
Riva degli Schiavoni, from Castello to St Mark's, which was surrounded,
and thence as far as Santa Maria Zobenigo, whence a strong chain was
stretched across the mouth of the grand canal to San Gregorio. The
doge is said to have defeated the Magyars at Albiola. Whether that be
so or not, the fact remains that they never occupied the city of Venice.
The distracted state of the Western Empire, torn in pieces between
competing princes, gave Venice an opportunity for renewing and enlarging
her treaty rights. The series of pacta and praecepta is continued under
the reigns of Berengar, Guy, Rodolph, and Hugh. In the Berengar
pactum (7 May 888), signed at Olona, the sea-power of Venice is
recognised, and she is entrusted with the policing of the Adriatic for
the suppression of the Dalmatian pirates; in return, the duty on goods
bartered in the kingdom of Italy was fixed at two and a half per cent. ,
instead of being arbitrary as heretofore. The praeceptum of Rodolph
(29 February 924), signed at Pavia, recognised in Venice “ the ancient
right” to coin money for circulation in the kingdom (secundum quod
corum provinciae duces a priscis temporibus consueto more habuerunt).
That Venice had coined money for home circulation at least as early as the


## p. 401 (#443) ############################################

The Candiani
401
middle of the ninth century is proved by the pactum of Lothar (840), in
which the annual tribute is made payable in Venetian librae (libras suorum
denariorum quinquaginta). The exemption of ducal goods from payment
of dues was extended from the doge personally to his agents (proprii
negociatores) to the great enrichment of the family estate, as we shall
presently see in the case of Peter IV Candianus who employed it to
support a private army.
We now come to the period of the dynastic supremacy of the
Candiani (932-976). With the brief exception of three years (939-942)
when the last of the Particiaci, Peter Badoero, occupied the throne,
Peter II, Peter III, and Peter IV, of the Candiani were supreme.
They were a fighting race, and the question of Venetian relations with
Istria and Dalmatia, and her position in the Adriatic, gave them full
employment. We have seen how the first doge of their house, Peter I,
had already fallen in battle with the Slavs. Marquess Gunter (Wintker)
of Istria, resenting the steady growth of Venetian commercial importance
in the peninsula, had resorted to the confiscation of ducal and episcopal
property in Istria and had forbidden his subjects to pay their just debts
to Venetian merchants. Peter II, instead of resorting to the costly
method of arms, which would have implied an attack on a province of
the Italian kingdom with risks to Venetian commerce in Italy, reduced
Marquess Gunter to sign a humiliating treaty of peace (12 March 933) by
the simple process of boycotting Istria: a striking demonstration of the
commanding position of Venice as an emporium. By this treaty, which
was renewed in 977 and enlarged in 1074, Venice established her supre-
macy in Istria and took her first step down the Adriatic and towards
her complete dominion in that sea.
The next Candiani Doge, Peter III (942–959), applied the system of
boycott with equal success against Lupus, Patriarch of Aquileia, who had
attacked Grado, and compelled him to sign a treaty (13 March 944), by
which he confirmed the clauses of the treaty with his predecessor Walpert,
including the exemption of the doge from all customs dues in his
territory.
Peter III died and was succeeded by his son Peter IV (959-976),
the most remarkable of the Candiani doges. In him the intention of
converting the dukedom into an hereditary monarchy is at once made
clear. One of his earliest steps was to employ the family funds, accu-
mulated through the personal private trading of the doges, for the
creation of a small standing army in his own pay. But the conditions in
both Eastern and Western Empires had undergone a remarkable change.
In the West the strong dynasty of the Saxon Ottos had raised the
imperial prestige once more, while in the East the Emperor Tzimisces
was about to revive the ancient supremacy of Byzantium. It seemed
likely that the East and West would once again clash and that, as in
800-810, Venice would find her existence threatened by the conflict
C. MED, H. VOL, IV, CH, XIIJ.
26


## p. 402 (#444) ############################################

402
The Emperor Otto I
between the two great powers. Her position, however, was far stronger
now than then. Her wealth was great, her importance as an emporium
of necessities established, her sea-power recognised and respected. It
was clearly the keystone of Venetian foreign policy to stand well with
both East and West, and Peter IV applied himself to the task.
On the fall of Berengar II (961) and the coronation of Otto I, the
doge hastened to secure the confirmation of the Venetian treaties.
By the
terms of the pactum signed in Rome on 2 December 967, there seems
to have been a certain shrinkage in the privileges which Venice and her
doges had gradually acquired during the period of disturbance in the
kingdom of Italy. The judicial rights of the doge over all Venetians
resident in the kingdom were not confirmed, nor was the exemption
of ducal goods from taxation. On the other hand the treaty was now
declared to run not for five years only but for all time (per cuncta
annorum curricula), though in fact it required to be renewed on the
accession of each new sovereign. The yearly tribute still remained at
its normal fifty librae “nostrae monetae," as fixed by the Treaty of Aix-
la-Chapelle (812), and for the first time we hear of unum pallium,
though it is probable that this obligation figured in earlier pacta. In
any case the pallium and the tribute cannot in any sense be taken as an
indication of vassalage; the pallium here referred to was a web of silk,
a rich specimen of Venetian wares. The terms of this pactum were
renewed in 983, and an attempt has been made to prove that from that
date down to 1024 Venice acknowledged the suzerainty of the Western
Empire. But the evidence seems to shew that her formal allegiance to
the Eastern Empire was still recognised.
The imperative orders of the Emperor Tzimisces, forbidding, under
penalty of confiscation and death, the lucrative traffic of Venice with
the Saracens, may have helped to throw Peter IV more and more into
the arms of the Emperor Otto, who was only too ready to secure Venetian
sea-aid in the clash with the Eastern Empire which seemed inevitable
if he were to carry out his policy of making all Italy part of his
domains. In any case Peter divorced his wife Giovanna and married
Gualdrada, daughter of Hubert, Marquess of Tuscany, granddaughter
of King Hugh of Provence and niece of Adelaide, wife of Otto I. She
brought with her a large dower in money and lands in the Trevisan
Marches, in Friuli, and in the territory of Adria; and her husband the
doge now began to assume regal state. He increased his private army
and undertook military expeditions on the mainland on the plea of pro-
tecting his wife's possessions. Feeling rose high in Venice against the
obviously monarchical tendencies of the doge. In a general tumult
Peter was besieged in the palace; his guards offered resistance; the
palace was fired, the doge slain. The conflagration was not stopped
till it had destroyed the palace, part of St Mark's, and three hundred
houses as far as Santa Maria Zobenigo (11 August 976). The act


## p. 403 (#445) ############################################

Peter Orseolo I
403
seems to have been the violent protest of the Venetian people against
the attempt to convert the dukedom into a monarchy.
The murder of Peter Candianus placed Venice in a difficult position
towards the Emperor Otto II. His hold on the lagoons and their sea-
power was shaken ; his cousin Gualdrada, wife of the late doge, claimed
his defence of her rights. The task of meeting the dangerous situation
fell chiefly upon the Orseoli, the third, and most distinguished, of the
dynastic ducal families which governed Venice from 810 to 1009.
The day after the murder of Candianus the choice of the electors
fell on Peter Orseolo, the first of the new dynasty, a man of saintly
character, but, like all his race, possessing higher qualities of states-
manship than we have met with hitherto in his predecessors in the ducal
chair. His first care was to repair the damage wrought by the fire. He
began the building of a new palace and church. He renewed the treaty
with Istria, the original of which had been burned along with the rest
of the public documents. But his great service to the state lay in this,
that he met and settled, to the nominal satisfaction of Otto II, the claims
of the widowed dogaressa Gualdrada. Under his guidance the general
assembly agreed to restore to her her morganaticum (400 pounds) and
also the portion of the late doge's property which fell by right to her
son, who had shared the fate of his father. On these terms Gualdrada
signed a quittance of all claims against the State of Venice.
The danger was past for the moment. But the doge, obeying his
pious instincts, resolved to retire from the world. On the night of
i September 978 he secretly left Venice and fled to the monastery of
Cusa in Aquitaine. Possibly with a view to appeasing Otto further, a
member of the house of Candiani, Vitalis, brother of the murdered
Peter, was elected, but reigned little more than a year (September 978-
November 979). He was succeeded by Tribunus Menius (Memmo).
(979–991), during whose reign the question between Otto II and the
Venetian State was brought to a crisis.
The murder of Peter Candianus had not only exposed Venice to the
wrath of Otto II; it had also created inside the state two factions, the
Caloprini who espoused the policy of the Candiani and leaned towards
the Western Empire, and the Morosini whose sympathies were with the
Orseoli and the Byzantine allegiance as a means of saving the state from
absorption by the West. By 980 the Western Emperor was in Italy. The
great Emperor of the East, John Tzimisces, had died in 976. The south
of Italy, the theme of Longobardia, seemed likely to fall a prey to the
Saracens. Otto resolved to seize the opportunity to render Southern Italy
a part of his Empire. Towards this object the possession of Venice and
her fleet seemed of prime importance, but since the murder of Candianus
Otto's party was no longer in the ascendant, especially after the failure of
the Caloprini plot to murder all the Morosini. Without waiting to secure
Venetian aid, the Emperor pushed south. His expedition failed, and in
co. XIII,
26—2


## p. 404 (#446) ############################################

404
Peter Orseolo II
983 he was back again in Verona, and there the ambassadors of Venice
came to seek renewal of their treaties. By the terms of the new treaty the
burdensome dues for river traffic (ripatica) were removed, to the great
advantage of Venice, but the exemption of ducal goods from customs and
the ducal judicial rights over Venetians in the kingdom were not restored.
A special clause permitted the subjects of the Empire, who after the
murder of Peter Candianus had been forbidden to trade with Venice, to
frequent Venetian ports once more (per mare ad vos), a phrase which the
Venetians subsequently amplified into per mare ad vos et non amplius,
thereby attempting to concentrate all Italian traffic in the Adriatic at
Venice and implicitly establishing a claim on those waters. The favourable
conditions of this treaty were probably intended to secure Venetian
assistance for the Emperor's future schemes in South Italy. But at this
juncture Stefano Caloprini, leader of the Venetian faction, appeared at
Verona and offered the Emperor a more speedy method for attaining his
ends. He promised that he and his party would assist in reducing Venice
if the Emperor would invest him with the dukedom and grant him a
yearly pension. The Emperor agreed. The method adopted was a rigid
blockade of the lagoons from the mainland. Venice was only saved from
starvation and surrender by the friendly offices of the Saracen feet;
but the situation was more serious than it had been even at the time of
Pepin's attack. The mainland, under the Bishops of Treviso, Ceneda, and
Belluno, was entirely against the sea-city. Its subjects of Cavarzere
and Loreo revolted. But on 7 December 983 the Emperor died, and the
whole Caloprini scheme fell to pieces. Apart from the grave menace to
Venetian independence, the significance of the episode lies in the fact that
it illustrates the growing importance of Venetian sea-power.
Tribunus Menius had seen his country safely through the external
crisis, but was powerless to repress the bloody faction-fights between the
Caloprini and the Morosini. He was deposed and compelled to retire to
the monastery of San Zaccaria. The greatest doge that Venice had as
yet seen, Peter Orseolo II, succeeded to the throne (991-1009). His
chaplain, friend, and biographer, John the Deacon, pictures him as a man
of culture, refinement, even imagination, coupled with the statesman's
instincts, a strong will, and military energy. His first step was to allay
all internal tumults. In the interests of the country he exacted an oath
and the signature of ninety-one nobles to a pledge that they would not
stir tumult nor draw weapon inside the ducal palace under a penalty
of twenty pounds of fine gold or, in default of payment, loss of life
(February 997). His next care was to establish the Orseoli family in a
commanding position in the State. He chose his son John as doge-
consort, and on John's death his third son Otto; his second son Orso was
Bishop of Torcello, and subsequently Patriarch of Grado.
Peter's foreign policy was crowned with complete success. In 992
he concluded the first Venetian treaty with the East—the chrysobull


## p. 405 (#447) ############################################

Relations with East and West
405
of Basil II (March, indictione quinta). By the terms of the deed, which
was rather a declaration of ancient rights than a bestowal of new
ones (quod ab antiquo fuit consuetudo), Venetian ships, provided they
bore Venetian not Amalfitan or other cargoes, were to pay a fixed
sum of two soldi for each ship entering and fifteen soldi for each ship
clearing a Greek port, irrespective of the ship's burden and cargo ; no
ship might be detained by the Greek authorities longer than three days
against its will; Venetians were placed under the jurisdiction of the
Λογοθέτης των οικειακών, a high official in whose court procedure was
more rapid than in the lower courts. In return, Venice was pledged to
furnish transport and warships for the defence of the theme of Longo-
bardia, that is of Southern Italy. The chrysobull of 992 is of importance
in the commercial history of Venice: it gave Venetians trading in the East
valuable advantages over their rivals, Amalfitans, Jews, and others, while
the uniform tax on ships irrespective of burden and cargo soon induced
the Venetians to increase the size of their build. The consequences will
be seen presently in the development of Venetian trade on the mainland
of Italy.
In the same year, 992, Peter renewed the treaties with the Western
Empire by the pactum (praeceptum) of Mülhausen. Here again Venetian
diplomacy was entirely successful. Venetian rights and privileges were
restored to the position they occupied in 961, at the fall of Berengar
and before the breach with the Saxon Emperors; the territories of
Cavarzere and Loreo, which had seceded to the Emperor at the time of
Otto's blockade, were now returned to Venice; and the encroaching
Bishops of Treviso and Belluno were ordered to evacuate the lands they
had seized in the diocese of Heraclea, though it was not until the doge
had applied the blockade that the stubborn John of Belluno made sub-
mission to Otto's orders after the placitum of Staffolo (998).
The growing importance of Venetian commerce, chiefly in oriental
goods, is proved by Peter's request that Otto would allow him to open
three markets (in tribus locis sue ditioni subditis) in the Italian kingdom,
at San Michele del Quarto, on the Sile, and on the Piave, a request which
was granted (Ravenna, 1 May 996) and marked a stepping-stone in the
history of Venetian western trade.
The new palace, begun under the first Orseolo, was now approaching
completion; Venice as a city was rapidly expanding under the cultured
guidance of the second Orseolo. Peter was anxious to shew the glories
of his capital to his friend the Emperor; Otto was nothing loth to take
a romantic journey to the city of the lagoons. The invitation was
conveyed through John the Deacon to the Emperor at Como in June
1000. It was agreed that a secret visit should be paid on the Emperor's
return journey from Rome. In March 1001 Otto was at Ravenna.
Announcing that he was going into retreat in the abbey of Pomposa, he
left Ravenna. Af Pomposa he found John the Deacon with a boat, and
CH. XIII.


## p. 406 (#448) ############################################

406
Dux Dalmatiae
the same evening he set out for Venice. After travelling all night he
reached the island of San Servolo the following day about sunset. The
doge met him; they embraced, and, waiting till it was quite dark, they
rowed into Venice, and the Emperor was lodged in San Zaccaria. Otto
granted his every wish to the Doge Peter; he stood sponsor to a daughter,
and remitted the yearly tribute of the pallium and any monetary tribute
beyond the ancient statutory sum of 50 Venetian librae. Otto returned
to Ravenna, and three days later Orseolo told his people who his guest
had been.
But between the issue of the invitation and the visit of the Emperor,
Peter had carried to a successful conclusion the greatest enterprise of his
reign. The growing Venetian factories down the Dalmatian coast had
been in the habit of paying tribute to the Serbs and Croats for the pre-
servation of their right to trade. Orseolo resolved to put an end to these
levies of blackmail. At the beginning of his reign he refused to pay
tribute, and on the Dalmatians assuming a threatening attitude he at once
prepared a naval expedition. He sailed on 9 May 1000, and made for
Istria, where he learned the value of the Candiani's Istrian policy and
achievements, in finding Istrian ports open to his fleets. Zara, Veglia,
Arbè, and Traù submitted. Spalato was taken. An oath of allegiance
was exacted and a formal recognition that the waters of the Adriatic
were open to Venetian traffic. The victorious doge returned to Venice and
assumed the title of Dux Dalmatiae, a title which was recognised by the
Western Empire in the treaty of 16 November 1002. We must bear in
mind, however, that centuries passed before Dalmatia became definitely
Venetian. Zara was always in revolt down to the fourteenth century.
Nevertheless Peter's expedition was of the highest importance; it raised
the prestige of the Venetians, it opened to them a long line of factories
down the Dalmatian coast, and it advanced their claim to free trade in
the Adriatic.
Two years later, in 1002, Orseolo was called on to fulfil his obligations
to the Eastern Empire under the chrysobull of 992. The Saracens of Sicily
had attacked and besieged Bari, the capital of the theme of Longobardia.
On 10 August the Venetian fleet, under the command of the doge, set sail,
and by 18 October Bari was relieved by a brilliant Venetian victory.
This victory led to a marriage-alliance between John, the eldest son
of Peter, and the Princess Maria, the niece of Basil II ; John's younger
brother Otto married the sister-in-law of the Emperor Henry II, thus
connecting the family of the Orseoli with both imperial houses. But in
1005 the plague carried off John and Princess Maria as well as their son.
The doge never recovered from the blow; he lost his interest in worldly
matters, led a claustral life at home, and died in 1009.
Peter's death closed a reign which had a profound significance in
Venetian history. A new Venice, the aurea Venetia of the chronicler
John the Deacon, came into being on the ruins left by the fire which


## p. 407 (#449) ############################################

New Venice
407
destroyed Peter Candianus; a new palace and a new St Mark's, adorned
with the finest workmanship of Byzantine masters, took the place of the
older buildings. The doge's taste was shewn in the gifts he presented to
his compater Otto, an ivory chair elaborately carved and a silver bowl of
rich design. It is a new Venice, too, we now find in its relations to the
great world-powers, to Eastern and Western Empire alike. Neither
Imperial Court refused an alliance with the Doge of Venice, and the Vene-
tian fleet had made its strength felt down both shores of the Adriatic.
But inside Venice there was a party strongly opposed to the dynastic
and monarchical tendencies of the Orseolo family. Peter's son and
successor Otto (1009–1026), whose elder brother Orso was translated
from Torcello to Grado, and whose younger brother Vitalis succeeded
to the vacant see, found that jealousy of his family's supremacy had
gradually undermined his position. The open hostility of Conrad the
Salic, and his refusal to renew the pacta, led eventually to the expulsion
of the doge. The fall of the Orseoli marked the end of the dynastic
system in the dukedom. During the rule of the three great families,
the Particiaci, the Candiani, and the Orseoli, the reigning doge had been,
to all intents and purposes, an absolute monarch ; the fisc was in his
sole administration, the popular assembly was summoned merely to
sanction his decrees; a recognised constitution cannot be said to have
existed. After the fall of the Orseoli we find ourselves dealing with a
new kind of doge; the germs of a constitution begin to shew them-
selves. In 1032, the first year of Domenico Fabiano's reign (1032-1043),
the appointment of a doge-consort was declared illegal. This appears
to have been an act of the popular assembly, proving that this body was
beginning to assume a more prominent place. It is also said that the
same body appointed two councillors to assist the doge in current matters,
and enjoined him on graver occasions to consult the more prominent
citizens, possibly a foreshadowing of the council which eventually deve-
loped into the Pregadi or Senate of Venice.
The period upon which we are now entering, from the fall of the
Orseoli to the opening of the Crusades (1026-1096), is chiefly concerned
with the resistance of Grado against the attacks of Poppo, the turbulent
Patriarch of Aquileia, supported by Conrad the Salic; with the cam-
paigns against the Normans at the mouth of the Adriatic; and with
the expansion of Venetian commercial privileges in Constantinople.
Conrad came to Italy in March 1026. He was embittered against the
Italians generally by their obvious desire to throw off the German yoke.
As regards Venice in particular, he shared the views and aspirations of
Otto II ; he regarded the Venetians as rebellious subjects, and refused to
renew the pacta. This, as we have seen, led to the fall of the Orseoli
and a weakening of the Venetian State. Poppo, Patriarch of Aquileia,
a devoted adherent of Conrad, seized the opportunity to carry out his
design of enforcing the decree of the Synod of Mantua (827), which
CH, XIII.


## p. 408 (#450) ############################################

408
The Normans
gave the supremacy to Aquileia over Grado.
to Aquileia over Grado. He attacked and sacked
Grado twice, once in 1024 immediately after Conrad's accession to the
crown of Germany, when he plundered the church and palace and
carried off the treasury to Aquileia, and once again in 1044. But
Rome was steadily against him, and in 1053 the “Constitution" of
Leo IX definitely declared Grado to be “the Metropolitan Church of
Venice and Istria. ” The see of Grado maintained its hierarchical pre-
eminence, but the town itself was hopelessly ruined. The growing
importance of Venice drew the patriarchs to longer, and eventually
continuous, sojourn in that city, bringing with them for the benefit of
Venice the prestige of their metropolitan see, till it was finally trans-
formed into the Patriarchate of Venice (1445).
On the death of Conrad relations between Venice and the Western
power became easier. During the reign of Domenico Contarini (1042–
1071), Henry III renewed the ancient treaties (probably 1055). Conta-
rini's successor, Domenico Silvio (1071-1084), proved once again that a
doge of Venice was a fit mate for an imperial princess by marrying
Theodora, sister of the Emperor Michael Ducas, a lady to whose oriental
luxury and refinement the rougher Venetians attributed the loathsome
malady of which she died. During this doge's reign Venice was called
upon to play a more prominent part in world-history than she had hitherto
done. A new power now appeared at the mouth of the Adriatic. The
Normans, after making themselves masters of Sicily and South Italy (Bari
fell in 1071 and Palermo in 1072), stretched across to the eastern side of
the Adriatic and threatened to advance on Constantinople itself. Under
their leader, Robert Guiscard, they laid siege to Durazzo, which com-
manded the western end of the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road which
led by Thessalonica to the capital. Alexius Comnenus had been called to
the imperial throne (8 April 1081) on purpose to replace the incompetent
bureaucratic government of Michael Ducas and Nicephorus Botaniates.
He saw at once that Durazzo must not be allowed to fall. He appealed
to Henry IV, but that sovereign was too deeply involved in the struggle
with the Pope to be able to lend aid, and he turned to request the aid of
Venice. The Venetians could not view with indifference the success of the
Normans, which threatened to make them masters of both sides of the
Adriatic, and thus to close the mouth of the water avenue which led to
and from Venice. Moreover, the Amalfitans, the vigorous commercial
rivals of the lagoon-state, were actively supporting Robert. All her
interests induced Venice to lend a willing ear to Alexius'appeal. A bargain
was soon struck (1081), and in June of that year a fleet of sixty Venetian
ships, under the command of Doge Silvio, set sail to relieve Durazzo.
The battle which followed was remarkable both for the tactics deve-
loped by the Venetian commander—the fleet drawn up in half-moon
Among other luxuries she used a fork, quibusdam fuscinulis aureis et bidentibus,
S. Petrus Damianus, Instit. Monialis, Cap. xi, Opera, Vol. 11.
1


## p. 409 (#451) ############################################

The Crusades
409
formation, the vessels lashed together with the lighter craft between the
horns—and for the ingenious engineering device by which iron-pointed
balks of timber were either launched against the enemy's hulls or dropped
on his decks from overhanging yards. The upshot was a complete
victory for the Venetians and the relief of Durazzo. But in a land
battle which took place in October of this year the Greeks were utterly
beaten; Durazzo fell into the hands of the Normans, and the Venetian
fleet sailed home, In May of the following year (1082) Venice received
the rewards for which she had stipulated. The chrysobull of Alexius con-
ferred on Venetians the privilege of trading free of dues throughout the
whole Eastern Empire, including the capital, and placed all Venetian
merchants under the jurisdiction of the doge, privileges which at once
gave Venice an advantage over her rival Amalfi. In return for these
concessions Venice was still pledged to support Alexius at sea. In the
next three years (1083-1085) the Venetian fleet carried on campaigns
against the Normans with varying fortune. At first (spring of 1084)
they captured Corfù and in the autumn of the same year they won a
great victory at Cassiopo. But at length Robert succeeded in breaking
up their strong formation, and the result was a crushing and bloody
defeat. The blame was laid at the door of the doge, who was compelled
to abdicate and retire to a monastery. It remained for his successor,
Vitale Falier (1084-1096), to witness the final freeing of the Adriatic
from the Norman fleet, thanks partly to a brilliant victory at Butrinto
(1085), partly to sickness which drove the Normans back to Italy.
Robert Guiscard died in July of that year.
But though Robert's plans were shattered and the Normans failed to
hold the mouth of the Adriatic, Venice was still compelled to fight for
her right to free passage in that sea, which was threatened by the ap-
pearance of the Hungarian sovereign upon the coast of Dalmatia. By
1097, however, the principal towns were once more in the hold of Venice.
We are now approaching the period of the Crusades, throughout
which Venice plays a prominent but distinctly self-interested part,
deliberately building up her commercial status until
, with the Fourth
Crusade, she emerges as the greatest sea-power, the most flourishing
commercial community, in the Mediterranean. As yet the state had de-
veloped no fixed constitution, nor did she until the close of the thirteenth
and the opening of the fourteenth century, when the constitution received
its rigidly oligarchical form by the closing of the Great Council (1296)
and the creation of the Council of Ten (1310). But during the period
with which we have now to deal (1096-1201) we shall find the germs of
several departments which went eventually to create the Venetian con-
stitution. These, and the further development of her sea-power, so
vigorously displayed during the Norman campaigns, form the chief points
of interest in Venetian history during the twelfth century.
The position of Venice as regards the Crusades was by no means easy.
CH, XIII.


## p. 410 (#452) ############################################

410
The First Crusade
On the one hand, if she joined with vigour she risked her flourishing
trade with the Saracens, and she would have to face the hostility of the
Eastern Emperors, who disliked and suspected the Crusades. Moreover
her sea-route down the Adriatic was far from secure; the Hungarians
were a standing menace to Dalmatia, while the Normans had not aban-
doned their designs on both shores of the Adriatic mouth. All these
considerations led Venice to desire a neutral place: she wished to trade
with the Crusaders and their enemies alike; she was prepared to supply
transport and provisions but not to draw her sword against the infidei.
On the other hand, the frank espousal of the Crusades by the commercial
rivals of Venice, Genoa and Pisa, threatened to give them such over-
whelming advantages in the East that the republic found herself forced
to abandon her neutral attitude.
In 1095 the Council of Clermont proclaimed the First Crusade. The
question of transport immediately presented itself. Of the three maritime
powers of Italy-Genoa, Pisa, and Venice—the latter undoubtedly offered
the greatest advantages both in ģeographical position and in strength
of armament. But Venice was the last of the sea-states to move. It was
not until Jerusalem fell (1099) that she made up her mind in view of the
growing importance of Genoa and Pisa. Under the Doge Vitale Michiel I
(1096–1101), the first Venetian fleet with crusaders on board sailed for the
Holy Land (1099). It wintered in Rhodes, and there almost immediately
revealed the true object of its presence in the Levant by coming to blows
with the Pisans who were also wintering in the harbour. In the following
spring the Venetians set sail for the Holy Land, plundering as they went,
notably at Myra where they broke up the church in their search for the
bones of St Nicholas. They arrived in time to take part in the siege of
Haifa, which fell in October 1100. The Venetians at once claimed and
received a trading quarter in the town and thereby opened the long list
of their factories in the Levant, but also by their new possession com-
mitted themselves to all the complications of the Levant. The fleet
returned home in 1100.
A long pause ensued. Venice was chiefly occupied with the effort to
secure her sea-route down the Adriatic and to settle the question of
Dalmatia with the Hungarians.
On the mainland of Italy too she was surely consolidating her trade.
In 1102 she had the satisfaction of seeing the rival city of Ferrara reduced
by the troops of Countess Matilda, and of establishing trading rights
there under the protection of a Visdomino or Consul.
During the reign of Ordelafo Falier (1101-1118), Venice continued to
prepare steadily for the part she was destined to play in the Levant.
The necessity for maintaining her sea-route, and the certainty that she
would be called on to fight in the Eastern Mediterranean, compelled the
State to turn its attention to its fleet. In 1104 the Arsenal was founded.
When Domenico Michiel came to the throne (1118-1130), the affairs


## p. 411 (#453) ############################################

The Levant
411
of the Levant began to assume a prominent place once more in Venetian
history. Baldwin I died in the year of the doge's accession. Baldwin II,
threatened by Musulman power, appealed to the Italian sea-states for
help. The'doge convened the general assembly in St Mark's, laid the
situation before it, and insisted on the danger of allowing Pisa and Genoa
to reap all the advantage in the Levant. An expedition was voted, though
the dangers from the insecure sea-route and the hostility of the new
Emperor of the East, John Comnenus, who had refused to renew the
ancient privileges, were not overlooked.