HISTORICAL SKETCH

Cue (NZERS), 1 April 1945, Page 17

HISTORICAL SKETCH

ENICE can hardly be said to have V been founded. Rather it grew. In early days, when Aquileia was a great Roman frontier town, the islets and Udi of the Adriatic lagoons along this coast were inhabited variously by fishermen and wolves, and were often ’covered with pine-woods and scrub. As the Pax Romana broke down, and Rome’s barbarian subjects began to make incursions across the Alps, the townspeople of the mainland found these watery reaches a useful refuge in extremity. They did not at first regard them as a permanent home, And as each wave receded they returned gladly and thankfully to terra firma. But at last, in 568 A.D., a more formidable invasion, that of Alboin, King of the'Lombards, drove them to consider, building their homes upon these unstable sands, and the v twelve little settlements already founded, one of .them at Rivoalto; now marked by the Rialto Bridge, were greatly augmented in their numbers. Refugees from various towns went to the different settlements, but soon the necessities of defence against external oppression forced them into combination. This combination • was at first threatened by the disease of all Italian politics, internal faction, which was only overcome by the strong personality of the Patriarch of Grade, who convened the people and persuaded them to elect a Doge to be their chief. The first Doge, * Pauluccio Anafesto, was elected in 697, thus inaugurating, a form of government which, though it passed by almost insensible gradations from a democracy to an oligarchy, per. Bisted for eleven hundred years. The Venetians had already established a practical independence by playing off the Eastern against the

Western Empire. By making a nominal act of submission to Byzantium they obtained in 584 . the trading privileges which were «to be/the foundation of their future greatness. Two parties now appeared, the aristocratic, which leaned toward Byzantium arid desired to make the Dogeship hereditary, and the democratic, .looking to the Church and to the nearby Franks for its support. An external quarrel decided the issue. ' The Eastern Emperor, Leo the Iconoclast, quarrelled with the Pope over the question of images in the Church., The Pope encouraged the Lombards to expel the Byzantine Exarch from Ravenna, but the Venetians restored him to his possessions. The Pope meanwhile, . having found his Lombard ally had grown too powerful, summoned the Franks to destroy him. This the Franks did, and then proceeded to stretch their hands out to subdue the people of the lagoons. To oppose , this danger the aristocratic party asserted their attachment to Byzantium.arid after a struggle ejected the leaders of the democratic party. King Pepin now prepared to conquer the obdurate Venetians, and capturing Chioggia, threatened the capital, Mala. mocco. Faced with' this threat the people moved from that spot to Rialto, which, set in the midst of intricate channels of which they alone knew the windings, proved impregnable. The light boats of the Venetians, the f Spit J fires” of their day, outsailed and outfought Pepin’s more ponderous armada and threatened by a Greek fleet in the rear he withdrew and confirmed the trading rights already granted by the Lombards. • So United Venice was founded, at the beginning of the ninth century. / - . .

■ The resounding victory gave the seiners new faith in themselves, and A tremendous outburst of building followed.. There was much to do. Canals had to be banked and bridged, rivers diverted, and many thousands of piles cut and driven to provide safe foundations for the -great stone buildings that now began to arise on the sandbanks and islets of the lagoons. A ducal palace was built near the church "of St. Theodore, who was the patron saint of Venice till he and his church were replaced by the more celebrated St. Mark, and the Convent and Church of St. Zaccaria were founded by the first Doge of Venice proper, Angelo Participazio, to contain the body of St. Zaccaria, father of the Baptist. This marks the beginning of that lust for holy relics which became so marked a feature of the Venetian character, and led to some surprising thefts for the obtaining of the coveted objects. ' a ’ The first and most famous of these was the theft of the body of St. Mark from the heathens at Alexandria. As the story is told by one chronicler, three merchants of Venice, trading <quite illegally with the said heathens, decided to steal the body, the idea being suggested to them by an old tradition that Venice was his destined resting-place. Bribing the keeper of the tomb with lavish promises, they took the body, concealed it in a basket by covering it with pork, a meat no Moslem will touch, and hung the basket to the mast, of the ship. The pork successfully warded eft some inquiring officials, and the merchants returned with .their holy booty to Venice where they were received with great rejoicing. St. Mark was installed as patron saint, and the first Church of St. Mark was built to receive the body. From 800-1032 the story- of Venice is one of increasing prosperity. The Doges got the better of the Slav pirates, crushing them in their citadel

of Lagosta in the year 1000. This wa* an essential step toward control of th* Adriatic. and even if the Doge’s newly.-' assumed title of Duke of Dalmatia expressed a little more than the facts, the pirates were never afterwards' much more than a' nuisance to be watched, and Venice was able to use ? her new maritime .supremacy to exact the best of terms from crusading monarchs for both transport and armed assistance. Venice, in her fleet, had built the better mousetrap, and the world began to beat a path to her door. To dramatize her command of the sea the victory at Lagos was celebrated by the inauguration of the ceremony of wedding the sea. Meanwhile the inter, nal politics of the city had been undergoing a change. For two centuries three families, the Participazi, the Candiani, and the Orseoli, had shared the Dogeship, and the succession ofJ a son was often assured by the father associating him in the office during his own life, a device borrowed from the Roman Emperors. This did not unduly disturb the common people,' who were more interested in strong and capable government than in forms, but it did not at all suit the aristocrats. This aristocracy, of wealth rather than of birth, was created by the growing value of Venetian trade,, and these merchants liked neither the prospect of the rule of one or two families nor the residual political authority being vested in the assembly: of all the people. They determined to limit the government to their ownorder and, to achieve this, set out both to curb the Doge and to disfranchise the people. In 1032 they began their campaign, by -expelling the last Orseolo Dege, and in the next 150 years elaborated various safeguards which looked very, constitutional, but were all designed to achieve the supremacy of their class. Domenico Flabienieo was the first con. stitutional monarch. On his election, association and hereditary -succession were abolished. Two Ducal Councillors

were appointed to advise him, and he was directed that in any grave matters he must ’’invite” the more experienced citizens to his - council. These two innovations, -making the first inroads on the Doge’s absolute power, paved the way for the later development of the Coronation Oath and the Board of Inquisitors . into the action of a deceased Doge. The two Councillors evolved into a full Ducal Council. The "invited’’ (pregadi) became the Senate (or meeting of the Prcgadi) a regularly constituted body with permanent members. These and other changes ultimately resulted in the Doge becoming a mere figurehead, who in the last resort was bound to take his ministers’ advice. > These changes were away from the pure doctrine of democracy, but democracy never did work very well until the invention of representative government, an idea the Italians never grasped. They were certainly changes in the direction of a stronger and more stable policy and as such ensured that Venice would be able to seize the opportunities that were to be hers. Under the new dispensation the Venetians continued to expand their trade. In 1081, responding to the Greek Emperor’s appeal for assistance against Robert Guiscard, the Norman adventurer who now held most of the South of Italy, they defeated that doughty Northerner, and after a disastrous failure in 1084, finally crushed him in the following year. This greatly increased their prestige, and the Emperor rewarded them with trading privileges and tax exemptions. At this time, too, was founded the Venetian quarter in Constantinople itself, a peaceful invasion which led up to the later capture of the whole city. Carefully calculated assistance in the Crusades drew, the islanders further and further afield and resulted in Venetian quarters being established in many towns of the Levant, such as

Tyre and Sidon. These colonies were' useful in keeping the trade in purely • Venetian hands, but this exclusiveness and the people’s growing wealth raised much jealousy and, in 1171, led to ah incident which indirectly enabled the aristocrats to achieve their second purpose, the disfranchisement of the masses. In that year the Greek Emperor, urged by the Genoese, who had no love for their tco-successful rivals,, arrested the Venetians in Constantinople and confiscated their goods. Rage at this news swept the' people of Venice and they insisted on war. A great expedition sailed and it is interesting to note that to meet the cost a national bank was formed, a forced loan of 1 per cent, on all property was declared, and bonds were issued- at ,4 per cent, to cover the amount of the. loan. This was the first National Debt in Europe. The expedition, badly led and attacked by plague, proved a dismal failure, and the aristocracy determined that a popular rule that could lead to such a disaster was not a good thing. The following year, therefore, theypromulgated a new constitution by which the Ducal Council was enlarged to clip the Doge’s wings while the power of election formerly resident ,in the General Assembly of the people was transferred to a Council which once elected was made self-perpetuat-ing. Naturally only the right people were allowed to join its ranks. -Some six years later an event occurred; which made a great impression on the world of the time, and raised the prestige of Venice to a high point. This was the reconciliation of Barbarossa and Pope Alexander 111. Alexander was a particularly stout upholder of the Papal supremacy. Barbarossa would not admit it, and he sent the difficult Pope packing. Later, in the process of suppressing an Italy that would not stay suppressed he was badly beaten, and had to cry quits with his old enemy. Venice, a neutral state, staged the pageant where, not for the

\ first time, Emperor had to bow to Pope, the sort of symbolic drama in which the Middle Ages revelled. The chroniclers positively smacked their lips over this one, an decked, the whole affair in rich verbal embroidery. The place where the historic meeting is alleged to have taken place in the Porch of St. Mark’s, is marked by a slab of marble. ✓ . . The setback of, 1171 did. not long go unavenged. In 1291 the fourth Crusade was declaredj and it was to Venice, as tne premier naval power, that the Crusaders turned for transport and naval aid. In answer to the request of the envoys of the Western powers the great Doge, Enrico Dandolo, who, like all Venetians, had both eyes firmly fixed on the main chance, made a characteristic reply. The decision to participate was made to the accompaniment of many fine speeches and floods of religious emotion, but it was clear that the piety had little effect on the hiring fee for the fleet which was set at' 85,000 marks and half cf all conquests. The place to be attacked was fixed as Old Babylon (Cairo).•>' When the money was due, however, it was discovered that many of the Crusaders were not there. Those that were could not raise the necessary wind. This was very distressing as the Venetians . were ' dying to / sail against the Saracen, but could hardly do so without being paid their hire. It would have been a very bad precedent. However the Doge thought of a neat way out. If the Crusaders really wanted to go all that way the Venetians would . be the last to prevent them. Meanwhile the Slav pirates had been very troublesome, and if the Army would just stop iff and assist the Venetians to crush them the little matter of 30,000 marks still owing could be forgotten. The Crusaders, who had already parted with 55,000 marks now forfeit in terms of the deed, were almost compelled to agree. This annoyed the Pope who expressed himself in no uncertain terms about

the Venetians. This didn’t worry these good traders in the least, and the expedition duly sailed against Zara and Dalmatia. This being successful, Dandolo/who on reflection had decided it would be a pity to annoy the Saracens, with whom Venice had long been trading most amicably, persuaded the leaders to turn next to an attack on Constantinople. This aged, but grasp, ing, diplomat experienced not the slightest shame in thus turning the Crusade against the Christian monarch who formed the chief bulwark against the heathen. He was again successful. Constantinople was taken and Venice as her share of the booty received the Cyclades, the Sporades, the Eastern shore and islands of the Adriatic, Thessaly, land in Asia Minor and, by purchase, Crete. These accessions meant , that she now controlled practically every trade route in the Mediterranean and so, in spite of her lack of land at home, became one of the Great Powers of Europe. It also meant that she incurred the hatred of Genoa, who saw herself thwarted at every turn It was at this sack of Constantinople that the city acquired the famous bronze horses, now to be seen on the facade of St. Mark’s, and a good deal of other valuable loot. ft - These successes, however little they contributed to the fourth crusade, greatly increased Venice’s 'trade, and so strengthened l the ruling families that eventually, in 1297, they were able to close the Great Council’ restricting its membership entirely to the families, then ennobled and thus securing the reigning oligarchy in its place. Their commercial morals were of the worst. They wrecked the old caravan route from China through Kiev to concentrate trade' in their own hands. They also indulged in slave trading, and to top all, advanced the Emperor of the East a large sum on the Crown cf Thorns, and duly foreclosed on that unique relic when the money was not forthcoming. This last effort so

chocked the ©iOtts touts IX of France that he redeemed the ' Crown . himself and built a special chapel to receive it. In 1253 began the series of exhaust. in*, wars against Genoa that were . not end till the final victory of Ghioggia in 1380. The Genoese, finding their trade blocked, had , not unnaturally turned to piracy. The immediate pro. vocation was given by the Genoese at Arce, where they attacked the Venetian quarter. Venice replied in kind and as a sign of victory the Admiral sent home the short porphyry column now at the south-west angle of St. Mark’s,' known as the Proclamation Stone di' Banda) because it was there . the laws of the Republic were proclaimed, and the two beautiful square marble columns opposite the south side of the Church facing the Piazzetta. v ' > . * r' ' i ■ x i But in 1261 the tide seemed to turn. The Greek Emperor, with the help of the (Genoese, ousted the Latin Emperor from Constantinople and Venice. had

the humiliation of seeing all her trad, ing privileges , here go to her hated rival. However, she was virile and determined, and three years later her fleet crushed that of Genoa, and she recovered most of- her lost privileges in the East. It was about this time that the great Church of St. Mark, begun in 1063, was .finally completed for it had taken two centuries to add the richness of decoration that we see’ today. '. < ■ , . I In the same period, in 1284, Venice issued her first gold ducat, which long stood as a standard of good coinage throughout the world. Five ' years later Pietro Gradenigo came to the Ducal throne. • His reign of twentytwo years was of great importance. The war with Genoa broke out again, and though (Venice lost several battles, her recuperative power and greater wealth enabled her to' make peace on honourable* terms. In this reign , too, the great Council was definitely closed to the masses, the Golden Book being

established in 1315, in which were, inscribed the names of those who had the right to enter the Council. , This was not accomplished -without protest, but the vigorous action* of the rulers 'in hanging the ringleaders quickly crushed the riots of 1300 and 1310. The second,-outbreak,, the - Baja, monte Conspiracy, resulted in the establishment of the celebrated Council of Ten, at first a temporary body designed to root out x the conspiracy, but one found so useful that it became a permanent part of the constitution. Many, tales are told about this Council, but most of them are false. Its quick and secret action was of great service at a time when treachery was the current coin of politics and contributed substantially ■ to Venice’s unique freedom from internal feud. It made few mistakes, and its ( courage and freedom ■ from bias earned it. a formidable reputation. . \ The Constitution, as now settled, consisted of the Great Council, a sprawling body of patrician electors, the Senate, or Pregadi, the true legislative body, the Coliegio or Cabinet, and' at the top the Doge and Council, the executive part of the Government. The great body of people were excluded from any share of the Government, but were kept happy by lavish pageants, by privileges extended to the Trade Guilds, -and , by the high and general level of prosperity. <7 / The first test for the new government came in 1353 when Genoa again attacked and again defeated the Venetian fleet. But she herself had suffered, and peace was arranged by Visconti of Milan. It could only be a truce however. The roots of the struggle went too deep. Each state was fighting for her trade, which is to say fighting for life. Venice forced the Emperor John V Paleologus to grant her Tenedos, which 'controlled the Dardanelles. Genoa could not stomach this, and war again broke out. The

Genoese Admiral, Prince Doria, defeated the Venetian fleet and sailed to Chioggia to blockade Venice' itself. Things looked'black for the Republic. But Pisani, the Venetian Admiral, by a* brilliant stroke, blocked the Chioggian channels so* that Doria in his turn found himself blockaded. In 1380 he had to surrender unconditionally. This ended the. century-long struggle, 4 for Genoa never -recovered from this defeat. Venice became supreme. But rich men seldom long keep their house in , peace. Supreme at sea, Venice now faced no* less a danger on land where jealous rivals threatened to block the passes which were essential to her trade. She. was compelled to turn her eyes to the Italian mainland, both to ensure her trade and to secure her food supply. , / ... This actually proved her downfall. Hitherto blessed with no land to defend, she had had to man only her navy. Now she found herself cursed by the need of all land powers, continual expansion to secure' the land already held, of which Germany has just given the last and finest example. In 1402 Venice began this fatal process. On the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Carrara of. Padua, who* had already irritated the'-Republic by imposing heavy transit taxes, * tried ,to seize the nearby ; mainland /towns. Venice crushed him and'found herself the ruler of Padua, Treviso, /Bassano, Vicenza, and Verona. ’ In 1420 she acquired Friuli bringing her frontier up to the Carnic and Julian Alps, z where, with minor variations, .it stayed till ;the fall of the Republic. / ‘ These new territories soon ; brought her into further wars. The new Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, tried to recover his father’s lands, and three wars resulted in 1426, 1427, and 1429. Venice won them, and added Brescia and Bergamo, Crema, Rovigo and the Polesino to her territories. This rapid success naturally led the Powers of

Europe to look with dbubt and disfavour on this new contestant and to form alliances against her. Worse still, a new threat now appeared in the East. In 1453 the Eastern Empire fell to the Turks. The Christian powers, including Venice, had recklessly weakened the power of Constantinople in their internal struggles and had only ‘ themselves to blame. Venice had /now to bear the weight of the expanding Moslem power and she proved unequal to the task. She had always refused to share her profits with anyone, and Europe looked on with'complete sangfroid while she attempted to defend those profits and failed. Her trade would have gone on, even under disabilities, but in 1486 came the shrewdest blow of all. The Cape Route to India was 'discovered, and Venice now entered upon' a slow hut inevitable decline. The process, started by the withering of her trade, was accelerated by the z League of Cambrai, composed of France, Austria, Spain and the Pope. It was a League of Robbers, for the conspirators proposed to fall on Venice without warning, after many of their peaceful feelings toward her. Venice lost, temporarily,most of her territory, but her unrivalled skill at diplomacy

enable# her eventually to break up an alliance founded only on greed between countries who displayed neither moral principle nor good faith, and the lost towns ; were recovered. But from now on .the hues of dissolution and decay became increasingly visible in the once great city of the lagoons. However, the Bion of St. Mark, was by no means dead. Four times between 1500 and 1716 s Venice warred with Turkey. Every war saw some further loss of her overseas possessions. Cyprus, Crete, and the Morea went one by one, 'and the " Republic slowly shrank towards her orginai lagoons, the last dying effort being the huimbling of the Bey of Tunis in 1792 by Angelo Emo, last of the great Venetian sailors. This period of decadence, when paupers multiplied, and trade decreased; was marked, curiously enough, by \ a great increase ; in extravagance, and Venice became to Europe a pleasure resort ’ where the rich, the idle, and the spendthrift gathered to see the splendid shows, to gamble at the celebrated Ridotto. and to intrigue in the salons and drawing rooms of the palazzi. < At last, in 1797, came Napoleon and, at his touch, the government of the Serene and Ancient Republic crumbled and disappeared. .