readers will be grateful if I spare them the too untrustworthy details
with which the chroniclers fill up their accounts of the eleventh
century. In addition to what I have said about the growth of the rival
republics, however, it may be mentioned that before the great movement
of the first crusade, the Venetians had more than once measured
themselves with the Normans in the Levant, and perfectly well understood
the position of affairs in the south of Italy and Sicily, where the sons
of Tancred of Hauteville had carried everything before them.
Venice, Genoa, and Pisa played almost equal parts in the general
European movement that followed, and the Venetians need not be greatly
blamed if they derived profit from a source that should have yielded
only honour to those who sought it. The Venetians
[Illustration: OFF THE PUBLIC GARDENS]
combined glory with business, it is true, but, on the other hand, no one
expected them to transport men and horses to the East for nothing; and,
since they were the best provided with vessels suitable for that
purpose, it was a foregone conclusion that a large part of the
transportation should be done by them. Moreover, when all is told, there
were few indeed amongst all those hundreds of thousands who wore the
cross who had the right to reproach their fellows and companions for
hoping to combine the salvation of their souls with some improvement in
their earthly fortunes.
It was, of course, natural that the Italians, who are the least
sentimental people in Europe, should understand the worldly advantages
which were sure to follow in the wake of that great tidal wave of
sentiment which rose from the depths of Europe at Peter the Hermit’s
cry, advanced, tremendous and irresistible, over land and sea to the
most eastern limits of Christian civilisation, to topple and break at
last upon Jerusalem itself in a thunderous chaos of disaster and
success.
The confused history of the wars in which Venice was engaged during the
twelfth century is intimately connected with that of the first and
second crusades, though it cannot be said that the Venetians played a
very great part in either as fighting crusaders. It is hard to follow
exactly what took place when the whole world that surrounded the
Mediterranean was in a state of ferment and wild confusion; but it
cannot be denied that the Venetians made the most of the new
opportunities presented to them, and they never neglected a chance of
enriching themselves at a time when a vast amount of money was brought
into circulation to pay for the transportation and victualling of armed
hosts. The Republic, even at the outset, was in possession of a fleet
that elicited the admiration of Europe. No other nation owned ships of
such varied types well suited to different purposes. They had vessels
called ‘hippogogi,’ intended, as the name indicates, for the
transportation of horses, of which each was able to carry a considerable
number. They had fast vessels called also by a Greek name, ‘dromi,’ some
of which are stated to have been a hundred and seventy-five feet over
all; and though of light draught, such ships can hardly have been of
less than three hundred tons register and over. They had a main deck and
an upper deck, which the chronicler, who was totally ignorant of
nautical matters, presumes to have been assigned respectively to the
fighting men and the seamen who worked the ship. Several of these
vessels carried timber, so fitted as to be rapidly built up into a
turret, reaching to the battlements of sea-girt fortresses and towns,
and they were provided with engines for throwing stones, heavy wooden
bolts with iron heads, and boiling pitch.
It was undoubtedly at this time that the great rivalry rose between
Venice and Genoa, when both were supposed to be helping the Christian
cause in the East. It happened more than once that a convenient pretext
for these quarrels presented itself in the shape of sacred relics of
saints, coveted alike by Pisans, Genoese, and Venetians; and to obtain
such precious spoil they slew each other without hesitation or remorse.
They not only trusted that the saint, when bodily in their possession,
would bestow his richest blessings upon those who had fought for him,
but they were also well aware that
[Sidenote: _1099. Defeat of the Pisans off Rhodes, A. Vicentino; ceiling
of Sala dello Scrutinio, Ducal Palace._]
his shrine would without doubt attract numerous pilgrims to their city,
and thereby prove a permanent source of gain. It was in this way that
the Venetians succeeded in carrying off from the island of Rhodes the
body of Saint Nicholas, in order to exhibit it to the veneration of the
faithful in the church they had already built to him on the Lido; not
many years passed before they succeeded in stealing from Constantinople
the body of Saint Stephen the martyr, and in the course of the century
they possessed themselves of numerous treasures of the same kind.
It must not be supposed, however, that they confined themselves to the
discovery and seizure of such pious plunder. The end they pursued was of
a more practical nature, and the whole result of their activity during
their first wars in the East is found in the establishment of
flourishing colonies throughout the Levant, and in the gradual, but in
the end surprising subjection of the Byzantine Empire to their
commercial interests. They made enormous sacrifices, they shed blood
like water and spent money without stint, in order to establish
themselves as the masters of the Ionian islands.
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 42._]
Though they hardly fought at all as crusaders, they derived immense
advantages from the conquest of the Holy Land. In the kingdom of
Jerusalem they acquired the right to own a street, a square, a bakery,
and a public bath in every city; in the cities of Sidon and Acre, the
ancient Ptolemais, they
[Sidenote: _1123. Defeat of the Turks at Jaffa, Sante Peranda; same
ceiling._]
obtained even more ample privileges; finally, in the year 1123, they had
made themselves masters of one-third of the city of Tyre, while leaving
the other two-thirds in the possession of the king. They immediately
established there an ambassador to represent the Republic, with the
title of Bailo, and a consul to protect their financial interests.
[Sidenote: _1123. Fall of Tyre, Aliense; same ceiling._]
The taking of Tyre was largely due to the personal courage and firmness
of the Doge Domenico Michiel. Under apparently hopeless conditions, and
when his troops were thoroughly discouraged, without money to pay their
wages or supplies to feed them, he succeeded in maintaining his
influence over them, and ultimately led them to victory. One of the most
extraordinary devices to which he had recourse in the absence of coin
was the creation of a leather currency. He actually had vast quantities
of leather cut into tokens and stamped with a sign that promised
redemption if they were presented to the treasury in Venice when the
expedition reached home; and these tokens circulated as notes do
nowadays, and were ultimately redeemed in gold. It is to this
circumstance that the arms of the Michiel family make allusion,
displaying one-and-twenty pieces of money upon alternate bends, azure
and argent.
The influence which the Venetians acquired in Constantinople during the
first half of the twelfth century showed itself in the construction of
churches and convents in the city itself, and in the establishment of
great commercial storehouses and markets, where they used their own
Venetian weights, measures, and money, as if they were in Venice itself.
Their wares paid no duty
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 61._]
on entering the Greek Empire; they required the Greeks to speak of the
Doge under the title of Protospartos, or august prince, and the
patriarch of Venice was designated as ‘Hypertimos,’ and derived
considerable fees from the Eastern capital, while the basilica of Saint
Mark enjoyed a tribute from the Byzantine Empire. In fact, during a
certain length of time, the importance of the Republic was almost as
great in Constantinople as in Venice itself, and
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 49, 61._]
was a source of considerable anxiety to the emperors. They did their
best to oppose the growing power of the Venetians, but the assistance of
the latter was absolutely necessary to them in order
[Sidenote: _1148. Defeat of Roger, Marco Vecellio; same ceiling._]
to repulse the attacks of the Normans of Sicily, who even succeeded in
penetrating into the suburbs of Constantinople; and for some time the
Greeks were obliged to bear with the official pretensions of the
Republic, as well as with the insults and humiliations suffered by the
Greek soldiers at the hands of their foreign allies.
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 82-87._]
Under the reign of the Emperor Manuel, however, the affairs of the
Republic in the East suffered a severe check. During an expedition, of
which the real object was nothing less than the conquest of Greece, an
outbreak of the plague brought terror and confusion upon the Venetian
fleet. The attacking force consisted largely of volunteers, who lost
heart as the terrible sickness spread amongst
[Illustration: THE CLOCK TOWER]
them. A mere remnant of what had seemed a brilliant army reached Venice
with the remains of the fleet, and the arrival of these few spread
mourning and desolation amongst the citizens. Outraged at the weakness
and lack of wisdom displayed by the Doge during the expedition, the
people united to wreak their vengeance upon him, and he was promptly
assassinated. Amongst the many families whose youngest and bravest were
victims of this fruitless expedition, none was more nearly exterminated
than the Giustiniani. One hundred men of their name and race had sailed
away to Greece; not one came back. The Venetians
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 89._]
felt that the city itself was bereaved by their loss. One man of
marriageable age alone survived in Venice to stand between the name of
Giustiniani and its extinction, and he was
[Sidenote: _Lazzarini, Guida, 270._]
a monk in the monastery of Saint Nicholas. Thither the people proceeded
in a body, they claimed him from the order, they brought him
[Sidenote: _Mol. Dogaressa, 75._]
home to his ancestral palace, they besought the Pope to free him from
his vows. Alexander III. readily acceded to a request so unanimous; at
the same time, as if to provide him with a wife whose position should be
somewhat similar to his own, the pontiff liberated also from her nunnery
the daughter of the former Doge, Vital Michiel II. The former monk and
the former nun were united in bonds of matrimony, and became the parents
of no less than twelve children, nine of whom were sons. When the twelve
were all grown up, Giustiniani founded in the island of Amiano a
convent, to which his wife and their three daughters retired while he
returned to his monastery of Saint Nicholas on the Lido.
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 118._]
The immediate result of the disastrous expedition to Greece seems to
have been that Venice momentarily lost her hold upon the Levant, and was
obliged to retire from the strong commercial position she had acquired
in Constantinople; but an alliance with William, the king of Sicily and
the son of Roger, soon turned the scale in favour of the Republic. The
Emperor Manuel Comnenos, terrified at the thought of a coalition between
Sicily and Venice, paid the latter a large sum of money by way of
indemnity.
Such, on the whole, were the principal events in the foreign history of
Venice, which were more or less connected with the First Crusade and its
consequences. But it must not be supposed that while Venice was doing
everything in her power to extend her commerce and influence in eastern
Europe and in Asia, she was neglecting to improve her opportunities in
Italy. As early as 1101 the Venetians had installed themselves as
masters in the city of Ferrara, which they had helped the great Countess
Matilda to recover from her imperial enemy. At the same time the
Republic required all its prodigious energy to maintain its hold upon
Dalmatia, the possession of which was contested by the king of Hungary.
One of the numerous expeditions to the Dalmatian coasts cost the life of
the Doge Ordelafo Falier; this was in 1116, and fifty years elapsed
before the Republic recovered possession of all the fortresses on that
coast. Stephen III. of Hungary now thought only of winning the good
graces of his country’s former rivals, and married two princesses of his
family, the
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 77._]
one to Niccolò, a son of the Doge Michiel, who had been created Count of
the island of Arbo in Dalmatia, and the other to the Count of Ossero.
Venice had become a European power, and foreign sovereigns sought
alliance with her by marriage.
Much interest attaches to the relations between the Doges, the Emperors,
and the Popes in the twelfth century, more especially as the long
quarrel ended in the institution of the memorable feast of the
Ascension, which was kept in Venice to the very last year of the
Republic.
The Emperor Conrad died in the year 1152, leaving an only son who was a
mere boy. The electors of the Empire, judging that the times required a
strong hand and a sovereign who should not be under the control of any
regency, elected the late Emperor’s nephew, Frederick of Hohenstaufen,
surnamed Barbarossa. Brave, ambitious, and energetic, Frederick’s object
from the first was to bring all Italy under the direct rule of the
Empire. By a piece of good fortune which rarely befell any of the
Emperors, he found himself supported by the Pope, who, according to the
amiable traditions of those times, should have been his natural enemy.
Nicholas Brakespeare, the Englishman who reigned under the name of Pope
Hadrian IV., was at that time in considerable anxiety owing to the
progress made in Rome by the revolutionary teachings of Arnold of
Brescia, and viewed with satisfaction the Emperor’s intention of
descending into Italy at the head of an imposing army. For such an
expedition a pretext was soon found. Frederick convoked a general diet
of the Empire at Roncaglia, not far from Piacenza, which had generally
been the official residence of his predecessors when they visited the
peninsula.
The Venetian Republic does not appear to have been at all alarmed by
what was known of the Emperor’s intentions, and sent three patricians to
represent her at the diet. The Emperor was indeed chiefly opposed by the
Lombards, who entirely refused to acknowledge the claims he now made,
and he was accordingly obliged more than once to resort to arms to
enforce them, even after his coronation in Rome.
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 73._]
A dangerous epidemic which broke out in Italy obliged him to return to
Germany for a short time, but he soon came back and convoked a second
diet at Roncaglia, the prime object of which was to define exactly what
the situation of the Italian states ought to be with regard to the
Empire. The diet fully supported the Emperor in the claims he made upon
Lombardy, and that province, having been placed under the ban of the
Imperial Diet, broke out in open revolt. In the war which followed
immediately a number of the Lombard cities were besieged, including
Milan and Crema. When the latter place was starved to a surrender, and
was obliged to open its gates to the Germans, it is recorded that the
whole population emigrated in a body, preferring exile to submission.
At this time Hadrian IV., Frederick’s friend and ally, died, and the
conclave elected as his successor Cardinal Bandinelli, who assumed the
name of Alexander III., and became one of the Emperor’s bitterest
enemies. Even before his election this Pope had been well known for his
strong Guelph sympathies, and his election was a source of profound
displeasure to the Emperor. The latter could not easily accomplish his
purpose in Italy during the reign of a Pope whose patriotic object it
was to liberate his country from all foreign influence. Following the
astonishing custom which prevailed in those times, Barbarossa
immediately proclaimed a Pope of his own, known to us as the Antipope
Victor IV., who united the suffrages and enjoyed the support of that
very numerous party which desired to see the Germanic influence of the
Empire prevalent south of the Alps.
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 75._]
There was therefore throughout Italy a condition of schism in which the
Pope and the patriotic party were opposed to the Antipope and the
Imperialists. The Venetians with their patriarch did not hesitate to
espouse the cause of Alexander III. At that time the patriarch was still
the Bishop of Grado, and as it chanced that he was at odds with the
Archbishop of Aquileia about certain questions connected with the
Dalmatian bishoprics since that province had passed into the hands of
the Venetians, Aquileia very naturally joined the Imperial standard, and
proceeded to sack the diocese of the rival bishop. The Doge interfered
in person, and with the help of a few faithful troops succeeded in
capturing the hot-headed Bishop of Aquileia, a dozen of his canons, and
a number of Friulese country gentlemen who had joined the quarrel in
the hope of plunder. These prisoners were all brought to Venice, but
were set at liberty when the bishop and his canons had signed a treaty
or perpetual agreement, whereby they bound themselves and their
successors for ever to pay a yearly tribute consisting of twelve loaves
of white bread and twelve fat pigs. The Republic judged that the memory
of this victory of the rightful Pope’s party over his adversaries should
be preserved, and as a means of doing so decreed that the aforesaid
fattened swine should be handed over to the populace on the Thursday
before Lent, to be hunted to death in the piazza of Saint Mark. This
carnival diversion was so highly appreciated by the people that when in
the year 1420 the Pope abolished the two patriarchates of Grado and
Aquileia, and created instead the patriarchate of Venice, the government
was obliged to provide the pigs at its own expense.
It is only fair to say here that the patriarch of Aquileia made act of
submission to Pope Alexander III. himself.
Meanwhile, in the year 1162, that Pope was forced to take refuge in
France to escape from the dangers that beset him in Rome; and the
bishops and cardinals who were faithful to him, and who now found
themselves fugitives, received a hospitable welcome with promises of
protection in Venice. It was but natural that this should irritate the
Emperor, and foreseeing that there was to be trouble the Republic
hastened to conclude alliances with the Greek Emperor and the king of
Naples, whose interest it was to check the growth of German influence in
Italy.
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 81._]
On his side Barbarossa assured himself of the support of Genoa, and
returned to Germany to raise fresh troops, while Alexander III. took
advantage of his enemy’s absence to come back to Rome. It was in the
midst of these party struggles that the Lombard League first took shape
and began to grow; in 1167 a congress was held at which were present
deputies from the cities of Venice, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Treviso,
Ferrara, Brescia, Bergamo, Mantua, Cremona, Milan, Lodi, Parma, Modena,
Bologna, Novara, Vercelli, Reggio, Asti and Tortona. The representatives
of these powerful towns met together and swore a solemn oath in a great
fortress which they had built for the common defence, and around which a
city had already sprung up. The city and fortress were named
Alessandria, in honour of Pope Alexander III., who was the soul of the
patriotic Italian ‘Concordia.’ It is worth noting that the city of
Piacenza, which up to this time had been considered the central focus of
Germanic influence in Italy, sent representatives to the congress of
Alessandria, and afterwards took an active part in the alliance which
was formed there.
The Emperor spared no effort to obtain possession of the stronghold of
the League; but while the garrison opposed the most determined
resistance from within, the cities of the League harassed the Germans
from without, and forced them to raise the siege within four months. Not
very much later, though too late, the Imperial army received
considerable reinforcements; but during
[Sidenote: _Rom. ii. 100._]
that time the army of the League had been able to make every preparation
for a decisive battle. The armies met at Legnano on May 19, 1176, and
the encounter resulted in a disastrous defeat for Frederick. He himself
was thrown from his horse, the
[Illustration: THE DOGANA AND THE SALUTE]
great standard of the Empire was captured, and the Imperialists were
driven to ignominious flight. The Venetians had no troops in this
battle, which was fought at a considerable distance from their
territory, but they had contributed large sums of money as well as
munitions of war to the cause.
During the six years which had preceded this decisive battle, Alexander
III. had led a life of hardship and danger. Beset and pursued by his
enemies, he wandered and sometimes fled from Benevento to Veroli, and
thence to Anagni, feeling himself safer anywhere than in Rome, where
party feeling ran high and took the side of Frederick. But the latter’s
signal defeat at Legnano convinced Barbarossa at last that his true
interest lay in making peace with the sovereign pontiff, in spite of the
great difficulty which must attend any negotiations towards such an end;
for Frederick dreamt of nothing less than reconciling himself with
Alexander III. without abandoning the Antipope whom he had set up in
opposition. The first point agreed upon was that a meeting should take
place in some city of northern Italy, and that the Pope should attend it
in person.
[Sidenote: _1177. Departure of the Doge’s ambassadors and Papal legates
for Pavia, school of Paolo Veronese; arrival of the envoys before
Barbarossa, Tintoretto; Hall of the Great Council._]
As a preliminary step the Pope proceeded to Venice, being conveyed
thither by the galleys of the king of Sicily, and visiting on his way
the principal cities of Dalmatia. He was received in Venice with the
most profound respect and with demonstrations of the greatest joy by the
Doge, the clergy, and the people. During his stay in the city there was
a constant exchange of messages between him and the Emperor regarding
the city to be chosen for a congress to discuss the peace. Then the Pope
himself was obliged to travel to Ferrara, a town which the cities of the
League would have preferred, though it was too small to lodge the great
[Illustration: THE PIAZZETTA]
[Illustration]
number of persons who would have to be present. The Pope returned to
Venice after discussing the question with the envoys of Milan, and
called together the ambassadors of the Empire, the legates of Sicily,
and the principal Lombard chiefs. All these personages presented
themselves in answer to the pontifical summons, and proceeded to discuss
the situation at great length. The result of the congress was that the
Emperor agreed to recognise the legitimate election of Alexander III.,
to renounce his own Antipope, to sign a truce of six years with the
Lombard League, and of fifteen years with the king of Sicily.
These preliminaries having been properly and minutely established, the
Emperor was invited to meet the Pope in Venice. It was his Canossa. He
arrived in Chioggia in 1177, and was met at the entrance of the lagoons
by a deputation of bishops, who exhorted him to abjure his schism before
entering upon Venetian territory. Barbarossa complied with good grace
and was forthwith freed from the ban of excommunication. On the
following day he proceeded to the capital. The Doge, the patriarch of
Grado, and all the bishops of the Venetian state went out to meet him in
their barges. The whole company landed at the Piazzetta amidst the
acclamations of the crowd, and the Emperor was at once conducted to the
Basilica. Here the Pope, in full pontificals, awaited him under the
porch, surrounded by his cardinals and numerous representatives of the
Venetian clergy. When he saw before him the august pontiff whom he had
so long and so cruelly persecuted, the