Venice Flashcards
The condition of Venice c.1400?
-Maritime power
-Patrician Republic
-Sited/dominating the north east of Italy.
-Dominant from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea.
-Currency: Ducat
-Symbolic leader: The Doge.
Venice’s Inland territory?
Brescia
Cremona
Padua
Verona
Vincenza
Brescia?
-from Visconti (of Milan) to Venice in 1426.
-Sacked by the French - Italian Wars of 1512.
-Iron deposits - hand held guns manufacturing.
Padua?
-Carrara Family - 14th century.
-The Milan
-from 1405 - Venice
-2 patrician’s from Venice each elected for 16 months.
-Pilgrimage centre - (St Anthony of Padua).
-Site of one of the oldest universities - 1238.
-Galieo, Vasalius studied there.
-Mantenga, Giotto, Donatello (equestrian statue of Gattamelata), Titian.
Verona?
One of the most important cultural centres:
-Educators: Guarino da Verona
-Art: Veronese ‘The feat in the house of Levi’
-Strategic position between Imperial Austria and Spanish Milan.
Vicenza?
-Della Scala Family of Verona.
-The Visconti.
-The Venice from 1405.
-Birth Place of Palladio.
Maritime Empire
-Fortifications along Dalmatia, South Italy, Greece, Crete and Cyprus.
Crete?
-Kept until 1645
-Bought in the early 1200s.
-Influence of the Greek scholars followed the fall of Constantinople leading to the Crete Renaissance of the 1500s.
-Important to conduct Greek culture into the West.
Cyprus?
-lost to the Ottomans - 1573.
-Under Venice since 1489.
The fate of Venice’s Maritime Empire in the 16th century?
-Many Maritime possessions lost in 16th century.
-Venice gained Terraferma - as spoils of War against the Visconti of Milan.
Venice and Ottoman rivalry?
-Ottoman’s expanded in the Balkans and the Agenean islands (preciously controlled by Venice).
-1537-40 - Venice joined the Holy League with the New Pope Pual III and Emperor Charles V against Barbarossa and the Ottomans.
-1570-73 Turkish War - Venice Alliance (Pope and HRE) won the Battle of Lepanto but lost Cyprus.
What was the purpose of League of Cambrai?
-Overt purpose to combat the Ottoman threat.
-Also - to retake territorial gains of Venice in it’s Terraferma acquired in the 15th century.
Who was involved in the League of Cambrai?
-Louis XII - France
-HRE Maximilian I
-Pope Julius II
-King Henry VIII England
-Ferdinand of Spain
-Duke Alfonso d’Este of Ferrara
-and more…
Out come of League of Cambria - for Venice?
-Defeated at the Battle of Agnadello (14 May 1509).
-Pope - took back central Italy
-HRE - North East Italy
-Louis XII - North West of Italy
-Ferdinand - Venetian ports in the Kingdom of Naples.
However:
-once Venice was defeated - members of the League turned against each other.
-Venice regained its lost territories (except Cremona) - 1517.
Venice Arsenale
-32 hectares
-naval docks
-ship construction
-largest industrial area in Europe
-4000 men employed the Arsenalotti (also the DOGE’s guards and fire fighters).
Venice arsenal extensions
1104 - founded
1473 - Arsenale nuovissimo
1539 - Reparto delle Galeazze
1564 - Canale delle Galeazze e Vasca
What was the myth of Venice
-widespread belief among European intellectuals of the 14th and 15th centuries that Venice republicanism lived up to Aristotelian ideal due to the stability of Venetian institutions.
-Venetian institutions remained unaltered - while others changed everywhere else in Europe.
Aristotelian ideal in Venice
Virtuous leader - the Doge (elected).
Beneficent ruling class - the Senate.
Citizen Representation - the greater council.
The great council - formulation
-all adult members from 200 patrician families - perpetuity.
-result of the ‘SERRATA’ (closure) - 1297 - after failed coup.
-1327 - 200 families recorded in the Golden Book.
-Members of the 200 families also part of the senate, the college and the council of ten.
The Council of Ten
-1310 for State Security - spying, reports, inquisitors, occasional assassinations, secret investigations.
The Peace of LODI 1454
It confirmed Venetian possession on the Terraferma
-In land of Italy, to have toll free connection with the rest of continental Europe.
-Signed by the Italian city states ad powers, started a period of peace, broken by the French invasion of 1494.
What makes Venice wealthy
-Salt – early Venetian commercial goods.
-Silk – originally imported from China – through silk road in Europe (Sicily) – Then in Florence, Genoa, Milan and Venice.
-Glass Venetian glass makes discovered adding manganese to the compound would clarify the glass – Enameling the glass was also discovered by Venice – changing the technique of stained glass windows.
-Printing – Moveable type introduced by Gutenberg of Mainz. Printing presses: Strassburg 1460, Rome 1464, Venice 1469.
-Most important printing center in Italy.
-Aldus Manutius - founded the Aldine Press - publishing and disseminating rare texts.
-Venice more focused on practicalities than cultural grounds – Patricians prioritized their sons learning a foreign language over Greek and Latin.
Venetian Society- stability
-Venetian society - formed without a landed elite until the 15th century - acquisition of Terraferma.
-Venice did not undergo the Guelf-Ghibelline factions that occurred in other Italian city states.
-No venetian equivilent of the wool workers protests in Florence 1378 - Arsenalotti and workers in Murano - were treated well.
-aided by narrower political participations following th serrata (200 families in the golden book).
The Golden Book
-1315
-list of noble families ruling Venice.
The Great Council
-From 1297 1000+ people could join the Great Council which appointed the officials.
The Quarantia
-The Great Council chose 40 members in the Quarantia who supervised the economy.
The Senate and Commanders and Diplomats
-Senate - 200-300 of Great Council in the senate - the main legislative body + commanders and diplomats.
The Doge
-Head of the Government
-appointed for life
-power had diminished - by 1400 he was a figure head - yet still influential.