History of the Republic of Venice
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The Republic of Venice (Venetian: Repùbrega Vèneta; Italian: Repubblica di Venezia) was a sovereign state and maritime republic in Northeast Italy, which existed for a millennium between the 8th century and 1797.
It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice, and was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the most successful of Italy's maritime republics. By the late Middle Ages, it held significant territories in the mainland of northern Italy, known as the Domini di Terraferma, along with most of the Dalmatian coast on the other side of the Adriatic Sea, and Crete and numerous small colonies around the Mediterranean Sea, together known as the Stato da Màr.
A slow political and economic decline had begun by around 1500, and by the 18th century the city of Venice largely depended on the tourist trade, as it still does, and the Stato da Màr was largely lost.
Origins
Although no surviving historical records deal directly with the founding of Venice,[1] the history of the Republic of Venice traditionally begins with the foundation of the city at Noon on Friday, 25 March, AD 421, by authorities from Padua, to establish a trading-post in that region of northern Italy. The founding of the Venetian republic is also said to have been marked at that same event with the founding of the church of St. James.[2] However, the church (believed to be Saint Giacomo di Rialto) dates back no further than the eleventh century, at the earliest, or the mid-twelfth century, at the latest. The 11th century Chronicon Altinate also dates the first settlement in that region, Rivo Alto ("High Shore", later Rialto), to the dedication of that same church (i.e., San Giacometo on the bank of the current Grand Canal).[3][4][2]
According to tradition, the original population of the region consisted of refugees—from nearby Roman cities such as Padua, Aquileia, Treviso, Altino, and Concordia (modern Concordia Sagittaria), as well as from the undefended countryside—who were fleeing successive waves of Hun and Germanic invasions from the mid-second to mid-fifth centuries.[5] This is further supported by documentation on the so-called "apostolic families", the twelve founding families of Venice who elected the first doge, who in most cases traced their lineage back to Roman families.[6][7]
The
As the power of the
Early in the 8th century, the people of the lagoon elected their first leader
Initially, the main settlement was elsewhere in the lagoon and not on the islands of the Rialto group which would later be the heart of Venice. One of the few early settlements attested in the Rialto group was the island of Olivolo (now called S. Pietro in Castello), at the western end of the archipelago, closer to the sandbars of the lagoon. Archaeological excavation shows that this island was already inhabited in the 5th century. 6th and 7th century Byzantine imperial seals indicate that, at this time, it was politically important. There was also a castle, perhaps from the 6th century. John the Deacon's early 11th century Chronicon Venetum reports that the diocese of Olivolo was founded in 774-76 by the doge Maurizio Galbaio (764-87), that a bishop Olberio was established in Olivolo by 775 and attributes the foundation of the cathedral of S. Pietro to bishop Orso Partecipazio and its completion to 841. Another attestation of an early settlement in the Rivo Alto group is in what was to become the sestriere (district) of Cannaregio. Whatever early settlements there were in the Rivo Alto group of islands, which was to form the city of Venice, the area did not begin to become properly urbanised until the 9th century.
Rise
Orso Ipato's successor,
The changing politics of the
In that period because, Venice had established itself a thriving slave trade, buying in Italy, among other places, and selling to the Moors in Northern Africa (Pope Zachary himself reportedly forbade such traffic out of Rome).[11][12][13]
The pro-Lombard Monegario was succeeded in 764, by a pro-Byzantine Eraclean, Maurizio Galbaio.[14] Galbaio's long reign (764-787) vaulted Venice forward to a place of prominence not just regionally but internationally and saw the most concerted effort yet to establish a dynasty. Maurizio oversaw the expansion of Venetia to the Rialto islands. He was succeeded by his equally long-reigning son, Giovanni. Giovanni clashed with Charlemagne over the slave trade and entered into a conflict with the Venetian church.
Dynastic ambitions were shattered when the pro-Frankish faction was able to seize power under
Venice thus achieved lasting independence by repelling the besiegers. This was confirmed in an agreement between
Early Middle Ages
The successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the
During the reign of the successor of the Participazio,
In the pactum Lotharii of 840 between Venice and the Carolingian Empire, Venice promised not to buy Christian slaves in the Empire, and not to sell Christian slaves to Muslims.[20][21][22] The Venetians subsequentently began to sell Slavs and other Eastern European non-Christian slaves in greater numbers. The Venetian slave trade was divided in to several routes, such as the Balkan slave trade and the Black Sea slave trade. Caravans of slaves traveled from Eastern Europe, through Alpine passes in Austria, to reach Venice. Surviving records valued female slaves at a tremissa (about 1.5 grams of gold or roughly 1⁄3 of a dinar) and male slaves, who were more numerous, at a saiga (which is much less).[20][23] Eunuchs were especially valuable, and "castration houses" arose in Venice, as well as other prominent slave markets, to meet this demand.[24] [25]
Around 841, the Republic of Venice sent a fleet of 60 galleys (each carrying 200 men) to assist the Byzantines in driving the Arabs from Crotone, but failed.[26]
Under Pietro II Candiano, Istrian cities signed an act of devotion to the Venetian rule. His father (Pietro Candiano I) attempted to attack and destroy Marania or Pagania or Narentines and secure safe passage to Venetian fleets and treaders near Croatian Dalmatia . On 887 September 18, Candiano was captured by the Admiral of the Maranium Navy and killed. He was the first and only Duke of Venice to lose his life in an attempt to secure the Dalmatian Coast to Venice.[27] The autocratic, philo-Imperial Candiano dynasty was overthrown by a revolt in 972, and the populace elected doge Pietro I Orseolo; however, his conciliating policy was ineffective, and he resigned in favour of Vitale Candiano.
Starting from
On
Venice's control over the Adriatic was strengthened by an expedition by Pietro's son
During the long
The war was not a military success, but with that act the city gained total independence. In 1084, Domenico Selvo led a fleet against the Normans, but he was defeated and lost 9 great galleys, the largest and most heavily armed ships in the Venetian navy.[30]
High Middle Ages
In the
In the 12th century, the republic built a large national shipyard that is now known as the Venetian Arsenal. Building new and powerful fleets, the republic took control over the eastern Mediterranean. The first exchange business in the world was started in Venezia, to support merchants from all over Europe. The Venetians also gained extensive trading privileges in the Byzantine Empire, and their ships often provided the Empire with a navy. In 1182 there was an anti-Catholic massacre by the Orthodox Christian population of Constantinople, with the Venetians as the main targets.
The rise of Venetian power
Venice was asked to provide transportation for the
Upon accomplishing this in 1202,[34] the crusade was again diverted to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After being deposed from power, Alexios IV Angelos offered to the Crusaders 10,000 Byzantine soldiers to help fight in the Crusade, maintain 500 knights in the Holy Land, the service of the Byzantine navy (20 ships) in transporting their army to Egypt, and 200,000 silver marks to help pay off the Crusaders' debt to Venice if the Crusaders helped re-install him as emperor.
The Crusaders agreed and restored Alexios
Byzantine hegemony was destroyed, and in the partition of the Empire that followed, Venice gained strategic territories in the Aegean Sea (three-eighths of the Byzantine Empire), including the islands of Crete and Euboea. Moreover, some present day cities, such as Chania on Crete, have core architecture that is substantially Venetian in origin.[36] The Aegean islands formed the Venetian Duchy of the Archipelago.
The Republic of Venice signed a trade treaty with the Mongol Empire in 1241.[37]
In 1295,
In the 14th century, Venice faced difficulties to the east, especially during the reign of
.Along the Dalmatian coast, his army had attacked the Dalmatian cities of
From 1350 to 1381, Venice also fought an intermittent
In 1363, a
15th century
In the early 15th century, the Venetians further
The situation in Dalmatia was settled in 1408 by a truce with
Under doge
On May 29, 1453
The Ottomans conquered the Peloponnesus and launched an offensive in the Venetian mainland, closing in on the important centre of
In 1482 Venice allied with
Despite the setbacks in the struggle against the Turks, at the end of the 15th century, with 180,000 inhabitants, Venice was the second largest city in Europe after Paris and probably the richest in the world.[42] The territory of the Republic of Venice extended over approximately 70,000 km2 (27,000 sq mi) with 2.1 million inhabitants (for comparison, at about the same time England had three million inhabitants, the whole of Italy 11 million, France 13 million, Portugal 1.7 million, Spain six million, and the Holy Roman Empire ten million).[citation needed]
Administratively the territory was divided into three parts:
- the Dogado (the territory under the Doge), comprising the islets of the city and the original lands around the lagoon;
- the and fortresses and trading posts around southeastern Europe and the Middle East;
- the Stato di Terraferma (the State of the Mainland), comprising Veneto, Friuli, Venetia Iulia, East Lombardy and Romagna.
In 1485, the French ambassador, Philippe de Commines, wrote of Venice,
It is the most splendid city I have ever seen, and the one which governs itself the most wisely.
League of Cambrai, Lepanto and the loss of Cyprus
In 1499 Venice allied with
Venice became rich on trade, but the guilds in Venice also produced superior silks, brocades, goldsmith jewelry and articles, armour and glass in the form of beads and eyeglasses.[41] However, Venice's attention was diverted from its usual trade and maritime position by the delicate situation in Romagna, then one of the richest lands in Italy. Romagna was nominally part of the Papal States but effectively divided into a series of small lordships that were difficult for Rome's troops to control. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership of Pope Julius II. The pope wanted Romagna, emperor Maximilian I Friuli and Veneto, Spain the Apulian ports, the king of France Cremona, the king of Hungary Dalmatia, and each of the others some part. The offensive against the huge army enlisted by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509 Venice was crushingly defeated at the Battle of Agnadello, in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points of Venetian history. French and Imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded in order to come to terms with Spain, and Pope Julius II soon recognized the danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face large states like France or Ottoman Turkey). The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging Imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice also regained Brescia and Verona from France. After seven years of ruinous war, the Serenissima regained her mainland dominions up to the Adda. Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion.
The
The struggle for supremacy in Italy between France and Spain was resolved in favour of the latter. Caught between the Imperial-Spanish and Turkish superpowers, the Republic adopted a skilful political strategy of quasi-neutrality in Europe, which turned into a defensive stance against the Ottomans. Venice's maritime aid was potentially useful to Spain, but not to the point of allowing it to reinforce its position in the Levant, which would increase its strength in Italy as well, where it was practically the only Italian state not subject to Spain. In the
Difficulties in the rule of the sea brought further changes. Until 1545 the oarsmen in the galleys were free sailors enrolled on a wage. They were originally Venetians, but later Dalmatians, Cretans and Greeks joined in large numbers. Because of the difficulty in hiring sufficient crews, Venice had recourse to conscription, chaining the oarsmen to the benches as other navies had already done. Cristoforo da Canal was the first Venetian to command such a galley. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people.[42]
With the outbreak of another
17th century
In 1605 a conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with the arrest of two members of the clergy who were guilty of petty crimes, and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and acquire landed property. Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary to canon law and demanded they be repealed. When this was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict. The Republic, under Doge Leonardo Donà, decided to ignore the interdict and excommunication, ordering local clergy to continue carrying out their ministries as before as if nothing had changed. It was supported by the Servite friar Paolo Sarpi, a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict was lifted after a year, when France intervened and proposed a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of law.
A new war occurred in the years 1613–1617. The government of Venice wrote:
The whole
Uzkoks.
The Uzkoks (Italian: Uscocchi) were Christian refugees from Bosnia and Turkish Dalmatia who had been enlisted by the Austrian Habsburg to defend their borders after the peace between Venice and the Ottomans following the Battle of Lepanto. They settled in Segna and many lived as pirates in the Adriatic, causing concern in Venice that they would complicate relations with the Sublime Porte. When Venice acted against these Uscocchi in 1613, she found herself at odds on land with their protector, the archduke of Austria. An army was sent against Gradisca, an archduke's possession, with financial support given to the duke of Savoy, who was pinning down the Spanish army in Lombardy. The military operations on the eastern frontier were not decisive, but the terms of peace in 1617 required the Habsburgs to solve the problem of the Uzkoks, whom were moved inland.
In 1617, whether on his own initiative, or supported by his king, the Spanish viceroy of Naples attempted to break Venetian dominance by sending a naval squadron to the Adriatic. His expedition met with mixed success, and he retired from the Adriatic. Rumours of sedition and conspiracy were meanwhile circulating in Venice, and there were disturbances between mercenaries of different nationalities enrolled for the war of Gradisca. The Spanish ambassador, the Marquis of Bedmar, was wise to the plot, if not the author of it. Informed of this by a Huguenot captain, the Ten acted promptly. Three "bravos" were hanged, and the Senate demanded the immediate recall of the Spanish ambassador.
Tension with Spain increased in 1622, when Antonio Foscarini, a senator and ambassador to England, was accused of acting for foreign powers during his time as ambassador and of spying for Spain after his return. He was tried, acquitted of the first charge, found guilty of the second and hanged from a gallows between the columns of the Piazzetta in 1622. A few months later the Ten discovered that he had been the innocent victim of a plot. He was rehabilitated, and the news circulated around all the chancelleries of Europe.
In 1628 Venice was involved in Italian politics for the first time in more than a century. On the death of
In 1638, while the Venetian fleet was cruising off Crete, a corsair fleet from Barbary consisting of 16 galleys from Algiers and Tunis entered the Adriatic. When the fleet returned, the corsairs repaired to the Turkish stronghold of Valona. The Venetian commander Marino Cappello attacked the corsairs, bombarded the forts and captured their galleys, freeing 3,600 prisoners. The sultan reacted to the bombardment of his fortress by arresting the Venetian bailo (ambassador) in Constantinople, Alvise Contarini. War was momentarily averted and the matter settled by diplomacy; however, six years later the Ottoman attack against Candia, the main Cretan port, left no easy terms to resort to. The Cretan War lasted for some 25 years and was the dominant question of the whole Republic's history in the 17th century.
War also moved to the mainland in the middle of 1645, when the Turks attacked the frontiers of Dalmatia. In the latter the Venetians were able to save their coastal positions because of their command of the sea, but on 22 August, the Cretan stronghold of
The greatest Turkish effort was directed against
In 1684, soon after the Turkish defeat in the
New conflict was brewing over the question of the
Decline
In December 1714
The Turks took the islands of Tinos and
The decline of Venice in the 18th century was also due not only to Genoa, Venice's old rival, but also to Livorno, a new port on the Tyrrhenian Sea created by the grand dukes of Tuscany and chosen as staging-post for British trade in the Mediterranean. Still more injurious were the Papal town of Ancona and Habsburg Trieste, a free port since 1719, in the Adriatic Sea, which no longer constituted a "Venetian Gulf". An eminent Venetian politician of the time declared, "Apart from the residue which is left to us, Ancona robs us of the trade from both the Levant and the West, from Albania and the other Turkish provinces. Trieste takes nearly all the rest of the trade which comes from Germany."[citation needed]
Even the cities of the eastern mainland up to Verona got their supplies from Genoa and Leghorn. The presence of pirates from the coast of Maghreb worsened the situation.
"All is in disorder, everything is out of control" exclaimed Carlo Contarini in the Maggior Consiglio on 5 December 1779. He was talking of a "commotion" in demand of a plan of reform also supported by Giorgio Pisani. The idea was to remove the monopoly of power enjoyed by the small number of rich patricians to the advantage of the very large number of poor ones. This gave rise to fears of "overturning the system" and the doge,
On 29 May 1784 Andrea Tron, known as el paron ("the patron") because of his political influence, said that trade:[citation needed]
is falling into final collapse. The ancient and long-held maxims and laws which created and could still create a state's greatness have been forgotten. [We are] supplanted by foreigners who penetrate right into the bowels of our city. We are despoiled of our substance, and not a shadow of our ancient merchants is to be found among our citizens or our subjects. Capital is lacking, not in the nation, but in commerce. It is used to support effeminacy, excessive extravagance, idle spectacles, pretentious amusements and vice, instead of supporting and increasing industry which is the mother of good morals, virtue, and of essential national trade.
The last Venetian naval venture occurred in 1784–86. The
In January 1789 Ludovico Manin, from a recently ennobled mainland family, was elected doge. The expenses of the election had grown throughout the 18th century, and now reached their highest ever. The patrician Pietro Gradenigo remarked, "I have made a Friulian doge; the Republic is dead."[citation needed]
C. P. Snow suggests that in the last half century of the republic, the Venetians knew "that the current of history had begun to flow against them," and that to keep going would require "breaking the pattern into which they had crystallised." Yet they were "fond of the pattern" and "never found the will to break it."[45]
The fall of the Republic
By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself. Though the Republic still possessed a fleet of 13 ships of the line, only a handful were ready for sea,
Nevertheless, the peace envisaged the continued survival of the Venetian state, although confined to the city and the lagoon, perhaps with compensation at the expense of the Papal States. In the meanwhile Brescia and Bergamo revolted against Venice, and anti-French movements were rising elsewhere. Napoleon threatened Venice with war on 9 April. On 25 April he announced to the Venetian delegates at Graz, "I want no more Inquisition, no more Senate; I shall be an Attila to the state of Venice."[citation needed]
Domenico Pizzamano fired on a French ship trying to force an entry from the Lido forts. On 1 May, Napoleon declared war. The French were at the edge of the lagoon. Even the cities of the Veneto had been "revolutionized" by the French, who had established provisional municipalities. On 12 May, the Maggior Consiglio approved a motion to hand over power "to the system of the proposed provisional representative government", although there was not a quorum of votes: 512 voted for, ten against, and five abstained. On 16 May the provisional municipal government met in the Hall of the Maggior Consiglio. The preliminaries of the peace of Leoben were made even harsher in the
See also
- History of the city of Venice
- Domini di Terraferma
- Timeline of the Venetian Republic
- Venetian Renaissance
- Republic of Pisa
- History of Italy
- Italian people
- Historical states of Italy
- History of Byzantine Empire
- Wars in Lombardy
- Ottoman wars in Europe
- Ottoman Navy
- Patriarchate of Aquileia
- Italian Wars
- Maritime Republics
- Marco Polo
- Napoleonic Wars
- The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
- Treaty of Campoformio
- Veneto
- History of Friuli
- Istria
- Venetian Dalmatia
- Venetian Slovenia
- Venetian Albania
- Venetian Cyprus
- Medieval demography
- Naval history
Notes
- ^ Cyprus became officially a territory of the Republic of Venice in 1489, after the abdication of the Cornaro and a treaty with the Egyptian sultan.
References
- ^ "Imperciocchè nascendi i principati", begins Apostolo Zeno, Compendio della storia Veneta di Apostolo Zeno continuata fino alla caduta della repubblica 1847:9.
- ^ a b c d Norwich 1982, p. 16.
- ^ Zeno, Compendio 1847:10.
- ISBN 978-1-884964-02-2. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- OCLC 602184667.[page needed]
- ^ Barbaro, Marco. L'Origine e discendenza delle famiglie patrizie.[page needed]
- ^ Cappellari Vivaro, Girolamo Alessandro (1740). Il Campidoglio veneto.[page needed]
- ^ Cassiodorus, "Variae Epistulae"12.24
- ^ Langer, William Leonard (1956). An Encyclopedia of World History, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. Harrap. p. 224. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 13.
- ^ Duchesne, Louis Marie Olivier. XCIII Zacharias (741–752). Le Liber pontificalis; texte, introduction et commentaire par L. Duchesne (Volume 1). 1886. p. 426–439. Available on archive.org
- ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope St. Zachary". newadvent.org. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ^ Reverend Alban Butler. "St. Zachary, Pope and Confessor". The Lives of the Saints, Volume 3. 1866. [1]
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 17.
- ^ Langer, William Leonard; Hedges, James Blaine (1940). An Encyclopedia of World History, Ancient, Medieval and Modern, Chronologically Arranged: A Revised and Modernized Version of Ploetz's "Epitome". Houghton Mifflin. p. 225. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 25.
- S2CID 233340296.
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 29.
- ^ Norwich 1982.
- ^ ISBN 978-0684190730
- ^ Il pactum Lotharii del 840 Cessi, Roberto. (1939–1940) – In: Atti. Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Classe di Scienze Morali e Lettere Ser. 2, vol. 99 (1939–40) p. 11–49 [page needed]
- ^ "Pacta Veneta. A chronology in four steps. PAX TIBI MARCE Venice: government, law, jurisprudence Venezia: istituzioni, diritto, giurisprudenza" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ^ MGH, Leges, Capitularia regum Francorum, II, ed. by A. Boretius, Hanovre, 1890, p. 250–252 (available on-line).
- ^ Jankowiak, Marek. Dirhams for slaves. Investigating the Slavic slave trade in the tenth century.[2] [page needed]
- JSTOR 10.7722/j.ctt2tt1pr.
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 32.
- ^ "CANDIANO, Pietro in "Dizionario Biografico"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
- ^ a b c d "ORSEOLO, Pietro II in "Dizionario Biografico"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 53.
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 72.
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 77.
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 83.
- )
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Siege of Zara
- ^ ISBN 9781448114528. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ^ C. Michael Hogan, Cydonia, Modern Antiquarian, January 23, 2008
- ISBN 978-1-84176-933-2
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 176-80.
- ^ Gallica llustrations de Opusculum sanctorum peregrinationum ad spulcrum…
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 269.
- ^ a b c Lucas, Henry Stephen (1934). The Renaissance and the Reformation. New York: Harper & brothers. p. 25. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
- ^ a b c Norwich 1982, p. 494.
- ^ Map of Linea Mocenigo in enlarged Venetian Dalmatia Archived 2014-12-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Norwich 1982, p. 591.
- ^ C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures (Canto, 1993), p. 40.
- ^ Anderson, R. C. (Roger Charles) (1952). Naval wars in the Levant, 1559-1853. Princeton University Press. Retrieved 2021-04-08.[page needed]
Sources
- Norwich, John Julius (1982). A History of Venice'. New York: Alfred B. Knopf. ISBN 9780394524108. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
This Section has an unclear citation style. (December 2020) |
- Benvenuti, Gino (1989). Le repubbliche marinare. Rome: Newton Compton.
- Rendina, Claudio (1984). I dogi. Storia e segreti. Rome: Newton Compton.
Bibliography
This Section has an unclear citation style. (December 2020) |
- Brown, Patricia Fortini. Private Lives in Renaissance Venice: Art, Architecture, and the Family (2004)
- Chambers, D.S. (1970). The Imperial Age of Venice, 1380-1580. London: Thames & Hudson. The best brief introduction in English, still completely reliable.
- Contarini, Gasparo (1599). The Commonwealth and Gouernment of Venice. Lewes Lewkenor, trans. London: "Imprinted by I. Windet for E. Mattes." The most important contemporary account of Venice's governance during the time of its flourishing; numerous reprint editions.
- Ferraro, Joanne M. Venice: History of the Floating City (Cambridge University Press; 2012) 268 pages. By a prominent historian of Venice. The "best book written to date on the Venetian Republic." Library Journal (2012).
- Garrett, Martin. Venice: A Cultural History (2006). Revised edition of Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (2001).
- Grubb, James S. (1986). "When Myths Lose Power: Four Decades of Venetian Historiography." Journal of Modern History 58, pp. 43–94. The classic "muckraking" essay on the myths of Venice.
- Howard, Deborah, and Sarah Quill. The Architectural History of Venice (2004)
- Hale, John Rigby. Renaissance Venice (1974) (ISBN 0571104290)
- Lane, Frederic Chapin. Venice: Maritime Republic (1973) (ISBN 0801814456) standard scholarly history; emphasis on economic, political and diplomatic history
- Laven, Mary. Virgins of Venice: Enclosed Lives and Broken Vows in the Renaissance Convent (2002). The most important study of the life of Renaissance nuns, with much on aristocratic family networks and the life of women more generally.
- ISBN 978-0-80188-539-6(paperback).
- ISBN 978-0-67002-542-8. An approachable history by a distinguished historian.
- Mallett, M. E., and Hale, J. R. The Military Organisation of a Renaissance State, Venice c. 1400 to 1617 (1984) (ISBN 0521032474)
- Martin, John Jeffries, and Dennis Romano (eds). Venice Reconsidered. The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297-1797. (2002) Johns Hopkins UP. The most recent collection on essays, many by prominent scholars, on Venice.
- Drechsler, Wolfgang (2002). "Venice Misappropriated." Trames 6(2):192–201. A scathing review of Martin & Romano 2000; also a good summary on the most recent economic and political thought on Venice. For more balanced, less tendentious, and scholarly reviews of the Martin-Romano anthology, see The Historical Journal (2003) Rivista Storica Italiana (2003).
- Muir, Edward (1981). Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice. Princeton UP. The classic of Venetian cultural studies; highly sophisticated.
- Rosland, David. (2001) Myths of Venice: The Figuration of a State; how writers (especially English) have understood Venice and its art
- Tafuri, Manfredo. (1995) Venice and the Renaissance; architecture
- Wills. Garry. (2013) Venice: Lion City: The Religion of Empire
External links
- Storia di Venezia (in Italian)
- History of Venice
- Geschichte Venedigs. Geschichte und Politik Venedigs (in German)