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Venice by The Carolingian Times

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Venice, like a city of arts and a place of villegiature nowadays kept being, in northeastern Italy, a place of Byzantine influence under the Carolingians likely of importance in terms of the Slavic tributaries the latter had installed South of the Ostmark after the definitive defeat of the Avars about 800 A.D.

Venice began with the devastation of northern Italy by the Huns of Attila in 452 A.D., as inhabitants of the area took refuge to the islands of the lagoon which lied between Chioggia and Grado as such islands already were inhabited since the Roman times. People already had fled there the Germanic Invasions. They drove piles into the bottom of the shallow sea to create more artificial islands, as Cassiodorus describe them governed with tribunes and occupied with fishing and navigation of distant seas (salt was the way they traded). The population further increased during the Lombard invasion by the mid-6th century A.D. In terms of sovereignty Venice passed at the time under the rule of Byzantium which had regained control of Italy after the ephemere reign of the Herules (476-493) and then the Ostrogoths (493-533). The Byzantine exarque had settled in Ravenna. The city's allegiance was largely theoretical however as it was allowed a great measure of autonomy and the tribunes maintained. Benedictines plaid their role into the development of Venice. Venice, thence, was part of the history of Italy with the Byzantine, papal and Lombardic question as, due to its northeastern location, it become also concerned by the Slavic progresses in the region. By 697 A.D. a first 'doge,' or dux was elected to put a end to the conflicting tribunes and to improve defense against the Lombards and the Slavs as the military command was vested in a 'magister militum.' Unity between the islands reinforced. The third doge, whose name was Ursus (726-737 A.D.) delivered Ravenna from the Lombards, at the request of Pope Gregory III. A long period of disorders ensued until under Oberlierus (805-810), for cause of parties of diverging opinion, mostly the Venetians, Byzantines and Lombards and the Franks. That inaugurated the rule of the Frankish party as doge's seat was transferted into the highly protected Rialto island, which was to turned the current location of Venice. Like illustrated in the 'De Carolo Magno' by the monk of St Gall, Venetians had brought 'into Pavia all the riches of the East from their territories from beyond the sea.' Venice at the time, in the 9th century A.D., featured a very extensive commerce network and their factories sprang in all the ports of the East. Venice's trade was a maritime one between the East and the West. As they were trading with Christian Slavs or selling to Muslims of Spain and Africa, that latter fact brought to Pope Zacharias and Adrian to prevent that, as Charlemagne excluded the Venetians for some time from the markets of the Carolingian empire, or ordered so from the Pentapolis on the Adriatic Coast. The relics of St. Mark were purchased in Alexandria by Venetian merchants and the cathedral built by 829 as that incresed the prestige of the city. The church then was remodelled in imitation of the Basilica of the Apostles in Constantinople. A campanile, 321 feet high, was built in 900 as the Palace of the Doges is said to date from the ninth century A.D. The monastery of St. Zachary was also built by that time

As they were depending first upon the Diocese of Altino or of Padua, the islands of Venice retained a bishopric of their own at Malamocco after Bishop Tricidius of Padua had taken refuge there. By 775 A.D., with the consent of Pope Adrian I and the Patriarch of Grado, a bishopric see was erectd on the island of Olivolo, with the first bishop Obelerius, invested by the doge and consecrated by the Patriarch as some islands remained under the jurisdiction of the latter. A will of influence by the doge led to a severe conflict with the Patriarch. It was under the fourth bishop that the relics of St. Mark were brought into the city as many relics of other saints had already been brought from the East. It is not until in 1457 that a new Patriarchate of Venice succeded to the one of Grado and the sees obeying to it, with the election of the patriarch belonging to the Venetian Senate. With the conquests of Charlemagne in Italy or against the Avars, the doges pursued a policy of alliance with the Franks and helped those to gain possession of the maritime cities of Istria, as a Byzantine fleet however aided the Byzantine party to expel Obelierus, as Angelo I Participazzo turned doge by 810 A.D. Protracted negociations with Byzantium followed a failed attempt by Pipin, the son to Charles, to conquest the Lagoon as Venetians had resisted on the Rialto island. By 806 A.D., Nicephorus, the new Byzantine emperor, had had Venetia and Dalmatia temporily re-occupied by his disembarked troops. Charlemagne eventually granted Venice the right to trade throughout the Empire as he had recognized Venice like a Byzantine territory by 810. All islands, which until then had remained independent centers of power, combined with those of the episcopal see and began to be called 'Venitiae.' Fights against the Croats or Saracens ensued, along with more inner fights between factions as Giovanni Participazzo (881-888), son of Orso, was eventually deposed for his francophilism. As Doge Pietro (888-911) had won over the Hungarian threat, following doges began to expand Venice on the mainland. Under Doge Pietro Candiano IV (959-976), emerged for the first time the 'Grand Council,' the assent of which was need for all laws as it included also the bishops of the Venetian territories. By that time the governement prohibited any trade of slaves or any merchandise with the Saracens which could be used for war against Christendom. Civilian struggles took back again by 976 until in 983 as fractions that time opposed proponents of Emperor Otto II and those of a independent Venetian Republic. Under Doge Pietro Orscolo II (992-1009), Venice had regained its prestige and the Latin coastal cities of Istria and Dalmatia voluntarily acknowledged the dominion of the city against the threats of Slavs. The doge since that time, with the consent of the Emperor of Constantinople, could style himself Duke of Dalmatia. Saracens were defeated in Bari, southern Italy, by 1003 A.D. as the struggles then turned between the Ottonians and Byzantium. Doge Ottone died a prisoner in Constantinople as he had been suspected of wishing to bring Venice under the Western imperial domination. The history of Venice whence followed between fights against the miscellaneouspowers of the area, like the Hungarians, Byzantium, the Northmen, etc. until the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus in 1084 A.D. granted Venice a full liberty of commerce or exemption from Greek jurisdiction through the 'Golden Bull,' which marked the real independency of the city and his trade routes. Venice then played a strong role during the Crusades and eventually helped to the fall of Byzantium and the creation of the Latin Empire, as the rival trading city of Genoa had took the party of Constantinople. Venice also turned to a aristocracy with its Senate instead of the doges' rule and eventually participated into the policy of Italian mainland. A main blow was striken to Venice due to the new maritime routes to the East as discovered at the time of the Great Discoveries

Venice nowadays is featuring 117 small islands joined together by 378 bridges as these islands are partly natural, partly artificial, constructed by means of piles driven into the shallow sea and house fondations reinforced that way too. The Grand Canal, the Giudecca, and the S. Marco's are the city three main canals

Website Manager: G. Guichard, site Learning and Knowledge In the Carolingian Times / Erudition et savoir à l'époque carolingienne, http://schoolsempire.6te.net. Page Editor: G. Guichard. last edited: 2/9/2015. contact us at ggwebsites@outlook.com
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