Small with canals

Lozza's take on Venetian history.

 

Not sure what exactly defines a "superpower" but there was a time, that the Venetian Republic, was probably one. There was an old Not the Nine O'Clock News song about superpowers which i will try to find later. If successful, this will now be a link.

Venice is now a world heritage site and at best a tourist super power. It is also the most expensive city in Italy.

Before we left home, I thought of Venice as a little, expensive city for tourists with the somewhat silly idea of having roads made of water. This is once again, an idictment of my ignorance and does not reflect well on the teachings of Camboon Primary school.

Wherever we have gone, we have seen Venetian influence mostly they build fortification walls and leave lions or statues of same on letterboxes, street corners and of course, walls.

Venetian Coat of Arms

 

Venice as a town was founded in early 400s by refugees running away from Horrible Huns, but the town wasn't called Venice, rather the area of Northern Italy around it was (called Venice). It slowly morphs over the next 350 years then by the mid 700s gets into gear as the Roman Empire decline leaves the area relativley free of administration as Ravenna is conquered (remember Ravenna - the capitol of the Roman Empire till the last Emporer gave it all up for a good pension).

So Venice develops a strong base of autonomy based on trade (silk, spices) with the Turks and pretty much keeping out of the way of the rotten Romans, Vile Vatican and Brigand buccanneers. Charlemagne has a go at taking it over (with the Popes blessing) but the "siege of Venice" fails and nobody really tries agian after that for 600 years. Because of its position Venice is pretty much invulnerable to attack.

As an other embarrassing aside, as a kid, I thought his name was Charmaine not Charlemagne. Bit insulting to the first emperor since the Romans. He was also known as Charles the great. His dad was the Pepin the short.

Also, Charmaine sounds a lot like Charlene who sung arguably the worst song of the 80s. I use it as a weapon to annoy the kids and Ree on our travels and truth be known for many years it has won many battles for Lozza within the insulated walls of castle Warralong. Watch it if you dare.

 

 

 

 

Back to the Venetians. As business is business in Italy, the Venetians enlarged business opportunities by taking part in the Crusades. It was also a good opportunity to knick some fine artwork (eg the four lions now in St Marks Square).

Similarly, not because they wanted to but because they had to have posts to defend against pirates, the Venetians pretty much conquered the Eastern Aegean down to Cyprus and Crete and as a strong trading and military power, became mates with Constantinople (the Eastern Roman Empire aka Byzantines). nb - the Decline of the Roan Empire is pretty much the decline of the Western Roman Empire.

As a note to self, The Eastern Roman Empire lived on as the Byzantines with its capitol in Constantinople (i think). So the Venetians as a military power help the Byzantines fight off the Filthy French Nasty Normans and the Terrible Turks. In other words, its not until later in history that the Turks control Turkey.

Remember though, business is business so when Constantinople is sacked in Crusade #4, their buddies the Venetians are fully involved (with friends like these.....). The Crusade kicked off in Venice and by the end the Byzantine empire was terminally wounded give or take a little dead cat bouncing resurgence.

Venice reaches its peak as a major maritime power in the 1300s when it was the richest city in all of Europe and with a lot of keeping up with the Jones' happening architecture, art and fashion was driven to later be thought of as all part of "The Renaissance" but seems to me to have (at least at the start) been its own little Renaissance.

By late 1500s things aren't goind so well. Venice gets it wrong and helps Constantinople defend itself from the Turks. Yups, they are friends again. The turks get cross with the Venetians so Sultan Mehmet (not Oz), declares war on Venice. 30 years and many battles later, Venice still stands (teeters punch drunk), but pretty much all its Aegen conquests are lost as is a lot (most) of its money.

Worse still for trade, America is discovered which becomes a trade vacuum and pulls business from the now declining Venice. Even worse still, the Poorly Portugese find a way to get to India which removes Venice's monopoly.

 

 

 

An aside (surprise). The Portugal thing is another story but as a vignette on how to win friends and influence folk I give you, Vasco De Gama. He gets to India just before 1500 and buys a few trinkets, meets a few important Indians and and tries to sign a trade treaty with the Hindu leader of the area (not good for Venice). Things don't quite work out because the Portugese don't want / cant pay the requisite gold "customs duty" so the Indians capture a few of Gama's men, he takes a few Indians, they all get a bit cross then pretty much go home again.

Here's the good bit. Mr Gama returns again 4 years later with 15 ships and a gaggle of Portugese rabble. This time he tells the Indians that all the Muslims need to be expelled. They tell him to mind his own business, so he sets siege to their towns, captures a number of passing ships and then cuts off the noses and hands of their crew.

 

 

He just looks like a chubby nice man

 

 

 

So back (again) to the Venetians. Trading is doing badly and cantankerous Turks are attacking and to top it all off the Black Death (aka Bubonic Plague) hits twice in three years and kills about 50000 Venetians.

So after that the Venetians sorta get back in their box. Venice carries on as a grain exporter but not a world power, gets taken by Napoleon for a bit then it joins Italy in 1866 not so much because of a love of all things Italian but rather to make sure the Hapsburgs didn't feel the urge to have a little holiday island in the North of Italy.

 

 

 

I had heard vaguely of the unification of Italy, but didnt really understand that until that time, the cities and regions were essentially separate countries / city states. They didnt really like each other much but hated the Austrians (Hapsburgs) even more.

You would imagine that unification between these states (e.g. Naples, FLorence, Venice, Rome etc) would have been brokered and then on a certain day, ratified. This is not and was not the Italian way! Unification was a mish mush of revolutionaries, ideologies, power struggles and thats not to mention the Holy See aka the Pope.

Add in at least three wars of independence, insurrections and a history way too complex for me to sort out but eventually, Italy unified "some tine" in the 19th century. They dont even have a real birthday.

 

 

 

 

So today the city of Venice is more than 100 small islands separated by canals joined by bridges. It has been called one of the most beautiful cities in the world which it may be. The lions of Venice are seen everywhere as testament to the power it once was.

 

Venetian Coat of Arms

 

 

Enough