This is a preview of the content in our Venice Art & Culture app. Get the app to:
  • Read offline
  • Remove ads
  • Access all content
  • Use the in-app Map to find sites, and add custom locations (your hotel...)
  • Build a list of your own favourites
  • Search the contents with full-text search functionality
  • ... and more!
iOS App Store Google Play

1032-1204

The First Crusades and a Constitution

Continuing on from The First City of Modern Europe. medieval naval war, the Decretals of Gregory IX

The Venetians banish nepotism once and for all

The Orseolo clan lost control of the dogeship in 1026, but their faction at home, and their alliances with the emperors, kept the pot boiling for another six years. When their last feeble attempt to seize power was crushed, the Venetians resolved to find a more efficient form of government.

A new doge, Domenico Flabanico, oversaw a complete reform. A senate was elected, along with dogal councillors, and doges were required, not requested, to seek their advice. Finally, the system by which a doge would ‘associate’ a kinsman with his rule as a designated successor was forbidden, eliminating the monarchical tendency once and for all.

It was a perfect time to give the ship of state an overhaul, for the Adriatic was becoming a busy place. In northern Italy the reviving towns were asserting their independence against emperor and pope, and embarking on commercial careers of their own.

It’s all about trade

Read the full content in the app
iOS App Store Google Play

History and Anecdotes

Veneto-Byzantine Art: the ‘Proto-Renaissance’

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Images by Joseph Heintz the Younger, PD art, This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder., William of Tyre (1130-1185)