History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0143/01435.txt

Text File | 1992-10-11 | 9KB | 159 lines

$Unique_ID{how01435}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Genoese Surrender To Venetians}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Hallam, Henry}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{venice
genoese
genoa
chioggia
fleet
peace
upon
war
admiral
venetians}
$Date{}
$Log{}
Title:       Genoese Surrender To Venetians
Author:      Hallam, Henry

Genoese Surrender To Venetians

1380

     Prolonged commercial rivalry between Genoa and Venice brought them to a
state of bitter jealousy which led to furious wars.  In the second half of the
twelfth century Genoa established her power on the Black Sea, and aimed at a
commercial monopoly in that region.  This aroused the Venetians to anger and
led to open hostilities.  The first war growing out of these antagonisms
between the two republics began in 1257, and throughout the rest of the
thirteenth century hostilities were almost continuous.

     In 1351 the Venetians formed an alliance against Genoa with the Greeks
and Aragonese, and, in the ensuing war, the advantage gained by Genoa was
confirmed by a treaty of peace in 1355.  But this peace lasted only until
1378, when a dispute arose between Genoa and Venice in relation to the island
of Tenedos, in the Aegean Sea, of which the Venetians had taken possession.

     The Venetians, having denounced Genoa as false to all its oaths and
obligations, formally declared war in April, after several acts of hostility
had occurred in the Levant.  Of all the wars between the rival states, this
was the most remarkable and led to the most important consequences.

     Genoa did not stand alone in this war.  A formidable confederacy was
raised against Venice, which had given provocation to many enemies.  Of this
Francis Carrara, seignior of Padua, and the King of Hungary were the leaders.
But the principal struggle was, as usual, upon the waves.  During the winter
of 1378 a Genoese fleet kept the sea, and ravaged the shores of Dalmatia. The
Venetian armament had been weakened by an epidemic disease, and when Vittor
Pisani, their admiral, gave battle to the enemy, he was compelled to fight
with a hasty conscription of landsmen against the best sailors in the world.

     Entirely defeated, and taking refuge at Venice with only seven galleys,
Pisani was cast into prison, as if his ill-fortune had been his crime.
Meanwhile the Genoese fleet, augmented by a strong reenforcement, rode before
the long natural ramparts that separate the lagunes of Venice from the
Adriatic.  Six passages intersect the islands which constitute this barrier,
besides the broader outlets of Brondolo and Fossone, through which the waters
of the Brenta and the Adige are discharged.  The Lagoon itself, as is well
known, consists of extremely shallow water, unnavigable for any vessel except
along the course of artificial and intricate passages.

     Notwithstanding the apparent difficulties of such an enterprise, Pietro
Doria, the Genoese admiral, determined to reduce the city.  His first
successes gave him reason to hope.  He forced the passage, and stormed the
little town of Chioggia, built upon the inside of the isle bearing that name,
about twenty-five miles south of Venice.  Nearly four thousand prisoners fell
here into his hands - an augury, as it seemed, of a more splendid triumph.

     In the consternation this misfortune inspired at Venice, the first
impulse was to ask for peace.  The ambassadors carried with them seven Genoese
prisoners, as a sort of peace-offering to the admiral, and were empowered to
make large and humiliating concessions, reserving nothing but the liberty of
Venice.  Francis Carrara strongly urged his allies to treat for peace.  But
the Genoese were stimulated by long hatred, and intoxicated by this unexpected
opportunity of revenge.  Doria, calling the ambassadors into council, thus
addressed them: "Ye shall obtain no peace from us, I swear to you, nor from
the lord of Padua, till first we have put a curb in the mouths of those wild
horses that stand upon the place of St. Mark.  When they are bridled you shall
have enough of peace.  Take back with you your Genoese captives, for I am
coming within a few days to release both them and their companions from your
prisons."

     When this answer was reported to the senate, they prepared to defend
themselves with the characteristic firmness of their government.  Every eye
was turned toward a great man unjustly punished, their admiral, Vittor Pisani.
He was called out of prison to defend his country amid general acclamations.
Under his vigorous command the canals were fortified or occupied by large
vessels armed with artillery; thirty-four galleys were equipped; every citizen
contributed according to his power; in the entire want of commercial resources
- for Venice had not a merchant-ship during this war - private plate was
melted; and the senate held out the promise of ennobling thirty families who
should be most forward in this strife of patriotism.

     The new fleet was so ill-provided with seamen that for some months the
admiral employed them only in manoeuvring along the canals.  From some
unaccountable supineness, or more probably from the insuperable difficulties
of the undertaking, the Genoese made no assault upon the city.  They had,
indeed, fair grounds to hope its reduction by famine or despair.  Every access
to the Continent was cut off by the troops of Padua; and the King of Hungary
had mastered almost all the Venetian towns in Istria and along the Dalmatian
coast.  The doge Contarini, taking the chief command, appeared at length with
his fleet near Chioggia, before the Genoese were aware.  They were still less
aware of his secret design.  He pushed one of the large round vessels, then
called cocche, into the narrow passage of Chioggia which connects the Lagoon
with the sea, and, mooring her athwart the channel, interrupted that
communication.  Attacked with fury by the enemy, this vessel went down on the
spot, and the Doge improved his advantage by sinking loads of stones until the
passage became absolutely unnavigable.

     It was still possible for the Genoese fleet to follow the principal canal
of the Lagoon toward Venice and the northern passages, or to sail out of it by
the harbor of Brondolo; but, whether from confusion or from miscalculating the
dangers of their position, they suffered the Venetians to close the canal upon
them by the same means they had used at Chioggia, and even to place their
fleet in the entrance of Brondolo so near to the Lagoon that the Genoese could
not form their ships in line of battle.  The circumstances of the two
combatants were thus entirely changed.  But the Genoese fleet, though besieged
in Chioggia, was impregnable, and their command of the land secured them from
famine.

     Venice, notwithstanding her unexpected success, was still very far from
secure; it was difficult for the Doge to keep his position through the winter;
and if the enemy could appear in open sea, the risks of combat were extremely
hazardous.  It is said that the senate deliberated upon transporting the seat
of their liberty to Candia, and that the Doge had announced his intention to
raise the siege of Chioggia, if expected succors did not arrive by January 1,
1380.  On that very day Carlo Zeno, an admiral who, ignorant of the dangers of
his country, had been supporting the honor of her flag in the Levant and on
the coast of Liguria, appeared with a reenforcement of eighteen galleys and a
store of provisions.

     From that moment the confidence of Venice revived.  The fleet, now
superior in strength to the enemy, began to attack them with vivacity.  After
several months of obstinate resistance, the Genoese - whom their republic had
ineffectually attempted to relieve by a fresh armament - blocked up in the
town of Chioggia, and pressed by hunger, were obliged to surrender.  Nineteen
galleys only, out of forty-eight, were in good condition; and the crews were
equally diminished in the ten months of their occupation of Chioggia.  The
pride of Genoa was deemed to be justly humbled; and even her own historian
confesses that God would not suffer so noble a city as Venice to become the
spoil of a conqueror.

     Though the capture of Chioggia did not terminate the war, both parties
were exhausted, and willing, next year, to accept the mediation of the Duke of
Savoy.  By the peace of Turin, Venice surrendered most of her territorial
possessions to the King of Hungary.  That Prince and Francis Carrara were the
only gainers.  Genoa obtained the isle of Tenedos, one of the original
subjects of dispute - a poor indemnity for her losses.  Though, upon a hasty
view, the result of this war appears more unfavorable to Venice, yet in fact
it is the epoch of the decline of Genoa.  From this time she never commanded
the ocean with such navies as before; her commerce gradually went into decay;
and the fifteenth century - the most splendid in the annals of Venice - is,
till recent times, the most ignominious in those of Genoa.  But this was
partly owing to internal dissensions, by which her liberty, as well as glory,
was for a while suspended.