Venice - History 3 (+ 4)

[Zorro]

In 828 two Venetian merchants, Buono di Malamocco and Rustico di Torcello,
returned from a trip to Alexandria, Egypt with what they proclaimed to be the
body of the Christian Apostle, Saint Mark. A basilica was built to house his
remains, and he replaced St. Theodore, a Byzantine-Greek saint, as the patron
saint, and protector of Venice. This put Venice up second only to Rome (with
Peter and Paul).

By this time the military and naval prowess of the Venetian Republic was
becoming legendary. Their boat building ability, naval expertise, and their
astute trading sense, their 'nose' for a deal, were turning them into one of
Europe's most formidable entities.

One decision they had made early on, which really gave them an edge, was
basically to have turned their backs on the west (Rome and Aachen), as well
as the politics of the Italian peninsula. When most of Europe was torn apart
by such conflicts as that between the Guelphs and the Ghibbelines, the Republic
remained serenely aloof, throughout the middle ages.

Instead it looked resolutely to the east, becoming a self-ruling satrap of the
Byzantine Empire and its capital, Constantinople. Here lay the repository of
Greek, and Roman, civilization; ancient Greece the motherland and ancient
Rome the fatherland of Byzantine culture, and of western civilization. Many
wealthy merchants of Venice would send their sons to Constantinople for their
higher education. And many a son brought home a Byzantine nobleman's
daughter as his bride.

The Republic was always trying to work as much independence from Constantinople
as it could, while remaining under its protection. And while paying theoretical
homage to the Holy Roman Emperor in Aachen, the ruling oligarchy in Venice
was systematically removing all Frankish sympathizers from its ranks. It made
alliance with Byzantium, when necessary, as when fighting the pirates of the
Adriatic (1000), the Saracens, and versus the Normans of Sicily (1082 - 85). It
continued to impose its authority on the eastern Adriatic coast (remember the word
slave is derived from the word Slav). The Doge of Rialto, as Venice was then known,
was also the Doge of Dalmatia. And Dalmatia was doubly important to Venice
because it was the primary source of its timber supply, so its construction industry
and its shipbuilding industry depended on it.

In Venice, the processing of salt went on, as the leading industry; ship building and
repair, and the building trades all flourished as merchants, and their backers became
increasingly wealthy. Evermore churches were built (guilty consciences eh?), as
were palaces, canals and bridges.

And again, the key was the timber supply, needed to keep the boats coming off the
assembly line at the Arsenal. Its shipping industry being what kept Venice alive.
And the, mostly pine, logs that were driven into the mud to provide foundations
for all its buildings.

And the merchants of Venice had earned a well deserved reputation for expertise in
the 'Asia trade'. It imported the finest oriental goods. In addition to the silks and
other cloths and the spices, there were precious stones and metals, coffee, tea,
fruits and vegetables unknown to most Europeans. Venice's treasury was overflowing.

[Zorro]

Survival was never easy for the Venetians, it's what gave them their fighting
spirit. And they always had to fight to protect their lucrative market share in
the Asia trade. The other Italian trading ports Genoa, Pisa and Amalfi were
always nipping at their heels, trying to throw a monkey wrench into the
Venetian 'machine'.

And they were beset by Dalmatian pirates, the Saracens, and another Magyar
horde just in from Central Asia. But, time after time, the Venetians were saved
by their naval expertise and their 'never say die' fighting spirit, and by their
inaccessibility inside their lagoon. The shifting channels and the currents, that
only they knew about, was their real secret weapon. And the Venetians were
never sacked, or occupied, by any foreign invader for 1,400 years, that is,
until Napoleon, who called himself "the Attila of Venice".

Then came the Crusades. At first Venice, who was never in the war making
business, they were just 'in business', and had so many carefully negotiated
trading agreements, favorable tariffs, ports, freight depots with customs
facilities, and so on, and all at great cost and after lengthy negotiations that
they weren't so quick to throw them away by going to war in the middle east.
When it realized, however, that its trading rivals, especially Genoa and Pisa,
would be greatly expanding their naval presence in the eastern Med, and thus,
inevitably, taking away a share of Venice's business, it decided to get into the
Crusader transport business too.

And when the Christians suffered some terrible losses, only Venice had the
capability to come to the rescue. And they smashed the Egyptian fleet at
Ascalon. And, when the Venetian navy was instrumental in the conquest
of Tyre, Venice's overseas empire began. (Having received ⅓ of Tyre and ⅓
of Ascalon as prizes of war.) Venice was able to maintain an overseas
empire for 700 years, longer than any other in European history.