History of The Republic of Venice - High Middle Ages

High Middle Ages

In the High Middle Ages, Venice became wealthy through its control of trade between Europe and the Levant, and began to expand into the Adriatic Sea and beyond. Venice was involved in the Crusades almost from the very beginning; 200 Venetian ships assisted in capturing the coastal cities of Syria after the First Crusade, and in 1123 they were granted virtual autonomy in the Kingdom of Jerusalem through the Pactum Warmundi. In 1110, Ordelafo Faliero personally commanded a Venetian fleet of 100 ships to assist Baldwin I of Jerusalem in capturing the city of Sidon.

In the 12th century, the republic built a big national shipyard which is now known as the Venetian Arsenal. Building anew and powerful fleets, the republic took control over the eastern Mediterranean. The first exchange business in the world was started in Venezia, to support the merchants from all over Europe. The Venetians also gained extensive trading privileges in the Byzantine Empire and their ships often provided the Empire with a navy. In 1182 there was an anti-Western riot in Constantinople, of which the Venetians were the main targets.

The Venetian fleet was crucial to the transportation of the Fourth Crusade, but when the crusaders could not pay for the ships, the cunning and manipulative Doge Enrico Dandolo quickly exploited the situation and offered transport to the crusaders if they were to capture the (Christian) Dalmatian city of Zadar (Italian: Zara), which had rebelled against Venetian rule in 1183, placed itself under the dual protection of the Papacy and King Emeric of Hungary and had proven too well fortified for Venice to retake alone. Upon accomplishing this in 1202, the crusade was again diverted to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, another rival of Venice. The city was captured and sacked in 1204; the sack has been described as one of the most profitable and disgraceful sacks of a city in history. The Venetians, who accompanied the crusader fleet, claimed much of the plunder from the city as payment including the famous four bronze horses which were brought back to adorn St. Mark's basilica. As a result of the partition of the Byzantine Empire which followed, Venice gained some strategic territories in the Aegean Sea (three-eighths of the Byzantine Empire), including the islands of Crete and Euboea; moreover, some present day cities, such as Chania on Crete, have core architecture that is substantially Venetian in origin. The Aegean islands formed the Venetian Duchy of the Archipelago. The Republic of Venice signed a trade treaty with the Mongol Empire in 1221.

In 1295, Pietro Gradenigo sent a fleet of 68 ships to attack a Genoese fleet at Alexandretta, then another fleet of 100 ships were sent to attack the Genoese in 1299.

In late 14th century, Venice had to face difficulties on her eastern side, especially during the reign of Louis I of Hungary. In 1346 he made a first attempt to conquer Zadar, but was defeated. In 1356 an alliance was formed by the counts of Gorizia, Francesco I da Carrara, lord of Padua, Nicolaus, partiarch of Aquileia and his half brother emperor Charles IV, Louis I and the dukes of Austria. The league's troops occupied Grado and Muggia (1356), while Louis stripped Venice of most of Dalmatia. The siege of Treviso (July–September 1356) was a failure, but Venice suffered a severe defeat at Nervesa (13 January 1358), being forced to cede Dalmatia and Croatia to Hungary. From 1350 to 1381, Venice also fought an intermittent war with the Genoese. Initially defeated, they destroyed the Genoese fleet at the Battle of Chioggia in 1380 and retained their prominent position in eastern Mediterranean affairs at the expense of Genoa. However, the peace cause Venice to lose several territories to other participants to the war: Conegliano was occupied by the Austrians, Treviso was taken over by Carraresi, Tenedos fell to the Byzantine Empire, Trieste to the Patriarchate of Aquileia, and the Serenissima lost control of Dalmatia as well (to Hungary).

In 1363, a colonial revolt broke out in Crete that needed considerable military force and five years to suppress.