Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Maps of the Byzantine and Venetian worlds
- 1 Venice: the Byzantine province
- 2 Venice: the Byzantine protectorate
- 3 Venice: the ally of Byzantium
- 4 Venice: the partner of Byzantium
- 5 Byzantium, Venice and the First Crusade
- 6 The parting of the ways
- 7 The calm before the storm
- 8 The Fourth Crusade
- 9 Venice in Byzantium: the Empire of Romania
- 10 Venice: champion of a lost cause
- 11 Byzantium, Venice and the Angevin threat
- 12 Byzantium, Venice and Genoa
- 13 Conflicting interests and competing claims
- 14 Byzantium, Venice and the Turks
- 15 Byzantium: the victim of commercial rivalry
- 16 The profit and honour of Venice
- 17 Jewels for an island
- 18 Byzantium in thrall to the Turks and in debt to Venice
- 19 Byzantine optimism and Venetian vacillation
- 20 Byzantium the suppliant of Venice
- 21 The worst news for all of Christendom: Venice and the fall of Constantinople
- 22 Legacies and debts
- Byzantine Emperors
- Doges of Venice
- Bibliography
- Index
22 - Legacies and debts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 April 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Maps of the Byzantine and Venetian worlds
- 1 Venice: the Byzantine province
- 2 Venice: the Byzantine protectorate
- 3 Venice: the ally of Byzantium
- 4 Venice: the partner of Byzantium
- 5 Byzantium, Venice and the First Crusade
- 6 The parting of the ways
- 7 The calm before the storm
- 8 The Fourth Crusade
- 9 Venice in Byzantium: the Empire of Romania
- 10 Venice: champion of a lost cause
- 11 Byzantium, Venice and the Angevin threat
- 12 Byzantium, Venice and Genoa
- 13 Conflicting interests and competing claims
- 14 Byzantium, Venice and the Turks
- 15 Byzantium: the victim of commercial rivalry
- 16 The profit and honour of Venice
- 17 Jewels for an island
- 18 Byzantium in thrall to the Turks and in debt to Venice
- 19 Byzantine optimism and Venetian vacillation
- 20 Byzantium the suppliant of Venice
- 21 The worst news for all of Christendom: Venice and the fall of Constantinople
- 22 Legacies and debts
- Byzantine Emperors
- Doges of Venice
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The Venetians, who had made most out of the Fourth Crusade and the Latin conquest of Byzantium in 1204, and the Genoese, who had made most out of the empire's restoration in 1261, were the last of the Christians to abandon their possessions in the ruin of that empire. The Genoese in Galata made their own terms with the Turks, opening the gates to the Sultan's troops as soon as Constantinople had fallen and sending ambassadors to Mehmed II to congratulate him on his great victory. On 1 June 1453 the Sultan sent them their orders. They must demolish their walls and hand over their weapons. Galata would not be destroyed. Its Genoese merchants could trade safely and freely within the Ottoman Empire. But a Turkish governor would be installed and every male inhabitant must pay a poll tax. The Genoese had expected better things as a reward for their neutrality. They found it impossible to maintain their trade in the Black Sea now that the Turks controlled Constantinople and the Bosporos. For a time the Bank of St George in Genoa assumed the administration of the trading stations in the Crimea. But the risks were too great and the tolls that the Turks demanded were too high. Before the end of the fifteenth century all Genoese trade in the Black Sea, at Caffa, Tana and Trebizond, had ceased. Some of the other Genoese colonies in the Byzantine world, such as Lesbos and Chios, survived a while longer by paying tribute to the Sultan.
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- Byzantium and VeniceA Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations, pp. 408 - 422Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989