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
18 - Byzantium in thrall to the Turks and in debt to Venice
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 war between Venice and Genoa that had begun at Tenedos in 1376 ended at Chioggia in 1381. It was the most destructive of all the wars between the two republics. Among its heroes on the Venetian side were Vettore Pisani, nephew of the Nicolò Pisani who had disgraced himself at Porto Lungo in 1354, and Carlo Zeno, who had distinguished himself at Tenedos. Among those who worked for a Genoese victory were King Louis the Great of Hungary and Francesco da Carrara of Padua. Venice could count on at least the moral support of King Peter II of Cyprus, whose island had been seized by the Genoese in 1373, and on the more active help of Bernabo Visconti of Milan. Neither side sought or expected the Byzantine Emperors to take part. The battles were fought too far away from Constantinople. Chioggia lies at the south-western tip of the lagoons of Venice. It was there that the last phase of the war was fought. The Genoese occupied the town in August 1379. Venice was encircled. Through the heroic efforts of its Doge and people what looked like certain defeat and destruction was turned into triumph. In December the Doge Andrea Contarini and Vettore Pisani, at the head of a hastily rebuilt fleet, sailed down to Chioggia and closed its harbour. The Genoese were hemmed in with no means of escape. On 1 January Carlo Zeno arrived from the east with reinforcements. The blockade of Chioggia continued for six months until the 4000 Genoese, reduced to starvation and seeing no hope of rescue, surrendered in June 1380.
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- Byzantium and VeniceA Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations, pp. 317 - 337Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989