VENICE
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VENICE
which Vettor Pisani blockaded the Genoese fleet at
Chioggia, forcing it to surrender (1380). By the Peace
of Turin, however, Venice had to cede all Dahnatia to
Hungary, Trieste to the Patriarch of Aquileia, Treviso
to the Duke of Austria, Tenedos to Byzantium. But
the loss was soon recovered. The Genoese were
defeated near Modono in 1403; in 1406 Padua and all
the possessions of Francesco Carrara were taken and
the prince and his sons strangled in prison. Then
the Emperor Sigismund seized the Dalmatian coast,
while Verona and all the Scala possessions were
annexed between 1403 and 140.5 by Venice, which
not long after took FriuU, Udive, Feltre, and Belluno
from the Patriarch of Aquileia. In the meantime
the Venetian possessions had been growing in the
Morea and Albania (1390-1400), and the repubhc
was co-operating with the Christian princes against
the Ottomans.
In 1423 the republic joined the league of Francesco Gonzaga, Nicolo d'Este, and Florence against FiUppo Maria Visconti. Ve- netian troops routed the Visconti forces at Maclodio (1427), and Filippo Maria ceded Bergamo and Brescia to Venice. The war being renewed, the Venetian squadron defeated the Genoese alUes of the Visconti at Portofino (1431 1. When peace wa-^ made,Venice retains her acquisitions. In 1437 .she again alli' i herself with Flori-ncc against the Visconti, and the war lasted until 1441, when she had taken Ravenna from the Polenta. When Francesco Sforza became Duke of Milan, Vcn
Gesuitt, Gb.<n
united with the King of Naples against him, to
increase her territory on the mainland; but
Nicholas V brought about the Peace of Lodi
(14.54), which was designed to ensure Italian
equilibrium. So soon was Venice again embroiled
with Florence that it seemed as though she aimed
at dominating the whole peninsula, but she was
forced to keep still (1468). In 1480 a pretext was
made to serve for a war against the Duke of Ferrara.
Then all the Italian states united against the republic,
and even Sixtus IV, after the Venetian victory of
Velletri (1482), withdrew from his alliance with
Venice. Still, from this war, too, Venice carried off
an augmentation of her Italian territory. At the
same time, however, the Turks took from Venice the
greater part of the ^gean Islands, as well as Negro-
pont and all her possessions in the Morea, and pushed
their conquests as far as Friuli, threatening the
republic's Italian possessions. In J47',) Wnice had to
renounce all claims to the territory taken from her
by the Turks. Not less disastrous was the war
against the Turks from 1498 to 1503. These losses
were to some degree compensated by the acquisition
of Cyprus, ceded in 1489 by Caterina Cornaro, widow
of the last king, and Zante and Cephalonia. But
another great blow for Venice was the discovery of
the maritime route to India in 1498. To the dis-
covery of the New World two Venetians, Giovanni
Caboto and his son Sebastiano, contributed; with
English vessels they discovered Newfoundland,
Labrador, and Nova Scotia. Still more famous are
the travels of the Venetian Marco Polo in the interior
of Asia, extending as far as China, in the thirteenth
century.
After the accession of Juhus II and the fall of Cesare Borgia, the Venetians invaded the Romagna. JuUus II then formed the League of Cambrai, which, besides the pope and the princes of Southern Italy, included the emperor, Spain, and France, at that time mistress of the Duchy of Milan (1508). At first it seemed that the last hour of Venice had come; in Apu- lia the Spanish took the coast towns which Venice had occupied during the wars between France and Spain for the possession of Naples; at Agnadello the French defeated the bulk of the Venetian army, and Brescia, Cremona, and Peschiera were occupied by France (1509); the Venetians were driven out of Romagna, while other portions of their territory w'ere seized by the Gonzaga and the Duke of Ferrara. Maximilian had the imperial standard raised at Ve- rona, Vicenza, and Padua. But the pope and Spain, having accomplished their purpose, withdrew from the league, and the emperor was obHged to recross the Alps the same year. The poi)e formed another league, the Holy League (1511), against the French and their ItaUan allies, especially the Duke of Ferrara. On the death of Julius II, \'enice formed an alliance (League of Blois, 1513) with France for mutual assistance against the emjjeror, or against the Turks, or for the roei inquest of the " I ' incse. But the iiiiards and Im- ! lalists, having de- teated the French, occupied all the the mainland. The
LL, \'enICE
Venetian possessions unexpected arrival of Francis I in Italy (1515) made it possible, however, for Venice to recover everything. Again in 1521 and 1525 Venice was the ally of France against Spain, without suffering by the victories of Charles V. The Turks mean- while went on gaining victories; Venice joined the league of Spain and the pope, but, beUeving that she had been betrayed at the battle of Prevesa (1538), concluded an unfavourable peace with the Turks, paying them a tribute for the islands which she still retained. In 1569 the Sultan Selira II set about the conquest of Cyprus, which was heroically defended; the city of Famagosta was the last to surrender (18 August, 1571). Meanwhile an alliance had been formed with the pope and Spain, and the alUed fleet defeated the Turks at Lepanto (October, 1571). Venice, however, making peace on her own account, surrendered her claims to Cyprus. The republic was beginning to decline politically and commercially. The habits and customs of the feudal nobility had been introduced among the Venetian nobles, and thus an aristocracy had been formed without wealth, and which it was no longer possible to provide with offices in foreign possessions. This ruined nobility, with a keen appetite for luxury and pleasures, was a con- stant element of political disturbance and of foreign intrigue.
A serious difficulty with Pope Paul V arose out of the trial of certain priests by lay tribunals, contrary to the provisions which had then recently been made. Gaining nothing by an interdict, the pope prepared
