Timeline of the Republic of Venice

This article presents a detailed timeline of the history of the Republic of Venice from its legendary foundation to its collapse under the efforts of Napoleon.

5th century

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Early
  • Prehistoric Italy
  • Nuragic civilization (18th–3rd c. BC)
  • Etruscan civilization (12th–6th c. BC)
  • Magna Graecia (8th–3rd c. BC)
Ancient Rome
Romano-Barbarian Kingdoms
Odoacer's 476–493
Ostrogothic 493–553
Vandal 435–534
Lombard (independence) 565–774
Lombard (under the Frankish rule) 774–885
Frankish (as part of the Carolingian Empire) 885–961
Germanic (as part of the Holy Roman Empire) 961–1801
Early modern
    • Republic
    • Kingdom
Modern

Timeline

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  • 421: On Friday 25 March, the city of Venice is founded "at the stroke of noon"[dubious – discuss] according to legend[citation needed] by three consuls from Padua, with the establishment of a trading-post on the islands of the Rialto and a church dedicated to St. James.
  • 452 – Attila the Hun, from central Asia, invades Italy and sacks Aquileia
  • 466 – Representatives of the island communities meet in Grado to work out a rudimentary system of self-government through 12 tribunes elected annually.
  • 476 – Fall of the Western Roman Empire, after the deposition of Romulus Augustulus by Odoacer, a military leader in Italy of east German descent.
  • 493 – Odoacer is overthrown by Theodoric the Great, an Arian Christian who had received his education in Constantinople.

6th century

  • 535 – Byzantine Emperor Justinian I launches the campaign which will become the Gothic War (535–554) for the re-conquest of Italy
  • 539 – Ravenna is re-taken by the Emperor. The association of island communities and Istria are part of the Byzantine Empire
  • 567 – The Exarchate of Italy is established, based in Ravenna (and thus also known as the Exarchate of Ravenna) with a tribune appointed to rule over maritime Venice
  • 568 – Lombard, a Germanic tribe from the region of Hungary, invades Italy under King Alboin. Great numbers of refugees flee to the lagoons.
    • Bishop Paul of Altino hears “a voice from heaven” commanding him to climb to the top of a nearby tower and look to the stars for the path to where he must take his flock. They lead him to an island in the centre of the lagoon, later named Torcello “little tower” in memory of the one the bishop had climbed.
    • The people of Aquileia and their archbishop take refuge on the island of Grado. The See of Aquileia was traditionally founded by St. Mark the Evangelist, so its transferral is significant. The bishop thereafter bears the title of Patriarch of Grado
    • The people of Concordia Sagittaria flee to Caorle
    • The people of Padua choose Malamocco

7th century

  • 639 – Lombards capture Oderzo whose inhabitants flee to Cittanova which is renamed Heraclea in honor of the Byzantine Emperor
  • 697
    • According to legend, a general assembly of all the peoples of the lagoons is called to Heraclea by the Patriarch of Grado and elects a single ruler in place of the twelve tribunes – Paolo Lucio Anafesto – who is most probably Paul, the Exarch of Ravenna.
    • The newly erected Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello is consecrated.

8th century

9th century

  • 803 – Opposition to the Galbaii family forces Doge Giovanni Galbaio, with his son Christopher to flee to Mantua
  • 804
    • Obelerio degli Antenori is elected Doge and immediately associates his brother Beato to the Dogeship
    • The exiled Patriarch of Grado, Fortunatus, returns to Venice from the court of Charlemagne at Aachen and proposes that, in return for his being re-instated at Grado, and the Doge's acceptance of the authority of Charlemagne (who was crowned Emperor of the West by the Pope on Xmas Day AD 800) the Venetians could count on the protection of the Franks when needed. Doge Obelerio degli Antenori accepts.
  • 805
  • 809
    • Venetian recognition of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West is seen as treachery by the Eastern Emperor in Constantinople and a Byzantine fleet sails up the Adriatic and attacks a Frankish flotilla at the port of Comacchio situated to the south of the Venetian Lagoon. It is defeated.
    • Doge Obelerio and his brother Beato raise yet another brother, Valentino, to the Dogeship alongside them. It is one step too much for the Venetian people who rise up in opposition against them. Obelerio calls upon Charlemagne's son King Pepin of Italy installed at Ravenna to intervene on their behalf, as had been promised by the agreement of 804.
  • 810
    • King Pepin of Italy with his army and cavalry sets out from his capital Ravenna to invade the Venetian capital Malamocco, situated on the Lido. But the inhabitants of the lagoon put up fierce resistance under the leadership of Agnello Participazio from Rialto. The siege lasts six months and Pepin's army is ravaged by the diseases of the local swamps and forced to withdraw. A few months later Pepin dies
    • Doge Obelerio is deposed, and Agnello Participazio, who has defended Venice from the beginning, is chosen to replace him.
    • Former Doge Obelerio degli Antenori spends the next two decades in exile in Constantinople
  • 811 – Agnello Participazio is the eighth Venetian to hold the title of Doge. His Rialtine house on the present Campiello del Cason becomes the first Doge's Palace within the Venice we know today, soon to be rebuilt in stone next to the chapel of Saint Theodore which stood on the site now occupied by the Basilica of Saint Mark.
  • 827 – Giustiniano Participazio is elected Doge
  • 828 – Relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist arrive in Venice having been stolen from Alexandria in Egypt by the merchants Bono da Malamocco and Rustico da Torcello
  • 829 – Giovanni I Participazio arrested, and tonsured (head shaved like monk)
  • 832 – Former Doge Obelerio degli Antenori returns from two decades of exile in Constantinople with a band of faithful men to reclaim the Dogeship. He lands at Vigilia, near Malamocco, but the legitimate Doge, Giovanni Participazio, razes the two cities and kills Obelerio degli Antenori displaying his head in the market
  • 837 – Pietro Gradonico assassinated, although in this case his successor arrests and executes the assassins
  • 839 – The Venetian Navy conducts military operations against Croats, led by Mislav of Croatia, who sign a peace treaty with doge Pietro Tradonico[1][2]
  • 840 –
    • Pietro's military assault on the Narentines fails[1]
    • Pactum Lotharii demonstrates Venice's independence from the Byzantine Empire by signing its own treaties
    • Title of the Doge drops mention as province of the Byzantine Empire (Dux Venetiarum Provinciae becomes Dux Veneticorum
  • 841 – The Republic of Venice sends a fleet of 60 galleys (each carrying 200 men) to assist the Byzantines in driving the Arabs from Crotone, but fail
  • 846 – The Narentines breach Venice itself, and raid the neighbouring lagoon city of Caorle[1]
  • 864 – Orso I Participazio is elected Doge
  • 881 – Giovanni II Participazio resigns due to poor health
  • 887 – Narentines defeated Venetians near the town of Makarska, killing the Venetian doge Pietro I Candiano in open battle. Venetians start paying prince Branimir (879–892), an annual tribute for the right to travel and trade in the Adriatic Sea[1]
  • 888 – Pietro Tribuno is elected Doge

10th century

11th century

12th century

13th century

14th century

15th century

16th century

17th century

18th century

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Norwich, John Julius (1982). A History of Venice. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
  2. ^ Riazzoli, Mirko (2017-11-09). Cronologia di Venezia dalla fondazione ai giorni nostri. Youcanprint. ISBN 978-88-926-9405-7.
  3. ^ Singleton, Frederick Bernard (1985). A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples. Cambridge University Press. p. 107. ISBN 0-521-27485-0. Venetian siege in 948.
  4. ^ a b Weiner, Gordon M. (1970). "The Demographic Effects of the Venetian Plagues of 1575–77 and 1630–31". Genus. 26 (1/2). Sapienza University of Rome: 41–57. JSTOR 29787908.

Further reading

  • George Henry Townsend (1867), "Venetian Republic", A Manual of Dates (2nd ed.), London: Frederick Warne & Co.
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