HISTORY. The islands which later formed Venice served as a refuge for the inhabitants of Aquileia, Padua, and the neighboring cities dur ing the barbarian migrations. The invasion of Attila (452), the eanipaigns of holisarius against the Goths, and the invasion of the 1,0111h:this (568) drove many fugitives to the lagoons. The date commonly assigned for the foundation of Venice is 452, but the beginnings of its history are veiled in obscurity. In 461i twelve trilmues were chosen for the twelve principal islands; in 568 four bishops established their sees on the isl ands; and in 584 twelve additional tribunes were elected with greater power than the twelve pre viously chosen. For the next century Willey was practically independent of, although formally subject to, the Eastern. Empire. It. had tinually to fight against the Slavic pirates of the Dalmatian coast and the Lombards on the Ital ian mainland. These wars and internal dissen sions led to the appointment of a common head, the first Doge, in 687. During the following cen tury the islands were still disturbed by internal dissensions, but the danger caused by the attack of Pepin, son of Charles the Great, in 810, brought unity and led to the choice of the Rialto, in the midst of the lagoons. as the seat of govern meat. In 828 the reputed body of Saint Mark, who became the patron saint, was brought to Venice from Alexandria. Attacks by Saracens in 836 and by Ihmgarians in 900 were repulsed. Orseolo II., Who became Doge in 991, made a, commercial treaty with the Saracens,' thns be ginning the long-continued policy of Venice of trailing with the Mohammedans rather than fighting with them. Orseolo's reign was marked by a. great expansion. lie conquered the Dalma tian pirates and assumed the title of Duke of Dalmatia. This victory was celebrated annually by the SpoRali:io del map (espousal of the sea ), in which the Bucentaur (q.v.) was later the cen tral feature. The family of Orseolo attempted to make the dogeship hereditary, and this led to a. revolution. Two privy councilors (later six) were appointed to assist the Doge, and the lat ter was compelled to invite (prepare) the assist ance of prominent citizens. This was the germ of the Pregadi or senate. The Crusades greatly promoted the growth of Venice as a commercial State. Linder Enrico Dandolo (q.v.) she played the leading ride in the Fourth Crusade, which ended in the conquest of Constantinople in 1204. She received a large share of the Eastern Empire, and became the strongest power in the :Mediter ranean. Constitutionally the period was marked by the creation of the Grand Council in 1176. destined to curb the power of both the Doge and the people in the interest of the wealthy citi zens. In the thirteenth century the Doge's power was lessened. and in 1297 by the closing of the Grand Council to new-comers the oligarchy of nobles secured supreme power. 'The conspiracy Of Tiepolo in 1310 against the rule of the oli garchy led to the appointment of tin executive committee, the Council of Ten, which was made a permanent body in 1335. The Ten, although renewed by election each year, beeatne the real governing force in the State. With some changes and additions the government retained the form then fixed until the fall of the Republic. The Grand Council may be said to have contained the whole body politic. The roll of the noble fam ilies who were entitled to representation in the council was called the Golden Bonk. (See 1.1nRo n'Ono.) Alcove it were the Senate or Pregadi of 160, the chief legislative body, and the Council of Ten with executive and judicial functions. Still higher in power was the college or cabinet of 'sages; who prepared time State business for the Senate or the Ten. Above the college were the six ducal councilors. who really performed the thief duties of the Doge. The Doge presided over all these bodies. His position was magnificent ;
his powers were strictly limited. The history of Venice in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was marked by struggles with her colonies, with Genoa, and with the Carrara family, who held Padua. ller colonies were reduced to subjection; her great rival, Genoa,was humbled by the war Chioggia (1378-80) ; the Carrara were finally forced to become vassals. In these struggles, some of which were almost fatal to her existence, Venice was forced to build up a land empire in the north of Italy as a base of food supplies. By 1405 she held Treviso, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, and the adjacent lands. Brescia and Bergamo were soon after annexed. In 1473 Cyprus came under Venetian dominion. At this time Venice was the leading maritime State of Christendom. She traded with the whole civilized world. The State owned 3300 vessels, manned by 36.000 men. Venice had become a city of merchant princes, who lavished their wealth upon magnificent palaces and the patronage of painters, and sculptors. But her success on the mainland aroused new enenffiLs; after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Republic had to face a struggle with the Turks, in which she lost gradually most. of her possessions in the dorea and the Archi pelago; the discovery of the sea route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope (1497-98) gave a fatal blow to her commerce, and corruption began to appear in the city itself. Outwardly this was the most splendid period in her history; in reality her power was already waning. The decisive blow came in 1508, when the German Enmpero•, the Pope, France. and Spain combined against Venice in the League of Cambrai to 'divide her dominions among themselves. In the struggle Venice at one time had lost all of her possessions on the mainland. but by diplomacy she detached one power after another from the League, and in 1516 she again held all her former possessions; hut she never regained her former power. From this time. protected by the impregnable position of the capital, she exerted herself by diplomacy merely to retain her posi tion. Only in the East did Venice show her old energy. There, almost single-handed, she struggled against the. Turks, but in vain. In 157 1 she lost Cyprus, silthough she and her allies won the naval battle of Lepanto. In 1669 Crete was lost after a war of twenty-five years. In 1718, by the Peace of l'assarowitz, the INIorea, after having been for a short time again in the pos session of the Republic, was ceded to Turkey. Tho morals of the citizens declined steadily, and in the eighteenth century Venire was a city of pleasure for the rest of Europe, and was marked by its constant f?tes :Ind extravagant life. In 1797 the Venetian Republic was extinguished by Bonaparte, and in the Peace 14 Campo Vermin 11104 of its possessions (including lstria amid Da Imo t ia ) were transferred to Aims! rift. Prance taking the Ionian Islands. Tn 1803 trin was e0111p1.11141 to cede her Venetian dominions to the Kingdom of Italy. She retained them in 1814, and in 1815 Venetia and Lombardy were constituted the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. In 1848 Venice revolted under Daniele 3lanin but in 1849 Austrian dominion was reestablished. In 1860 Austria relinquished Venetia, which was incorporated with Italy. See SEVEN WEEKS' \VAR. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Romanin, Storia doeunicntcaa di Venezia (10 vols., Venice. 1853-61) ; Hare, Venice (London, 18'84) ; Vie!, Venice (ib., 1894) ; Molinier, Vcnisc, scs arts (h'coratifs. sc•s musc'es (Paris, 1889) ; Brown, Venice (New York, 1593) ; Papadopoli, Le nionete di nczia descritte ed il 1893) ; Balten and Geuter, Venc dig (Linz, 1895) ; Mohnenti, (Florence, 1897) ; "Reading List on Venice." in Yen, York, State Library Bulletin, Bibliography, vol. vii. (Albany, 1898) ; Carew Hazlitt, The Venetian Republic (London, 1900).