Andrea Dandolo

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the eponymous Duca di Candia and fleet leader of the Republic of Venice see Andrea Dandolo (Duca di Candia) († September 1298).

Andrea Dandolo kneels in front of St. Markus, ducat , also called zecchino, from his reign, Museo Correr , Venice

Andrea Dandolo's coat of arms

Andrea Dandolo (born April 30, 1306 ; † September 7, 1354 in Venice ) was from January 4, 1343 until his death - according to his own way of counting - 54th Doge of Venice . Dandolo, who was by no means friends with Francesco Petrarca , as often claimed, promoted literature, but also administration and justice. With the Extensa he wrote one of the most important chronicles of the Republic of Venice. It goes back to 1280 and became the basis of most of the following histories. The opus was continued by its Grand Chancellor Rafaino de 'Caresini until 1388.

family

The Dandolo family played an important role in the history of Venice from the 12th to the 15th centuries. It has been documented since the 11th century. Andrea was a member of the twelve most respected, influential and oldest families in Venice, the so-called "apostolic" families. These large groups, defined by their mere kinship, included the Badoer, Barozzi, Contarini , Falier, Gradenigo , Memmo, Michiel, Morosini, Polani, Sanudo and Tiepolo as well as the Dandolo . Especially with the Tiepolo, the Dandolo were in competition for the lead. According to legend, the dandolo appeared around 727 when the (perhaps first) Doge Orso was elected , to whose family several of the oldest families in Venice can be traced back. They provided a total of four doges: apart from Andrea the doges Giovanni Dandolo , then Francesco and Enrico Dandolo . Two women in the family were married to Dogen, Giovanna Dandolo to Pasquale Malipiero and Zilia Dandolo to Lorenzo Priuli .

Andrea Dandolo's father was Fantino from the S. Luca family. This appears in 1312 under the electors of Doge Giovanni Soranzo . In addition to Andrea, he had other children, namely a Marco, of whom nothing is known, and a Simone, Provveditore of the army fighting for Zara in 1345, then Podestà of Treviso, and finally one of the iudices of Doge Marino Falier . A sister named Agnese, who lived as a nun in S. Giovanni di Torcello, appears in a will.

Education, Procurator of San Marco, political career

Fantino, Andrea's father, died on August 13, 1324. Andrea Dandolo studied law, possibly at the University of Padua . His contemporary Guglielmo Cortusi calls Dandolo a “legali scientia decoratus”, and in a document of December 13, 1333 he is called an “iurisperitus”. Since he later also worked in the legal sector, this seemed to later authors sufficient evidence for a doctorate there. The allegation that he taught rights in Padua may be due to a mix-up with his nephew Fantino. Marino Sanuto's claim in his Vite de 'duchi that Andrea Dandolo was a student of Riccardo Malombra seems unbelievable , because this celebrated lawyer only taught in Padua between 1295 and 1315. Despite all the uncertainty about his legal training, it is still evident that he at the same time received a broad education that also included philosophy and history. This is evident not only from his own work as a historian, but also from two letters from Petrarch in 1351 and 1352.

The Ca 'Farsetti , in municipal ownership since 1826, and the City Hall of Venice, also known as Palazzo Dandolo Farsetti, lived in Andrea Dandolo throughout his life. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1524. In 1664 it was bought by the Tuscan Farsetti family, who had just been accepted into the Grand Council.

At the age of 22 he became the procurator of San Marco . Although he received many votes against because of his youth, his qualities must have been outstanding so that he still received a majority. Probably, as a document dated October 4, 1328 shows, he was elected procuratore de supra. In doing so, he probably succeeded Marino Badoer, who died in March of the same year, in office. During his time as procurator, i.e. from 1328 to 1343, he was repeatedly named Savio , an expert for certain tasks, as was customary in Venice. He also served as a negotiator, for example on a legation trip to Ancona with Giovanni Contarini. On November 10, 1336 he initiated, together with Marco Loredan, the registration of the property of the St. Mark's Basilica . In May 1340 he was one of the five Provveditori al Frumento . These were responsible for the grain supply, especially, as the name suggests, for the supply of the main grain, wheat. Further tasks arose in the course of the city expansion. On April 13, 1341, he was among the Savi , who were responsible for widening the alley between San Bartolomeo and San Giovanni Crisostomo .

Dandolo's activities in the military or, in the narrower sense, political field turned out to be inventions of later times. These may have served his justification. As a provveditore , he hardly took part in the fight of 1336 against the Scaligeri of Verona, at least his name does not appear in any relevant document. In any case, he was in Venice that spring and winter of that year. The claim that he was Podestà of Treviso in 1333 is also considered unlikely. This is on the one hand with a resolution of the Grand Council of December 30, 1305, which explicitly forbade the Procurators of San Marco the election to another office "vel regimen". In addition, a Giovanni Vigonza is occupied as Podestà for this year. In addition, Andrea Dandolo stayed in Trieste on December 13, 1333 , where he was invested by the bishop in goods near Pirano in Istria.

The fact that there was a “comes” among the three Savi , which the Consiglio dei Rogati , the later Senate, dealt on March 31, 1332 with the investigation of the disputes between Marino Barbarigo and the commune of Zara, is probably due to mere identical names and thus confusion . The mere fact that this Andrea Dandolo is named without the title of procurator speaks against an identity with the future doge. This man of the same name appears again in a decision of the said Rogati of February 4, 1333. There he appears as Comes of Grado and Savio in the aforementioned conflict. It is probably a son of Marco the Dandolo of San Severo , who became Bailò of Negroponte in 1337 .

Doge's Office

When he was only 37 years old, he was elected Doge. Already after the death of Doge Francesco Dandolo on October 1, 1339, the applicant Andrea Dandolo was in competition with the applicants Marino Falier and Bartolomeo Gradenigo . With the support of the Dandolo followers, Gradenigo was chosen because the Dandolo rejected the Falier. But the new doge died after just over three years on December 28, 1342. At that time Andrea Dandolo was one of the five Correttori della promissione ducale who were supposed to revise the oath that every doge had to swear when taking office. Andrea Dandolo was elected on January 4, 1343, but only, according to Cortusi, because they could not agree on an older candidate. On the one hand, the prestige of the family, which had already provided three doges, certainly contributed to this. But his previous work, his role as procurator, his education and, last but not least, his work as a historian spoke for him. Just the previous year he had completed his Chronica brevis , a brief history of the Republic of Venice up to 1342.

Venetian colonies and bases

During his tenure there were serious political conflicts, for example with Hungary over Zara, but also the Crusade of Smyrna . There are also disasters such as the Friuli earthquake in 1348 , but above all the Black Death . The outbreak of the third Venetian-Genoese war (1350-1355) overshadowed his term of office, during which a trade agreement was concluded with the Mamluk Sultan al-Salih Ismail . Only the first two years of his term in office were comparatively peaceful. The rule over Treviso was not yet consolidated, an alliance was formed with the hospitallers on Rhodes and with Cyprus. In 1344 the conflict with the Patriarch of Aquileia could be settled as well as with Alberto von Gorizia about Istria, but in August 1345 the uprising of Zara began, which shook the rule of Venice over Dalmatia. In December 1345 the anti-Turkish league was renewed and extended by two years. But when the Genoese conquered Chios in the spring of 1346, Venice lost interest in this alliance. The uprising of Zara was enormously explosive when King Louis of Hungary turned the city against Venice in order to incorporate Zara into his kingdom. But on July 1, 1346, the Hungarians were defeated under the walls of Zara and the city had to surrender. The corresponding document was issued on December 15, 1346. In this context, the Cronica Iadretina , a propaganda work, was created, which should show the good relations between Zara and Venice. The work was attributed to either Benintendi Ravignani or Raffaino de 'Caresini, who worked in the Dogenkanzlei.

But first Dandolo devoted himself to reforming the state in order to reduce social conflicts. It took him three years to put the compilation of laws together. His belief in the power of the law remained unbroken. In the future, documents and contracts should regulate the relationship with neighboring powers, no longer mere force. At his instruction, the Liber Albus and the Liber Blancus were created in 1346. His larger work, the Extensa , also served this principle of placing all relationships on a legal basis and legitimizing relationships .

The Aegean Sea in the 14th Century

The most violent conflict during his tenure, however, was the battle with Genoa, whereby the relationship between the two powers had become bitter, especially after the conquest of Chios. The dispute over access to the Black Sea after the Khan of the Golden Horde had forced the traders there to withdraw had initially settled. The treaty of April 27, 1344, which even the Pope had approved, was intended to at least partially compensate for the resulting losses. The tension between Genoa and Venice increased so much that Venice unilaterally resumed trade with the Crimea. But the open conflict was still a long time coming, because in 1347 there was a severe rise in prices in Venice, an earthquake on January 25, 1348 and immediately afterwards the first outbreak of the plague, which lasted six months. 60% of the population may have fallen victim to this catastrophe, which, according to Brunetti estimates, amounts to 45,000 to 50,000 deaths. Over 50 noble families disappeared. The Grand Council then asked the Pregadi to take measures to repopulate, which brought numerous foreigners to the city. On September 17, 1348, Capodistria rose against Venice, but the uprising was quickly suppressed.

The expulsion of some Venetian traders from Kaffa, the main emporium in the Crimea, finally triggered the long awaited war with Genoa. In August 1350 the war was decided and 35 galleys ran out. The fleet achieved its first success off Castro near Negroponte, where ten galleys were driven out in September. In return, Genoa attacked Negroponte, where they looted and burned the port. In early 1351 Venice allied itself with Peter IV of Aragon and with Johannes Kantakuzenos , who had usurped the throne of Byzantium. The allies brought together 89 galleys, but there was no battle for all of 1351. At the beginning of winter, 64 galleys of Genoa retreated to Pera under the command of Paganino Doria, while the allies wintered in Candia, the capital of Crete. Neither Pope Clement VI. even Petrarch, who wrote a long letter to Dandolo, managed to end the war. In February 1352, the open war began again, but the murderous battle in the Bosporus ended in a draw, although both sides claimed to have won. In a letter dated April 21, Dandolo reported the happy outcome to his ally in Aragon. As the Allies withdrew, it seems reasonable to assume that the Genoese had gained an advantage.

Milan under the Visconti (1339–1402)

When Kantakuzenos switched sides, the Venetians allied themselves with the overthrown Johannes V. Palaiologos . In exchange for a credit of 20,000 ducats, he left them the island of Tenedos on October 10, 1352 until the end of the war. In the waters off Alghero the allies achieved an important victory on August 29, 1353, because the Genoese fleet was largely destroyed (Battle of La Lojera). In return, Genoa submitted to Giovanni Visconti, Signor of Milan. Venice, for its part, sought allies it found in Mantua, Verona and Faenza, as well as the Margrave of Ferrara and Charles IV of Luxembourg. With these allies behind them, Venice rejected the Visconti's offer of peace. Petrarch stayed as envoy for a month in early 1354. Andrea Dandolo, however, avoided any personal contact. As Petrarch complained, the Doge did not even answer the letter he had written to him on May 28, 1354. In a letter from Grand Chancellor Benintendi Ravignani, however, there is an alleged letter from the Doge of June 13, 1354, possibly a protective claim in favor of Dandolo.

Now a fleet of Genoa invaded the Adriatic and destroyed Curzola and Lesina; Paganino Doria broke the barrier around Genoa and destroyed Parenzo . The Senate now entrusted the defense of the Venice lagoon to Paolo Loredan on August 14, 1354. Twelve nobles were subordinate to him, two per sestiere , each with 300 men at their disposal. A forced loan followed on August 17th, those capable of weapons were counted and a chain locked the port of Lido .

Death and offspring

The Doge's state of health, bad at the beginning of the conflict, deteriorated rapidly in the summer of 1354. The last document he signed was dated July 16. From August 31, he was represented by the Consigliere Marino Badoer. On September 3, Andrea Dandolo dictated his will, in which he took care of his wife Francesca Morosini († 1374, perhaps early 1375), his brother Simone, his sister Agnese, the sons Fantino, Leonardo and the daughter Zanetta as well as the niece Bertuccia. He died four days later. His body was buried in the chapel of the Baptistery of San Marco.

His first-born son Fantino married Beriola Falier, niece of the aforementioned Doge. He died around 1356. Leonardo held a number of important offices and died in 1406. Zanetta married a Loredan.

Tomb

Andrea Dandolo is the last doge to be buried in San Marco. His tomb is in the baptistery of the church, which he himself furnished with a comprehensive mosaic program. His wish to be buried in the main church itself and not in the annex was not taken into account. A version of the funeral oration was written by Petrarch, but not attached. The actual epitaph is from an unknown author. The sarcophagus with the reclining figure of the Doge is attached to the wall on brackets. Two angel figures hold the curtains of a canopy to one side and thus grant a view of the Doge. A motif that was subsequently often imitated on tombs.

Unprinted sources

• Venice State Archives , Procuratori de supra , b. 1 (Commissaria del Dandolo).
• Biblioteca Marciana , Mss. It., Cl. VII, 128a (= 8639).
• Gian Giacomo Caroldo , Historia di Venetia, f. 190v-231v.

Source editions

• Gottlieb Lukas Friedrich Tafel , Georg Martin Thomas (ed.): The Doge Andreas Dandolo and the document collections created by him on the state and commercial history of Venice: With the original registers of the Liber Albus, the Liber Blancus and the Libri Pactorum from the Vienna archive , G. Franz, Munich 1855. ( digitized version )
• Guillelmi de Cortusiis Chronica de novitatibus Paduae et Lombardiae (= Rerum Italicarum Scriptores , XII), Milan 1728, col. 909
• Marino Sanuto : Vitae ducum Venetorum , (= Rerum Italicarum Scriptores , XXII), Milan 1733, coll. 609–628.
• Giovanni Battista Verci : Storia della Marca Trivigiana e Veronese , Vol. XII, Venice 1789, n. 1412-1414, pp. 33-41.
• Riccardo Predelli (Ed.): I libri commemoriali della Repubblica di Venezia. Regesti , Vol. II, Venice 1878, ll. III, n.382; IV, n.33; V, n.57.
• Georg Martin Thomas, Riccardo Predelli : Diplomatarium Veneto Levantinum sive acta et diplomata res Venetas Graecas atque Levantis illustrantia , Vol. I (1300-1350), Vol. II (1351-1454), Venice 1880-1899, Vol. I, doc. 136-176; Vol. II, doc. 1-10.
• Ester Pastorello (ed.): Raphayni de Caresinis Chronica (= Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, 2 ^a ed.), Vol. XII, 2, pp. 3-9.
• Vittorio Rossi (ed.): Francesco Petrarca, Le Familiari , Vol. II, Florence 1934, XI, 8, pp. 340-348; Vol. III, Florence 1937, XV, 4, pp. 139-143, XVIII, 16, pp. 302-308 (letters to Dandolo).
• Promissione del doge Andrea Dandolo , in: Ester Pastorello: Introduzione , S. LXXIX – CII.
• Roberto Cessi , Mario Brunetti (eds.): Le deliberazioni del Consiglio dei Rogati (Senato), "Series Mixtorum", II, Libri XV-XVI , Venice 1961, l. XV, 53, 363, 404, 513.
• Roberto Cessi, Fanny Bennato (eds.): Venetiarum historia vulgo Petro Iustiniano Iustiniani filio adiudacata , Venice 1964, pp. 225-240.

Historiography

• Debra Pincus: Hard Times and Ducal Radiance. Andrea Dandolo and the Construction of the Ruler in Fourteenth-Century Venice , in: John Jeffries Martin, Dennis Romano (Eds.): Venice Reconsidered. The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297-1797 , Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, pp. 89-136.
• Silvana Collodo: Temi e caratteri della cronachistica veneziana in volgare del Tre-Quattrocento (EnricoDandolo) , in: Studi veneziani IX (1967) 145 f.
• Antonio Carile : La cronachistica veneziana (secoli XII-XVI) difronte alla spartizione della Romania nel 1204 , Florence 1968, pp. 3–7, 180 f., 191 f. and passim.
• Girolamo Arnaldi : Andrea Dandolo doge-cronista , in: Agostino Pertusi : La storiografia veneziana finoal secolo XVI. Aspetti e problemi , Florence 1970, pp. 127-268.
• Antonio Carile: Aspetti della cronachistica veneziana nei secc. XIII e XIV , in: A. Pertusi: La storiografia veneziana finoal secolo XVI. Aspetti e problemi , Florence 1970, pp. 80, 97 f., 102ff, 108, 115ff.
• Maria Mercè Costa: Sulla battaglia del Bosforo (1352) , in: Studi veneziani XIV (1972) 197-210.
• Henry Simonsfeld : Andrea Dandolo and his history works , Munich 1876 (Italian: Benedetto Morossi: Andrea Dandolo e le sue opere storiche , in: Archivio veneto XIV [1877] 49–149).

literature

• Giorgio Ravegnani: Dandolo, Andrea , in: Massimiliano Pavan (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Vol. 32, Rome 1986, pp. 432-440.
• Şerban Marin: A Double Pathfinder's Condition: Andrea Dandolo and His Chronicles , in: Annuario. Istituto Romeno di Cultura e Ricerca Umanistica 12-13 (2010-2011) 41-122. ( academia.edu )
• Debra Pincus: The Tombs of the Doges of Venice , Cambridge 2000.
• Alvise Loredan: I Dandolo , Varese 1981, pp. 282-301, 312 f.
• Lino Lazzarini: "Dux Zonen Danduleus". Andrea Dandolo e la cultura veneziana a metà del Trecento , in: Giorgio Padoan (ed.): Petrarca, Venezia e il Veneto , Florenz 1976, pp. 123–156
• Michel Balard : A propos de la bataille du Bosphore. L'expédition génoise de Paganino Doria à Constantinople (1351-1352) , in Travaux et Mémoires, IV (1970) 431-469.
• Giorgio Cracco : Società e Stato nel Medioevo veneziano (secc. XII-XIV) , Florence 1967, pp. 399-440
• Andrea Da Mosto : I dogi di Venezia nella vita pubblica e privata , Milan 1960, pp. 112-118.
• Ester Pastorello : Andrea Danduli Chronica per extensum descripta , Introduzione on p. III-CVI.
• Heinrich Kretschmayr : History of Venice , Vol. II, Gotha 1920, pp. 205–210.
• Luigi Genuardi: La "Summula Statutorum Floridorum Veneciarum" by Andrea Dandolo , in Nuovo Archivio veneto, ns, XI (1911) 436-467.
• Mario Brunetti: Venezia durante la peste del 1348 , Venice 1909.
• Vittorio Lazzarini : Il testamento del doge Andrea Dandolo , in Nuovo Archivio veneto, ns, VII (1904) 139–141.
• Walter Lenel: The emergence of the supremacy of Venice on the Adriatic , Strasbourg 1897, pp. 85-103.
• Samuele Romanin : Storia documentata di Venezia , Vol. III, Venice 1855, pp. 147–175.

Web links

Commons : Andrea Dandolo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ^ Louise Buenger Robbert : Art. Dandolo Family , in: Christopher Kleinhenz (Ed.): Medieval Italy. An Encyclopedia , Routledge, 2004, p. 277 f., Here: p. 277.
2. ↑ Giuseppe Gullino: Dandolo, Fantino , in: Dictionnaire Biografico degli Italiani, Vol 32 (1986)..

predecessor	Office	successor
Bartolomeo Gradenigo	Doge of Venice 1343-1354	Marino Faliero