Carola (wife of Doge Obelierius)

Carola is the later invented name of a Frankish court lady who married the Venetian doge Obelierius around 805. Her name has not been passed down, but from the 14th century she is listed in chronicles, then often in lists of the Dogaresse , as "Carola". The latter claim is still linked to the statement that she was the first Dogaressa. The designation as Dogaressa, however, is a back projection of late medieval and modern conditions into the past, because in the early Middle Ages the wives of the Doges did not have a special state symbolic role, and the corresponding designation did not yet exist. Such a wife was first mentioned around 1000, when the chronicler Johannes Diaconus referred to a doge's wife as ductrix , i.e. with the feminine form of the official title dux . The marriage between the lady-in-waiting and the doge was supposed to seal the political change of Venice, or Malamocco , which at that time was still the capital of the lagoon of Venice , to the Frankish side, which angered Malamocco against the Eastern Roman-Byzantine forces within the lagoon and called the Byzantine fleet on the scene.

Since the lagoon 804 became part of the Franconian sphere for a few years, Obelerius and his brother Beatus appeared at the end of 805, as did the Patriarch Fortunatus , but also the Bishop of Zara as a representative of the Dalmatians at the court of Charlemagne in Diedenhofen , to represent the cities of the lagoon and all of Dalmatia. Relations between Venice and the Carolingians were now regulated by an ordinatio de ducibus et populis tam Venetiae quam Dalmatiae , as stated in the Annales regni Francorum . However, the details have not been passed down. In short, Stefan Weinfurter says: "Charlemagne occupied the territories [ie Dalmatia and Veneto] in 805/806 ... In 808 Byzantium was again in control of the situation." When the Byzantine fleet appeared at the entrance to the lagoon, Fortunatus fled while Obelerius and his brother met and subjugated fellow dog Beatus. Obelerius received the title of a Spatharius (sword-bearer), with which he was externally subject to the Byzantine rule. The naval commander Nicetas managed to conclude an agreement with Pippin , King of Italy and son of Charlemagne. The Byzantine fleet returned to Constantinople in the summer of 807 . Some of the pro-Franconian men were taken along. Beatus, who also sailed to Constantinople, received the title of Hypathus ( Ipato ) in the capital, only to return to Venice. In the end Obelierius, who stood in the way of a peace treaty, was handed over to Byzantium, his brother Beatus died in 811. Obelerius tried to regain power around 829, but was killed in the process. What happened to "Carola" is not known, although it has occasionally been claimed that she was lynched when her husband was finally overthrown.

reception

Andrea Dandolo , author of the most influential chronicles for later historiography, writes in his Chronica per extensum descripta after Obelierius and Beatus had been deposed and their brother Valentinus remained in office: “De Obelierio itaque duce alii scripserunt, quod dum galicam quendam nobilem haberet uxorem , promissionibus allectus, ad regem perexit, offerens venetum dominium sibi contradere, nec perfecit ut premissum est; iudicatusque indignus ducatu et patria a Venetis exulatus permanist. ”Some, so Dandolo, write that Obelierius tried in vain to use his 'Gallic, noble wife' as a lever with the king in order to save his rule.

In the historiography , the nameless Franconian was occasionally referred to as the daughter of Charlemagne. The Cronica di Venexia detta di Enrico Dandolo. Origini - 1362 also claims in the 14th century that in the end, Emperor Karl personally visited the Lido and apologized for falling victim to Obelerius' intrigues. Everything that happened should be forgotten as if it had never happened. Charles also recognized the borders of Venice, which had been confirmed since the Lombard king " Lioprando " and the "first Doge Paulutio ". In addition, Obelerius married a Frankish woman in Aachen who was a daughter of Karl in the chronicle, but whose name is not mentioned. Karl knew that the doge came from a noble clan, and so he gave him one of his daughters to be his legitimate wife, whom he furnished with extremely extensive goods: “sapiendo miser Hobeliero homo nobelisimo et de stirpe regal usido, sì lli concesse una sua fiola per sua legiptima moier, honorando et donando de grandissimo aver. “The idea that the Franconian was a daughter of Karl persisted well into the 20th century. Jerusha D. Richardson contradicted this view in 1914, who said that there was "no proof that she was one of the great Charles's many daughters".

Numerous speculative assumptions were made about this troubled and extremely poor time. Even Marco Antonio Sabellico († 1506) tried in his work Dell'historia venitiana to curb the rampant tradition. So he lists the different opinions on the question of whether Charles or his son would have led the fleet against Venice, or how the Doge was murdered, in order to contrast these views. Some would also claim that the “moglie Francese” - meaning “Carola” - was killed together with Obelerio. This seemed correct as long as it was assumed that the Doge had already been murdered in 810. The claim that Obelerio was killed by the Venetians immediately after the Franks withdrew was common in Sabellico's time, whereas today it is believed that he was only killed between 829 and 831 when he tried to revolt by Malamocco to come to power. As a result, it was opinionio communis in the 16th century that the nameless Franconia was also killed after Charles or Pippin's departure - there was long disagreement on this.

Samuele Romanin knew the manuscripts of the Biblioteca Marciana very well and, as so often, found a reference to the motif of Obelerius, leaving Venice to the Franks, this time in the “Codex DLI della Marc.”, As he briefly states (vol. 1, p. 140, note 1). It says about the Doge Obelerius "alii scripserunt quo tum gallicam quidem nobilem haberet uxorem, promissionibus allectus ad regem perexit offerens dominium sibi contradere" (p. 140). This notion that the Doge's Frankish wife had caused him to betray him was taken up again and again later.

Why Obelierius changed fronts several times is unclear. Nevertheless, "Carola", as Pompeo Molmenti calls the Franconian wife of the Doge in 1884, is said to have seduced her husband to betrayal. Molmenti now attributes this to Andrea Dandolo's chronicle from the 14th century. According to Molmenti, the lady-in-waiting is said to have met Doge Obelerius at the court of Charlemagne in 805 in Aachen. In Francesco Protonotari's Nuova antologia of 1884 she was even “donna di nazione franca e traditrice della onesta e cordiale ospitalità veneziana” (695), “woman of Franconian origin and traitor of the honorable and warm Venetian hospitality”.

The work of Edgcumbe Staley The Dogaressas of Venice (The Wives of the Doges) , which appeared in London in 1910 , proves to be completely uncritical of the contradictory “Venetian tradition”, as the state-controlled tradition of history, including the rampant additions, is often referred to . It simply lists everything that appears in any source. It says explicitly: "The first actual Dogaressa - not merely the wife of the Doge, but the First Lady in Venice and his official consort, was a Frenchwoman - the countess Carola, - a lady of honor at Aix-la-Chapelle" . So without further ado she became the first actual Dogaressa, Countess Carola, lady-in-waiting in Aachen . If one follows the dubious work, she was of an energetic character, a woman who was both obedient and respectful. But Staley goes even further by making the claim that Beato had intrigued against his brother and tried to get the Byzantine emperor to marry a princess named Cassandra in order to oust Obelerio and Carola. For her part, Carola has now brought the attractive Valentino, the youngest of the three Doge brothers, together with the princess. But she has now also fallen in love with the youngest of the three brothers. When a Byzantine fleet appeared in front of Venice, Obelerio saw in it a support for his brother Beato, so he asked for help from the Franks. In turn, the Byzantines would have viewed this as a hostile act, so they are said to have destroyed Eraclea , Jesolo , Fossone , Chioggia and other ports. The two brothers with their wives Carola and Cassandra were then captured and taken to Constantinople, where all four died.

As with Staley, until well into the 20th century there was no sense that there was any difference between a Doge's wife and a Dogaressa. Andrea Da Mosto lists the doge wife of the early 9th century as "dogaressa" in 1939, as does Umberto Franzoi in 1986, who explicitly mentions the lady-in-waiting under the name "Carola" as "dogaressa". Marcello Brusegan still claims the name "Carola" in 2006 in his work I personaggi che hanno fatto grande Venezia , Newton Compton, 2006, p. 457. She is still the first Dogaressa on his list.

After John Julius Norwich , neither Obelerius nor his brother Beatus had any sympathy for the Franks, yet they allegedly paid homage to the emperor in Aachen at Christmas 805 . Obelerius even went so far as to look for a wife for himself from the women of the court, who for Norwich was also the “first Dogaressa known to history”. Nantas Salvalaggio even believed that Obelerio had 'pushed his submissiveness so far that he married a lady-in-waiting', the first dogaressa in Venice.

At Staley there is a woman who is said to have been Dogaressa even before "Carola". Gino Benzoni calls the tradition uncertain (“tradizione incerta”), which names a “Marzia di Enrico, principe d'Este” and a “Carola francese”. "Martia d'Este", as listed by Staley, appears again as early as 1570 in the Discendenza de Principi di Este , thus in the descent of the Princes of Este.

supporting documents

1. ↑ Holly S. Hurlburt: The Dogaressa of Venice, 1200-1500 , Springer, 2006, p. 206, note 13.
2. ^ Annales regni Francorum, 1895, p. 121.
3. ^ Stefan Weinfurter : Charlemagne. The holy barbarian , Piper, 2015, p. 239.
4. ↑ Pietro Marcello : Vite de'prencipi di Vinegia in the translation of Lodovico Domenichi, Marcolini, 1558, p 14 ( digitized ). Heinrich Kellner follows him on this : Chronica that is Warhaffte, actual and short description, all life in Venice , Frankfurt 1574, p. 5v ( digitized, p. 5v ).
5. ^ Roberto Pesce (Ed.): Cronica di Venexia detta di Enrico Dandolo. Origini - 1362 , Centro di Studi Medievali e Rinascimentali “Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna”, Venice 2010, p. 21. Another hand adds “honorando et donando a luy de grandissimo aver”, according to which it is not the alleged daughter but the son-in-law who has the goods receive.
6. ^ Jerusha D. Richardson: The Doges of Venice , Methuen & Company, 1914, p. 8.
7. ↑ Marcus Antonius Sabellicus: Le historie Vinitiane di Marco Antonio Sabellico divise in tre Deche con tre Libri della quarta deca. Novamente ricorrette et in diverse parti aceresciute di molte cose che nell'esemplare Latino mancauano , Comin da Trino, Venice 1554, p. 11v.
8. ^ Samuele Romanin : Storia documentata di Venezia , 10 vols., Pietro Naratovich, Venice 1853–1861, 2nd edition 1912–1921, reprint Venice 1972 ( digitized volume 1 , Venice 1853).
9. ^ Pompeo Gherardo Molmenti : La dogaressa di Venezia , Turin 1884, p. 18.
10. ^ Edgcumbe Staley: The Dogaressas of Venice (The Wives of the Doges) , T. Werner Laurie, London 1910, pp. 315-317 ( digitized version ).
11. ^ Andrea Da Mosto : I dogi di Venezia nella vita pubblica e privata , last published in 1983, p. 9.
12. ↑ Umberto Franzoi: Il Serenissimo doge , Canova, 1986, p. 254
13. ^ John Julius Norwich : A History of Venice , Penguin, London 2003.
14. ↑ "e springe il suo servilismo al punto da sposare una dama di corte" (Nantas Salvalaggio: Signora dell'acqua. Splendori e infamie della Repubblica di Venezia , Piemme, 1997, p. 21).
15. ^ Gino Benzoni: I Dogi , Electa, 1982, p. 163.
16. ^ Giovanni Battista Pigna: Historia de Principi di Este , Francesco Rossi, Ferrara 1570, o. S. ( digitized version ).