History venete dal principio della città fino all'anno 1382

The Historie venete dal principio della città fino all'anno 1382 is a historical work by the Venetian Gian Giacomo Caroldo , which he wrote between 1520 and 1532. As the title makes clear, it tells the history of Venice from the beginning of the city to 1382.

Handwriting transmission

The transmission of the chronicle text is extremely complicated. Two autographs have been preserved. On the one hand, there is Cod. Marc in the Biblioteca Marciana . It. VII, 803, which contains a fragment of 114 folia , which covers the years 1367 to 1382, and on the other hand the Cod. Marc, which is kept in the same library. It. VII, 2448, which conceals the conclusion of the chronicle, which in turn corresponds to books V to X of the complete works. However, there is not yet the usual division into the said Libri. There is a copy of the second codex from the 18th century, namely Cod. Palat in Vienna. Vindob. 6170. This is a revision of the first code by the author, so it forms a good basis for an edition of the final section.

The beginning of the chronicle, on the other hand, is handed down through a rich text tradition that is reflected in more than 40 codices. This tradition had its starting point in said Cod. Marc. It. VII, 2448. In the course of this third compilation phase, a copyist appeared which, where a comparison with the second autograph is possible, i.e. in books VX, proves that the source text had deteriorated. In contrast to Caroldo, the latter preferred not the sources, but the more or less reliable chronical records accessible to him. The most important codices in this series are Cod. Marc. It. VII, 128 A and Cod. CM 107 of the Museo civico in Padua . A well-founded stemma codicum does not yet exist. The latter codex, the Paduan Cod. CM 107, offers the Stemma of the Caroldo family, plus an index of facts and proper names that Niccolò Caroldo added in 1545. The first, the Cod. Marc. It. VII, 128 A, is linguistically closer to the autograph, ie Cod. Marc. It. VII, 2448. Furthermore, it does not offer any division into books, which is also unknown to the autograph, while this division is consistently present in the rest of the tradition.

Compilation procedure

The procedure for compiling the chronicle is that which was followed almost throughout the 13th to 16th centuries. It was based on a revision of the previous chronicles, in their emphases and expressions adapted to the intentions of the author. The template usually remains recognizable. According to the templates, this explains the almost erratic change of style and the disproportion in the amount of text between the sections of the chronicle. The work of Doge Andrea Dandolo was of great importance for the period up to 1280 .

Chronic basis

The basis is the Chronica extensa of the Doge Andrea Dandolo , which Caroldo follows to the Dogat of Jacopo Contarini (1275–1280). However, this only includes the first 125 folia of the 454 folia in Cod. Marc. It. VII, 128 A. The remaining pages, which represent the period from 1280, that is only a good century of the total history of Venice, which began for Caroldo in the 5th century, include the following more than 300 folia. Although the author essentially follows Dandolo, he still offers clarifications, other accents and extensions. Caroldo describes the founding of the city comparatively independently, which he attributes exclusively to the relocation of the Terraferma cities to the lagoon when Attila 452 was in northern Italy and triggered a mass exodus. Caroldo rejects a flight of the primates from the Lombards (from 569) as origin, as it was first assumed by Johannes Diaconus , who wrote around 1000. Instead, it takes over the foundation date of March 25, 421 by the consuls of Padua. This assumption was rejected by the chronicles of the 13th and 14th centuries because it would have meant a too close genetic relationship to Padua - which could be reassessed in the phase of Venice's expansion onto the mainland. It is possible that Caroldo remained undecided on this because he was familiar with the monograph by Bernardo Giustinian on this subject ( De origine urbis Venetiarum ... , Venice [1493]). Instead, Caroldo used the Lombards invasion to transfer the seat and title of Patriarch from Aquileia to Grado . On the other hand, Caroldo cut down Dandolo's extensive descriptions of the founding of the bishopric and the oldest churches. In contrast, in connection with the Crusades , Caroldo used less Dandolo than - for the war history of the First Crusade - the folia 36r – 46v of Cod. Marc. It. VII, 128 A and - in connection with the Fourth Crusade - in the folia 67r – 72v.

The more extensive part, which covers the period between 1280 and 1382, is much more difficult to grasp with a view to tradition. These are recognizable in the form of sprinkles of completely different styles (such as the long episode of the Ferrara War of 1305 or the Baiamonte Tiepolo conspiracy (f. 134r – 149v)). The action is dramatized here by speech that is unusually rambling, rich in expressiveness and liveliness. The renewed, broad representation of the origin of the Signoria of Carrara and that of the Bonaccorsi of Mantua seems to have been inserted . The portrayal of the reign of Doge Andrea Dandolo is also an almost autonomous section (f. 189v – 231v), rich in facts, but without a historiographical concept. The last section is the funeral oration for Doge Andrea Contarini , given by a relative of the deceased, a Cardinal Contarini.

Source use, peculiarities, purpose of the work pursued by the author

Overall, the author, who deviates only slightly from the usual Venetian historiography and who hardly makes use of the sources on which they were based, proves his historiographical skills in the selection of texts and in the main topics. Given an enormously extensive historiography, Caroldo limits himself to the history of the Venetian administration, diplomatic relations and the war. He is meticulous when he gives lists of the consiglieri, catalogs of the ambassadors, reports of the ambassadors, the calculation of the ships for the individual fleets, the names of their commanders. He refers as the source to the decision of the Grand Council, the deliberazioni del Maggior Consiglio , which he had as secretary of the Council of Ten, the Consiglio dei dieci .

It is a story of the Venetian state as it functions according to the perception of a diplomat and member of the chancellery. As he himself admits in the end, he is addressing the ruling class "conoscendo quanto sia utile a quelli governano la Repubblica haver intelligenza dell'historie et annali della loro città", with a view to what to know about their history City is useful.

Edition

Șerban V. Marin (Ed.): Gian Giacomo Caroldo. Istorii Veneţiene , vol. I: De la originile Cetăţii la moartea dogelui Giacopo Tiepolo (1249) , Arhivele Naţionale ale României, Bucharest 2008. ( academia.edu ).

literature

Antonio Carile : Caroldo, Gian Giacomo. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 20: Carducci-Carusi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1977.

Remarks

↑ Digitized version of the 1534 edition: Bernardo Giustiniani: De origine urbis Venetiarum rebus que a Venetis gestis libri XV In quibus gravissimo stillo, non tantum res venetae, verum ettiam bella Gottorum, Longobardorum & saracenorum amplissime continentur. Adjecta Insuper divi Marci evangelistae vita, ac ejus translatione… , Bernardinus Benalius, Venice 1534 ( digitized version ).

[1] Digitized version of the 1534 edition: Bernardo Giustiniani: De origine urbis Venetiarum rebus que a Venetis gestis libri XV In quibus gravissimo stillo, non tantum res venetae, verum ettiam bella Gottorum, Longobardorum & saracenorum amplissime continentur. Adjecta Insuper divi Marci evangelistae vita, ac ejus translatione… , Bernardinus Benalius, Venice 1534 ( digitized version ).