Michele Steno

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Seal of Doge Michele Steno; the evangelist Mark and the doge hold the banner with their right hand, in their left the doge holds the rolled up Promissio ducale , a series of promises that he had to swear before his inauguration.
back
Soldino embossed under shorthand
Coat of arms of "Michiel Sten" based on the ideas of the 17th century

Michele Steno , in his documents Michael Steno (* around 1331 in Venice ; † December 26, 1413 there ), was from 1400 to 1413, following the state-controlled historiography, the 63rd Doge of Venice . With Steno began the expansion of the national territory from Venice to the northern Italian mainland, the so-called Terraferma .

Life

Origin, family

Before his election as Doge, Steno was consigliere, admiral and diplomat. During his tenure as procuratore di supra , he had the chapel of San Domenico built in San Zanipolo . Steno was married to Marina Gallina, a member of one of the tribunician families.

Michele Steno was born around 1331 as the son of Giovanni Steno and Lucia Lando. This branch of the Steno family came from the municipality of S. Maria del Giglio , but could not establish itself permanently among the most influential families. The family died out at the beginning of the 15th century. Giovanni Steno was successful in the highest offices, but was killed in a sea battle against the Genoese in 1352 on the Bosporus. In his will of December 3, 1351 he had already given preference to his son Michele. His other son Fantino, who in turn appointed his brother as a universal heir in 1358 because he had no children with his wife Maria, probably died a little later. In addition, Michele had three sisters, namely Franceschina, Donata and Cristina, who became a Benedictine in S. Lorenzo.

Involvement in a conspiracy, state offices, social advancement

Steno became involved in the Marino Falier conspiracy at a young age . He was condemned by the quarantia on November 20, 1354 because he and his cronies had written about the Doge in the Sala del Camino in the Doge's Palace "multa enormia verba loquentia in vituperium domini ducis et eius nepotis". For this he had to spend a month in the prison of the Doge's Palace. Apparently there was hostility between the Falians and the shorthand. Legends soon grew up around the process. Steno fell in love with a lady from Dogaressa , if not with Marino Falier's second wife, Aluica Gradenigo. The Doge reprimanded for this unworthy behavior, Michele Steno smeared on the Doge's chair: "Marin Falier de la bela moier, altri la galde e lui la mantien" (meaning: Marino Falier from the beautiful wife, others have her and he entertains her) . According to this interpretation, it was the weak reaction of the patriciate, which was insufficiently supportive of the old Doge, that prompted the Falier to undertake a coup, which failed in April 1355 and ended with the Doge's execution. More rational motives may lie in the catastrophic course of the war with Genoa (1350–1355).

Michele Steno married Marina Gallina in 1362; she died 50 years later. The couple remained childless. Michele Steno continued to fill high positions, in 1365 he was appointed Capitano della Riviera d'Istria , in June 1369 he became the patron of one of the galleys of the Muda (ship convoy) in the Romania, i.e. in the territory of the Byzantine Empire . After his return he became a member of the Council of Ten in February 1370, on February 13th he became Capo Beast of San Marco, but he resigned from this office when he was elected Capo, a kind of chairman, of the Council of Ten. Again in October 1373 he was elected to this highly explosive office, which had very far-reaching rights. Within the council he became the inquisitor , in which a strategy of advancement emerged, which Steno used several times.

But in May 1379 he was one of those who were behind the election of the Capitano generale da Mar , Vittore Pisani, whose attack on the Genoese off Pola during the Chioggia War ended in the enemy fleet being able to penetrate the lagoon . Steno and Giovanni Trevisan, who had urged the fleet commander in the same direction, were indicted and convicted by the Avogadori di Comun . Michele Steno was banned from office for one year. He was only allowed to act in an advisory capacity.

It was not until 1381 that he took over a new office, namely that of Castellan of Modon and Koron together with Paolo Marcello . During this time there was an important friendship treaty with the neighboring Principate of Achaia , mediated by the Bishop of Koron. This ended protracted hostilities with the Franks, as the crusaders were generally called in the eastern Mediterranean. Due to his skillful approach, he recommended himself for the highest advisory functions and offices.

Gold coin of Doge Michele Steno; the doge kneels before the evangelist Mark, who hands him the banner.

On November 17, 1384, he was appointed by the Pregadi , later the Senate, to a commission that was supposed to solve the financial difficulties in which the state budget had gotten. Together with Pietro Corner, Ludovico Loredan, Benedetto Soranzo and Domenico Bono, he put forward a series of proposals which, all of which were accepted, revolved around tax increases, staff cuts and exchange rates. Immediately afterwards, on January 17, 1385, he was to come to a treaty with the castellans of the Patriarch of Aquileia in Grado , and with Udine to curb the expansion of the Carrara from Verona to Friuli , as well as the support of Padua for the Patriarch of Secure Aquileia.

In March 1385 Steno Podestà of Chioggia , then a member of the Zonta of the Senate from September 29, Bailò and Capitano of Corfu from July 29, 1386. Finally he rose on December 30, 1386 to the procurator of San Marco . In addition, he was repeatedly elected Savio del Consiglio between 1384 and 1399 . These special commissions included the aforementioned Savi or Sapientes , who took care of the lagoon (autumn 1391), or another commission for Istria (September 1392) to which Steno belonged. In addition to the diplomatic missions he had already completed, there were at least five legation trips to Ferrara between 1393 and 1396, with the help of which an attempt was made to limit the expansion of Milan - he also negotiated with his master Gian Galeazzo Visconti - and Florence in Romagna . He also traveled to Hungary to the court of Sigismund , the future emperor, to whose court he presented on March 13, 1397. At the same time, it was important not to jeopardize trade via Rialto.

Between the spring of 1398 and the spring of 1400, Steno became a kind of negotiator for all municipalities, i.e. from Florence, Bologna , Padua, Ferrara and Mantua , against the Visconti. When the Doge Antonio Venier fell ill, the way to the Doge election was almost free.

The Doge's Office

Initiation of Doge Michael Steno 1402: "Michael Steno Dei gratia dux Venec (iarum) etc."

The Grand Council began voting less than a week after the old Doge's death. In the late session of December 1, 1400, the assembly of the nobility raised Michele Steno to “Dei gratia dux Venetiarum”. The election of Michele Steno to the Doge Office was celebrated for several months with balls, processions and all kinds of shows, which aroused great admiration for an envoy from Milan who was present at the time.

First, the political activities of King Ladislaus II of Anjou-Durazzo brought the opportunity to regain control of Corfu (1402) and Dalmatia (1409), for which Venice paid the King of Naples considerable sums of money. The surprising death of the Milanese Gian Galeazzo Visconti on September 3, 1402 threatened to create a political vacuum in Italy. Steno strove to expand the Venetian national territory on the Terraferma , so belonged to the war party. He was supported in his policy of conquest by his confidante and advisor, the young Francesco Foscari , who later became one of the most important doges in Venice. In 1404 the campaign began on the mainland, in which Padua , Verona , Vicenza , Feltre , Belluno and Bassano were subjected. Steno and his followers regarded northern Italy with its Alpine passes, as well as the rich Lombard and Romangnol markets as an indispensable counterpart to the markets of the eastern Mediterranean, which were dominated by Venice (and increasingly Genoa).

The sources only rarely mention the Doge's personal attitudes, for example when Francesco Novello da Carrara stepped before him as a prisoner and in the guise of a penitent, and Steno said contemptuously: “Vui haverete quella mercede che haverete meritado” (you will receive the reward that you have earned).

Under Steno, the members of the Senate were doubled and the court of the Auditori nuovi alle sententie was set up, which was responsible for legal cases on the Terraferma. They controlled the administrative organs on the Terraferma and were given far-reaching powers.

During his dogat a number of natural disasters occurred in Venice, such as the extraordinary flood and a hurricane in 1410.

For the representative design of the south front of the Doge's Palace , he donated the so-called steno window , based on the inscription in 1404, which was created by the dalle Masegne brothers.

The funerary monument of Michele Stenos, in San Zanipolo since 1811

Steno died on December 26, 1413 as a representative and influential representative of a stable state, equipped with abundant liquidity, extensive real estate holdings and numerous loan notes that he had subscribed and which brought in regular interest. He surrounded himself with numerous works of art and beautiful objects, as can be seen in his will of July 23, 1412. He also left an extensive legacy to his widow, richly endowed ecclesiastical and secular institutes, but also charitable institutions and his staff. Among them were his “socii”, “camerieri” and the “ballottino” Pietro, but also the notaries at the office. His wife withdrew to the community of S. Andrea della Zirada, where she stayed about ten years until her death. Most of the remaining fortune, however, received 1000 ducats, the nephew Fantino Pizzamano. A niece, Polissena Navagero, became the Dogaressa's chief heir.

Steno was buried in the church of S. Marina, in a tomb that he himself had commissioned. However, the celebrations took place in the Basilica of San Zanipolo , where his tomb was transferred in 1811.

The Promissione ducale , the written oath of the successor Tommaso Mocenigo , indicates that attempts were still made to limit the influence of the respective Doge and to transfer powers to the Avogadori di Comun, with whom Steno had also come into conflict.

swell

Unpublished Sources

Senato , Deliberazioni Misti, reg. 39, c. 11v, 24r, 37v, 38r-38v, 41r, reg. 40, c. 136v, reg. 42, c. 27r, 31r, 44v, 53v, 79v, 102r, reg. 43, c. 30r, 85v, 97v, 153r, reg. 44, c. 21v, 93v, 126v; Senato , Secreti alfabetici, reg. R (e), c. 9v, 75v, 80r, 82r, 115v, 124r, 128r, 143r.
Consiglio di dieci , Deliberazioni miste, reg. 6, c. 80v, 85r, 125v.
Segretario all voci , Misti, reg. 2, c. 19v, reg. 3, c. 6v, 22v, 34v, 41v.
Miscellanea codici, Storia veneta, Genealogie di Priuli, busta 28, folia 4994 f.
Notaries. Testamenti , busta 108, n.290 (Testament of Marina Gallina, 1401); busta 355, n.28 (Testament of Marina Gallina, 1407); busta 364 (minutes of Basilio Darvasio), n. 220 (testament of Michele Steno); busta 720 (Protocol of Gasparino de Mani), c. 143r – 143v (will of Marina Gallina, 1420); busta 988/1, n. 69 (Testament of Marina Gallina, 1408); busta 1114 (minutes of Stefano Pettenello), c. 46r (Testament of Fantino Steno), c. 62r (Testament of Giovanni Steno), c. 92r (will of the Marchesina Marcello).
Podestà di Chioggia , busta 1, f. 4 (Michele Steno, 1385-1386).

Editions

  • I libri commemoriali della Repubblica di Venezia. Regesti , Vol. III, Venice 1883, l. VIII, n. 126, 364, l. IX, n.1, 11, 31, 87 f., 109, 168, 174. ( digitized version )
  • Marino Sanudo, Vite de 'duchi di Venezia (= Rerum Italicarum Scriptores , XXII), Milan 1733, pp. 784-885.
  • Vittorio Lazzarini : Marino Faliero. Avanti il ​​Dogado - La congiura - Appendici , Florence 1963, doc. II, p. 259 f.
  • Julian Chrysostomides (Ed.) Monumenta Peloponnesiaca. Documents for the history of the Peloponnese in the 14th and 15th centuries , Athens 1995, n. 17, 25-26, 32-33, 109, 162, 186, 188, 199, 202, 291.
  • Angela Caracciolo Aricò (ed.): G. Dolfin, Cronicha dela nobil cità de Venetia et dela sua provintia et destretto , Vol. II, Venice 2009, pp. 119-170.
  • Andrea Nanetti (Ed.): Il codice Morosini. Il mondo visto da Venezia (1094-1433) , Vol. I, Spoleto 2010, pp. 200-530.
  • Andrea Mozzato (Ed.): Venezia - Senato. Deliberazioni miste. Registro XXXIII (1368-1372) , vol. 18, Venice 2010, nn. 134, 138.

literature

Web links

Commons : Michele Steno  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Vittorio Lazzarini : Marino Faliero. Avanti il ​​Dogado - La congiura - Appendici , Florence 1963, doc. II, p. 259 f.
  2. ↑ Giovanni Dolfin: Cronicha dela nobil Cita de Venetia et dela sua Provintia et destretto , hgg of. Angela Caracciolo Aricò , Vol II, 2009, p.136..
predecessor Office successor
Antonio Venier Doge of Venice
1400 - 1413 		Tommaso Mocenigo
personal data
SURNAME Shorthand, Michele
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sten, Michiel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Doge of Venice
DATE OF BIRTH around 1331
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 1413
Place of death Venice