Ottone Orseolo

Later times tried to get an idea of ​​the appearance of the Doges, so "portraits" were also created, such as here of the Doge "Otho Vrseolvs", Leon Matina: Ducalis regium lararium siue Ser.me Reipu. Veneta [e] principu [m] omniu [m] icones vsque ad serenisimu [m] Ioannem Pisaurum , Jacobus Herzius, Venice 1659, p. 79.

Ottone Orseolo (* 993 in Venice ; † spring 1032 on the way back from Constantinople to Venice), one follows the so-called Venetian tradition, i.e. the history of the Republic of Venice , the 27th Doge , which has been increasingly state-controlled since the 14th century . He ruled from 1009 to 1026 and died in exile. In the sources that are closer to the time, he appears as Otto or Otho , supplemented by different variants of Ursiollo ; his baptismal name was Peter or Piero . From this Doge on, the knowledge of Venetian history is again much less than before, since shortly before his election the most important historiographer in the early history of the city, Johannes Diaconus, died .

Marriage alliances and the filling of high church positions were a hallmark of the Orseolo's policies, who sought a kind of hereditary monarchy. In 1011 Ottone married a daughter of the King of Hungary. The family also occupied the seat of the Patriarch of Grado and the diocese of Torcello . The restoration of Venice's authority in Dalmatia also succeeded in coordination with Constantinople .

The western empire, however, supported the Patriarch of Aquileia Poppo . This tried to make the Patriarchate Grado his suffragan . This threatened both the position of Venice and the position of power of the Orseolo, because Orso Orseolo was patriarch there. When Ottone was driven out as a result of a popular uprising, which the Flabanico and the Gradenigo had probably fired, his brother Orso took over the office as a kind of vice duke. Venice called back Ottone Orseolo, who managed to retake Grado, which was occupied by Poppo.

The conflict now threatened to spread to the Roman-German Empire and as far as Rome . Under the leadership of Domenico Flabanico, a group of rebels seized the Doge and drove him out of Venice. In his place came in 1026 as Doge Pietro Centranico , a "creature" of Domenico Flabanico . Ottone went into exile in Constantinople, but his family was by no means disempowered.

In Constantinople, the emperor, who had been the father-in-law of Ottone's older brother, Giovanni (Johannes), died in 1028 , but the Orseolo party remained influential even if he had also died long ago. Centranico's inability to find a remedy for the unrest in Dalmatia and against Poppo, who with the backing of Conrad II damaged the trade of the Venetians, led to his overthrow. The patriarch Orso Orseolo took over the reign and had Ottone recalled from Constantinople, but he died on the return journey (?) In the spring of 1032. In the end, Domenico Flabanico took over power that same year. In 1040 he succeeded in finally excluding the hereditary monarchy in Venice.

family

Ottone Orseolo belonged to an influential tribunician patrician family who, with his father Pietro II. Orseolo and Pietro I, had already provided two doges. At the age of just 12 he was made a co-doge with the permission of the people's assembly after his older brother Giovanni (Johannes) had died of the plague with his family . His brothers Orso and Vitale held the highest ecclesiastical offices as Bishop of Torcello and Patriarch of Grado .

Origin and marriage policy

Ottone was one of nine children of Pietro II Orseolo and his wife Maria, daughter of Doge Vitale Candiano . As the third son he became godson of the Roman-German Emperor Otto III at the age of three . He was married from 1011, allegedly to "Geiza", a daughter of the Hungarian Grand Duke Géza from the Arpad family . Through his marriage he became the brother-in-law of Stephan I , Hungarian king and saint. The son of Ottones and his Hungarian wife, Pietro Orseolo , was appointed by Stephan as his successor as Hungarian king (in the German-language historiography "Peter Orseolo"). He ruled Hungary from 1038 to 1041 and, after a three-year hiatus, from 1044 to 1046. A daughter of the Venetian-Hungarian couple named Froiza, Froila or Domenica married the Babenberg margrave of Austria, Adalbert .

Pietro II. Orseolo, the father and predecessor of Ottones, had excellent relations with both empires, which were strengthened by the creation of family relationships, by sponsorships and marriages. Ottone was also used for this purpose. His baptismal name was Piero, or Petrus, but in March 996 he was in Verona by Otto III. from the baptism, whereby he received the name of the godfather. As Otto III. returned from Rome, Ottone received his godfather in Ferrara and traveled with him by ship to Ravenna . In 1004 Ottone accompanied his eldest brother Giovanni (Johannes), who was already a fellow dog, to Constantinople. There Johannes married Maria, a daughter of Patricius Argiros, an imperial relative who later became emperor himself. But in 1007 Johannes, Maria and their son Basilios died in Venice, as it is called, of the plague. Since the other two brothers were clergymen and were therefore no longer eligible for a secular office like that of a doge, Ottone now became his father's fellow doge. When he died, he was raised to be a doge himself at the age of 16. Three of Ottones' four sisters went to the monastery, while Hicela (Icella) married Stephan (Stjepan), the son of the Croatian king Krešimir III.

The Doge's Office

Not without political talent he married a daughter of the King of Hungary and sister of Stephen, who was later canonized in 1011. However, she died in 1026. When the Patriarch of Grado, Vitale Candiano , died in 1018 after almost fifty years in office, the family managed to get Ottones brother Orso, who had been Bishop of Torcello up until then, to succeed Candiano in office. This office was taken over by another brother, Vitale, who was barely 20 years old. The highest dignities were thus in the hands of the Orseolo.

By 1016 the young Doge managed to force the Bishop of Adria to cede some areas at Loreo , and in 1018 he even managed to restore Venice's uncertain authority in Dalmatia . There, Croatian fleets acted as pirates and harassed the cities, especially Zara . By mobilizing the Venetian fleet, he achieved a similar success in Dalmatia as his father did in 998 or 1000. The clergy , priors and the people of Arbe , Veglia and Ossero paid tributes, Zara, Spalato , Traù and Ragusa renewed their oaths of loyalty. Like his father, Ottone Orseolo acted in coordination with Constantinople, where Emperor Basil II succeeded in finally crushing the Bulgarian empire under Tsar Samuel in 1018, and at the same time defeating Melus of Bari .

In contrast, relations with the western empire cooled off. On the contrary, it supported the ambitions of the Patriarch of Aquileia Poppo . The Patriarchate of Aquileia had been in conflict with the Patriarchate of Grado for centuries , and Poppo tried to restore it to its suffraganism . To this end, he intervened with Pope Benedict VIII. Poppo's actions not only threatened the position of Venice, but also the secured position of power of the Orseolo, at least since Orso was patriarch there.

The conflict escalated when Ottone was expelled from Venice. This in turn was the result of a popular uprising, which the Flabanici and the Gradenigo had probably fired. The latter had been snubbed by the fact that the Doge thwarted the election of 18-year-old Domenico Gradenigo as Bishop of Olivolo, who later became the Castello sestiere in eastern Venice. Ottone, followed by his brother Orso as a kind of vice duke, appeared in Istria on Gradensian territory, while Poppo used the opportunity to occupy and plunder Grado . Venice then called back the Orseolo, who succeeded in retaking Grado. He had the city wall of Grado reinforced with iron gates.

But his return to the Doge Chair was short-lived, because the conflict with Poppo was by no means resolved. There was a threat of expansion to the empire and to Rome. Under the leadership of Domenico Flabanico, a group of rebels seized the Doge, had his beard shaved and chased him out of Venice. In his place came in 1026 as Doge Pietro Barbolano Centranico, also called Pietro Centranico , a "creature" of Domenico Flabianico. Ottone went to Constantinople, his son Pietro fled to Hungary to the court there.

The changes in Constantinople, where in 1028 Romanos III. Argyros ascended the throne, who had been the father-in-law of Ottone's older brother, Giovanni (Johannes). This strengthened the Orseolo party even if the daughter and son-in-law of the new emperor had long since died. Centranico's inability to find a remedy for the unrest in Dalmatia and the hostilities of Patriarch Poppo, who, with the backing of Conrad II, damaged the trade of the Venetians, led to another upheaval. The new doge was overthrown by the followers of Orseolo in 1031. His beard was shaved off too and he had to follow his predecessor into exile in Constantinople. Orso took over the reign and had Ottone recalled from Constantinople, but he died on the return journey from Constantinople in the spring of 1032.

The Orseolo immediately installed Domenico Orseolo as the new doge. However, the Arengo , the popular assembly, forced him to leave Venice after only one day as Doge.

reception

Saints Theodore and George, Thessaloniki, around 1010, Venice Archaeological Museum

The chronicle of Johannes Diaconus , the Istoria Veneticorum , reports about Ottone only about the time up to the takeover of the Dogat , because with the death of his father it ends in 1009. Venice was in an increasingly difficult relationship to the far superior, extremely expansive empires, with Conrad II finally taking up Otto II's anti-Venice policy . The unusually friendly relationship with Otto III. , the godfather and namesake of Ottones, ended in 1002 with the death of the emperor. So up to 1009 we have a lively and detailed chronicle, namely that of the contemporary Johannes Diaconus, who acted in the immediate vicinity and on behalf of Pietros II Orseolo. For the Venice of the 14th century, on whose chronic tradition we are dependent after 1009 - apart from a few documents - the interpretation given to Ottone's reign was accordingly of considerable symbolic importance in the continuum of external relationships, above all but the internal arguments between the clan-like family associations. The focus of the Chronicle of Doge Andrea Dandolo represents in perfect form the views of the long-established political leadership bodies, which have steered the writing of history especially since this Doge. His work was repeatedly used as a template by later chroniclers and historians. Hence it became immensely dominant in ideas of Venetian history prior to its time. For both chroniclers, the focus was on the law from their own roots, i.e. the derivation and legitimation of their territorial claims. In this context, the recognition and, if possible, the expansion of the "old treaties" by the new emperors (and kings) who came into office has always been of enormous importance, but since 992 Venice had a privilege in the east that gave its local traders an enormous, ultimately irreversible dominance, which was to be further strengthened by the decline after the Macedonian dynasty . The question of the hereditary monarchy , on which the Candiano 976 failed in a catastrophe, and which became virulent again through the Orseolo, at the time of Andrea Dandolo was no longer in any way with the interests of the families ruling at that time, but especially no longer with it to bring the state of constitutional development in line. The stages of political developments that ultimately led to the disempowerment of the Doge, who was only given representative tasks as much as possible, but no longer allowed to make independent decisions, was another objective of the presentation. This was particularly true of Ottones father, who, on the contrary, embodied this type of ruler, because in him one saw downright absolutist traits. The failure of the Orseolo under Ottone was therefore central, because in a series of stages it was possible to advance the institutional integration of the office comparatively far up to the 14th century. At the same time, on the one hand, the balance between the ambitious and dominant families remained one of the most important goals, because they had not only ensured civil war-like conditions in the city, but also induced external powers to interfere. The derivation of the prominent position of the 'nobili' in the state also required explanation. Under Ottone this compromise did not succeed, which once again led to murderous battles between the noble families, which at the same time, because the church offices played an essential role, offered the Patriarch of Aquileia and the empire behind it, as well as the Pope, new opportunities for interference.

The oldest vernacular chronicle of Venice, the Cronica di Venexia detta di Enrico Dandolo from the late 14th century, depicts the events, as does Andrea Dandolo, on a level that has long been known by individuals, especially the Doges. This also applies for "Otto Ursiollo". The individual doges even form the temporal framework for the entire chronicle, as was customary in Venice. The Cronica According to all the Dalmatian hinterland "Piero Orsiolo" and his followers swore loyalty. The doge sent "rettori" to all cities. According to the chronicle, “Octo Orsiolo” went to Ragusa. Ottone "per tucto el povolo clamado fu doge" after his father died. He demanded a renewal of the oath of allegiance that had been taken to his father from the cities of Dalmatia, along with a tribute. After the reconquest of Grado, which the Patriarch of Aquileia had conquered, he let them “murar fortemente et afossar”, that is, strengthen the walls and dig trenches. The chronicle mentions that almost all of the people hated the Doge and that "Domenego Flabanico" ultimately robbed him of his dignity, but no reason for the hatred is given. On the other hand, the chronicler mentions cutting off the beard and believes that the fallen doge - after 16 years of reign - was banished to Grado in a monk's habit. Orso, the Patriarch of Grado, feared the people and fled Venice.

Portrait of the Doge with his father Pietro II. Orseolo, Domenico Tintoretto , oil on panel, 1570s, Doge's Palace; at Ottone Orseolo, the banner emphasizes the conflict over Grado and Aquileia.

Pietro Marcello meant in 1502 in his work later translated into Volgare under the title Vite de'prencipi di Vinegia , the doge "Otone Orseolo Doge XXVI." "Con gran consentimento del popolo, fu creato doge in luogo del padre". Pietro, as his baptismal name was, was sent to Verona as a little boy and was only named "Otone" there after the imperial godfather. Venice received very great privileges from the godfather, Marcello also reports on the secret visit of the emperor to Venice. Because of his merits, the Doge was allowed “per publico consentimento” to raise his son Giovanni to “compagno”. He returned from Constantinople with his wife and brother as well as many gifts, and died. After Pietro had reigned happily for 18 years, the author adds immediately after the tragic death of his son, daughter-in-law (and grandson, whom Marcello does not mention), the doge also died. In his place came "Otone" with the great approval of the people. He was "veramente simile al padre", "truly like the father", as well as the uncle. Induced by his virtues, "Geta, Re d'Vngheria" gave him his daughter as a wife. In a 'terrible battle' he defeated Adria and forced the return of everything that had been stolen to Loreo. He also forced "Murcimuro Signorotto in Croatia" to flee and the Dalmatian cities to repeat the oath of loyalty they had given to his father. After his return he fell victim to a "vituperosa congiura" by Domenico Flabanico, was stripped of his beard and exiled to "Grecia", where, as Marcello claims, he died a little later.

According to the Historie venete dal principio della città fino all'anno 1382 by Gian Giacomo Caroldo , which he completed in 1532, the Doge sent his son Pietro to Verona at the request of “Sua Maestà”, where the emperor became his godfather. The son was now called "Otho" and he returned with rich gifts. “In antiche scritture”, “in old writings”, according to the author, he found the said rectors, who were now placed over the cities that Ottones father had conquered. Thereupon, so Caroldo, the Doge sent "Gioanni Diacono" to Emperor Otto to announce the victory. The envoy moved with the emperor to Rome, where the borders of Venice at Heraclea were confirmed as they had existed at the time of Pietro Candiano . On this occasion the emperor expressed the wish to meet secretly with the doge, "suo cordial amico", to embrace him and personally congratulate him on the victory. During the secret visit, the emperor kept a sister of Ottones at the baptism. Because of the great merits of the Doge, the people asked him to raise his son to be a fellow Doge. The two doges, as it is expressly stated, sent Johannes Diaconus in 1002 to the successor of Otto III., To "Henrico Bavaro Imperatore". A fleet led by Ottones older brother Johannes supplied the Saracen besieged Bari with food. The two sons of Doge, Johannes and Otto, were received with great honors by the two emperors in Constantinople. With the relics of St. Barbara and "Otho" returned Johannes and his newly wed wife Maria. But in the 15th year of the old Doge "venne una mortalità", there was a death like "almost" everywhere in the world. No cure was found (“remedio”), because what helped one, harmed the other. The sick became lethargic and allowed the "pestilenza" to overwhelm them. On the 16th day, Johannes and his wife Maria also died. To comfort the Doge, the Venetians raised "Otho" to Torcello as a fellow doge, where his sister Felicita was ordained abbess of San Giovanni Evangelista. In the year “MJX”, “Otho Orsiolo” began to rule the “Ducato”. According to the chronicler, the new doge was “catholico, ardito, constante, giusto, prudente, liberale et molto ricco”. He was endowed with all the qualities a prince could only wish for, imitating his father, "ottimo Duce", and his canonized uncle (meaning Pietro Orseolo ). At 18 he married the sister of the King of Hungary, "femina venusta, faconda et honestissima". In the 7th year of his reign there were disputes between Adria and Loreo, with Pietro, the Bishop of Adria, promising the Doge not to bother the Lauretans with "novità". In the 9th year the Dalmatian cities asked him for help against "Cresimir, presidente nel Regno di Croatia". The Doge came to their aid with a "potent armata" and defeated the Croats. With this he secured that "Provincia". The bishops of Arbe, Ossero and other places, as well as priors and people, swore allegiance and swore to pay tribute to the doge and his successors. His brother Orso was brought into distress by the Patriarch of Aquileia, behind whom "Imperatore Henrico Bavaro" stood and who had turned to the Pope. Orso was summoned to Rome, but he feared ambushes ("insidie") on the way there. His messengers informed the Pope that Orso could not come to Rome because of Heinrich, which the Pope had accepted. Expressly quoting the Chronicle of Andrea Dandolo, Caroldo mentions that the relics of “San Tharasio” had been rediscovered, which were brought to San Zaccaria on a ship belonging to “Dominico Dandolo”, an ancestor of Enrico and Andrea Dandolo. The 200 (“CC”) nuns there received the remains “con molta divotione”. Andrea Dandolo told this anecdote in his chronicle because it was the oldest piece of news about his family. The causes of the “grandissima discordia” which divided the Venetians and which forced the Doge and his brother to flee are also apparently unknown to Caroldo. After him, the brothers fled to Istria . "Pepo Patriarcha Aquilegiense" reached the city of Grado on the pretext of rushing to the aid of the two refugees, where he read "rovinò le chiese, violò le Monache, asporto via li thesori delle Chiese et della Città". So he destroyed the churches, raped the nuns and took the treasures of the church and town with him. His envoys in Rome suppressed the truth, and so Grado and the island were also subordinate to him (p. 90). The Venetians, who had experienced the “perfidia del barbaro et inquissimo patriarcha” (he was German), called their doge and his brother back. After the recovery of Grado and the restoration of the wall, Ottone left, according to the chronicle, the following inscription: "Has portas iussit Otho Dux nectere ferro / Pondere proferri, capiatque sibi proenia Regni". Another dispute arose when "Dominico Gradenigo" died, the bishop of Olivolo, and the doge's successor from the same family did not want to invest. Again there was a 'great discord' and at the instigation of Dominico Flabanico (“per instigatione di Dominico Flabanico”) the doge was robbed of his beard. According to this chronicle, he was not exiled to Grado, but to Constantinople. Orso, on the other hand, went back to Grado.

Heinrich Kellner thinks in his Chronica published in 1574 that is Warhaffte actual and short description that everyone who moved to Venice lives , Ottone was "chosen with great goodwill from Volck to his father instead of Hertzog / in jar 1009". Little Pietro was sent to King Otto on the way to Rome in Verona “and Otto was called”. “Afterwards Otto came to Venice / but unknown / then he had praised God” - this is Kellner's only reason for the emperor's secret visit to Venice. “For the sake of his merit / against the common good”, the Doge was finally allowed “to neme his Son Johannem as an assistant or Coadiutum.” But he died after he had returned “with his wife / and his brother Otone” from Constantinople was. The new doge was "a very kind and decent young man", "like his father and his old father". "Geta / King in Ungern / was half pleased with his virtue and the impression that he gave his daughters a marriage." In Kellner's case, the Doge overcame that of Adria "(from which the Adriatic Sea has the name)" " in a very serious and dangerous battle ”. It was agreed that “they should give and reimburse everything to those of Loreto / if they had taken them off.” He chased away the “Murcimurum”, “which gentleman was what in Croatia”. Kellner was not the first to claim about Dalmatia at the time of Ottones father that "all towns in the country had been occupied by new officers or governors". Accordingly, Ottone demanded the renewal of the oath from his "Underthanen". After his return he was "attacked by a shameful betrayal of Dominico Fabianico / as he was least aware of it / his beard was cut to shame / and in the fifteenth year of his government in Greece he was chased away / there he died soon after."

In the translation of Alessandro Maria Vianoli's Historia Veneta , which appeared in Nuremberg in 1686 under the title Der Venetianischen Herthaben Leben / Government, und Absterben / Von dem First Paulutio Anafesto an / bis on the now-ruling Marcum Antonium Justiniani , the author counts, deviating by Pietro Marcello, "Otto Orseolus, The 27th Hertzog". Then the author reports how "Kayser Otto the IV." Visited Venice. “By general approval”, the Doge “was allowed to take his son Johannem as an assistant”. But he and his wife died "of the plague that was rampant at the time" after returning from Greece. Only a few days later, since many Venetians were also dying of the disease, the Doge gave up his spirit in great "sorrow" and followed his son. Ottone, Vianoli follows his predecessors, had shown the highest virtues that went so far that the King of Hungary “granted him one of his daughters for marriage”. With him the doge - "he could count and count" - in a "very tough encounter" overcame the troops from Adria, "very close to Loreto", and forced them to return. With him, "Marcimuri", attacked by his fleet, "a Croatian prince's army", at the instigation of the Patriarch of Aquileia, attacked Zara, which he even captured. It was the same in Grado, where the patriarch "chased the Venetian commander out of it / shaved off the beard and hair / and had the same clothing cut off first by bit on the loins". When he saw the fleet, however, he pulled away. The fall of Ottones was also caused by Vianoli that "Dominico Flabanico", but was "wiewol very hidden way / Petrus Centranicus, who sought the ducal sovereignty most of all / was the head". Ottone was attacked, stripped of his hair, he was "put on a monk's robe by force / and expelled from Greece". He died there too. Under him was "S. Basso built "," S. Sophia again straightened up ”. Whether Petrus Centranicus obtained the Doge dignity “by ordinary election” or “whether he seized it by force”, “is not known for sure”.

Portrait of Jacob von Sandrart (1630–1708), painter was Johann Leonhard Hirschmann , engraver Bernhard Vogel

1687 noted Jacob von Sandrart laconically in his Opus Kurtze and increased description of the origin / recording / territories / and government of the world famous republic of Venice that "Otto Urseolus" 1009 to the "XXVI. Hertzog selected ”. He then won wars against Adria and the Croats. "And because this ducal dignity bit on the third tribe stayed near a house / he got the daughter of the king in Hungarn as his wife". After paying homage to “the country he had conquered”, Ottone was attacked in a “rebellious way”, namely by “Dominico Flabenico, who had his beard shaved off in the 50th year of his age / so an inexpressibly great shame at these times was / and he also had to wander into misery in Greece ”. He died there "shortly afterwards".

Johann Friedrich LeBret , for whom Ottone was the 27th Doge, published his four-volume State History of the Republic of Venice from 1769 . In his view, the Orseolo "ruled" "well, they had creative state geniuses: but the more unbearable they became in a republic, the more monarchical their way of thinking" (p. 233). “The times of Otto the Third were golden times for Venice”. The son of a dog, Piero, came to Verona so that the emperor could act as godfather on the occasion of his confirmation. On this occasion the Piero was given the name Otto. Even before the campaign against the pirates of Dalmatia, the Doge had sent his son John to Constantinople, where he had received the emperor's consent. The author also carried out the marriage project with one of the Croatian kings, while Spalato, “the capital of Dalmatia”, submitted to him. At LeBret's, Johannes Diaconus meets Otto III in Como , where he learned of the Doge's triumph late. "The emperor was so astonished at this that, as a great regent who had a sublime spirit, he wished to get to know the equally sublime spirit of the Venetian prince better." In any case, the initiative again came from the emperor. The Byzantine emperor initiated a marriage project through which Maria "a daughter of Patricius Argyropulos" married Johannes, Ottones' eldest brother. Because of its length, LeBret suspects that Johannes Diaconus traveled with the son of the Dog. After the death of his father and older brother, Ottone was made a doge, "justice sat on the throne with him, he hated waste". "He completely followed in his father's footsteps", the Orseolo were not "denied imperial or royal princesses". “But the splendor of the Orseolian house was just too great.” Adria, with whom Ottone got into open battle, had changed from a former port city through the changes in the coastal fringe to a country town that was now trying to conquer “Loreto”. Only after two years was there a peace agreement with a document dated June 7th, 1017. After their defeat they tried such an attack again only in 1163. In Croatia and Dalmatia the doge had the opportunity to “defend the rights of his people” (p. 252). At the same time, Byzantium tried to reestablish its rule in Dalmatia. "Cresimir or Mucimir (as the newer scribes call it)" worried Zara and other cities "with daily ideas". After the victory over the Croatians, the cities oathed allegiance. "As surely as it is wrong that the Venetian princes ostracized their rulers in these provinces, it is just as likely that they stipulated a certain tribute or protection money from these cities." But "this was the end of the most beautiful days of the Urseolians" , LeBret notes shortly. “The vague concept of Venetian freedom has made many of their princes state martyrs.” “As long as there were no laws in place that encompass the power of princes and gave noble citizens the right to oppose the princes, so long were they Activities of these houses outrages ”. "It was not virtuous men who conspired against Otto Urseolus, but the most vicious men of the first rank," diagnosed LeBret. "This whole gang [...] took possession of the doge, shaved off his beard and chased him out of the country."

Italy and the Adriatic region around 1000 (Zara wrongly belongs to Croatia here, which was the case only for a short time and a few years after 1000 and before 1016.)

Samuele Romanin , the historian who depicts in great detail and embeds the historical context, who portrays this epoch in 1853 in the first of ten volumes of his Storia documentata di Venezia , also thinks that Ottone was a young man of "eminenti qualità". His father was still well aware that behavior in public was of the utmost importance, especially towards the Doge: Within Venice, together with the popular assembly, the Concio , he had made sure that everyone behave appropriately in the presence of the Doge, with respect and deference. In addition, there was a ban on rioting or arguing in the Doge's Palace - in times when even slaves carried weapons, an extremely important step in order to return to the “santità della parola” ('holiness of the word') and to public calm, and around End violence and the brutal exercise of power, as Romanin adds. Even as a child, Ottone played a significant role in the network of relationships that the Orseoli had built for themselves, and which the Romaness believes provoked opposition from other influential families. According to Romanin, the oldest son of the Doge was invited to the court in Constantinople out of gratitude for the return of Bari in 1004. The brothers Giovanni and Ottone traveled to the court together. The elder received Maria as his wife, a daughter of the imperial sister and of Patrizius "Argiro". But the couple fell, in all likelihood (“a quanto pare”), together with their son Basilio, to the plague that raged for the first time in Venice, which was followed by hunger. Despite the hardship, the people suffering with the Doge allowed the younger son Ottone to be appointed as fellow dog. The doge bequeathed half of his fortune to the poor and the church, the other half to his sons. Ottone succeeded his father, who was only 48 years old, in office. Envy and mistrust already increased when Ottone married a Hungarian princess, even more when the family established Orso Orseolo as Patriarch of Grado in 1018, whose former bishopric Torcello was also occupied by Vitale, another Orseolo - 'which in a republic to much was'. For Romanin, it was the accumulation of too many of the highest offices that formed the basis for the later rebellion. Outwardly, however, the Doge preserved Venice's rights against the Adria (1017) and also against the Croats (1018). Like his father, he led a fleet to Dalmatia and took the oaths from Arbe, Ossero, Veglia and Zara. In Italy, however, the situation had changed drastically, because there Arduin came to the throne from Ivrea , "un re nazionale" (cf. national kings ). He wanted Italy to be free of dependence on the German kings. Tedald, however, grandfather of Mathilde von Tuszien , as well as the Archbishop of Milan sided with Henry II, who won a victory in 1004. Yet Italy was left to its own devices for a decade. It was not until 1013/14 that Heinrich succeeded in defeating Arduin and advancing to Rome for the imperial coronation. With the battle of Acqualongo between Pisa and Lucca in 1004 the first battle between the emerging municipalities broke out. It was less republican zeal than envy and ambition, shrouded in patriotism, that worried Venice. Poppo von Aquileia, more a military leader than a church prince, who had accompanied Henry on the train to Naples in 1021 , fought the Patriarch of Grado, Orso Orseolo. He denounced him to the Pope as 'illegally elected' and an intruder. He 'probably' incited the opponents of the Orseolo, as Romanin thinks, and surprisingly the two Orseolo, Orso and Ottone, fled to Istria. Poppo pretended to want to defend Grado, but had the city plundered and its riches brought to Aquileia. The Venetians now regretted having believed the words that the Orseolo were driven by 'greed for absolute domination'. So the Doge was recalled from the 'undeserved' exile. Ottone managed to restore the 'national honor' and recapture Grado. After the fortification of the city he returned to Venice. There the dispute over the succession on the bishopric of Olivolo, in which Ottone did not want to confirm the 18-year-old candidate of the Gradenigo, led to new conflicts. Under the leadership of the Flabianici, Ottone was overthrown, shorn and banished to Constantinople. Orso fled and was also banished. After a long and stormy consultation, Domenico Centranico was elected Doge.

August Friedrich Gfrörer († 1861) assumes in his History of Venice from its founding to 1084 , which appeared eleven years after his death , that the tradition is “incomplete”, “in my opinion because the chroniclers do a lot out of state considerations have kept quiet. ”On this basic assumption, he builds his own pattern of interpretation. Gfrörer tries again and again to identify the foreign policy constellation for the events in Venice as the main culprit. For Venice's traders, who were mainly active in the west, after him there was a “natural” tendency to support the Ottonians and for those of them who traded in the east, more of a side to Byzantium. Johannes Diaconus, the central source, only lasts until 1008, after which we have to rely on Andrea Dandolo, who, according to Gfrörer, withholds a lot about the 11th century. Gfrörer sees a role for little Ottone, whose godfather was the emperor, in the long-drawn-out plan to acquire "sovereignty" on the mainland. His father only manipulated this because, according to the author, all of this shows: "The weakling, who sat on the throne of Germania at that time, gave it away carelessly" (p. 372). An important lever in his perfidious plan is the verbal support of Otto III. was involved in realizing his plans for a world empire, but the emperor died in 1002. Ottone, barely following his father, married a Hungarian princess, which proves that the Doge “believed in the permanent rule of his house over Veneto”. This is shown by a document issued in March 1010 in which the residents of Heracliana had been promised land by the deceased Doge, but which they only received after, according to the author, they had shown themselves to be docile in electing Ottones as Doge had (p. 426). Then Dandolo reported on the campaign against the Adriatic, who had "taken away" Loreo and who had to appear before the Doge. The document issued for this in the Doge's Palace on June 7, 1017 has survived. Behind the attack on Loreo Gfrörer sees the work of Arduin, who, however, was overthrown by Heinrich II. As a precaution, the document forbids the Bishop of Adria to bring an action before any court, probably the emperor. Gfrörer assumes that the harassment of the Croatians against the cities of Dalmatia had been going on for several years, that the power of Venice was declining there - and that the marriage of a sister Ottones to one of the Croat leaders had not borne fruit. Only now, after the fall of Arduin, did the Doge's fleet set sail and rush to the aid of the cities. The renewed swearing-in of the bishops of Quarnero also points to this long period of weakness between 1000 and 1017. Bishop Majus von Arbe promised the annual delivery of 10 pounds of raw silk, Martin von Ossero 40 marten skins , Vitalis von Veglia 30 fox skins . Immediately afterwards, Dandolo describes the replacement of the Patriarchal Chair in Grado. There followed Vitalis , the son of Doge Pietro IV. Candiano , who had been overthrown in 976 , after more than fifty years in office, was followed by Ottones’s brother, Orso, who had been in office since 1009 and was no more than 21 years old. Ottone's fourth brother, Vitalis, became Bishop of Torcello. Immediately afterwards, Dandolo reports on that reliquary theft from a Greek monastery by the first Dandolo, whom he even calls a Domenico. Thirty years later, according to Gfrörer, a Bonus Dandolo appears as envoy: "The career of the larger offices had begun for them" (p. 432). On the other hand, enormous difficulties now piled up for the Orseoli, who apparently sat so firmly in the saddle, because with the death of the Patriarch John of Aquileia, Heinrich II took the opportunity to raise a German to the chair there, his Chancellor Wolfgang-Poppo, who , "Not without prior knowledge of the emperor Heinrich II.", Turned against Grado. He asked Pope Benedict VIII to bring the “presumptuous” Orso to justice, which was also demanded, but he mistrusted Poppo. The Pope then ordered him to go to Ravenna, Rome or Verona, where synods were held. On the contrary, the Pope confirmed Orso's rights. Gfrörer assumes that he could do this from 1022, when he was no longer so dependent on the emperor. Heinrich in turn demanded reparation from Ottone for the misdeeds against Otto III. - an interpretation that only followed Gfrörer, who believed that Ottone's father had the enthusiastic Otto III. just taken advantage of. To this end, according to Gfrörer, between 1020 and 1024, when he ruled all of Northern Italy, the emperor began a moderate trade blockade against Venice. Venetian silk merchants were only allowed to offer their goods in three locations in Italy. However, when the Pope confirmed Grado's rights, the emperor gave in. Pope and Emperor died in 1024. In the same year Ottone and Orso had to flee to Istria. Poppo took the opportunity to appear as Grado's savior, whose distrust he appeased with 18 oath helpers. Then he took the treasure of the cathedral that he had kidnapped earlier and brought it to Aquileia, where, according to Gfrörer, he probably also took some of the monks and nuns he mistrusted with him. The author also concluded that it was Ottone and Orso who had requested Grado's extradition to Poppo and the emperor, respectively. Therefore, on suspicion of high treason , they fled to Istria, which belonged to the empire that was now ruled by the Salian Conrad II . This would explain why Poppo was actually able to act as patron of the Orseoli in Grado. Poppo's actions there were “not criminal, but contractual actions” (p. 440). Pope John XIX. confirmed Aquileia's rights, but subject to canonical evidence. He did not revoke this confirmation until 1029. Gfrörer suspects that the whole thing was based on a secret treaty in which the Orseoli actually left the patriarch Poppo Grado. However, this would have been considered high treason and was therefore not usable as an official reason for recognizing Aquileia's rights (p. 443). Only after this determination did Grado return to the Orseoli - the German occupation offered no resistance. But in 1026 the aforementioned dispute about the replacement of the core Venetian bishopric by Olivolo, which ultimately led to the overthrow of Ottones and his brother Orso, ignited. The sharpest opponents were the Gradonico, who claimed the bishopric of Torcello. Gfrörer believes: “Otto acted this way because he wanted to move the patriarchal chair from Grado to the capital Venice, but wanted to leave his brother Orso there. So it was impossible for him to approve of the Gradonico's choice ”(p. 446). The Orseoli, who had already been expelled (to Istria) because of the same plans, were now overthrown and banished again. If the plan that Ottone had devised had worked out, Venice would have become a different city, says Gfrörer: “Unrestricted doges would have trampled the laws there, degraded the citizens, the chairs with relatives, sons, cousins, brothers, blind tools of the people The arbitrariness of the head of the family, occupied and instead of a glorious republic ruling the sea, would sprout a wretched principality, shattered by suspicion on all sides ”(p. 450).

This was contradicted by Pietro Pinton, who translated and annotated Gfrörer's work in the Archivio Veneto in annual volumes XII to XVI. He corrected numerous assumptions by Gfrörer, especially when it came to those for which the evidence from the sources was missing or contradicting them. However, his own critical examination of Gfrörer's work did not appear until 1883, also in the Archivio Veneto. To attribute the inner-city struggles to mere foreign policy and the Orseoli striving for "Byzantinism" claimed by Gfrörer does not go far enough for Pinton, for whom the internal Venetian conflicts dominated in this case. But Gfrörer ignores this in practically every political maneuver in Venice. Pinton also sees the interpretation of marriage policy as a mere manifestation of dynastic claims too one-sided - even if he accepts that the Candiano and Particiaco already strived for the hereditary character of their office - because these marriages also served as a means of protection against hostility on the part of external domains. This also applied to Slavs and Hungarians. Pinton also rejects Gfrörer's interpretation of the document for Heraclea as unlikely, because apparently Ottone was accepted without resistance as the new co-dog and successor of his father instead of his brother who had died of the plague. In addition, the doge election was probably carried out by members of the people's assembly, and the small town hardly played a role in it. Most, if not all, of those gathered were probably resident in the “città di Rialto”. Also, the Bishop of Adria could hardly have expected Arduin's support from Ivrea, because that Arduin himself had been in a desperate position in the fight against Henry II since 1014/15. Pinton also criticized the lack of preconditions with which Gfrörer caused a decline in the Venetian power in Dalmatia after 1000, while Pinton is more likely to assume that the Croatian activities did not begin until 1016. With regard to Poppo's and Heinrich's activities in Istria, Pinton assumes that the emperor succeeded in re-enforcing imperial rights there, which was made easier by Poppo's fight against Grado, to which the Istrian bishoprics were also subject. Only when he realized that the fighting was causing damage to Istria did the emperor moderate the fight against the Orseolo patriarch. The flight of the two Orseoli to Istria, which Gfrörer interprets as a protected position under the emperor, as high treason, is rejected by Pinton, who sees the personal enmities within Venice as the cause. This also does not go with the recapture of Grado to the detriment of the emperor and the patriarch of Aquileia, nor with the fact that the majority of the people's assembly brought the doge back twice. Pinton regards Gfrörer's thesis that the Orseoli wanted to give up the insecure Grado in order to establish a patriarchy on Rialto as extremely bold - even this without sources, which Gfrörer explains - not for the first time - with a secret agreement. Pinton agrees that the Orseoli overthrew the attempt to establish a kind of monarchy, but he does not consider the underlying assumptions, including high treason, to be tenable.

In 1861 Francesco Zanotto, who gave the people's assembly considerable influence in his Il Palazzo ducale di Venezia , reported that Ottone simply remained in office after the death of his father. The brothers Johannes and Otto were received with him in Constantinople with a “splendidezza veramente orientale” (p. 63), but Johannes and his small family fell victim to the plague. As a consolation, the people allowed the Doge to raise his third-born son Otto to be a fellow Doge, even though he was only 14 years old. But he was endowed with those qualities, in which Zanotto follows 'the chroniclers', especially Sanudo , who were needed to govern the state: "Saggio, prudente, giusto, pio, bello del corpo e dovizioso". He married "Elena", daughter of the Hungarian King Geiza and sister of Stephen I. Dandolo praises her as "castissima" and of no less virtue than her brother (who was canonized). Zanotto claims that Ottone regulated the decime that the citizens paid for public tasks and that had been misappropriated by the predecessors and the Gastalden ("alterati"). In the eighth year, the Doge had to take action against Pietro, the Bishop of Adria, who had invaded the areas of Loredo and Fossone. Ottone drove out 'the enemies', devastating their land and forcing the bishop and his prelates to seek forgiveness in Rialto. For this purpose, the aforementioned document was issued on June 7, 1016. Then he went against the "Slavi-Croati" who had already seized Zaras. After the victory, the Doge was confronted with the envy of some families who incited a large part of the people against the overwhelming Orseoli. The people, always 'gullible because ignorant' ('credulo perchè ignorante'), and 'fickle as the sea' wanted to overthrow the Doge, who fled to Istria with his brother Orso. Poppo von Aquileia also intrigued against Orso, occupied Grado, pretending that he only wanted to take care of an abandoned herd. As soon as he was allowed to enter the city, he had it plundered and had spared no crime in the process. Whether the Venetians recognized the injustice or whether friends of the Orseoli made it known, the Venetians regretted the expulsion and brought the brothers back from Istria. These took on the task of punishing Poppo and recapturing Grado. The crew withdrew and the city was fortified. But hatred, envy, the bad spirit of the families hostile to the Orseoli had produced a 'new revolt' two years later. The dispute over the bishopric of Torcello provided the pretext for this, as Zanotto claims. “Stimolati” by the Flabanici under their head Domenico, “a man ready for any offense”, let the people, led by the Gradenighi, be persuaded to overthrow the Doge. Ottone was shorn and banished to Constantinople, Orso fled. The author saw the doge as an example that a state leader with good qualities could be overthrown by unjust revolts of the people if they, against the evangelical dictates, rise to judge their rulers.

Heinrich Kretschmayr thinks that while the first and third son, Johannes and Otto, were raised to be co-doges, namely 1002 and 1008, the second and fourth son, Orso and Vitale, became patriarchs of Grado. The family thus dominated the two most important levels of Venetian politics. In terms of foreign policy, the marriages of the brothers Johannes and Otto - with the Byzantine Maria and the sister of King Stephen of Hungary, who was also the sister-in-law of Emperor Henry II - testify that Venice acted for a short time on the same level as the two empires. King Otto, who was on his way to Rome for the imperial coronation, raised Pietro-Ottone from the baptism. On his second journey to Rome, the young emperor was welcomed by his godchild in January 998, under the protection of a fleet, in Ferrara. Finally, the emperor wanted to get to know the doge personally, which led to the emperor's secret stay in Venice, which began on April 13, 1001. Again he raised a child of the Doge from the baptism, this time a daughter - for Kretschmayr a pure “bliss of mood” from “love of friends and St. Mark” (p. 134). “Almost none of the conquests won were permanently earned. The appointment of Venetian governors in the capital cities of Dalmatia, which was first reported in the 14th century for this period, is to be rejected, however eagerly it was written down by the later chroniclers. ”The Byzantine prior of Zara also remained the Dux of Dalmatia, at the head of the city Priorities continued to exist in the hierarchy, the bishops and the dominant families retained their fuzzy rights. From the middle of the 11th century, Hungary also claimed supremacy. Even on the islands of Arbe, Veglia and Ossero-Cherso, where Venice was next to Istria most likely to be able to assert itself politically and permanently, the son of the Dog had to enforce his rule in 1018. For Kretschmayr, it was Poppo's ambition to submit to the entire Patriarchate of Grado, including its suffragan bishoprics, that sparked the extensive conflict that followed. But neither with the Pope nor with his overlord did he find “support or even understanding”. "During the reign of Doge Otto, a strong opposition must have developed against the Orseolians, of course nothing is known about their growth and development." She forced Ottone and Orso to flee, which, according to Kretschmayr, was only an echo of the change of the throne in 1024 in the Reich and depicted in Rome. In autumn 1024 Poppo cunningly took possession of Grado “and lived terribly in the defenseless city” (p. 145). The new Pope, "came up simonistically," recognized Poppo's rights, albeit with reservations. The "revolutionary party recognized with horror whose interest had fostered their uprising against the glorious ruling house." The brothers, "recalled or not", recaptured 1024 Grado in October / November. In December the Pope revoked the recognition of Aquileia's rights. - But in March 1026 Conrad II appeared in Italy and was crowned emperor at Easter 1027. "To him the Venetians were rebels who illegally occupied Grado against the emperor and the empire". “You had to submit them,” says Kretschmayr laconically. Konrad was willing to repeat Otto II's attempt and to put an end to Venetian independence (p. 146). Already in the spring of 1026 Konrad had refused to confirm the Venetian privileges. "Expelled or fleeing of his own accord, Otto hurried to the court of Romanos III. to Constantinople. ”A“ colorless and harmless embarrassing candidate ”, namely“ Pietro or Domenico Centranico or Barbolano ”was elected Doge instead of the leader of the opposition. Ottone was called back while his brother Orso was taking over the office of Doge, but he had died in Constantinople at the age of 37 (p. 148). "Orso's custody died out of its own accord," believes Kretschmayr.

Neither the debate between Gfrörer and Pinton nor the more reserved interpretation of Ketschmayr prevailed in more general representations. The opposition to the Orseolo was directed primarily against the power and wealth of the family, as the editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911 and 1926 claimed: "the growing wealth and influence soon filled the Venetians with alarm".

For John Julius Norwich Otto was “the youngest Doge in Venetian history” in his History of Venice . He follows Dandolo's praise for the excellent character of the 16-year-old. According to Norwich he has "indeed inherited many of his father's characteristics, among them his taste for splendor and his love of power". Equipped with experience at both imperial courts, his marriage to the aforementioned Hungarian brought him "still more luster to his position". The author comments on the occupation of the bishop's seats with his family members: “He should have known better.” An opposition formed against this plan to enforce the inheritance of the Doge's office. The first dark clouds, according to Norwich, appeared in 1019 with Poppo's appointment. If you follow the author, Orso and Ottone fled to Istria in 1022–23. After him, however, Poppo began to go overboard when he "systematically" robbed churches and monasteries. The returning brothers expelled "Poppo and his followers with surprisingly little feet" (Poppo was no longer in Grado after Dandolo), a synod rejected 1024 Poppo's claims. If the Doge had only shown "a modicum of sensitivity to popular opinion", the Orseoli might have remained in power. But Otto's ambition was, as always, too strong for him, as Norwich claims. As he briefly notes, "a further scandal over Church appointments" led to the doge's well-known overthrow. He spent the rest of his life in Constantinople.

swell

The Istoria Veneticorum of Johannes Diaconus only lasted until the end of the reign of Ottones father. It describes the political activities with unusual accuracy and is one of the oldest Venetian historiographical works. As a result, the events from 1009 onwards can only be explored on the basis of much more recent sources, one of which is the work of Doge Andrea Dandolo .

• Luigi Andrea Berto (ed.): Giovanni Diacono, Istoria Veneticorum (= Fonti per la Storia dell'Italia medievale. Storici italiani dal Cinquecento al Millecinquecento ad uso delle scuole, 2), Zanichelli, Bologna 1999 ( text edition based on Berto in the Archivio della Latinità Italiana del Medioevo (ALIM) from the University of Siena).
• La cronaca veneziana del diacono Giovanni , in: Giovanni Monticolo (ed.): Cronache veneziane antichissime (= Fonti per la storia d'Italia [Medio Evo], IX), Rome 1890, pp. 152, 154, 168, 170 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Ester Pastorello (Ed.): Andrea Dandolo, Chronica per extensum descripta aa. 460-1280 dC , (= Rerum Italicarum Scriptores XII, 1), Nicola Zanichelli, Bologna 1938, pp. 195, 202-208, 335, 361 f. ( Digitized , p. 194 f.)

literature

• Giuseppe Gullino: Orseolo, Ottone , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 79, 2013 (forms the basis for the performing part).
• Andrea Da Mosto : I Dogi di Venezia nella vita pubblica e privata , Milan 1960, pp. 27, 42-47.
• Roberto Cessi : Venezia ducale , Vol. I, Venice 1963, pp. 377-380, 383 f., 389; Vol. II, Venice 1965, pp. 4 f., 8, 12, 27, 29 f., 49, 126 f., 168.
• Stefano Gasparri: Dagli Orseolo al comune , in: Lellia Cracco Ruggini , Massimiliano Pavan, Giorgio Cracco , Gherardo Ortalli (eds.): Storia di Venezia dalle origini alla caduta della Serenissima , vol. I: Origini - Età ducale , Rome 1992, p 792-794.

Web links

Commons : Ottone Orseolo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ↑ digitized version .
2. ↑ Giuseppe Gullino is wrong here, because the name of the Hungarian wife has not been passed down, cf. Jürgen K. Schmitt: Peter Orseolo . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 6, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-7608-8906-9 , Sp. 1931 f.
3. ↑ Alfried Wieczorek , Hans-Martin Hinz, Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum (ed.): Europe center around 1000 , Theiss, 2000, p. 783.
4. ↑ Flabànico, Domenico, doge di Venezia , Enciclopedie on line, Treccani.
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. 48 f.
6. ↑ Pietro Marcello : Vite de'prencipi di Vinegia in the translation by Lodovico Domenichi, Marcolini, 1558, p. 48 f. to the Dogat ( digitized version ).
7. ↑ 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, pp. 88-90 on Dogat ( online ).
8. ↑ Heinrich Kellner : Chronica that is Warhaffte actual and short description, all life in Venice , Frankfurt 1574, p. 19r – 19v ( digitized, p. 19r ).
9. ↑ Alessandro Maria Vianoli : Der Venetianischen Herthaben life / government, and dying / from the first Paulutio Anafesto to / bit on the now-ruling Marcum Antonium Justiniani , Nuremberg 1686, pp. 164-167 ( digitized ).
10. ↑ Jacob von Sandrart : Kurtze and increased description of the origin / recording / areas / and government of the world famous Republick Venice , Nuremberg 1687, p. 29 ( digitized, p. 29 ).
11. ↑ Johann Friedrich LeBret : State history of the Republic of Venice, from its origin to our times, in which the text of the abbot L'Augier is the basis, but its errors are corrected, the incidents are presented in a certain and from real sources, and after a Ordered the correct time order, at the same time adding new additions to the spirit of the Venetian laws and secular and ecclesiastical affairs, to the internal state constitution, its systematic changes and the development of the aristocratic government from one century to another , 4 vols., Johann Friedrich Hartknoch , Riga and Leipzig 1769–1777, Vol. 1, Leipzig and Riga 1769, pp. 251–255. ( Digitized version ).
12. ↑ Samuele Romanin : Storia documentata di Venezia , 10 vols., Pietro Naratovich, Venice 1853–1861 (2nd edition 1912–1921, reprint Venice 1972), vol. 1, Venice 1853, pp. 293–297, here: p. 293 ( digitized version ).
13. ↑ August Friedrich Gfrörer : History of Venice from its foundation to the year 1084. Edited from his estate, supplemented and continued by Dr. JB Weiß , Graz 1872, on Pietro II. Orseolo pp. 357-425, on Ottone pp. 425-450 ( digitized version ).
14. ^ Pietro Pinton: La storia di Venezia di AF Gfrörer , in: Archivio Veneto 25,2 (1883) 288-313 ( digitized ) and 26 (1883) 330–365, here: pp. 353-359 ( digitized ).
15. ↑ Francesco Zanotto: Il Palazzo ducale di Venezia , Vol. 4, Venice 1861, pp. 65–67, here: p. 65 ( digitized version ).
16. ^ Heinrich Kretschmayr : History of Venice , 3 vol., Vol. 1, Gotha 1905, pp. 142–148.
17. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica , 1911 and 1926, each p. 330.
18. ^ John Julius Norwich : A History of Venice , Penguin, London 2003.

predecessor	Office	successor
Pietro II Orseolo	Doge of Venice 1009-1026	Pietro Centranico