Pietro Orseolo

Statue of the saint “S. Petrus Urseulus ”, a work by the sculptor Giovanni Marchiori (1696–1778), Chiesa di San Rocco, photographed in 2016

Pietro Orseolo ( Latin: Petrus Urseolus ; * 928 in Venice ; † January 10, 987 or 988 in the Cuxa Abbey near Perpignan ) was Doge of Venice from August 12, 976 to August 31, 978 . He then fled and spent the last decade of his life in a monastery in what is now Catalonia . He has been recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church since 1731 , and his relics have been in St. Mark's Church since 1732 .

family

Pietro Orseolo came from a very influential family in the 10th and 11th centuries. He married the Venetian Felicitas Malipiero in 946. This connection came from Pietro II. Orseolo , who was elected Doge in 991, as well as a daughter, whose name has not been passed down, and who married Giovanni Morosini. He accompanied Pietro Orseolo on the escape from Venice to a monastery in the Pyrenees .

Life

First mentioned (from 960), coup in 976, election to the Doge

Pietro Orseolo first appears in the sources in 960. That year he was one of the signatories of the ban on the slave trade. In July 971 his signature appears on another document, namely the prohibition of the timber and arms trade with the Saracens . This was enforced by the Byzantine emperor Johannes Tzimiskes .

On August 11, 976, a group of conspirators overthrew Doge Pietro IV Candiano and killed him and his son. This group turned against the Doge's support of the Ottonians , a group to which Pietro Orseolo also belonged. During this uprising, the conspirators set fire in the vicinity of the Doge's Palace, which then spread uncontrollably and also destroyed the churches of San Marco , San Teodoro and Santa Maria Zobenigo as well as over 300 residential buildings. Pietro Orseolo was elected Doge the following day, but this had to be done in the church of San Pietro di Castello in the east of the city, as the core area of ​​Venetian rule had burned down during the uprising. According to the chronicler Johannes Diaconus , Orseolo participated in the overthrow of his predecessor. In his Vita et acta sanctissimi patris et partriarchae Romualdi, fundatoris Camaldulensium , Petrus Damianus rated the Doge's withdrawal from politics and worldly life as an atonement.

Dogat from 976 to 978

First, the new Doge 976 tried to find a balance with Waldrada, the widow of his predecessor. She was a relative of Adelheid , the Empress of the Roman-German Empire and widow of Emperor Otto I. Waldrada waived all claims, which she confirmed again at a placitum in Piacenza on October 25 of the same year. In contrast, Vitale, the patriarch of Grado and son of the murdered Doge from his first marriage, demanded the confiscated goods from the Candiano. He pursued these demands from the court of Otto II , to which he had fled.

The Pala d'oro , the "Golden Altarpiece", in St. Mark's Basilica , the oldest parts of which, namely the small round medallions on the outer frame, come from a silver antependium imported from Byzantium , which was probably commissioned by Pietro Orseolo

During his brief tenure as Doge, Orseolo was primarily a founder. He had the reconstruction of the Doge's Palace and the first work on the new St. Mark's Church carried out mainly at his own expense. The golden altar table - the Pala d'oro - was donated by him. He had commissioned the work of art adorned with sapphires , emeralds , rubies and enamel inlays in Constantinople . Orseolo is said to have distributed a thousand pounds in gold to the victims of the fire of 976, and again he donated the same amount for the poor.

The Candiano supporters were still very influential, but they did not get beyond planning attacks. But they could still count on the support of the imperial court. This possibly suggested the arrival of Guarino, the abbot of Saint Michèle de Cuxà , a Benedictine abbey in the eastern Pyrenees. Today the monastery is in Catalonia , at that time it belonged to the French Languedoc-Roussillon . Guarino was on his way back from a pilgrimage to Rome and tried, this time in vain, to persuade the Doge to withdraw from the world.

On October 17, 977, the Doge signed a treaty with Sicardo, Count of Istria, which guaranteed the Venetian traders free trade and privileged them on the peninsula.

He had a son of Felicitas, who also had the name Pietro , and who was to become Doge from 991 to 1009. The two also had a daughter, whose name has not been passed down. She married Giovanni Morosini, Orseolo's companion on the escape to the Pyrenees in 978 .

The supposed remains of the Doge's Hermitage

The grave in Cuxa

Escape and life in the Cuxa monastery (978–987 / 988)

In the summer of 978 the abbot returned to Venice. With the help of young Romuald and a hermit named Marino, this time he succeeded in what had previously failed. Johannes Diaconus emphasizes the Doge's religious motives, Petrus Damiani the political ones. Perhaps in order not to expose the republic to the revenge of the Candiano family, perhaps under pressure from the emperor, he decided to leave Venice forever. So the office of Doge was to become vacant for a man who did not belong to any of the warring political blocs in the lagoon city. But Vitale Candiano followed him in office, who in turn resigned after a year. On the night of August 30th to September 1st, 978, Pietro Orseolo secretly left in the company of three religious people and the aforementioned Giovanni Morosini and Giovanni Gradenigo and went to the Benedictine abbey of Cuxa.

In this monastery he is said to have led an exemplary monastic life, with St. Romuald has been his spiritual companion for some time. Pietro Orseolo died on January 10, 987 or 988 and was buried in the Cuxa monastery.

Reception and veneration as a saint

Worship, beatification and canonization

Relics in the treasury of St. Mark's Basilica

Pietro Orseolo was venerated as early as the 11th century and beatified in 1027 . There was the translation of his human remains in the Church of Cuxa. On December 6, 1644, after being repositioned several times, his bones were placed in a gold-decorated wooden box under the altar of St. Romuald posed. Officially, however, the veneration was not made until 1731 by Pope Clement XII. allowed. The saint's feast day is January 10th. St. Pietro Orseolo is depicted either as a monk or in the robe of a doge.

Reception in art

Fantasy portrait of the Doge in the Caffè Florian

In the workshop of Giovanni Bellini , a picture was created around 1490 that depicts Pietro Orseolo and his wife Felicita Malipiero praying. It is owned by the Museo Correr in Venice. Giovanni Marchiori (1696–1778) made a statue of the saint for the Church of St. Rochus , the Chiesa di San Rocco , also in Venice. In the Caffè Florian on St. Mark's Square, a Sala degli Uomini illustri , a room that was restored in 2012, was built alongside a number of other rooms from 1858 . In addition to portraits of Carlo Goldoni , Tizian and Andrea Palladio, there were also portraits of Paolo Sarpi , Marco Polo and Admiral Vettor Pisani . In addition, three Doge portraits were created, namely, in addition to depictions of Enrico Dandolo and Francesco Morosini, a fantasy portrait of Pietro Orseolo.

Reception in historiography

For 14th century Venice, the interpretation given to Orseolo's brief reign was of unusual symbolic importance. The focus of the Chronicle of Doge Andrea Dandolo perfectly represents the views of the long-established political leadership bodies that have steered historiography especially since this Doge. His work was repeatedly used as a template by later chroniclers and historians, in this case he himself adopted the assumptions of Johannes Diaconus to a particularly large extent. The focus was not so much on the questions of political independence between the empires, of law from their own roots, and hence of the derivation and legitimation of their territorial claims, but rather on dealing with a political and urban disaster. The question of the hereditary monarchy, which the Candiano intended to enforce, and which remained virulent for a long time, was at the time of Andrea Dandolo in no way in accordance with the interests of the families ruling at that time, but above all with the state of the constitutional development bring. At the same time, the balance between the ambitious and dominant families remained one of the most important goals, the derivation of their prominent position in the state of great importance. The stages of political developments that finally led to the disempowerment of the Doge, who was increasingly assigned representative tasks, but no longer allowed independent decisions, was a further objective of the presentation. Its implementation was comparatively far advanced in the 14th century. In the case of Pietro Orseolo, the role of the church in particular was veiled, through whose influence the Doge fled the city to a remote monastery.

Italy and the Adriatic region around 1000

The oldest vernacular chronicle, the Cronica di Venexia detta di Enrico Dandolo from the late 14th century, depicts the processes, like Andrea Dandolo, on a level that has long been known by individuals, especially the Doges, here exclusively the good character of the doge is emphasized, of the "homo sanctissimo et di perfecta vita". The chronicle reports on "Piero Ursiolo", he was elected in the church of the diocese, today's San Pietro di Castello in the far east of the city. For him, the focus was not on "degnitade", but on caring for the poor. He had the Doge's Palace rebuilt, and also the St. Mark's Church. The latter was done from the Doge's own resources. He also supported "molte et diverse perseqution" that had happened through the house of the murdered Doge. In the end he refused to rule as a doge (“refiudò lo ducado”) and together with the abbot of San Michele on Murano he went to Aquitaine , where he led such a holy life that God made numerous miracles visible to him. “And to this day,” according to the chronicle, he is publicly venerated in the respective communities, “habiando ducado anni II e meço”, after two and a half years of rule.

In Pietro Marcello's count, “Pietro Orseolo doge XII.”, Ie the 12th Doge - probably a misprint, because it should certainly be the 22nd Doge, especially since he counts his predecessor as the 21st Doge. In 1502 Marcello saw the new Doge as "huomo molto da bene, & giusto" in his work later translated into the Volgare under the title Vite de'prencipi di Vinegia . To restore freedom to the people, Pietro IV Candiano was attacked ("assaltare") and a fire was set. But this was so fanned by a strong wind that not only the palace but also the St. Mark's Church burned down. He had the palace rebuilt much more magnificently, as well as the St. Mark's Church. At that time the Saracens conquered Capua and besieged Bari , but the Doge had defeated them at the head of a fleet. After the birth of a son, he and his wife swore eternal chastity. Despite his success, "alcuni pochi tristi ministri, & autori di quel Candiano, turbarono grandemente il pacefico stato di quel reggimento" - 'a few sad servants', plus partisans of that Candiano, brought the peace of the state considerably in danger - that dated fled patriarchs were supported. Convinced of said abbot in conversations, the doge followed his inclination towards the monastery. Disguised, “travestito”, he left Venice without saying anything to anyone and went “to Guascogna”. There he worked numerous miracles.

According to the Historie venete dal principio della città fino all'anno 1382 by Gian Giacomo Caroldo , which the author completed in 1532, during the siege of the Doge's Palace in 976, on the advice of “Pietro Orsiolo”, who lived on the “rio di palazzo” had started a fire with pitch and other materials. However, this spread not only to the fortified Doge's Palace, but also to over 300 houses, to San Marco and the Chapel of St. Theodor and “ Santa Maria Zubenigo ”. From the heat and smoke of the fire, the besieged fled to the open with difficulty. There the rebels killed the Doge, his child and his soldiers with their swords. In the “Chiesa di San Pietro, alli XIJ Agosto MCCCCLXXVJ” Pietro Orseolo was elected Doge, who, it is said, “had devoted all his efforts to pleasing God from an early age”. He refused the office because it dissuaded him from his path, but he gave in to the people's requests out of responsibility for the republic. The people were sworn in on him and all confirmed him as a doge. He wanted to move back into his house as soon as possible. After the birth of their son Pietro, his wife "Felicita" convinced of the value of chastity. In addition to restoration work on the churches badly damaged by the fire, "ordinò che la palla dell'altare a Constantinopoli fosse fatta d'oro et argento con mirabil magistero", he ordered the Pala d'oro in Constantinople, which still exists today and is made of gold and Silver was created with wonderful mastery. According to this chronicle, Vitale Candiano, who was grieving over the cruel death of his father, traveled to Saxony to see Emperor Otto II, whom this death also pained. After all, the question of the legacy of the Waldrada (“Valderacha”) could be settled by “Dominico Carimano nuncio”. After that, Caroldo does not go into the conflict with the emperor. With “Sicardo Conte et Popolo Justinopolitano” the privileges, “liquali s'erano abbrusciati nell'incendio del Palazzo”, which were burned in the fire of the Doge's Palace, were renewed (p. 74). The chronicle also conceals that Istria was on imperial territory and that the Count was not entitled to conclude independent contracts with foreign powers. Guarino, the said abbot from "Aquitania", who dedicated St. Mark, who was especially venerated, traveled from Rome to Venice. Doge and Abbot “insieme longamente stetero in colloquio più volte”. During these multiple, long conversations, the Doge informed the abbot that many Venetians hated him because of the death of the Candiano Doge and that the Patriarch of Grado was scheming against him at the court of the Ottonians. The abbot comforted him and exhorted him to direct his mind to divine help, paying little attention to the things of the world that accompanied man until death. The Doge wanted to take this route, but he still needs time to leave the state well-organized. Even though attacks on him were constantly being planned, as he heard, he continued his work and waited for the abbot to return. The doge loved the poor and was generous with the alms , at the palace he founded the “hospitale che si chiama di San Marco”, the San Marco hospice. Then at the age of 50 and after two years and 20 days as a doge, secretly or covertly ("occultamente"), he left Venice, "senza dir parola ad alcuno delli suoi", 'without saying a word to his people'. While his companions endured the hardships of monastic life, the doge complained, “per esser nutrito in delicie”, he could no longer bear “l'astinenza, et digiuni, senza nocumento [sic!] Della mia vita”. He told his son beforehand that he would be elected Doge. Pietro Orseolo died on January 11th after 19 years in the monastery. His grave is especially venerated and frequently visited in France, as the chronicler notes.

In the Chronica published in 1574, this is Warhaffte actual and short description, all the lives of the Frankfurt lawyer Heinrich Kellner in Venice , who based on Pietro Marcello made the Venetian chronicle known in the German-speaking area, is "Peter Orseolus the twentieth and twentieth Hertzog", " a very pious and just man ”. He was chosen in 976 "to S. Peter in the churches / with the approval of the whole people / and unanimous voice / Hertzog". But he initially refused to accept the "Ampt". But the people asked him to do so, and so “he let the love of his fatherland move him”. He then made it “difficult for everyone” not to tolerate any more revolt against the Doge and not to allow anything to happen that would not benefit the community or would be beneficial. Then he retired to his house, had the Doge's Palace rebuilt more beautifully than before and the “body” of the saint, which had been saved in St. Mark's Church, “put in its place”. Against the Saracens, who had conquered Capua and now besieged Bari, he supplied the besieged with "Proviandt". The fleet received support "from Greece with Orseolo" and defeated the Saracens in a battle, which they drove to flight. "When Peter now produced a son with his wife Felicita / he and his housewife v God the LORD eternal chastity." The respectable regiment was created by "wicked servants and bad boys of the previous Hertzog Candiani" and "incited and incited Vitalis / Patriarch of Aquileia / Ottonem the Keyser / the second deß name / hard against the Venetians ”. A Gasconier named Quirin or Curcin visited St. Mark's Church and started talking to the Doge. He made him resign; he took care of the poor, built "a hospital / which is still on this day at the S.Marx churches." He protected the "brotherhoods / the clergy / and the whole religion vigorously and kindly." He also resisted the activities of the Patriarch and his followers. But “he once disguised himself at night” and secretly left Venice. "And as they say / afterwards he led a Christian and holy life in Gasconia / because he also died". He is said to have “done many signs” afterwards “like some write”.

San Mauro Chapel in Madonna dell'Orto

Depiction of the "Urseolus Dux" in the Church of Madonna dell'Orto in Cannaregio , created around 1622. The church goes back to 982 according to tradition.

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 Erste Paulutio Anafesto an / bis on the now-ruling Marcum Antonium Justiniani , the Doge becomes different by Pietro Marcello, called "Petrus Orseolus, The 23rd Hertzog". In the "August month of the 975th year" the rebels attacked the Doge's Palace and when they met resistance they set fire in various places (p. 142). Vianoli thinks that this was "the pathetic end of this heart drawn". They gathered "in St. Peters / the main episcopal church in the Castell / while Saint Marci was now consumed by fire" and there in 976 Pietro Orseolo was elected, "a person of many and heartfelt virtues". He only accepted the election at “the request of the people” “so that he would not again want to plunge the community into some other troubles” (p. 146). The condition, however, was an oath never to commit "riot or mutiny" again. In his “dwelling with SS Philippo and Jacobo” he led a “private and drawn-in life”. He had the Doge's Palace rebuilt even more splendidly “mostly at his own expense”. "St. Marken Body / who was saved from the flames in the church, ”he put back“ in his place ”. With the support of the Byzantines, the Venetians triumphed over the Saracens before Bari, "the barbarians were brought to flight / and most of them were drowned and captured". Vianoli assumes that the Doge commanded the fleet himself and that he returned home in triumph. “With his wife Felicitas” “he had previously produced a son”. Thereupon he “vowed to keep eternal chastity alongside his housewives” (p. 149). The author laconically adds that the Doge "started the spiritual life with Johanne Gradenigo and Johanne Morosini / and went to a monastery after Gasconia (a province in France)".

In 1687 Jacob von Sandrart wrote in his Opus Kurtze and enlarged description of the origin / recording / territories / and government of the world-famous republic of Venice that in the 17th year of the reign of the fourth Candiano “the people got on their feet / and the palace in the Fire stuck ". "Through this conflagration, however, at the same time 300 houses and three of the most distinguished churches went up in the smoke", the doge and his little son were murdered. "Petrus Urseolus" was elected as the 22nd Doge. He had the St. Mark's Church "cremated / restored" in the previous heat and left "the so artificial table, which is so wonderfully decorated with gold and precious stones / so one brought anhero from Constantinople / and can still be seen there today." The author also mentions his victory in “Baro”. After two years of government "he stole away secretly / went to Aquitaine / and went there to a monastery; but left this praise: that he was a man of great respect and understanding. "

With the canonization in 1731, research on the life of Pietro Orseolo intensified immensely. The Vita del Glorioso Prencipe S. Pietro Orseolo Doge di Venezia, indi monaco, ed Eremita Santissimo appeared in Venice from the pen of the Camaldulenser and mathematician Guido Grandi . Grandi, who quotes numerous sources, decided on the year of birth 928, listing a number of hypotheses, as he calls them himself, which the origin of the name and the relationships of the Orseoli, who were related to the Partecipazio (Particiachi), touched, a name that was in turn associated with the Parthians (p. 10), but this seemed unlikely to the author because of the distance of the country. Even the Doge Orso Ipato is one of his ancestors. Even if the names of the parents are unknown - some also take Pietro as the name of the father, according to the author - they received praise from all sides for the upbringing of their son, whose most important endeavor was to please God. He quotes in a footnote from Dandolo's chronicle. And when he saw the image of God in his neighbor, he helped the poor and made peace. He married “Circa l'anno di nostra salute 946”, also this “contra sua voglia”, “Felicia or Felicita”. With his perfect “consorte” he lived “in perfetta unione più di animi, che di corpi”, “in perfect unity, more souls than bodies”. After the birth of their son Pietro, they vowed eternal chastity. The author rejects claims that the couple had other children, namely a Giovanni and an Orso, Patriarch of Grado. This is based on mix-ups, because one was a nephew, the other a grandson of Pietro Orseolo. Grandi also objects to the claim that the couple had previously had a girl, but with subtle linguistic arguments. This alleged son-in-law could have married another relative, such as a sister or niece. At least he made the said assumption 'improbable', as he himself thinks (p. 15). The doge also emerged with Grandi by prohibiting the trade in Christian slaves who were sold to Muslims, then by the said prohibition on sending letters to the emperor without them being known beforehand ("conosciute") in the Doge's palace. This harms Christianity as well as the delivery of weapons to the enemies of Christians ("Nemici del nome cristiano"), which was also prohibited. Only then does the author turn to the murder of Pietro's predecessor in the Doge's office, whose “Prencipato” had “degenerated” into a “Dominio Tirannico” (p. 19). One day after Candiano's death, Pietro Orseolo was elected as the new Doge against his will; As usual, he calmed the people down, treated everyone equally, renovated the church buildings and had a hospice built. The Pala d'oro is also included in this list of benefits. He also had the relics of St. Markus “dentro un pilastro”, 'in a pilaster ', so that they were only rediscovered in 1094 near the “Cappella di San Leonardo” (p. 30). The Candiano party drew the suspicion from the fact that a new doge had been elected one day after the doge murder - "tanto presto, e senza lunga consulta" - that an agreement had already been made. In order to become Doge, Pietro Orseolo gave his consent that his house could be used to set fire to the Doge's Palace (p. 33). The later escape was accordingly interpreted as a kind of atonement. But the Candiano party went further by threatening the Doge's life. It was Vitale who demanded "vendetta" from Otto II for the death of his father, and Waldrada who demanded her dowry back. But the Orseolo managed to calm Adelheid's anger (“l'ira di questa gran Dama”) and to find a solution acceptable to all sides by means of the “special envoy” (“ambasciatore straordinario”) - with apologies for the “from the people” 'Acts committed (“scusò l'eccesso commesso dal popolo”). Allegedly Waldrada came to Venice personally because the Doge had promised her safe conduct (“salvo condotto”). A contract was drawn up, presented to Adelheid in Piacenza and recognized by her. Since Vitale had not been insulted as violently (“so altamente offesa”) like Waldrada, he was also able to achieve a balance as a cleric, who was also more inclined to the affairs of duty (“le cose del dovere”). However, the associated documents were lost. According to the author, some claimed that the Doge had promised to rebuild the walls of Rialto at his own expense, but others ascribed this to Pietro II Orseolo . Thereupon Grandi describes the events surrounding the contract with Capodistria, although he considers it too poorly documented that there had been a war beforehand (pp. 40–43). He attributes the alleged naval victory over the Saracens off Bari to a mix-up with the fights of his son of the same name. The author dedicates eleven pages in flowery language to the work of the pilgrims who finally caused the Doge to flee, and another six to the escape in the robe of a poor man (pp. 59–64). Now the Venetians looked for the doge, whereupon he cut off his beard in order not to be discovered. They came across the group of pilgrims, threatened to behead Guarino, but Guarino asked them to look for the doge among his people. When they didn't recognize him, they sailed home. Finally, the author describes the Doge's novitiate (from p. 68), the retreat into the hermitage, mortifications and temptations, then the said prophecy for his son who visits him in the Hermitage (pp. 84-87) and finally his death and his 'first funeral' (up to p. 90). This is followed by reports of visions and miracles, visits by believers also from Venice, translations, such as in 1487 and 1644, then the spread of the cult 'across Europe' (p. 98) and the canonization. This long process that was required for this had prompted the protagonists to compile the known sources for the first time.

Significantly more critical in interpreting these sources was Johann Friedrich LeBret , who published the first volume of his four-volume State History of the Republic of Venice in 1769 , but which also dealt extensively with the Venetian constitution. He knew about the rule of Candiano and the reaction of the Venetians even more dramatically than Grandi: "Unrestricted orders thundered under a freyes people who were least used to the imperious mine." The author notes, after all, on the uprising of 976, critically of the sources the older historians, who wrote before Andrea Dandolo, knew nothing of the advice of Peter Orseolus to set the palace on fire (p. 220). On August 12, 976, according to Dandolo, the houses of Orseolus burned in the vicinity of the Doge's Palace, to which the flames should spread. According to LeBret, the Doge was surprised that some of his peers were at the head of the uprising. Regarding the report that the new doge, elected in San Pietro immediately after the murder of Pietro IV. Candiano, initially rejected the office, LeBret writes: “It is alleged that at the beginning he refused to accept the ducal dignity because he believed that he was his Holiness will thereby be put in danger. Such a description is more appropriate for the legend of the Bollandists than for a philosophical spirit. ”In his opinion, Waldrada and Vitale saw in the new Doge“ the main driving force ”of the catastrophe. The imperial widow Adelheid “was in Piacenza in November of this year when Waldrada met her” and complained about Doge and Venetians. Vitale fled for fear of an expansion of the murder to Saxony and has "prayed for revenge for the murder committed on his father" (p. 222). But Otto was distracted by other business, so that “the fear of the Venetians that was initially felt was somewhat diminished.” LeBret then goes back to the legendary tradition: “Orseolo saw himself as a prince who should make his people happy”. For him, the destruction of all contracts by the fire of the Doge's Palace was the reason to renew them. "Because the original writings of many treaties were lost in the fire of the ducal palace: so he renewed the treaties with the people of Justinopolis or Capo d'Istria [...] immediately after taking up his government". Its residents added, however, "they wanted to watch all of this without orders from the emperor". “Some also praise him as a hero who excelled in a naval battle against the Saracens. The oldest yearbooks of the Venetians tell us nothing of this. ”The author points out that the alleged covenant created by Pope John XIII. , goes back to the humanist Flavio Biondo , as well as the naval battle of Bari. LeBret also sees the relationship to the empire differently than the Venetian chroniclers. According to him, the Doge did nothing against the Candiani and their followers, although they intrigued against him because he feared Otto II, whom Vitale had taken against Venice. “He showed special attention to honor the clergy. For at that time the essence of religion was placed solely in the greater or lesser degree of respect for the Clerisey. And she also recognized his inclination to her position with thanks. ”Therefore she describes the Doge as a saint. According to LeBret, the Orseolo fled from the still influential Candiani. The above-mentioned clergy who convinced the Doge that he should, in the company of Johannes Gradenigo, "give up his dignity," which he has unlawfully seized, "with a conscience, and submit to a foreign power in order to atone for his sins." had the fourth in the conspiracy against the Doge Peter Candian ”, as well as“ Johannes Morosini of his daughter husband ”and the three clerics - took him with them to the Catalan monastery. Putting on the monk's habit was "very difficult for the Doge, who was used to a comfortable way of life," believes the author. According to him, the Doge died on January 10, 997. His early hagiographers “want to portray the Doge as a saint also in marriage who fathered only one son with his wife: but they do not notice that Morosini was his daughter-husband, and that So he must have had another daughter. "

Samuele Romanin , who depicts very detailed depictions and is embedded in the historical context of the neighboring territories , who portrayed this epoch in 1853 in the first of ten volumes of his Storia documentata di Venezia , briefly outlined the dramatic scenes in Venice in which Pietro IV was overthrown and murdered has been. The fact that the popolo minuto instigated by relatives and comrades-in-arms of the exile was committed to bringing the exile back before the election, while the leading figures of the city resisted, was taken from a "Cronaca Barbaro" by Romanin without further details. Finally there was the uprising of 976, in the course of which the Doge faced his adversaries directly and addressed them as "brothers". Nevertheless, he was killed along with his son and his soldiers, apparently by peers. "Così era compiuta la vendetta popolare" closes Romanin. Waldrada, who had escaped, threw herself at the feet of the Empress mother Adelheid. The patriarch Vitale, who had also fled to the imperial court, joined her requests for reparation (p. 251). Otto II sent corresponding demands to Venice's new government. The new Doge Pietro Orseolo is portrayed in an extremely contradictory manner in Romanin. On the one hand, if one follows Johannes Diaconus, who was close to the Orseolo, he was of a saintly way of life, of generosity. And the chronicler reports that he initially refused the office. On the other hand, he was the driving force responsible for causing half the city to go up in flames. According to Romanin, it could also have been a person of the same name (p. 251). With this, the author swings back to the line of the hagiographers. He also mentions the enormous expenditures for the reconstruction of the city, for military conflicts, for the compensation for Waldrada, for which the collection of a decima was enforced, which from then on accrued either annually or as needed. According to Romanin, paying such a tax might mean the same thing as the later government bonds. You belonged to the "consociazione veneziana", acquired the "cittadinanza", ie citizenship. His explanations of this tax - in addition to this there was the ripaticum , which all ships had to pay, then the teleoneum , a goods tax, perhaps a gabella for the shops, then fines and the income from salt production - almost makes you forget what for it was raised, namely to comply with Waldrada's demands. Otherwise, for Romanin, the doge was again a pious man who had always leaned towards monastic life.

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 The widowed Waldrada, who was married to the murdered Doge according to Salic law , could not have sued for her property, because according to this law, daughters were not inheritable. So, according to Gfrörer, she could only have won her inheritance with the permission of the Kaiser. Gfrörer also thinks, even quoting from the document, that all articles of the contract with Capodistria should be valid “without any consideration of the emperor's orders”. He assumes that the quarrel with the city and other Istrian cities can be traced back to Otto II's attempts to take revenge for the doge's murder. This is all the more true as Rhodoaldus, Patriarch of Aquileia, was also Metropolitan of Istria, not the Patriarch of Grado. Gfrörer comments on the new Doge: "Both Dandolo and the chronicler Johann make a visible effort to present him as a model of piety", and then list the indications due to a saint: his rejection of the office, his chastity, his generosity towards the poor and with Reconstruction of the city, the secret rescue of the bones of St. Markus and their dumping in a little known place, the construction of the hospital, his huge donations to the poor and the state (p. 317). According to the depiction of Petrus Damianus, however, the Orseolo sacrificed his house for the purpose of arson only on the condition that he would later be made a doge. He also had, which contradicted the assertion of chastity after the birth of the son in Gfrörer's eyes, "a son-in-law, and consequently also a daughter". According to Gfrörer, however, it is true that he was supported and protected by the clergy, and he needed this help because Otto II, at whose court the Patriarch, and Adelheid, at whose court Waldrada had fled, faced him as powerful enemies . Waldrada, however, issued the Venetian ambassador with an "acknowledgment of receipt", so by no means renounced her enormous possessions, but received compensation. This compensation was applied by the said decima . Gfrörer states that this tithe must have been introduced earlier, namely at the time of the fourth Candiano (p. 320). But there were still men in Venice who were anxious to murder Orseolo, as Gfrörer quotes the chronicler Dandolo. Gfrörer identified Otto II as the puller in the background, who had not agreed with Adelheid's peaceful solution. So the Orseolo was only able to flee, "because otherwise he would have fallen infallibly through poison or dagger". The author believes that Dandolo is only quoting Damianus because he does not have to say certain things explicitly for reasons of state. Marinus, the abbot in question, makes a pilgrimage to Venice to study the relics of St. Mark - which the doge is said to have hidden in a little known place, another contradiction - to pray. Conversely, Gfrörer speculates that the monks wanted to bring the doges and patrons of the church, who were in mortal danger, to safety on behalf of Rome, from where they came - allegedly as pilgrims - as both Johann and Dandolo report. At the same time they wanted to prevent the incorporation of Veneto into the empire, which had stood in the way of their idea of ​​ecclesiastical dominance. So they brought the Orseolo to a place that was "unreachable for the poor and vengeance of the German Ottonians", and whose patron, Count Oliba von Cerdagne and Besalu, himself entered the Montecassino monastery in 988 and who would never have handed over his protégé. The fugitives avoided Milan, which they passed after just three days, and reached their destination via Vercelli . In the monastery, the doge complained that he “from his youth, used to a good life and of a stately build, could not survive with the piece of black bread that he was given every day. Affected by this, adds the biographer, Romuald [who at that time was 50 years after Gfrörer] added a quarter above the usual level, ”as Gfrörer quotes. When his son visited him, he prophesied that he would be elected Doge. But he should be just to everyone, never violate the constitution and honor the Church of Christ and protect its rights. For Gfrörer another reference to the church masterminds. At any rate, people in Venice were perplexed, and the people were sad.

Pietro Pinton, who translated and annotated Gfrörer's work in the Archivio Veneto in the annual volumes XII to XVI, corrected his idea of ​​an overly strong influence of Byzantium. His own critical examination of Gfrörer's work did not appear until 1883, also in the Archivio Veneto. He expressly declares Gfrörer's “arte critica” to be stronger than with regard to its predecessor. So he justified John's silence about the authorship of the uprising of 976 with the chronicler's membership of the Orseolo. Dandolo and Damiani did not have to take such considerations (p. 335). However, Johannes Diaconus also indirectly admits the complicity of Orseolo, because those who planned attacks against his life were the same ones who had encouraged Vitale to flee to the imperial court. For Pinton, Johannes Diaconus, who was closer to the events in time, is more credible than Damiani, who wrote a century later. For Pinton, it was enough to tell Johannes Diaconus that the Doge wanted to live in his house, that it could not have been set on fire to set the Doge's Palace on fire, as Damiani claims, especially since it was not there - the idea that However, he does not discuss these large houses could own several townhouses. In contrast to Gfrörer, Pinton recognizes the conciliatory character of the Doge in the compromise with Waldrada - and this, as Pinton adds, to a woman who certainly had a share in the tyranny of the murdered Doge (p. 337 f.). Secrecy and the haste to flee point to the greatest danger for Pinton too, and even if the people may have mourned, they did not search long for the man who had fled, but chose a new doge that same month.

In 1861 Francesco Zanotto, who gave the people's assembly considerably more influence in his Il Palazzo ducale di Venezia , reported that the Doge, in order to comply with Waldrada's demands, organized the state finances, for which he called the people's assembly, which passed the said decima . Otherwise, the author follows the Venetian tradition, mentioning a few provisions of the renewed contract with Capodistria. The doge kept the escape plan from his wife and son. The refugees crossed the lagoon in a small boat, the author Johannes Diaconus reports in detail, then they came to S. Ilario, rode six horses through Lombardy and Piedmont, then crossed the Alps, and then after a few Days to reach the monastery in Roussillon. The fifty-year-old lived there for another seventeen years, made the said prophecy to his son and then died in 997. Finally, he mentions the Pala d'oro.

Also Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna reported its first, in 1867 published book Storia dei Dogi di Venezia conventional, on the violent and ambitious Doge, a peaceful and moderate Doge had followed '. He counts “Pietro Orseolo I” as the 23rd Doge. With him it was the 'angry people' ("popolo furioso") who tore the predecessor and his son as well as numerous followers ("seguaci") to pieces. He believes that not only Waldrada fled to Adelheid in Pavia, but Vitale too. Cicogna also assumed that the Doge fled west from the Candiano in Venice, for which he had his beard cut off, which the Venetians wore according to Greek custom.

Heinrich Kretschmayr asks about the concise, conventional description of the election: “Who, contrary to tradition, wanted to believe that the person who was elected was one of the heads of the conspiracy and had only escaped from the world because of the crime against his master and To atone for predecessors in office? ”Kretschmayr believes that Johannes Diaconus was the“ house chronicler of the Orseoli ”, the“ denigration ”of the fourth Candiano“ became more and more law, the more the aristocratic oligarchy became the only legitimate constitution of Venice in validity over the years every attempt made against it had come into disrepute as a cursed revolution ”(p. 110). In the end, the attempt to found an “independent monarchy” was “suffocated in fire and blood”. He describes Peter Orseolo as a true "Resititutor urbis" who generously had the city rebuilt. The contract with Capodistria appears again, the settlement in favor of Waldrada, Otto's opposition. II., "Because at the German court one heard the news of the violent end of Pietro Candiano with bitterness". In her declaration of renunciation, Waldrada declared "the removal of the 400 pounds of silver that she received as a morning gift and the compulsory portion due for her murdered son, a quarter of the estate of her husband, and refrained from all further claims on the state" (p. 118). Otto's continued hostility caused the Doge to forge his escape plan. According to Kretschmayr, Guarinus encouraged him in this. Even if the loss “might have been felt in Venice, one may have breathed a sigh of relief there”.

With Pietro Orseolo, according to John Julius Norwich in his History of Venice , perhaps the only republican head of state to be canonized later, although the fact that he left his wife, child and political responsibility behind, does not necessarily appear to holiness today would qualify. He claims “Candiano's extravagances” taught the cash registers, Waldrada, the Doge widow, demanded her equipment back, the city center had to be rebuilt - the destruction was so great that the Doge was obliged, as Norwich thinks, the seat of government to his private house to relocate, near the charred Doge's Palace. For 80 years the doge was able to dispose of over 8,000 ducats annually from his private fortune in his will. For Norwich, Guarinus ("Warren") could have been an agent of the Ottonian court, from where Waldrada launched a diplomatic offensive with the support of her stepson Vitale. Or maybe he was just one of those men who persuaded potentate after potentate to go to the monastery. According to Damianus, the doge was an accomplice of the subversive and was plagued by a guilty conscience. The monk returned to Venice the next year under the pretext of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, hostility to the Doge grew and, according to the author, he sensed that generosity and popularity were not the same, and perhaps he was too weakened by a guilty conscience to withstand the pressure. On September 1st, 978 "he took the easy way out". Together with his son-in-law and a Gradenigo who Norwich suspects to be identical to the man who honored the bodies of the murdered Candiano, father and son, after they were simply dumped in the butcher's market, he fled to a convent . Without a beard, he remained unrecognized and reached the abbey a few weeks later. King Louis XV 1732 ordered that the Doge's religions be brought to Venice a year after his canonization.

swell

Narrative sources

• 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. 140–142, 148, 178 ( digitalisat ).
• Ester Pastorello (Ed.): Andrea Dandolo, Chronica per extensum descripta aa. 460-1280 dC , (= Rerum Italicarum Scriptores XII, 1), Nicola Zanichelli, Bologna 1938, pp. 179-184. ( Digitized, p. 178 f. )
• Roberto Cessi (Ed.): Origo civitatum Italiae seu Venetiarum (Chronicon Altinate et Chronicon Gradense) , Rome 1933, pp. 29, 119.
• Roberto Cessi, Fanny Bennato (eds.): Venetiarum historia vulgo Petro Iustiniano adiudicata , Padua 1964, p. 58.
• Alberto Limentani (ed.): Martin da Canal, Les estoires de Venise: cronaca veneziana in lingua francese dalle origini al 1275 , Olschki, Florenz 1972, p. 22 f.
• Șerban V. Marin (ed.): GG Caroldo, Istorii Veneţiene , Vol. I: De la originile Cetăţii la moartea dogelui Giacopo Tiepolo (1249) , Bucharest 2008, pp. 73, 75.
• Giovanni Monticolo (Ed.): Marino Sanuto, Le vite dei dogi (= Rerum Italicarum Scriptores XXII, 4), Città di Castello 1890, p. 134 f.
• Giovanni Tabacco (Ed.): Petri Damiani Vita beati Romualdi , Rome 1957, pp. 23-25, 28 f.

Legislative sources, letters

• Roberto Cessi (ed.): Documenti relativi alla storia di Venezia anteriori al Mille , 2 vol., Vol. II, Padua 1942, 100, 102 f., 106-108, 139.
• Cesare Manaresi (ed.): I placiti del Regnum Italiae , Vol. II, Rome 1957, pp. 169, 171-174.

literature

• Marco Pozza: PIETRO Orseolo, santo , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 83 (2015). (Basis of the presentation part)
• Gherardo Ortalli : Gesta vel obitus Domni Petri ducis Venecie atque Dalmacie , Rome 2016.
• Fabio Arduino: San Pietro Orseolo (Urseolo) Monaco , Santi Beati e Testimoni.
• Gherardo Ortalli: Quando il doge diventa santo. Fede e politica nell'esperienza di Pietro I Orseolo , in: Studi Veneziani , ns, 41 (2001) 15-34, 36-48.
• Giorgio Cracco : I testi agiografici: religione e politica nella Venezia del Mille , in: Lellia Cracco Ruggini , Massimiliano Pavan, Giorgio Cracco, Gherardo Ortalli (ed.): Storia di Venezia dalle origini alla caduta della Serenissima , vol. I: Origini - Età ducale , Rome 1992, pp. 931-934.
• Gherardo Ortalli: Petrus I. Orseoli and his time. Notes on the history of the relationship between Venice and the Ottonian Empire , Sigmaringen 1990, pp. 5–15, 41, 45–48, 51 f., 66–72.
• Silvio Tramontin: Problemi agiografici e profili di santi , in: Franco Tonon (ed.): La chiesa di Venezia nei secoli XI-XIII , Venice 1988, pp. 153–178, here: pp. 155–160.
• Giovanni Musolino, Antonio Niero, Silvio Tramontin: Santi e beati veneziani: quaranta profili , Venice 1963, pp. 105–113.
• Andrea Da Mosto : I dogi di Venezia con particolare riguardo alle loro tombe , Venice 1939, p. 40 f.
• JP Kirsch: Entry St. Peter Urseolus , in: New Advent. Catholic Encyclopedia , 1911.
• Bernhard Schmid: Saint Peter Orseolo, Doge of Venice and Benedictine in Cuxa 928–987 , in: Studies and communications from the Benedictine and the Cistercian Order XXII (1901) 71–112 and 251–281.
• Henri Tolra: Saint Pierre Orséolo, Doge de Venise, puis Bénédictin du monastère de Saint-Michel de Cuxa en Roussillon , Paris 1897.
• François Font: Le Bénédictin du Roussillon, notice sur saint Pierre Urseolo, doge de Venise, roi de Dalmatie et de Croatie, et religieux du couvent de Saint-Michel de Cuxa, suivie d'un opuscule relatif à cette abbaye , Perpignan 1863.
• Guido Grandi: Vita del glorioso prencipe S. Pietro Orseolo doge di Venezia indi monaco ed eremita santissimo , Venice 1733.

Dedications

• Oreste Ravanello: Messa in onore di S. Pietro Orseolo. A tre voci virili con accompagnamento d'organo , Turin 1898 (score of a missa brevis in honor of the saint)

Web links

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

Remarks

1. ↑ Guido Grandi: Vita Del Glorioso Prencipe S. Pietro Orseolo Doge di Venezia, Indi monaco, ed Eremita Santissimo. Scritta da un religioso camaldolense , Venice 1733, p. 115 ( digitized version ).
2. ^ Theodor Gsell-Fels: Oberitalien , Meyers Reisebücher, Vol. 2, 2nd increased edition, Leipzig 1875, p. 409.
3. ↑ Venezia, risplende il Caffè Florian restaurata sala degli Uomini Illustri. Specchi, fregi e cornici rinascono sotto le Procuratie Vecchie , in: Corriere del Veneto, October 8, 2012.
4. ^ Roberto Pesce (Ed.): Cronica di Venexia detta di Enrico Dandolo. Origini - 1362 , Centro di Studi Medievali e Rinascimentali "Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna", Venice 2010, p. 45.
5. ↑ Pietro Marcello : Vite de'prencipi di Vinegia in the translation of Lodovico Domenichi, Marcolini, 1558, pp 38-40 ( digitized ).
6. ↑ 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. 72-75 ( online ).
7. ↑ Heinrich Kellner : Chronica that is Warhaffte actual and short description, all life in Venice , Frankfurt 1574, p. 15v – 16r ( digitized, p. 15v ).
8. ↑ Alessandro Maria Vianoli : Der Venetianischen Hertsehen Leben / Government, und die Nachben / Von dem First Paulutio Anafesto an / bit on the now-ruling Marcum Antonium Justiniani , Nuremberg 1686, pp. 137-140, translation ( digitized ).
9. ↑ Jacob von Sandrart : Kurtze and increased description of the origin / recording / areas / and government of the world famous Republick Venice , Nuremberg 1687, p. 25 f. ( Digital copy, p. 25 ).
10. ↑ Guido Grandi : Vita Del Glorioso Prencipe S. Pietro Orseolo Doge di Venezia, Indi monaco, ed Eremita Santissimo. Scritta da un religioso camaldolense , Venice 1733 ( digitized version ).
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. 216–221, on Dogat to p. 225 ( digitized version ).
12. ↑ The Bollandists collected and published the lives of saints in the Acta Sanctorum .
13. ^ 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. 251–257 ( digitized version ).
14. ↑ Cronaca SUL R47 , called Cronaca Barbaro because it comes from Daniele Barbaro, who wrote it in Volgare . It covers the period from the creation of Venice to 1413.
15. ↑ 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, pp. 312-330 ( digitized version ).
16. ^ Pietro Pinton: La storia di Venezia di AF Gfrörer , in: Archivio Veneto 25.2 (1883) 288-313, here: pp. 308-313 ( digitized version ) and 26 (1883) 330-365, here: p. 335 -339 ( digitized version ).
17. ↑ Francesco Zanotto: Il Palazzo ducale di Venezia , Vol. 4, Venice 1861, pp. 51–56 ( digitized version ). He deals with the origins of the Orseolo family in a multi-page footnote starting on p. 52
18. ^ Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna : Storia dei Dogi di Venezia , Vol. 1, Venice 1867, o. P.
19. ↑ Heinrich Kretschmayr : History of Venice , 3 vol., Vol. 1, Gotha 1905, pp. 116–118, here: p. 116.
20. ^ John Julius Norwich : A History of Venice , Penguin, London 2003.

predecessor	Office	successor
Pietro IV Candiano	Doge of Venice 976–978	Vitale Candiano