Venice - Adriatic Powerhouse

Chronology of Political Events

March 25, 421 A.D.
Legendary date of birth of Venice as a result of Visigoth invasion by King Alaric.
697 A.D.
First doge, Paoluccio Anagesto, elected, according to legend.
740
Lombard king Liutprand invades Ravenna.
800
Charlemagne crowned emperor of Holy Roman Empire in Rome.
810
Pippin, son of Charlemagne, tries to capture city.  Defeated by venetici.
814
Pax Nicephori - Franco-Byzantine treaty.
828
Body of St. Mark brought to Venice after merchants remove it from Alexandria, Egypt.
829-832
Construction of Basilica of St. Mark's.
840
Pactum Lotarii -
Emperor Lothair renews Frankish-Byzantine treaty of 814.
866
Sack of Comacchio.
Venetian forces attack commerical rival.
932 -
Second sack of Comacchio.
Venetian forces under Doge Pietro II Candiano attack Comacchio.
976
Popular rebellion
Doge Pietro IV Candiano assassinated.
Mobs set fire to palatium, the Basilica, the Church of San Teodoro, and over 300 private dwellings.
Pietro I Orseolo elected Doge.
1000
Dux Dalmaticorum.
Doge Pietro II Orseolo takes fleet to Dalmatian coast, suppresses pirate operations, and imposes Venetian control.
1042
Rebuilding of Basilica of St. Mark's begun.
Construction completed in 1071.
1081
Venetian expedition to assist Constantinople.
Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus requests Venetian assistance against Norman force under Robert Guiscard.
Venetian fleet attacks Norman forces off coast of Durazzo.
Comnenus in 1082 grants trade concessions to Venice in return for help.
1095 - 1099
First Crusade
July 15, 1099
Armies of the First Crusade capture Jerusalem.
1099 - 1100
Venetian fleet participates in First Crusade.
Winters on Island of Rhodes.
Defeats Pisan fleet.
Leaves Rhodes in May 1100 and sails to Myra in Asia Minor.
Steals relics of St. Nicholas.
1104
Foundation of the Arsenal.
Shipyard/military supply depot established during reign of Doge Ordelaf Falier.
1123
Expedition to the East.
May 30, 1123 - Battle of Ascalon -
Venetians defeat Eyptian fleet.
July 7, 1124
Fall of Tyre.
Venetians participate in siege.
1143
Consilium Sapentium (Council of Wise Men) instituted.
1145 - 1149
Second Crusade.
1171
Manuel Comnenus destroys Genoese quarter in Constantinople and disperses Venetian colony.
1172
Venetian fleet under Doge Vitale II Michiel sails for Aegean.
Plague decimates crew and fleet returns.
Doge Michiel attacked by rebels and murdered
1187
July - Battle of Hattin. Saladin captures Christian force.
Saladin captures Jerusalem.
1189 - 1192
Third Crusade.
August 1198
Pope Innocent launches recruitment for the Fourth Crusade.
April 1201
Treaty of Venice
Venetians agree to transport 33,000 crusaders of the Fourth Crusade to the Holy Land in exchange for 44,000 pounds of silver.
October 1202
Venetian fleet carrying members of Fourth Crusade sails.
November 1202
Siege of Zara.
June 23, 1203
Crusaders arrive at Constantinople.
July 17, 1203
Crusaders attack Constantinople.
August 1, 1203
Alexius IV installed as emperor.
February 8, 1204
Alexius IV murdered.
April 9, 1204
Assault on Constantinople begins.
April 12, 1204
Constantinople captured.
April 13-15, 1204
Constantinople sacked.
May 16, 1204
Coronation of Emperor Baldwin.
Start of Latin Empire
April 14, 1205
Battle of Adrianople.
Louis of Blois killed and Emperor Baldwin captured.
1257 - 1270
First war with Genoa.
1258
Venetian fleet defeats Genoese.
1261
Michael Palaeologus captures Constantinople, ending Latin Empire.
1263
Battle of Settepozzi
Defeat of Genoese fleet.
1266
Battle of Trapani
Genoese defeated in naval battle.
1284
Venetian gold ducat coin introduced.
1294 - 1299
Second war with Genoa.
1298
Genoese commander Lamba Doria defeats Venetian fleet at battle of Curzola.
1308 - 1313
War with Ferrara.
1310
Tiepolo Conspiracy
Patricians Marco Querini, Baiamonte Tiepolo, and Badoero Badoer conspire against Doge Pietro Grardenigo.
Querini executed.
1347 - 1348
Venetian vessel brings Bubonic Plague to city in autumn of 1347.
Three-fifths of inhabitants of Venice succomb.
1350 - 1355
Third War with Genoa.
April 17, 1355
Doge Marino Falier beheaded for conspiring to set up dictatorship.
June 1358
Venice cedes claim to Dalmatian cities to Hungarian crown.
1363 - 1366
Revolt of Candia.
Brought to an end when leaders captured and beheaded in April 1366.
1378 - 1381
Fourth War with Genoa.
1386
Island of Corfu occupied by Venetian forces.
1389
Treviso recovered.
1404
Vicenzia, Belluno, and Bassano surrender to Venice.
1405
Padua and Verona defeated.
January 1409 -
Venice regains rights over Dalmatia from the king of Naples.
1416 -
Venetian fleet under Pietro Loredan destroys Turkish fleet at Gallipoli.
1423 -
Death of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo.
Francesco Foscari elected Doge.
May 4, 1425
League between Venice and Florence.
1425 - 1426
First war in Lombardy.
1427 - 1428
Second war in Lombardy.
1431 - 1433
Third war in Lombardy.
1432 (April)
Carmagnola, commander of Venetian-Florentine army, beheaded.
1433
Peace of Ferrara.
1438 - 1441
Fourth war in Lombardy.
November 20, 1441
Peace of Cremona.
May 29, 1453
Constantinople falls to Mehmet II (Mohammed II), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
May 1454
Peace of Lodi.
April 3, 1463
Turks seize Venetian fortress of Argos.
Mid-July 1470
Turks capture Negropont.
January 24, 1479
Peace treaty between Venice and Ottoman Empire.
Venice loses Argos, Euboea, and Scutari. Agrees to pay annual tribute of 10,000 ducats.
1494
France invades Italy to conquer Naples.
1499
Battle of Zonchio.
Turks defeat Venetian fleet under Antonio Grimani.
Lepanto, Modon, and Corone surrendered to Turks.
August-September 1499
Vasco da Gama returns to Portugal from India.
October 1503
Guiliano della Rovere becomes Pope Julius II.
1508
League of Cambrai.
May 14, 1509
Battle of Agnadello.
Venetian army defeated.
Easter Saturday 1512
Battle of Ravenna.
Casualties among Holy League estimated at around 10,000. Casualties among French almost as high.
1537 - 1540
Turkish war.
1538 - Battle of Prevenza - Venetian fleet under Andrea Doria defeated by Turks.
Venice loses supremacy at sea to Turks.
1539
Institution of body known as State Inquisitors.
1570
Fortress of Famagusta on Cyprus attacked by Turks.
October 7, 1571
Battle of Lepanto.
Venice contributes 110 galleys to Christian fleet of 208 galleys.
John of Austria defeats Turkish squadron and captures 117 galleys.
1587
Venetian government sets up first public bank, Banco della Piazza.
1613 - 1617
War of Gradisca.
1630 - 1631
Plague claims 50,000 lives in sixteen months.
1645 - 1669
War of Candia.
Turks blockade Candia, capital of Crete, which holds out for twenty years, until September 6, 1669.
September 1683
Turks besieging Vienna routed by Polish king John Sobieski.
September 1687
Parthenon blown up during Venetian attack on Athens.
January 1789
Last Doge, Lodovico Manin elected.
May 1, 1797
Napoleon declares war on Venice after French ship fired on.
October 18, 1797
Franco-Austrian treaty of Campofomid.
Venice and all her possessions brought under Austrian control.