venice’s maritime empire in the early modern period 139
potential role of a territory as an information relay station was probably
never a principle motivation for its occupation, but this factor may have
played a role in the framework of a wider set of considerations.
A region’s natural resources were, of course, of paramount importance
when the possibility of acquisition arose. Venetian specialization in the
exploitation of salt as a major economic instrument has been studied
extensively, particularly in Jean-Claude Hocquet’s numerous studies.28
Grain supply, or access to grain supply from other regions, must have
played a central role as well. Accepting the voluntary submission of Thes-
salonica in 1423 must have been related, for example, to the rich grain
resources of Thessalia. This could also have been one of the considerations
for the occupation of Cyprus.
Let us now move from motivations to tactics or methods of expansion.
Voluntary submissions have already been mentioned in various contexts.
The pattern was similar in most cases. If a territory was ruled by a fam-
ily, the ruler who requested Venetian protection, or was convinced to do
so, was normally promised a pension that would allow him or her to
live comfortably without worrying about taxes, defense, and other such
matters.29 A down payment was another possible arrangement, as, for
example in the case of some small localities in Dalmatia in the early
15th century.30 These tactics could still work in the Quattrocento but dis-
appeared entirely in the following century.
When negotiations for the inclusion of a new colony were conducted
with a corporate body, such as a commune, the price was often in the
form of pledges by Venice to maintain the local statutes and customs,
generally with one important reserve: criminal law, the symbol of sover-
eignty, had to be that of Venice. Even if not always phrased explicitly, this
was a basic principle applied throughout the overseas territories.31 Being
the common framework that united all overseas colonies, this was the
principal expression of the Dominante’s dominion.
28 Jean-Claude Hocquet, Le sel et la fortune de Venise, 2 vols (Lille, 1978–79).
29 E.g., Maria d’Enghien, lady of Argos and Napoli di Romania (Nauplion), in the late
14th century, or the Dukagjin brothers, who ceded the Albanian town of Alessio in 1393
in return for a yearly pension; Giorgio Balša, who ceded Scutari and Drivasto to Venice in
1396, receiving the title of Venetian nobleman and the right to raise the flag of St Mark. See
Fine, The Late Medieval Balkans, p. 419; Giuseppe Valentini, “Dell’amministrazione veneta
in Albania,” in Agostino Pertusi, ed., Venezia e il Levante fino al secolo XV, 2 vols (Florence,
1973), vol. 1, part 2, pp. 843–910, pp. 850–51, notes.
30 Praga, History of Dalmatia, p. 145.
31 G. Ortalli, “Il ruolo degli statuti tra autonomie e dipendenze: Curzola e il dominio
veneziano,” Rivista storica italiana (1986), 195–220; Cozzi, “La politica del diritto,” p. 66.