Asia. Venetian merchants grew wealthy
through the control of eastern spices and
other rare goods in high demand by the
aristocrats and royalty of Europe. The city
extended its boundaries by annexing
Padua and other cities on the Italian main-
land, as well as land along the Adriatic
coast.
In the late fourteenth century, Venice
bested its most important rival, the Italian
city of Genoa, in the War of Chioggia,
which ended in 1380. After this key event,
Venice emerged during the Renaissance as
one of the wealthiest states in Europe. Rep-
resentatives of the Venetian doge and its
ruling Council of Ten traveled throughout
Europe, playing an important role in the
diplomatic conflicts of the age. A fleet of
more than three thousand ships ranged
the Mediterranean, and Venice had cap-
tured several mountain passes through the
Alps in order to control routes to north-
ern Europe. Venetian power and wealth
also posed a threat to the Papacy; the
popes also sought authority over cities of
the northern Italian plains and the Catho-
lic Church frowned on the tolerance that
allowed religious dissent within Venice it-
self. In 1508 Pope Julius II formed the
League of Cambrai with France, Spain, and
the Holy Roman Empire to challenge Ve-
netian might. The league failed in its mis-
sion, as Venice recaptured all of the main-
land territories it had lost and emerged in
the mid-sixteenth century as the strongest
state in Italy.
The Venetian republic was founded on
the authority of the doge—which eventu-
ally became a largely ceremonial office—
and of the Great Council, a body of sev-
eral hundred rulers drawn from among
the city’s noble families. The Council ap-
pointed public officials and elected a Sen-
ate, which in turn chose the Council of-The Doge’s Palace in modern Venice. BRANDXPICTURES/ROYALTYFREE.
Venice