Enrico Dandolo (also anglicised Henry Dandolo or in Latin Henricus Dandulus, 1107? – 1205) was the Doge of the city-state of Venice from 1192 until his death. Anglicisation or anglicization (see -ise vs -ize) is a process of conversion of verbal or written elements of any other language into a more comprehensible English Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The Doge ( Venetian language, also Doxe, derived from Latin Dux military leader duke cf The Most Serene Republic of Venice ((Serenìsima Repùblica Vèneta or Repùblica de Venesia Serenissima Repubblica He is remembered primarily for his role in the Fourth Crusade which ultimately conquered Constantinople and ended (for a time) the Byzantine Empire. The Fourth Crusade (1202&ndash1204 was originally designed to conquer Muslim Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt.
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Background and career
Born in Venice, he was the son of the powerful jurist and member of the ducal court, Vitale Dandolo. Dandolo had served the Serenissima Republic in diplomatic (as ambassador to Ferrara and bailus in Constantinople) and perhaps military roles for many years. The Most Serene Republic of Venice ((Serenìsima Repùblica Vèneta or Repùblica de Venesia Serenissima Repubblica Ferrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS
Dandolo was from a socially and politically prominent Venetian family. His father Vitale was a close advisor of Doge Vitale II Michiel, while an uncle, also named Enrico Dandolo, was patriarch of Grado, the highest-ranking churchman in Venice. This is a list of the Patriarchs of Grado (north-eastern Italy Both these men lived to be quite old, and the younger Enrico was overshadowed until he was in his sixties.
Dandolo's first important political roles were during the crisis years of 1171 and 1172. In March 1171 the Byzantine government had seized the goods of thousands of Venetians living in the empire, and then imprisoned them all. Popular demand forced the doge to gather a retaliatory expedition, which however fell apart when struck by the plague early in 1172. Dandolo had accompanied the disastrous expedition against Constantinople led by Doge Vitale Michiel during 1171-1172. Upon returning to Venice, Michiel was killed by an irate mob, but Dandolo escaped blame and was appointed as an ambassador to Constantinople in the following year, as Venice sought unsuccessfully to arrive at a diplomatic settlement of its disputes with Byzantium. Renewed negotiations begun twelve years later finally led to a treaty in 1186, but the earlier episodes seem to have created in Enrico Dandolo a deep and abiding hatred for the Byzantines. Instead Dandolo and another ambassador were sent to Constantinople to negotiate.
During the following years Dandolo twice went as ambassador to King William II of Sicily, and then in 1183 returned to Constantinople to negotiate the restoration of the Venetian quarter in the city. William II (French language Guillaume II, 1155 &ndash November 11 1189 Palermo) called the Good, was king of Sicily
He became the 39th Doge of Venice on 1 January 1193, Dandolo was already old and blind, but deeply ambitious, and displayed tremendous mental and (for his age) physical strength. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC He was at least in his seventies when he became Doge. Some accounts say he was already 85 years old when he became Doge. His remarkable deeds over the next eleven years bring that age into question, however. Others have hypothesized that he may have been in his mid-70s when he became Venice's leader.
Fourth Crusade
In 1202 the knights of the Fourth Crusade were stranded in Venice, unable to pay for the ships they had commissioned after far fewer troops arrived than expected. Dandolo developed a plan that allowed the crusaders' debt to be suspended if they assisted the Venetians in restoring nearby Zara to Venetian control. At an emotional and rousing ceremony in San Marco di Venezia, Dandolo "took the cross" (committed himself to crusading) and was soon joined by thousands of other Venetians. Saint Mark's Basilica ( Italian: Basilica di San Marco a Venezia) the Cathedral of Venice, is the most famous of Dandolo became an important leader of the crusade.
Venice was the major financial backer of the Fourth Crusade, supplied the Crusaders' ships, and lent money to the Crusaders who became heavily indebted to Venice. Because of the crusaders' continued delays, provisions were also a problem for the enterprise.
Although they were supposed to be sailing to Egypt, Dandolo convinced them to stop at Zara, a port city on the Adriatic that was claimed both by Venice and by the Kingdom of Hungary. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea, with a population of 72717 (2001 The Kingdom of Hungary (short form Hungary) was a considerable state in Central Europe that existed from 1001 to 1918 then from 1919 to 1946 Dandolo encouraged the crusaders to attack the city which had rebelled from Venice. A small number of Crusaders refused to help; but the others realized that the conquest of the rebel town and subsequent wintering there was the only way to hold the faltering crusade together. Zara was besieged and captured on November 15, 1202. Events 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria.
Shortly afterwards, Alexius Angelus, son of the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II, arrived in that city. Isaac II Angelos or Angelus ( Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος Isaakios II Angelos) (September 1156 &ndash January 1204 was Byzantine Dandolo agreed to go along with crusade leaders plan to place Alexius Angelus on the throne of the Byzantine Empire in return for Byzantine support of the crusade. This ultimately led to the conquest and sack of Constantinople on April 13, 1204, an event at which Dandolo was present and in which he played a directing role. Events 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople The Catholic Crusaders then took permanent control of the Eastern Orthodox capital of Constantinople (or Byzantium) and established a Catholic state, the Latin Empire. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS This article is about the city See also Byzantine Empire. Byzantium ( Greek: Βυζάντιον Latin: la BYZANTIVM The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople (original Latin name Imperium Romaniae, " Empire of Romania " is the Venice gained title to three-eighths of the Byzantine Empire as a result of the 4th Crusade. The Byzantine Empire was never again as powerful as it had been prior to the Fourth Crusade.
Later life
He was active enough to take part in an expedition against the Bulgarians, but died in 1205. The Bulgarians (българи balgari) are a South Slavic people generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language He was buried in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, probably in the upper Eastern gallery. Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya Αγία Σοφία " Holy Wisdom " Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia) is a former patriarchal Basilica, later In the nineteenth century an Italian restoration team placed a marker near the probable location, which is still visible today. The marker is frequently mistaken by tourists as being a medieval marker of the actual tomb of the doge. The real tomb was destroyed by the Turks after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and subsequent conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
Blindness
It is not known for certain when and how Dandolo became blind. The story passed around after the Fourth Crusade (and accepted by some historians) was that he had been blinded by the Byzantines during his 1171 embassy. This has been clearly shown as untrue. It appears that he suffered from cortical blindness as a result of a severe blow to the back of the head received sometime between 1174 and 1176. [1]
Dandolo's blindness appears to have been total. Writing thirty years later, Geoffrey de Villehardouin, who had known Dandolo personally, stated, "[A]lthough his eyes appeared normal, he could not see a hand in front of his face, having lost his sight after a head wound. " Although even this account may have become exaggerated by the gloss of time, it is clear in any event that Dandolo's sight was severely impaired.
Family
His son, Ranier, served as vice-doge during Dandolo's absence and was later killed in the war against Genoa for control of Crete. His granddaughter, Anna Dandolo, was married to the Serbian king Stephen the First-Crowned. Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country Stefan II or Stephen II, known afterwards as Stefan Prvovenčani (lit Although later genealogists attributed a whole brood of distinguished children to the doge, none of them actually existed. It is very possible that he had only the one son. During his dogeship he was married to a woman named Contessa, who may have been a member of the Minotto clan. Although there were several subsequent doges of the Dandolo family, none were direct descendents of Enrico.
Coinage Reform
Two years after taking office, in 1194, Enrico enacted reforms to the Venetian currency system. He introduced the large silver Grosso worth 26 denarii, and the quartarolo worth 1/4 of a dinaro. The grosso of Venice (plural Grossi) is a silver coin first introduced in Venice in 1194 by Enrico Dandolo. Also he reinstated the Bianco worth 1/2 denaro, which had not been minted for twenty years. He debased the denaro and its fractions, whereas the Grosso was kept at 98. 5% pure silver to ensure its usefulness for foreign trade. Enrico's revolutionary changes made the Grosso the dominant currency for trade in the Mediterrainian and contributed to the wealth and prestige of Venice.
In later years, the value of the Grosso would climb relative to the increasingly debased denaro, until it was itself debased in 1332. Soon after the introduction of the Grosso, the denaro began to be referred to as the piccolo. Literally grosso means "large one" and piccolo means "small one".
Other
In the 19th century, a battleship called Enrico Dandolo was launched by the Regia Marina (Italian Navy). The Regia Marina ( Italian Royal Navy) dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification.
Footnotes
- ^ Madden 2003
References
- Madden, Thomas F. (1993). This article is about the modern historian at Saint Louis University "Venice and Constantinople in 1171 and 1172: Enrico Dandolo's Attitude towards Byzantium". Mediterranean Historical Review: 166-185.
- Madden, Thomas F. (2003). Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-7317-7.
- Robbert, Louise Buenger (1974). "Reorganization of the Venetian Coinage by Doge Enrico Dandolo". Speculum, Vol. 49, No. 1: 48-60.
- see also the references for the Fourth Crusade
- Stahl, Alan M (2000). The Fourth Crusade (1202&ndash1204 was originally designed to conquer Muslim Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Zecca the mint of Venice in the Middle Ages. American Numismatic Society. ; NetLibrary, Inc. . ISBN 080187694X 9780801876943.
| Preceded by Orio Mastropiero |
Doge of Venice 1192–1205 |
Succeeded by Pietro Ziani |