HISTORY OF VENICE

The course is part of the semester courses offered by the School for International Education (SIE) based at Ca' Foscari University.

It aims to provide the main features and theoretical framework of the history of Venice, and the Venetian state (Higher Middle Ages - 18th century).

Students enrolled in the course are highly recommended to subscribe to its Ca' Foscari Moodle's area (search for [SIE008] History of Venice (SIE) - a.a. 2024-25; <https://moodle.unive.it/course/view.php?id=20664> ; ;), as additional materials will be shared via the platform.
Furthermore, future communication will be also sent via the platform to students' institutional @unive email account; please check it regularly.

Please Note: This class is organised by the Ca' Foscari School for International Education (SIE). Students cannot attend classes or take exams if they are not officially enrolled in the course. For further information on the SIE English-taught courses for exchange students, please visit this webpage: https://www.unive.it/pag/35228/

- Knowledge of the main features of the history of Venice and the Venetian State (medieval and early-modern period, esp. institutional, social and economic features);
- Ability to analyse and discuss historical sources;
- Ability to identify and evaluate bibliographical sources to face historical research on a specific topic;
- Ability to develop written and oral analysis on historical topics.

The course is addressed to students coming from all study areas. No prerequisites required.

At the end of the 7th century – with the election of the first doges – Venice started to separate itself from the Byzantine influence and become an independent city-state. During the High Middle Ages, the group of islands in the northern Adriatic sea that constitute the first nucleus of the city had been part of the exarchate of Italy. Still, by that time the commercial fortunes of the lagoon's inhabitants had proved successful enough to allow them to aim for independence. Thus, at the end of the first millennium the leading role of Venice in connecting Europe with the near East, helped by a privileged relationship with Constantinople, was already established. At that moment started a complex (and in some aspects contradictory) history that lasted until the self-proclaimed fall of the Republic in 1797.
The course will investigate and discuss the main features of this long process, and the growth that during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance transformed Venice into one of the main political and naval powers, trade and financial hubs, as well as social and intellectual centres in the Mediterranean basin and Europe. The original city became a proper state and if initially it aimed mainly at sea trading and the Eastern Mediterranean (thanks to its overseas dominions), by the 15th-16th centuries its interest strongly shifted to Italy and Europe, when, after the conquest of the Terraferma State, Venice became one of the main players in the European arena.
Lectures aim to explore this history from a perspective that links institutional, social and economic aspects from the Middle Ages to the end of the Republic, with a special focus on the long Renaissance (14th – mid-17th centuries) at the apex of Venetian power.

Examples and sources (examined with the help of their English translation) will introduce the focal elements and turning points that marked the political, institutional and socio-economic developments of Venetian history. Aspects such as the role of manufacturing and trade, of the foreign minorities living in the city, as well as the peculiarities of the Venetian administrative and bureaucratic system in its dominions will be also examined. Lastly, a special focus will be given to the consequences Venice faced after the birth of the Ottoman empire, the increased role played by other European powers in the Italian peninsula, and the discovery of the new oceanic routes at the beginning of the modern era. Elements which will lead to a slow decay of its international role, and its withdrawal from the international stage to focus on the Italian Peninsula in the later early modern period.

Topics discussed in the course:
-The “myth” of the birth of Venice and the relationship with Byzantium;
-The emergence of the Venetian trading role in the Mediterranean and the 4th crusade;
-The institutional structure of the Venetian Republic. Part 1: the doge, the civic bodies and the representation of the State;
-The institutional structure of the Venetian State. Part 2: the “closing” (serrata) of the Great Council and the major governing bodies (Great Council, Senate, Council of Ten);
-The Venetian role in the Mediterranean basin and Europe in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance;
-Venice as the hub of the Mediterranean;
-Venice as a manufacturing centre (maritime industry, glass, silk, printing, etc.);
-The Overseas dominions and the so-called Venetian Commonwealth;
-The Mainland State and the rise of Venice in the European context in the early modern period;
-The war of the League of Cambrai and the State reforms during the 16th century;
-Cosmopolitan Venice: minorities settled in the city;
-Losing power in a new global world: Venice’s 17th century;
-The end of the Republic (18th century).

- Joanne M. Ferraro, Venice. History of a Floating City, Cambridge University Press 2012 [selected chapters = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
- A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797, E.R. Dursteler (ed.), Brill, Leiden 2013; [selected chapters = A. Viggiano “Politics and constitution”, pp. 47-84; M. Knapton “The Terraferma state”, pp. 85-124; B. Arbel “Venice’s Maritime empire in the early modern period”, pp.125-253]
- James S. Grubb, Elite citizens, in Venice Reconsidered. The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297-1797, J. Jeffreis Martin and D. Romano (eds.), Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London 20032, pp. 339-364
- Benjamin Kohl, The Serrata of the Greater Council of Venice, 1282-1323, in Venice and the Veneto during the Renaissance: the Legacy of Benjamin Kohl, M. Knapton, J.E. Law and A. Smith (eds.), Firenze University Press, Firenze 2014, pp. 3-34 (open access: <http://www.rm.unina.it/rmebook/index.php?mod=none_Legacy_Kohl> ;;)
- Venice. A Documentary History, 1450-1630, D. Chambers and B. Pullan (eds.), Blackwell, Oxford 1992; [selected sources]
- Venice: cità excelentissima. Selections from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo, H. Labalme and L. Sanguineti White (eds.), Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2008; [selected sources]

Suggested for further study:
- Frederic C. Lane, Venice. A Maritime Republic, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London 1973
- Dennis Romano, Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City, OUP, Oxford 2024

Other bibliographic hints regarding specific topics will be given during the lessons and listed on the course’s Moodle page.
The presentations used during the lessons will be uploaded in Moodle, as additional materials to ease the comprehension of the main topics.

All bibliography titles are available through Ca' Foscari's libraries.

The exam consists of two parts: a short essay and an interview.
Firstly, students will be asked to write a short essay (2500-3000 words ca., comprehensive of notes and bibliography) on a topic chosen among those analysed during the course and in the bibliography. The paper is to be sent at least 5 days before the final oral exam. The latter will consist of a brief interview (ca. 3 questions) on the student’s paper and other topics studied in the course.

Lectures. Students are invited to comment and discuss the topics analysed in class.

English

All lessons will be taught in English. When sources are written in Latin, Italian, and/or Venetian language, an English translation will be provided.

If the circumstances make it possible, a field trip might be organised as part of a lesson or as a voluntary additional activity.

written and oral