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The Venetians and the Venetian Quarter in Constantinople to the close of the Twelfth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Horatio F. Brown
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Extract

The foundation and development of the Venetian Quarter in Constantinople, and the history of the early trading relations between Venice and the Roman Empire are intimately connected with and illustrate the movement by which the Republic gradually passed from actual, through merely nominal, vassalage to actual and formal independence. That movement constitutes an essential part of early Venetian history, the growth of the Republic as a free State between the Empire of the East and the Empire of the West, both weak at sea and in need of a fleet which Venice alone was able to supply, and shows us the Republic skilfully steering her course between Saracens, Normans, Greeks and Germans towards her goal, naval supremacy in the Adriatic and the Levant.

It is not the object of this paper to dwell on the larger movement, but rather to examine the relations between Venice and the Eastern Empire with special reference to the Venetian Quarter in Constantinople. Those relations were governed by the Chrysobulls, or Golden Bulls, whereby the Emperors made gradually extending concessions to the seamen and merchants of their vassal State.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , 1920 , pp. 68 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1920

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References

1 Fontes Rerum Austriacarum, Diplomataria et Acta, xii., xiii. Tafel, and Thomas, , Urkunden zur Älteren Handels- und Staatsgeschichte der Republik Venedig, Wien, 1856, xii. 36Google Scholar, no. xvii. I shall refer to this collection as T. and T. The original document is in the Bib. Marciana, Cl. x., Cod. clxxxi.; see Romanin, , Storia documentata di Venezia, i. 381.Google Scholar T. and T. and Romanin give the date as 991, but Kretschmayr, , Geschichte von Venedig, Gotha, 1905, p. 128Google Scholar, gives March 992; this correct. The deed was executed in mense martio indictione quinta, that is 992.

2 Muratori, , RR.II.SS. xii. p. 223, Dandolo.Google Scholar

3 That is the Λογοθἐτης τῶν οἰκειακῶν or τοῦ ἰδικοῦ T. and T. xii. 38, n. 3.

4 Thema Longobardia = Lower Italy.

5 See Neumann, C., ‘Zur geschichte der Byzantinisch - Venetianischen Beziehungen.’ Byzantinische Zeitschrift, no. 1, 1892, p. 368.Google Scholar

6 Lentz, Eduard, ‘Der allmähliche Übergang Venedigs von faktische zu nomineller Abhängigkeit von Byzanz.’ In Byzantinische Zeitschrift, no. 3, 1894.Google Scholar

7 Op. cit. pp. 128, 129.

8 Gfrörer, , Storia di Venezia, tr. Pinton. Venezia, 1878, p. 233.Google Scholar

9 M.M.G.H., ix. 31.

10 Neither the Greek original nor the official Latin translation is known; but the Bull is recited in the Bull of Manuel (1148). T. and T., xii. 49.

11 S.S.H.B., Bonn, 1839, Annae Comnenae, Alexiad. Lib. iv. 2, Lib. vi. 5. ἀλλὰ τοὺς Βενετίκους διὰ γραμμάτων ἐξώτρυνε … καὶ τὰς δαπάνας πολλαπλασίους λπψεσθαι ὑποσχόμενος

12 S.S.H.B., op. cit. Lib. vi. 5. ῾μετὰ τῆς ἀναλόγου ῥόγας

13 S.S.H.B., op. cit. Lib. vi. 5. ῾τᾕ μέντοι ἐπ᾿ ὀνόματι τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ ἀποστόλου Μἀρπου έκκλησία ὑποφὁρους ἄπαντας τοὺς ἐκ Μέλφης ἐν Κωνσταντινοιπόλει ἐρψαστήρια ηατέχοιτες χε ποίηκε

14 S.S.H.B., op. cit. Lib. vi. 5.

15 Gfrörer, op. cit. p. 363.

16 Gfrörer, op. cit. pp. 359, 360.

17 T. and T., xii. 55.

18 T. and T., xii., nos. xxvii., xxx., xxxi.

19 RR.II.SS., xii. p. 261.

20 T. and T., xii. 77.

21 RR.II.SS., xii. 269.

22 T. and T., xii. no. xl.

23 T. and T., xii. no. xli.

24 T. and T., xii. 96.

25 T. and T., xii. 109.

26 De Simoni, , ‘Sui Quatieri dei Genovesi a Constantinopoli nel secoli XII.,’ in the Giornale Ligustico, ann. 1874.Google Scholar The Genoese embolum of Coparia was conceded by the Emperor Manuel in 1170.

27 Müller, Miklosich, Acta et Diplomata Graeca res Graecas Italasque illustrantia, vol. iii. Renewal of concessions to Genoese and Pisana, A.D. 1188, 1191.Google Scholar

28 Rezasco, Diz. del linguaggio Italiano Storico ed Amministrativo, gives Embolo as equivalent to Fondaco or Exchange-house.

29 S.S.H.B., Du Cange, , Notes to the Alexiad, vol. ii. p. 539.Google Scholar

30 ‘Comprehendens triclinarium altum domicilium Mili,’ T. and T., xii. iii.

31 The Genoese quarter was moved to Galata later on.

32 Paspati, as quoted by De Simoni, op. cit. p. 141, n. 1.

33 Du Cange, Notes to the Alexiad, ut sup.

34 Mordtmann, , Esquisse Topographique de Constantinople. Lille: Desclée, de Brouwer et Cie., 1892. p. 45, § 75.Google Scholar

35 Kretschmayr, op. cit. Map of Constantinople.

36 T. and T., xiii. no. cclxxvii. p. 284, A.D. 1231.

37 See the terrier of the Patriarch of Grado. T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv., A.D. 1206. I give the dates of the documents because some are earlier, some later than the Chrysobull of 1148, though all illustrate the topography of the quarter.

38 T. and T., xii. 111, Chrysobull of 1148.

39 T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv., A.D. 1206. Mordtmann, op. cit. p. 46, § 78.

40 Mordtmann, loc. cit.

41 T. and T., xiii. no. clxxxiii., A.D. 1207. ‘In scala de Drongario.’

42 T. and T., xii. 52, A.D. 1082, p. 183, A.D. 1187, ‘et tres scalas que secus mare sunt.

43 T. and T., xiii. no. cclxxiv. A.D. 1229, ‘ex uno capite versus orientem firmat (the Quarter) in porta civitatis que dicitur S. Marci, per quam discurrit via publica.’

44 Buondolmonte, plan of Constantinople in Liber insularum archipelagi.

45 T. and T., xiii. no. cclxxiv. p. 271. In the reign of Pietro Ziani (1205–1229) and under the Podestate of Theophilus Zeno.

46 T. and T., xii. 57, A.D. 1090, also xiii. no. clxxvii. A.D. 1206, ‘in scala majori in ripa de prima’ (i.e. Perame).

47 T. and T., xii. 56, A.D. 1090.

48 T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv. A.D. 1206. Deed of concession to the Patriarch of Grado. The area ceded was probably coextensive with the Venetian quarter within the walls (‘concedimus etiam vobis infra murum civitatis … omnes proprietates terrarum et casarum … suprascripti rostri communis Venetor…’) and the boundaries defined by the deed are the boundaries of the Quarter at its eastern end within the walls.

49 T. and T.. loc. cit.

50 Op. cit. p. 46, § 78.

51 T. and T., xiii. no. clxxix., A.D. 1207. A concession of water-rights by the Doge.

52 T. and T., xiii. no. cclxxiv., A.D. 1229.

53 T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv., A.D. 1206.

54 T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv., A.D. 1206. Terrier of the Patriarch of Grado.

55 T. and T., xiii. 125, A.D. 1150.

56 T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv., A.D. 1206.

57 Du Cange, , Constant. Christiana, Venetiis, 1729, Lib. iv. p. 57. quoted by Mordtmann.Google Scholar

58 T. and T., xii. 112, A.D. 1148, ‘a sinistris vero domicilium monasterii Perieleuti.’

59 T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv., A.D. 1206.

60 Ducange, op. cit. Lib. iv. p. 81. ‘S. Acindyni Ecclesia Venetorum propria fuit.’

61 T. and T., xii. 52, A.D. 1082.

62 T. and T., xii. 52.

63 T. and T., xii. 68.

64 T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv., A.D. 1206.

65 T. and T., xii. 111, A.D. 1148.

65a T. and T., xii. 112, A.D. 1148.

66 Op. cit. p. 231.

67 T. and T., xii. 38.

68 RR.II.SS., xii. 223.

69 T. and T., xii. 559.

70 T. and T., xii. 55.

71 T. and T., xiii. no. cclxxiv., A.D. 1229.

72 T. and T., xii. 67.

73 See above.

74 T. and T., xiii. no. clxiv., A.D. 1206.

75 T. and T., xiii. no. clxxxi., A.D. 1207, where the property of a certain Henricus Allemanus is given as one of the boundaries of the subject in question. His name does not appear in the terrier of the previous year, 1206.

76 T. and T., xiii. no. clxxvii., Oct. 1206.

77 Besta, , La cattura dei Veneziani in oriente. Feltre, 1900, pp. 23, 24Google Scholar, makes the following calculation as to the value of the perpero. The libbra contained 72 perperi (Pegolotti, La pratica della mercatura), each perpero was worth 2 lire Veneziane (Predelli, Il Libro Comunis); the lira Veneziana in gold was worth 6·82 lire Italiane; if we take the relative value of money in the twelfth century as six times greater than it is now, we get the value of the perpero at lire Italiane 36·72 or roughly speaking at £1 10s. The annual rent, therefore, of this piece of property 12 ft. by 30 ft. was £22 10s. of present British money. Diehl, , Études Byzantines, Paris, 1905Google Scholar, note, says: ‘L'hyperpre dont il est souvent question dans nos documents était une monnaie d'or byzantine, valant, au rapport même de nos textes, ½ ducat. Enfin le ducat équivalait a 10 francs de notre monnaie.’

78 T. and T., xiii. no. clxxxi., A.D. 1207.

79 T. and T., xiii. no. clxxxiii., A.D. 1207.

80 T. and T., xiii. no. cccxxviii.

81 M M.G.S., Tom. xiv. p. 78.

82 SS.H.B. Bonn, 1836, Tom. 26, Cinnamus, p. 282. He says the Venetians were ῾ ἔξω τῆς ἐκ βασιλέως δεδομένης αὐτοῖς ἀναστρεφὁμενοι διατριβῆς

83 Cinnamus, loc. cit.

84 Besta, op. cit. quotes, Archio di Stato, Frari: S. Giorgio, b. 28. ‘tredecim galee que fuerunt in servicio domini imperatoria.’

85 T. and T., xii. 133.

86 T. and T., xii. 148.

87 RR.II.SS., xii. p. 291, Dandolo.

88 SS.H.B. Cinnamus, p. 282, ῾Οὐέννετοι Λαμπάρδοις (i.e. Genoese) μηνίσαντεσ…ἐπανέ στησάν τε αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰς οἰκίας εἰς ἔδαφος καθέ λόντες ᾿ The feeling against the Venetians is clearly expressed by Cinnamus, op. cit. p. 280, ἔστι δὲ τὸ ἔθει μὲν διεφθαράς βωμόλοχον εἴπερ τι καί ἀνελεύθερον.᾿ ῾δθεν καὶ πολλοῖς τῶν εὖ γεγονὀταν βασιλεῖ τε καθ᾿ αἴμα προσημὀντων τληγάς τε ἐπἐθεντο.᾿ ῾γυναιξί τε ῾Ρωμοίαις ἑαντοὺς συνοικήζοντες.᾿

Nicetas Choniates, SS.H.B. Bonn, Tom. 39, p. 222, is not quite so hostile, though he calls them ῾κατὰ φοίνικας ὰγύρται, πανοῦργοι,᾿ and records their ῾πλοῦτον πολύν, αὐθαδειάν τε καὶ ἀναίδειαν.᾿ While the oration of Eustathius, Bishop of Salonica, addressed to the Emperor in 1174, is charged with concentrated venom and hatred of Venice, which he calls ῾ἡ ᾿Αδριανὴ πόμφολυξ ὁ χέρσυδρος ὅφις, ὁ τελμα τώδης βάτραχος

89 Op. cit. p. 25.

90 Lenel, , Die Entstehung der Vorherrschaft Venedigs an der Adria, Strassburg, 1897, p. 32.Google Scholar

91 RR.II.SS., Tom. xii. p. 227.

92 ibid., p. 291.

93 Ibid., p. 294.

94 Ibid., loc. cit.

95 Ibid., loc. cit.

96 MM.G.H., Tom. xiv. p. 78.

97 Ibid., loc. cit. The Historia Ducum and a lacuna supplied from the Chronicon Justinianum.

98 MM.G.H., loc. cit.

99 MM.G.H., loc. cit.

100 Cinnamus, loc. cit. ῾φρουραί τε καὶ ίερὰ τοὐτους ἐδέχοντο φροντιστήρια.᾿

101 Nicetas, loc. cit., ‘τὰ πλείω δὲ οἱ τοπαρχου̑ντες ἐξιδιώσαντο’

102 MM.G.H., loc. cit. p. 79.

103 Nicetas, loc. cit., ‘μάλιτα οἱ μὴ γάμοις ὡμιληκότες’

104 T. and T., xii. 168.

105 T. and T., xii. 172. Nicetas, loc. cit.

106 Besta, op. cit. p. 18. Nicetas, loc. cit., says that the Venetians suggested the annual payment of 150 libbre of perperi,‘ἀνθ᾿ ὡν ἀπώλεαν χρημάτων παντοδαπω̑ν’.

107 RR.II.SS., Tom. xii. p. 309.

108 Besta, op. cit. p. 19, quoting Arch. Frari. S. Zaccaria, b. 25.

109 Besta, op. cit. p. 18, holds that this was a compensation for lucrum cessans, over and above the restitution of goods; but the goods were no longer in being, and as Nicetas says, the Venetians ‘τὸν μὲν ἀναδασμὸν τω̑ν οἰκείων χρημάτων χαίρειν εἴασαν,’ and accepted the 1500 pounds of perperi in compensation ‘χρημάτων παντοδάπων.’

110 T. and T., xii. 177.

111 RR.II.SS. xii. 313, Dandolo.

112 T. and T., xii. 179.

113 RR.II.SS., Tom. xii. p. 314.

114 T. and T., xii. 204.

115 T. and T., xii. 207, ‘vide licet in redditione rerum que Veneticis ablate fuerunt … et exhibitione centenariorum quattordecim yperperorum, que ultra eam ipsis promessa sunt ob causam, que in crisobulo pro hiisdem edito notificantur, ob quas et unum centenarium yperperorum eis per impensum est.’ This seems to confirm Besta's contention that two compensations were promised, (1) the restitution of goods and ultra eam 1500 pounds of perperi, called 1400 here as 100 had been already paid by Andronicus. The Chrysobull here referred to does not exist, but it probably was the agreement said to have been made by Manuel or by Andronicus; we cannot therefore tell what the ground of this further compensation was, but it may well have been ob lucrum cesantem.

116 T. and T., xii. 217.

117 T. and T., xii. 246.