Lorenzo de Monacis was a diplomat serving the Republic of Venice. He was also an influential historian whose chronicles were relied upon by Flavio Biondo and Marcantonio Sabellico.
In 1386 Lorenzo de Monacis accompanied Venetian diplomat Pantaleone Barbo to Hungary representing Venice's interests during a crisis involving the succession to the Hungarian throne. The diplomatic mission was successful as described in a report by de Monacis to the Venetian government. During the mission, de Monacis wrote a poem defending Mary, Queen of Hungary and Elizabeth of Bosnia, who were accused of the murder of Charles III of Naples. [1]
In 1389, de Monacis accompanied Barbo again on another diplomatic mission to Hungary when they fell victims to robbery. The two diplomats, having lost all their personal belongings during the incident, received 60 gold ducats as compensation awarded to them by the Great Council of Venice. De Monacis returned to Hungary on another mission in 1390. [1]
In 1389, de Monacis was elected Chancellor of Crete, which under Venetian rule was called the Kingdom of Candia. He held this position until his death. [2] During that time he supervised the agreement between Venice and Mary of Enghien, inheritor of Argos-Nafplion, which saw the sale of the two cities to Venice for 500 ducats. In 1395, he was sent to France along with Giovanni Alberto, a fellow diplomat, to settle a trade dispute through diplomacy. [1]
De Monacis, alongside Niccolò Sagundino and Antonio Vinciguerra, published books to promote the interest of Venice and justify its territorial expansion. De Monacis drew on humanist principles to defend the foreign policy of Venice. In particular, de Monacis focused on the early history of Venice. He claimed that Venice had not been corrupted by luxury and that Venice had a divine mission of defending liberty. Marcantonio Sabellico later relied on these publications for his history of Venice. [1]
In the chronicle Chronicon de rebus Venetis ab U.C. ad annum 1354 de Monacis described the stench that the urban area of Venice emitted before a plague epidemic took hold of the city. [3] The plague reached Venice in January 1348. At the same time Venice was hit by a series of earthquakes. The city of Venice was densely populated and by March the epidemic had reached epic proportions. According to de Monacis, "squares, tombs, and all the holy places were crammed with corpses... it became necessary to take the bodies away at public expense on special ships, called pontoons, which rowed through the city, dragging the corpses from the abandoned houses." De Monacis conceded that "the plague cut down women and men, old and young in equal measures. Once it struck a house, none left alive." [4]
In 1421 de Monacis commemorated the thousand-year anniversary of founding of Venice with the treatise Oratio, dedicating it to Doge Tommaso Mocenigo. [5]
Between 1421 and 1428 de Monacis authored a laudatory account of Venice's early history under the title De gestis, moribus et nobilitate civitatis Venetiarum. [1] His narrative on the Siege of Constantinople (1204) assessed non-Venetian sources, such as the eye-witness report by Nicetas Choniates. This analysis became a main source for Historiarum ab inclinatione Romanorum imperii decades, written by the historian Flavio Biondo between 1439 and 1444. [6] The complete text of De Monaci's chronicle exists only in the very rare edition of Venice, 1758. [7] The parts on Ezzelino III da Romano were prepared for publication by Felice Osio in the early seventeenth century and published by Ludovico Antonio Muratori in Rerum Italicarum scriptores, vol. VIII. [7]
In 1425 de Monacis published a oration, to defend the war Doge Francesco Foscari waged against the Visconti of Milan. De Monacis cast Venice as defender of Christian territories against the Turks. [1]
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a sovereign state and maritime republic in parts of present-day Italy that existed for 1100 years from AD 697 until AD 1797. Centered on the lagoon communities of the prosperous city of Venice, it incorporated numerous overseas possessions in modern Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Greece, Albania and Cyprus. The republic grew into a trading power during the Middle Ages and strengthened this position during the Renaissance. Citizens spoke the Venetian language.
The ducat coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around 3.5 grams of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide international acceptance over the centuries. Similarly named silver ducatons also existed. The gold ducat circulated along with the Florentine florin and preceded the modern British pound sterling and the United States dollar.
Pietro Loredan was a Venetian nobleman of the Loredan family and a distinguished military commander both on sea and on land. He fought against the Ottomans, winning the Battle of Gallipoli (1416), played a leading role in the conquest of Dalmatia in 1411–1420, and participated in several campaigns against Venice's Italian rivals, Genoa and Milan, to secure Venice's mainland domains (Terraferma). He also held a number of senior political positions as Avogador de Comùn, ducal councillor, and governor of Zara, Friuli, and Brescia, and was honoured with the position of Procurator of St Mark's in 1425. In 1423, he contended for the position of Doge of Venice, but lost to his bitter rival Francesco Foscari; their rivalry was such that when Loredan died, Foscari was suspected of having poisoned him.
Leonardo Loredan was a Venetian nobleman and statesman who reigned as the 75th Doge of Venice from 1501 until his death in 1521. As a wartime ruler, he was one of the most important doges in the history of Venice. In the dramatic events of the early 16th century, Loredan's Machiavellian plots and cunning political manoeuvres against the League of Cambrai, the Ottomans, the Mamluks, the Pope, the Republic of Genoa, the Holy Roman Empire, the French, the Egyptians and the Portuguese saved Venice from downfall.
Marin Sanudo, italianised as Marino Sanuto or Sanuto the Younger, was a Venetian historian and diarist. His most significant work is his Diarii, which he had intended to write up into a history of Venice.
Francesco Barbaro (1390–1454) was an Italian politician, diplomat, and humanist from Venice and a member of the patrician Barbaro family. He is interred in the Church of the Frari, Venice.
Marcantonio Barbaro (1518–1595) was an Italian diplomat of the Republic of Venice.
The Barbaro family was a patrician family of Venice. They were wealthy and influential and owned large estates in the Veneto above Treviso. Various members were noted as church leaders, diplomats, patrons of the arts, military commanders, philosophers, scholars, and scientists.
Marcus Antonius Coccius Sabellicus or Marcantonio Sabellico (1436–1506) was a scholar and historian from Venice. He is known for his universal history, Enneades sive Rhapsodia historiarum.
This article presents a detailed timeline of the history of the Republic of Venice from its legendary foundation to its collapse under the efforts of Napoleon.
Taddeo d'Este was a condottiere, a freelance military leader, who was known for his defense of the Republic of Venice in 1439 against Milanese forces under Niccolò Piccinino. Unlike many other condottieri of the day, who often changed sides, he served Venice almost exclusively throughout his thirty-year military career. During most of this period Venice was constantly at war with one or more of the neighboring states in northern Italy.
Venetian Renaissance architecture began rather later than in Florence, not really before the 1480s, and throughout the period mostly relied on architects imported from elsewhere in Italy. The city was very rich during the period, and prone to fires, so there was a large amount of building going on most of the time, and at least the facades of Venetian buildings were often particularly luxuriantly ornamented.
Gregorio Correr (Corraro) was an Italian humanist and ecclesiastic from Venice. In the last year of his life he was elected Patriarch of Venice.
Pantaleone Barbo was a distinguished diplomat of the Venetian Republic. He was the Venetian ambassador to Constantinople, and became the first bailo of Corfu in 1389. Amongst his other diplomatic appointments, he served as Provveditore of Crete in 1363, captain of Crete in 1389, and duke of Crete in 1395. He also served as bailo and captain of Negroponte.
Girolamo Donato, also spelled Donati, Donado or Donà, was a Venetian diplomat and humanist. He made important translations of ancient Greek philosophy and the Greek Fathers into Latin. He served the Republic of Venice on embassies abroad on twelve separate occasions, most importantly at Rome four times, and also served as a governor of Ravenna (1492), Brescia (1495–97), Cremona (1503–04) and Crete (1506–08).
This is an alphabetical index of people, places, things, and concepts related to or originating from the Republic of Venice. Feel free to add more, and create missing pages.
Andrea Loredan (1440–1513) was a Venetian nobleman of the Loredan family, known as a collector of art. He is notable for commissioning the Ca' Loredan Vendramin Calergi, a palace on the Grand Canal, to designs by Mauro Codussi. The palace was paid for by Doge Leonardo Loredan, it is known for its association with Richard Wagner and the palace today hosts the Casino of Venice. Andrea is also notable for paying for the choir of the church of San Michele in Isola, also designed by Codussi.
Giovanni Battista Cipelli (1478–1553), better known as Egnazio, was a Venetian priest and humanist. He came to public notice through his rivalry with Marcantonio Sabellico in 1500–1506. From about 1508 until 1520 he was involved in the teaching and publishing endeavours of Aldo Manuzio and his successors. From 1520 until 1549, he held a public professorship in Venice. Upon his retirement, he was granted a full pension.
Paolo Barbo (1416–1462) was a Venetian patrician, diplomat and statesman. An educated humanist of the well connected Barbo and Condulmer families, he was the nephew of Pope Eugene IV and the brother of Pope Paul II.
Niccolò Barbo was a Venetian patrician, official and Renaissance humanist.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
