The Venetian Community--Between Civitas and Imperium . A Project of the Capital's Transfer from Venice to Constantinople, According to the Chronicle of Daniele Barbaro

Abstract

Beginning with the eleventh century, Venetian historiography was the witness of the development of a new literary genre, meaning the chronicles. Only at Venice's Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana , their number exceeds 300. They are not contemporary sources for High Medieval Venice, but an instrument to reconstruct the image that the Venetians created regarding the surrounding political realities. They are supposed to represent the present paper's 'raw material'. Our proposal intends to emphasise a particular idea: possible Venetian claims for the Roman imperial tradition, more exactly the ideological evolution of this community from civitas to imperium . Although the imperial tendency is not immediately visible in the chronicles, it could be detected on a deeper investigation. It was possible, especially after the fourth crusade, when the fall of Constantinople ('the second Rome') in 1204 represented the proper opportunity for the Venetian community to consider itself as the legitimate heir of the imperial idea. The new title achieved by the Venetian Doge, that was Dominus quartae partis et dimidiae totius Imperii Romaniae ; the title of Dominator or of Podesta ¤ conffered to the Venetian representative at Constantinople during the Latin domination; the intention of the Doge Pietro Ziani (1205-29) to transfer the Venetian state structures to Constantinople. The paper especially emphasises this latter episode, relying upon the chronicle of Daniele Barbaro. Our intention is to accentuate all these features, relying upon the chronicles. They represented the Serenissima's option as a political identity. It supposes to pass from a local representation towards an international one, both of them seen through the eyes of the Venetian community.