CHAPTER X.

DUCHY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO, OR NAXOS.1

SECT. I.-OBSERVATIONS ON THE VENETIAN ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE EMPIRE OF ROMANIA.

IT must not be supposed that the Venetian republic succeeded in establishing a greater degree of order, in the different portions of the empire of Romania which fell to its share, than the Frank Crusaders. The government of Venice was not yet either rich or powerful; its strength lay in the wealth, patriotism, and greatness of individual citizens. But her nobility partook of the spirit of the age, and were as deeply imbued with pride of caste as the haughtiest of the crusading barons. Within the walls of the capital the wealth of a numerous middle class, and the independent position of a maritime population, compelled the feudal pride of the nobles to yield to their interest; but abroad, the Venetian nobles were as eager to act the territorial baron as any adventurer in the crusading army at Constantinople. When

1 The principal authority relating to the duchy of the Archipelago is a little work entitled Histoire Nouvelle des Anciens Ducs, et autres Souverains, de l'Archipel., Paris, 1699, 12mo, published without the name of the author, but known to have been written by Père Sauger, a Catholic missionary who spent many years in the Levant. Some additional materials, enabling us to rectify the chronology of this work, have been collected by recent travellers who have examined documents still existing in the islands. Genealogical tables of the dukes will be found in James Emerson's (Sir J. E. Tennent) History of Modern Greece, vol. i. p. 181, and Buchon's Recherches et Matériaux pour servir à une Histoire de la Domination Française en Orient― Tables des Généalogies, vii. ; but both require some corrections.

VENICE GRANTS FIEFS IN ISLANDS.

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the partition of the Byzantine empire was settled, and the republic became sovereign of a quarter and an eighth of the whole empire of Romania, the senate soon perceived that its resources would be inadequate to conquer the territory to which it had thus acquired a right.1 The Venetians were not inclined to quit mercantile enterprises which secured them a certain profit, in order to toil for the glory of the state; nor would the nobles have been willing to act as governors of the many petty dependencies which the partition placed under the command of the senate. On the other hand, the enormous pay then exacted by knights and men-at-arms, who were the only efficient troops of the age, rendered it impossible to preserve any conquest with advantage to the republic by means of mercenary garrisons. Indeed, mercenary leaders in distant possessions, where they must have enjoyed unrestrained power, would immediately have rendered themselves independent, or transferred their allegiance to some rival protector. If the Venetian conquests in the empire of Romania had been intrusted to foreign troops, the noblemen and gentlemen who commanded these mercenaries would have been the liegemen of other sovereigns; and though they might have paid homage to the mercantile republic, in order to secure their pay, would immediately have cast off that allegiance when they found that they could secure greater profits by seizing the revenues of the country they were employed to guard.

These considerations induced the republic to adopt a singular policy in order to take possession of its share of the empire a policy which produced little immediate advantage to the Venetian state, but saved Venice from all expense, and at least excluded its rivals, whether Frank Crusaders or citizens of the other commercial

1 "Quartæ partis et dimidiæ totius imperii Romaniæ."-Andreæ Dandolo Chronicon. Muratori, Script. Rev. Ital. xii. 331.

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CHAP. X. republics of Italy, from the territories in question. The senate authorised individual nobles to conquer certain portions of the empire, on condition that their conquests should be held as fiefs from the Venetian republic. In consequence of this authorisation, it would seem that Mark Dandolo and Jacomo Viaro occupied Gallipoli ; that Marino Dandolo conquered the island of Andros ; the family of Ghisi seized Tinos, Mykone, Skyros, Skiathos, and Skopelos; Justiniani and Michieli the island of Keos or Zea; Navigajosa that of Lemnos, and Quirini that of Astypalia.1 It was the intention of the government to reserve Corfou and Crete as dominions of the republic.

In the partition of the empire, the twelve islands of the Archipelago, which had formed the theme of the Egean sea in the provincial division of the Byzantine empire, fell to the share of the crusading barons; but Mark Sanudo, one of the most influential of the Venetian nobles in the expedition, obtained possession of the principal part of the ancient theme-though whether by purchase from the Frank barons to whom it had been allotted, or by grant to himself from the emperor, is not known.2 Sanudo, however, made his appearance at the parliament of Ravenika as one of the great feudatories of the empire of Romania, and was invested by the emperor Henry with the title of Duke of the Archipelago, or Naxos. It is difficult to say on what precise footing Sanudo placed his relations with

1 Ramnusius, De Bello Constantinopolitano, lib. vi. p. 273, edit. 1634. When the Greek emperor Michael VIII. recovered possession of Constantinople, he encouraged the Genoese nobles to make conquests in the Archipelago, in order to counterbalance the power of the Venetians. The Embriachi gained possession of Lemnos, the Centurioni of Mytilene, the Gatilusi of Enos, the Catanei of Phokea, and the family of Zacharia, and at a later period the Justiniani, of Chios.

2 We find in the Crusaders' portion, Provin. Preseppet et Dodecanisos. The theme of the Egean is mentioned by Const. Porphyr., De Thematibus, lib. p. 18, edit. Banduri, as the seventeenth Asiatic province. The name Awdékávmoov is found applied to it as early as the year 780. Theophanes, Chron. 383. The larger islands of the Byzantine theme which escaped from the domination of Sanudo were replaced by smaller, to complete the number twelve.

VENETIAN POWER IN THE EAST.

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§ 1.

the republic. His conduct in the war of Crete shows CHAP. X. that he ventured to act as a baron of Romania, or an independent prince, when he thought his personal interests at variance with his born allegiance to Venice. The goodwill of the republic was, nevertheless, of such importance to some of the other great feudatories of the empire, that Ravan dalle Carceri, the possessor of two-thirds of the barony of Negrepont, paid tribute to the Venetians, and acknowledged himself a vassal of their state, though he was not born a subject of the republic. A passion for seeking foreign territorial establishments is said, at this time, to have taken such possession of the minds of all classes at Venice, that it was publicly discussed whether the seat of government might not be advantageously transferred from the then humble city of Venice to the comparatively magnificent quarter of Constantinople, of which the republic had become the master.2

The conquests of the republic in the East belong to Venetian rather than to Greek history, for the condition of the Greek nation was not directly influenced by the political conduct of the republic until a later period, except in the island of Crete, which lies beyond the circle of our present inquiries. Crete never formed a part of the Latin empire of Romania, and was never subjected to the feudal law. The valour with which the Cretans defended their local independence, and their repeated insurrections against the republic, form an interesting subject of inquiry, as presenting a marked contrast to the tame submission displayed by the majority of the Greek race to their foreign conquerors; but the history of Crete

1 Oreos and Karystos, in Euboea, belonged to the Venetian portion ; but Chalcis appears to have been included in the baron's share. Ravan dalle Carceri may, therefore, have held a part of the territory of the republic. He paid to Venice annually two thousand one hundred perpers of gold, and a piece of cloth-of-gold with an altar-cloth for the church of St Mark.-Libri dei Patti of the archives of St Mark, vol. ii. fol. 212, quoted by Buchon in his Histoire de l'Etablissement des Français en Grèce, 262.

2 This project has been attributed to the doge Pietro Ziani in 1225, but without any good authority.-Daru, vii. 8.

§ 2.

CHAP. X. has very little of a Byzantine or Frank character, and would require a volume to do it justice. Our task is to review the history of the Duchy of the Archipelago as the connecting link between feudal, Venetian, and Greek society, in the dismembered provinces of the Byzantine empire. The independent existence of this duchy, long after the Turks had conquered the rest of the Frank possessions in Greece, and extinguished the independence of the Greek nation in the Morea, exhibits an accurate outline of the general political and social relations that existed between the dominant Venetians and the subject Greeks throughout the Levant, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

SECT. II.-DUKES OF THE FAMILIES OF SANUDO AND DALLE CARCERI.

Mark Sanudo, who founded the duchy of the Archipelago, was one of those great merchant-nobles of his age who moved as the equal of the proudest princes and feudal barons in Europe. He was among the ablest and the wealthiest of the Venetians who had taken the cross; but, like old Dandolo, he seems never to have bestowed a thought on visiting the Holy Land, or on warring with the infidels. Many of the privateering merchants of his age, in the commercial republics of Italy, were warriors as well as traders; and their experience in war and diplomatic business enabled them at times to assume the station of princes, when their actions were those of pirates. Sanudo was one of the great men of this class: he was a man of ability, both as a soldier and a statesman. He had acquired so much influence in the camp of the Crusaders that he was selected by the republic to act with Ravan dalle Carceri, as Venetian commissioner, to

1 Daru mentions fourteen different insurrections of the Cretans against the Venetian government between the years 1207 and 1365.-Histoire de Venise i. 320.