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DANDOLO

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 802 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DANDOLO , the name of one of the most illustrious patrician families of See also:

Venice, of which the earliest recorded member was one of the See also:electors of the first See also:doge (A.D. 697). The Dandolo gave to Venice four doges; of these the first and most famous was Enrico Dandolo (c. 1120–1205), elected on the 1st of See also:January 1193 (more Veneto, 1192). He had distinguished himself in various military enterprises and See also:diplomatic negotiations in the course of an active career, and although over seventy years old and of very weak sight (the See also:story that he had been made See also:blind by the See also:emperor See also:Manuel See also:Comnenus while he was at See also:Constantinople is a See also:legend), he proved a most energetic and capable ruler. His first care was to re-establish Venetian authority over the Dalmatians who had rebelled with the See also:king of See also:Hungary's See also:protection, but he failed to See also:capture See also:Zara, owing to the arrival of the See also:Pisan See also:fleet, and although the latter was defeated by the Venetians, the under-taking was suspended. In the meanwhile the situation in the See also:East was becoming See also:critical. The Eastern emperor See also:Isaac II. See also:Angelus had been deposed, imprisoned, and blinded by his 12 See also:brother Alexius, who usurped the See also:throne. The new emperor proved unfriendly to the Venetians and made difficulties about renewing their privileges. In the See also:West a new crusade to the See also:Holy See also:Land was in preparation, and the crusaders sent ambassadors, one of whom was See also:Villehardouin, the historian of the expedition, to ask the Venetians to give them passage and means of transport (1201). After much deliberation the See also:republic agreed to transport 4500 See also:horse and 29,000 See also:foot to See also:Palestine with provisions for one See also:year, for a sum of 85,000 marks; in addition so Venetian galleys would be provided See also:free of See also:charge, while Venice was to receive See also:half the conquests made by the crusaders.

But as the See also:

time agreed upon for the departure approached, it appeared that the crusaders had not the See also:money to pay the stipulated advance. Dandolo then proposed that if they helped him to reduce Zara See also:payment might be deferred. Some of the crusaders disapproved of this attack on a See also:Christian See also:city, but the See also:majority, only too glad of an opportunity for See also:plunder, willingly agreed. The expedition sailed on the 8th of See also:October 1202, three See also:hundred See also:sail in all, with the aged Dandolo himself in command. Zara was taken and pillaged, for which the Venetians were severely reprimanded by the See also:pope. But new possibilities of See also:conquest were now opened up at the See also:suggestion of Alexius, the son of the deposed emperor Isaac. He promised the crusaders that if they went first to Constantinople and re-instated Isaac, the latter would maintain them for a year, contribute 10,000 men and 200,000 marks for the expedition to See also:Egypt, and subject the Eastern to the Western See also:Church. The proposal was accepted, largely owing to the See also:influence of Dandolo, who saw in it a means for further extending the dominions and See also:commerce of the Venetians. After wintering at Zara the fleet set sail on the 7th of See also:April 1203, and on the 23rd of See also:June anchored in the See also:Bosporus. After See also:long parleys the city was attacked by land and See also:sea on the 17th of See also:July (the fleet being commanded by Dandolo) and taken by See also:storm. The emperor Alexius fled, and Isaac reoccupied the throne, but, although grateful to the crusaders, he was not disposed to fulfil the promises made by his son. Tumults between crusaders and Greeks arose, and the See also:people of the city, excited by a certain See also:Alexis Murzuphlus, murmured at the new taxes which were imposed on them.

A revolt See also:

broke out, and an officer named See also:Nicholas Canabus was placed on the throne; See also:Prince Alexius was strangled by See also:order of Murzuphlus, Isaac died of the See also:shock, Murzuphlus imprisoned Canabus and made himself emperor (Alexius V.). The crusaders thereupon attacked Constantinople a second time (12th of April 1204), and after a desperate struggle captured the city, which they subjected to hideous carnage. Immense See also:booty was secured, the Venetians obtaining among other treasures the four See also:bronze horses which adorn the See also:facade of St See also:Mark's. The Eastern See also:empire was abolished, and a feudal Latin empire erected in its See also:stead. The leaders of the crusaders then met to elect an emperor. Dandolo was one of the candidates, but See also:Count See also:Baldwin of See also:Flanders was elected and crowned on the 23rd of May. The Venetians were given See also:Crete and several other islands and ports in the See also:Levant, which formed an uninterrupted See also:chain from Venice to the See also:Black Sea, a large See also:part of Constantinople (whence the doge assumed the See also:title of " See also:lord of a See also:quarter and a half of Romania "), and many valuable privileges. But hardly had the new See also:state been established when various provinces See also:rose in See also:rebellion and the Bulgarians invaded See also:Thrace. A Latin See also:army was defeated by them at See also:Adrianople (April 1205), and the emperor himself was captured and killed, the fragments of the force being saved only by Dandolo's prowess. But he was now old and See also:ill, and on the 23rd of June 1205 he died. He certainly consolidated Venice's dominion in the East and increased its commercial prosperity to a very high degree. But the policy he pursued in turning the crusaders against Constantinople, in order to promote the interests of the republic, while serving to break up the See also:Greek empire, created in its See also:place a Latin state that was far too feeble to withstand the onslaught of Greek See also:national feeling and Orthodox fanaticism; at the same time the Greeks were greatly weakened and their See also:power of resisting the See also:Turks consequently lessened.

This paved the way for the See also:

Turkish invasion of See also:Europe, which proved an unmixed calamity for all Christendom, Venice included. Enrico Dandolo's sons distinguished themselves in the public service, and his See also:grandson Giovanni was doge from 128o to 1289. The latter's son See also:Andrea commanded the Venetian fleet in the See also:war against See also:Genoa in 1294, and, having been defeated and taken prisoner, he was so overwhelmed with shame that he committed See also:suicide by beating his See also:head against the See also:mast (according to Andrea Navagero). See also:Francesco Dandolo, also known as Dandolo See also:Cane, was doge from 1329 to 1339. During his reign the Venetians went to war with Martino della Scala, lord of See also:Verona, with the result that they occupied Treviso and otherwise extended their possessions on the terra firma. Andrea Dandolo (1307/10-1354), the last doge of the See also:family, reigned from 1343 to 1354. He had been the first Venetian See also:noble to take a degree at the university of See also:Padua, where he had also been See also:professor of See also:jurisprudence. The terrible See also:plague of 1348, See also:wars with Genoa, against whom the See also:great See also:naval victory of Lojera was won in 1353, many See also:treaties, and the subjugation of the seventh revolt of Zara, are the See also:chief events of his reign. The poet See also:Petrarch, who was the doge's intimate friend, was sent to Venice on a See also:peace See also:mission by Giovanni See also:Visconti, lord of See also:Milan. " Just, incorruptible, full of zeal and of love for his See also:country, and at the same time learned, of rare eloquence, See also:wise, affable, and humane," is the poet's See also:verdict on Andrea Dandolo (Varier. epist. xix.). Dandolo died on the 7th of See also:September 1354. He is chiefly famous as a historian, and his See also:Annals to the year 128o are one of the chief See also:sources of Venetian See also:history for that See also:period; they have been published by See also:Muratori (Rer.

Ital. Script. torn. xxi.). He also had a new See also:

code of See also:laws compiled (issued in 1346) in addition to the See also:statute of Jacopo See also:Tiepolo. Another well-known member of this family was Silvestro Dandolo (1796-1866), son of See also:Girolamo Dandolo, who was the last See also:admiral of the Vtrnetian republic and died an See also:Austrian admiral in 1847. Silvestro was an See also:Italian patriot and took part in the revolution of 1848.

End of Article: DANDOLO

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DANDOLO, VINCENZO, COUNT (1758-1819)

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