Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Dodgy Doge
For fast talking, even the shrewdest Venetian merchant couldn't top Doge Enrico Dandolo.
The doddering nonagenarian doge who'd lost his sight years before might have seemed like
an easy mark to Franks seeking Venice's support in the Fourth Crusade. But Doge Dandolo
drove a hard bargain: Venice would provide a fleet to carry 30,000 Crusaders, but not for
less than 84,000 silver marks - approximately double the yearly income of the king of Eng-
land at the time.
Only one-third of the proposed Frankish forces turned up in Venice the following year,
and their leaders couldn't pay. But Venice had the ships ready, and figured it had kept its
side of the bargain. To cover the balance due, Doge Dandolo suggested that the crusaders
might help Venice out with a few tasks on the way to Palestine. This included invading
Dalmatia and a detour to Constantinople in 1203 that would last a year, while Venetian and
Frankish forces thoroughly pillaged the place.
Finally Doge Dandolo claimed that Constantinople had been suitably claimed for
Christendom - never mind that it already was under Christian rule. At age 96, the doge de-
clared himself 'Lord of a Quarter and a Half-Quarter of the Roman Empire' of Byzantium.
This title conveniently granted Venice three-eighths of the spoils, including the monument-
al gilt-bronze horses in Basilica di San Marco. Venetian ships opted to head home loaded
with booty instead of onward to Christian duty, leaving the Franks to straggle onwards to
the Crusades. With its control of the Adriatic secured, Venice began sending ships directly
to the Holy Land - only this time, they were in the tourism business, ferrying pilgrims to
and from holy sites.
In
The Wings of the Dove
(1902), a dapper con man and sickly heiress meet in Venice, with predictable conse-
quences - but Henry James' gorgeous storytelling makes for riveting reading.
