Byzantium and Venice
A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations

This book traces the diplomatic, cultural and commercial links between Constantinople and Venice.

Donald M. Nicol (Author)

9780521428941, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 May 1992

480 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.7 kg

'… an important book on an important subject. It will be of interest to anyone interested in the history of Byzantium or the medieval Mediterranean.' The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

This book traces the diplomatic, cultural and commercial links between Constantinople and Venice from the foundation of the Venetian republic to the fall of the Byzantine Empire. It aims to show how, especially after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Venetians came to dominate first the Genoese and thereafter the whole Byzantine economy. At the same time the author points to those important cultural and, above all, political reasons why the relationship between the two states was always inherently unstable.

Preface
List of abbreviations
Maps of the Byzantine and Venetian worlds
1. Venice: the Byzantine province
2. Venice: the Byzantine protectorate
3. Venice: the ally of Byzantium
4. Venice: the partner of Byzantium
5. Byzantium, Venice and the First Crusade
6. The parting of the ways
7. The calm before the storm
8. The Fourth Crusade
9. Venice in Byzantium: the Empire of Romania
10. Venice: champion of a lost cause
11. Byzantium, Venice and the Angevin threat
12. Byzantium, Venice and Genoa
13. Conflicting interests and competing claims
14. Byzantium, Venice and the Turks
15. Byzantium: the victim of commercial rivalry
16. The profit and honour of Venice
17. Jewels for an island
18. Byzantium in thrall to the Turks and in debt to Venice
19. Byzantine optimism and Venetian vacillation
20. Byzantium the suppliant of Venice
21. The worst news for all of Christendom: Venice and the fall of Constantinople
22. Legacies and debts
Byzantine Emperors
Doges of Venice
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], Asian history [HBJF]