Venice during the Reformation
The Holy League
When Julius II became pope at the end of 1503, he had first to secure himself in Rome, for that city was deeply in turmoil. Once settled there, though, his first order of business was to deal with Venice. To this end he gathered up France, the Empire, and Aragon in a so-called Holy League (1508), though its formal name was the League of Cambrai. Each of the participants had their own goals and agenda, but for Julius it was to take back the papal territories that had been lost, and to teach Venice its place. So began the War of the League of Cambrai.
For Venice, it was a disaster.
The early campaigns were elsewhere, but in 1511 and 1512 the League armies were threatening Venetian holdings. Venice had long relied on hiring mercenary armies to fight its land battles. Its commanders this time were Bartolomeo d'Alviano and Niccolò di Pitigliano. The battle took place near the little village of Agnadello, about 30 miles east of Milan, in May 1512. As matters turned out, Alviano's forces were caught by the French while Pitigliano was a few miles away. Alviano was captured and about three thousand of his men were killed. When the news reached Pitigliano's army, his men deserted at once. This left Venice utterly without a defense.
In the wake of Agnadello, town after town fell away from Venice. The city had never known such a catastrophe. At a stroke, its entire mainland empire melted away almost completely. The loss occasioned some serious soul-searching among the Venetians. It also seemed a significant object lesson to observers. Among this was Niccolò Machiavelli, for whom this battle, more than any other, was proof that Italians must not rely on mercenaries for their armies.
Recovery and Instability
Doge's Palace in left background
Somewhat to everyone's surprise, the Venetian losses were temporary. The loss of the armies did indeed mean the loss of the terre ferme, but the cities that had surrendered had done so largely as a matter of practical necessity, not out of some deep-seated antipathy to Venice. There is, in fact, good evidence that the peasantry and artisans in the Veneto rather appreciated being under the Lion of St Mark.
The second reality was that Venice's loss had come about mainly due to the victory by French forces. Once the French had been driven from Italy, there was really no one able to rule northeastern Italy except Venice.
Finally, and this was a historic source of strength, the loss of the mainland did not cripple the city economically. She still had the bulk of her income, which came by way of her overseas colonies and trading partners. Venice was therefore able to rebuild and refinance relatively quickly, to await the first politically favorable moment.
Driving Out the Barbarians
The "terrible father"—Pope Julius II—found that the wolf he'd let in to chase the lion was in fact an even greater threat. Almost as soon as Venice was defeated, Julius looking for ways to drive out the French. This in part meant being more lenient to Venice in defeat than he might otherwise have been, and it meant granting them mainland territories again in favor for support against the French. Thanks to her skilled and tireless ambassadors, Venice was ever ready to take advantage of these opportunities.
Still, for a time, matters were grim. The French won another great victory at Marignano in 1515. Venice was a French ally on this occasion and profited thereby. Significant portions of the Veneto returned to the city's control.
Then, in May 1526 the League of Cognac formed. Venice joined Pope Clement VII, France, Florence and Milan against Spain, for the Spanish had replaced the French as the "barbarians" occupying Italian soil. This ended badly, with Rome itself being sacked, but the Spanish victories mainly affected Rome and Naples. Charles was content to leave Venice alone so long as it did not meddle.
Peace in Italy; War Abroad
Venice knew mostly peace during the 1530s and 1540s. She had stable if not entirely amicable relations with the Ottoman Turks, not least because Suleiman the Magnificent was preoccupied with campaigns in Hungary and Persia, while the French and Spanish mostly left Italy alone. Her economy recovered.
Suleiman died in 1566 and was succeeded by Selim II. Almost at once, things began to change for Venice. Not because of Selim, who is known as Selim the Drunkard, but because of his vizier and other officials, who took up the task of driving the Christians out of the eastern Mediterranean. For the next several years, Venice was in a grim battle to preserve her maritime empire; that is to say, to preserve her very identity.
Cyprus
One of the first targets was Cyprus. Since the island was a linchpin of her overseas possessions, she had no alternative but to fight for it. Her diplomats pleaded for assistance but received little—forty-nine galleys from Spain, twelve from the pope. The Spaniards, in particular, proved to be cantankerous allies, insisting on various points and refusing to budge. By the time the fleet finally sailed in earnest, the Turks were already on the island. The principal cities of Nicosia and Famagusta were under siege. The fleet as a whole never made it to Cyprus, but a small force landed in 1571. Nicosia had already fallen. Famagusta fell not long after (18 August 1571), before the tiny relief force even arrived (September).
The Turks sacked the city, nearly ruining it. They subjected Bragadino, the courageous commander of the city's garrison, to spectacular tortures that lasted for eleven days. In the end, they flayed him alive and stuffed his skin with straw to form an effigy, which they hung from a ship's mast and sailed him in triumph to Istanbul.
Lepanto
The main fleet, meanwhile, never got out of the Adriatic Sea. There was a quarrel among the commanders. The Spanish fleet left, then returned. By that time, the Turks, now in possession of Cyprus, had put out a fleet of their own that was sailing westward. The two met off Lepanto (Naupactus) which is in the Gulf of Corinth. The allies (a few from Genoa had joined with Spain, Venice and the Papal States) had a little over 200 ships, but the Turks had nearly 300.
Command was shared by Don Juan of Spain (half-brother to King Philip II) and Gian' Andrea Doria of Genoa. Marc'Antonio Colonna commanded the papal ships, and Agostino Barbarigo commanded the Venetians. The Turks were led by Ali Pasha, but also in their fleet were a number of famous corsairs from the Barbary Coast. The battle took place on 7 October 1571.
We actually know some of the details of this battle, which was described by several eyewitnesses, but I'm not going to go into them. Suffice it to say that the fighting was ferocious, both sides scored tactical victories, but in the end the Christians won a resounding victory. They had fewer ships, but they had some that were better armed that played a key role and their soldiers and sailors simply fought harder. When the Turkish commander's ship itself was boarded, and Ali Pasha beheaded on its deck, the rest of the Turks fled.
This was the last sea battle in which the galley was the principal ship of war on both sides. The Christians lost about 8000 men in this battle, but the Turks lost 20,000 killed and 5000 captured, along with 120 ships captured (note that all these figures can only be approximations). It was a major catastrophe for the Turks and an extraordinary victory for the Christians. When news reached Venice ten days later, the citizens were nearly hysterical with joy and relief.
Incredibly, in the wake of this victory, the allies did nothing. Don Juan insisted the fleet had to regroup (it had suffered serious losses). By the time the fleet was ready again in 1572, the Turks, who had gone into a frenzy of shipbuilding, had 210 ships ready for the defense. The allies blinked, and the moment was lost. Venice, unable to go on by herself, had to sue for peace the following year (1573).
Venice versus the Papacy
In 1607 a controversy blew up between Venice and the pope over various jurisdictional matters. Two clerics were accused of murder and Venice insisted they be tried in a Venetian court. On another matter, the city had passed a law requiring city review of all bequests to the Church made by Venetian citizens. These were not new issues by any means. Partly because of personalities, though, and partly because of some simmering sore points, the usual practice of compromise didn't succeed. The pope declared the city under interdict and excommunicated the City Council. In reply, the city declared the bulls invalid and expelled the Jesuits.
Because it was Venice and the papacy, the dispute (which lasted ten months) attracted the attention of all Europe. A flurry of writings flew back and forth.
Then it all subsided, the incident itself leaving almost no mark. But it was symbolic and foreshadowed a trend. Just as the Protestants had discovered that reform of the Church created endless political complications, so too were the firmly Tridentine Catholic nations to find that smiply being orthodox was not a guarantee of political quiet.
The interdiction of Venice also foreshadowed the fact that the papacy losing political influence. More such storms blew up in the 17thc. Each time, the two sides invoked the arguments formulated in 1607. Each time, the state walked away the winner and the papacy found its effective reach further reduced. The papacy in the 17thc became preoccupied with law and disputes rather than with theology and reform.
Crete
Venice remained neutral during the Thirty Years War and experienced again a period of peace. Not exactly prosperity returned, for Venice had lost too much to the Turks for that, but at least economic stability returned. Then, in 1645, the Turks moved against Crete.
Known at the time as Candia, the island was Venice's last significant hold in the eastern Mediterranean. To lose Crete would be to lose all hope of ever being a major economic power again. The city had to come to Crete's defense. She again appealed for help, but most of Europe was impoverished by years of war and had no inclination to rile up the Ottomans and have them attack in Hungary. Venice was on her own.
Crete had long been the jewel in the Venetian string of pearls. Over the years Venice had built up the fortifications of the cities, had built castles, and in general the island was in fairly good shape for a defense. The capital city, also called Candia (Heraklion), was especially well fortified. It was invested by the Turks in 1648. The siege lasted twenty-two years, the longest siege of a city on record in European history.
It took three months for the Turks simply to cut off the city, but being a port town, the Turks were never able to choke off supplies. It became clearly fairly early on that the city could not be taken by force. The defenses were such that sappers could not approach, and no cannons could be brought close enough to batter down the walls. So the real siege of Candia took place at sea.
If the Turks could win control of the eastern Mediterranean, they could eventually stop resupply of the city and it would have to surrender. If the Venetians could clear off the Turks by blockading the Dardanelles, then the Turkish army would starve. Both sides won victories over the years, but neither side could win anything decisive.
In the 1660s action focused on land again, as the French joined with the Venetians in trying to pry loose the Turks. After three years, the French gave up the effort. Venice herself was utterly exhausted and could not afford to field any army at all, which lift the garrison of the city to stand alone. Francesco Morosini, the commander of the Venetians in Candia, had only 3,600 men. He surrendered to the Grand Vizier on 27 September 1669.
The loss of Crete was the last chapter in the story of the Venetian Empire, a story that had begun nearly seven centuries before. Venice continued to hold territories along the Dalmatian coast, and these were important and valuable, but after 1669 Venice was basically only an Italian power, not an international one.