A Lesson From History, Part 1,257...

[onager]

I've recently been enjoying J.J. Norwich's classic history of the Venetian Republic. It has the snappy title A History of Venice. :-)

The Venetian Republic endured for over a thousand years, until Napoleon Bonaparte destroyed it in the late 18th century.

And according to Norwich, here's one way it managed to do that:

Any attempt on the part of an individual or group to gain power or popularity outside the constitutional framework was instantly suppressed.

The Church was kept rigidly in its place, its duties exclusively pastoral, barred from the slightest interference in affairs of state; bishops were elected by the (Venetian) Senate, their elections being only confirmed in Rome.

In one funny episode during some Crusade or other, the Pope asked for Venetian ships to attack the godless Islamic infidels in Egypt.

Venice had to do some fancy footwork on that one, since it had just concluded a trade agreement with Ashraf el-Khalil--the godless Islamic ruler of Egypt.

The Venetian Republic apparently joined only one Crusade with enthusiasm--the Fourth Crusade. But that was a sham and a put-up job which turned into a crusade of Western (Catholic) Xians against Eastern (Orthodox) Xians. Venice only went along with it to acquire some new trading ports/colonies, which worked out well for the Republic.

In general, the Venetians happily traded with the Islamic world. And anybody else who wanted to do business, including Off-Brand Xians and total Asian heretics.

Its religious independence got Venice interdicted/excommunicated by various Popes. An interdict usually meant all priests were ordered to leave the city and lock up the churches. That was a pain for the citizens because the major holidays were religious and controlled by the Church. No big Xmas or Easter festivals, etc.

Oh, and another weird note: Venice had a system of free public health care for all citizens hundreds of years before anybody else in Europe. Damn capitalist commies!

[yellerpup]

1. Very interesting.

Thanks for sharing.

[JNelson6563]

2. On the issue of "interdict"

You rightly note that it was a pain to the citizenry. When England was under inderdict during John's reign at first it was a nightmare. None of the comforts the church offered (pretty much all there was for the lower classes) in the form of recognized routines. Even the ringing of bells for the various purposes was stopped and that left a deafening silence. Oddly enough, after a few years of this, people began to notice that not only were they not struck dead by their all-loving god as punishment for their king's behavior, they also began to notice they certainly did NOT miss the whole Peter's pence thing and other "expenses" that went with various dealings with the church--such as being blessed at birth, last rites, etc.

Interdict was an extreme solution that, if used long term, surely played *against* the best interests of the church.

Julie

[funflower]

3. I love your book reports, Onager....

Please keep it up for us working parents who don't have a lot of time for that stuff these days.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

4. Sounds like a book

I would enjoy reading.
Wasn't Pope John Paul, the one who died about a month after being elected in the 70's, from Venice?
(not sure if I'm correct)

[onager]

5. Thanks for the kind comments, everybody!

I've been busy this week, so I'm sort of catching up now. Sorry for not replying sooner.

JNelson: I appreciated the extra information on interdiction. You're right, it gradually had zero effect in Venice. Like us humans do with most things, the Venetians got used to being interdicted.

By the time the "warrior Pope," Julius II, interdicted the city, everybody was pretty ho-hum about it. That infuriated Pope Julius, but apparently most things did when they got in the way of his empire-building.

During the complex series of wars raging in Northern Italy at the time, one Anti-Papal commander captured a huge bronze statue of Julius. The Pope had ordered it himself from Michelangelo.

The commander melted down the statue and used the bronze to forge a cannon. Which he affectionately named "Julius."

:rofl:

Funflower: where have you been? I guess if you're a working parent, I don't even need to ask that question. Good to see you again, and thanks.

Centepede Shoes: thanks to my usual arcane historical sources (Wikipedia), I learned that Pope John Paul I served as the Patriarch of Venice.

Everybody: I just found this hilarious passage in A History Of Venice and wanted to pass it along.

And some people say history is boring!

Then, on the convenient date of 1 January 1515, King Louis XII died in Paris.

Worn out at fifty-two and already showing signs of premature senility, he had the previous autumn married Princess Mary of England, sister of Henry VIII.

She was fifteen years old, radiantly beautiful, and possessed of all her brother's inexhaustible energy.

Louis had done his best, but the effort had proved too great; he had lasted just three months.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. Mmmm. There are worse deaths.

:spank:

[awoke_in_2003]

7. As always

a top grade post.