Early Venice
Venice didn’t appear out of nothing – there was something before which led to the Venice we know as the Serenissima.
-
The “Galbaio” dynasty
Mauricius and Giovanni Galbaio were the seventh and eighth doges of Venice. Together, they ruled the duchy for almost four decades.
-
Domenicus Monegarius
Domenicus Monegarius was the sixth doge of Venice, from 765, following the deposition and blinding of duke Galla, and was blinded and deposed in 764.
-
Galla — a most wicked man
Galla, the fifth doge of Venice, only ruled for one year, which was marked by violence.
-
Deusdedit Hypatos
Deusdedit was the fourth doge of Venice, ruling from 742 to 755, but we know little more about him than of the previous doges and the “magistri militum”.
-
The five “magistri militum”
From 737 to 742 the Duchy of the Venetians wasn’t ruled by dukes, but by military commanders with the Byzantine title of “magister militum”.
-
Ursus Hypatos — third and first doge of Venice
Ursus Hypatos was the third doge of Venice, likely the first chosen locally, but we have almost no sources for him.
-
The letters of Cassiodorus
The earliest written source related to the inhabitants of the Venetian lagoons, is a letter from Cassiodorus, written in 537.
-
The demise of the Exarchate
The events around the demise of the Exarchate of Ravenna only involved the Venetians marginally. It is nevertheless important to the history of Venice.
-
The Exarchate and the Papacy
Venetia existed within the Exarchate of Ravenna, as part of the Byzantine Empire, and what happened in the Exarchate mattered to Venetia.
-
Marcellus — Byzantine or Venetian?
The second doge of Venice, Marcellus, might not have been a Venetian duke, but a Byzantine official.