In the 730s or early 740s, Hildeprand, nephew of king Liutprand, and Peredeo, duke of Vicenza, managed to take Ravenna, the capital of the Exarchate of Ravenna.
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 eventful reign of John VI, bishop of Ravenna (726–744), from the “Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis”.
The second doge of Venice, Marcellus, might not have been a Venetian duke, but a Byzantine official.
Venice started as a Byzantine duchy, ruled by a “dux”, but at some point, they started choosing their own dux — or doge. When, or even who, is not clear.
Was the first doge really the first? Did he even exist? And if he didn’t, why is he there? There are some serious questions about doge Paulicius (697·717) to be examined.
The account of the election of the first three doges of Venice (Pauluccio, Marcello and Orso), from the “Istoria Veneticorum” by John the Deacon.
The lagoon was settled in Antiquity, and in the 600s, there were numerous known towns, and several important cities. Venice, however, was not one of them.
The list of lagoon settlements before the year 1000, from the “Istoria Veneticorum” by John the Deacon.
Following the Lombard invasion and conquest of Venetia, a part of the Venetian population of the mainland cities fled or left for the settlements in the nearby lagoons.
