By examining the first Venetian chronicle written after the Fourth Crusade, the Historia ducum Venetorum (1102–1229), this article shows how the Venetian ruling elites wanted to present their recent past. In particular, it proves that the author of that work and probably many of his fellow countrymen wished to point out that the Venetians gave fundamental support toward the defense and strengthening of the Kingdom of Jerusalem without expecting any material reward. Moreover, the Venetians had always been good friends and allies of the Byzantines, and the deterioration of this relationship and the conquest of Constantinople had to be attributed to the irresponsible behavior and ingratitude of the Byzantine emperors. By distorting or omitting a few events, they also wanted to demonstrate that Venice always enjoyed a perfect internal harmony and, therefore, represented an ideal society.
Memory and Propaganda in Venice after the Fourth Crusade
Luigi Andrea Berto is Associate Professor of History at Western Michigan University. His research focuses on medieval Venice and early medieval Italy. His main book publications include The Political and Social Vocabulary of John the Deacon's “Istoria Veneticorum” (2013); In Search of the First Venetians: Prosopography of Early Medieval Venice (2014); La guerra, la violenza, gli altri e la frontiera nella “Venetia” altomedievale (2016); the edition and translation of Giovanni Diacono's Istoria Veneticorum (1999); the edition and translation of Cronicae Sancti Benedicti Casinensis (2006); and the edition and translation of Erchemperto, Ystoriola Longobardorum Beneventum degentium (2013). His recent articles include “La ‘nuova’ Tarda Antichità, la scuola di Vienna e la storia contemporanea,” Storiografia 17 (2013): 65–82; “The Muslims as Others in the Chronicles of Early Medieval Southern Italy,” Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 45.3 (2014): 1–24; and “As an Angel Revealed to Her. Miracles, Visions, Predictions, and Supernatural Phenomena and the Politics of Memory in Early Medieval Venice,” Mediterranean Studies 23.1 (2015): 1–26.
Luigi Andrea Berto; Memory and Propaganda in Venice after the Fourth Crusade. Mediterranean Studies 15 December 2016; 24 (2): 111–138. doi: https://doi.org/10.5325/mediterraneanstu.24.2.0111
Download citation file:
Advertisement