the plundering plague and the downfall of the republic of venice
Aqua Alta Venice- Wikimedia Commons
by Kathy Warnes
The Black Death decimated the population of the Republic of Venice in 1630 and undermined its foundations enough to allow Napoleon to overthrow it in 1797.
Severely reducing the populations of the Medieval world, the plague is believed to have originated in China, although recent studies contend that its origins were in Egypt. Rats and fleas hitchhiking on ships spread the Bubonic Plague westward to Europe along the Venetian and Genovese trade routes.
History and Geography Aid the Downfall of the Republic of Venice
In the 17th century, Italy’s political structure differed from that of other European states. Italy was composed of separate city states and each city state managed the ravages of the plague individually. These individual city states often cooperated and worked together, but the plague deaths impacted each individual city state more heavily than it did centrally organized countries like France.
Venice Is Geographically Unique
Located in Northern Italy, Venice is a port city which made it a focal point for plague outbreaks that rats and fleas on merchant ships brought in from other ports. Venice is built over 100 low-lying islands in a salt water lagoon which is sheltered from the Adriatic Sea by the Lido- a sandbank- and other small strips of land. Venetians invented unique techniques to fortify their buildings. They used timber and stone, they drove piles into the islands and on these piles they built a structure of wood, followed by brick and then stone for each house or building. Although vulnerable to fire, some of these buildings have stood for over 400 years.
There is a strong link between port cities like Venice and the plague . If the plague had not been able to travel from port to port with the rats and fleas on merchant ships, it probably would have not spread so widely or been so devastating.The fact that Italian city states were so successful as sea traders clearly connects them with the exposure and spread of the Black Death.
Venice in 1630 is Wealthy and Prosperous
Because of its success in trade and shipping, the Republic of Venice had grown into a city of substantial wealth and prosperity by 1630. Venice enjoyed the advantage of being a port city and had built its economy on maritime trade routes. The Venetians had outdistanced Genoa, their fiercest competitor and become the most important mercantile power in the Adriatic. The Venetian Republic had bested its competitors because the government led efforts to increase the wealth of the Republic including signing treaties for peace in the region balanced against building up the military fleet to protect is mercantile interests.
The Invisible Enemy
Wealth and prosperity did not stop bubonic plague. The anatomy of the plague itself was an important factor as well as the fact that medieval physicians possessed a limited understanding of plague and could do nothing to cure it.
Between 1350 and 1700, over 100 epidemics of plague swept over the world, especially over Asia, Europe, and Russia. Historians estimate that about 75 million people died, one third of them in Europe.
The plague came in three varieties, bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. The most visible symptom of Bubonic Plague is painful, swollen lymph glands in the armpits, groin, or neck, called buboes,which give Bubonic Plague its name. Bubonic Plague can progress into two other forms called pneumonic and septicemic. Modern scientists have discovered that bacterium Yersinia pestis causes bubonic plague.
The Plague Makes Numerous Visits to Venice
Venice had experienced 22 outbreaks of plague between 1361 and 1528. The plague of 1576-1577 killed 50,000 in Venice, almost a third of the population. The 1680 version of the plague was just as deadly. In just seventeen months, 80,000 people in Venice died of the plague. On November 9, 1680 alone, 595 people died.
The Doge Makes a Vow
Nicolo Contarini, the Doge or chief magistrate of the Republic of Venice, made a vow in the name of the Senate. He solemnly pledged to build a church dedicated to the Madonna of Good Health if the Virgin Mary would free Venice from the plague. He also promised that every year on November 21st, the day of Mary’s Presentation in the Temple, he would follow a procession to the church.
Doge Nicolo Contarini died of the plague, but his successor Doge Francesco Erizzo kept the vow, illustrating how deeply Venice dreaded the disease it could not understand and control. By the time the plague ran its course, it had forever altered Venetian politics.
The Venetian military tried to protect all of the Republic’s shipping routes, but the reduction in the ranks left the shipping routes open to attack. With decimated numbers of people left to fight and defend its territories, the Ottoman Turks were able to capture the island of Crete in 1669. In 1716, Morea also fell to the Ottoman Turks. In 1797, Venice surrendered sovereignty to Napoleon’s invading French Army, an act that ended 1,070 years of republican government.
Carnival and the Black Death
Celebrating Carnival each year, Venetians still remember their historic past. They dress up in masks and costumes that represent the Bubonic Plague, the discovery of a quarantine island, a female vampire in Venice, and its impact on their history.
References
Aberth, John, The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture, Bedford St. Martins, 2005.
Cantor, Norman F. In the Wake of the Plague: the Black Death and the World It Made, Harper Perennial, 2002.
Gottfried, Robert S., The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe, Free Press, 1985.
Herlihy, David, and Cohn, Samuel K.,Jr., The Black Death and the Transformation of the West (European History Series) Harvard University Press, 1997.
Huppert, George. After the Black Death, Second Edition: A Social History of Early Modern Europe (Interdisciplinary Studies in History) Indiana University Press, 1998.
Kelly, John. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time, Harper Perennial, 2006.
McNeill, William H. Plagues and Peoples, Anchor, 1977.
Nohl, Johannes, The Black Death: A Chronicle of the Plague, Westholme Publishing, 2006.
The Black Death decimated the population of the Republic of Venice in 1630 and undermined its foundations enough to allow Napoleon to overthrow it in 1797.
Severely reducing the populations of the Medieval world, the plague is believed to have originated in China, although recent studies contend that its origins were in Egypt. Rats and fleas hitchhiking on ships spread the Bubonic Plague westward to Europe along the Venetian and Genovese trade routes.
History and Geography Aid the Downfall of the Republic of Venice
In the 17th century, Italy’s political structure differed from that of other European states. Italy was composed of separate city states and each city state managed the ravages of the plague individually. These individual city states often cooperated and worked together, but the plague deaths impacted each individual city state more heavily than it did centrally organized countries like France.
Venice Is Geographically Unique
Located in Northern Italy, Venice is a port city which made it a focal point for plague outbreaks that rats and fleas on merchant ships brought in from other ports. Venice is built over 100 low-lying islands in a salt water lagoon which is sheltered from the Adriatic Sea by the Lido- a sandbank- and other small strips of land. Venetians invented unique techniques to fortify their buildings. They used timber and stone, they drove piles into the islands and on these piles they built a structure of wood, followed by brick and then stone for each house or building. Although vulnerable to fire, some of these buildings have stood for over 400 years.
There is a strong link between port cities like Venice and the plague . If the plague had not been able to travel from port to port with the rats and fleas on merchant ships, it probably would have not spread so widely or been so devastating.The fact that Italian city states were so successful as sea traders clearly connects them with the exposure and spread of the Black Death.
Venice in 1630 is Wealthy and Prosperous
Because of its success in trade and shipping, the Republic of Venice had grown into a city of substantial wealth and prosperity by 1630. Venice enjoyed the advantage of being a port city and had built its economy on maritime trade routes. The Venetians had outdistanced Genoa, their fiercest competitor and become the most important mercantile power in the Adriatic. The Venetian Republic had bested its competitors because the government led efforts to increase the wealth of the Republic including signing treaties for peace in the region balanced against building up the military fleet to protect is mercantile interests.
The Invisible Enemy
Wealth and prosperity did not stop bubonic plague. The anatomy of the plague itself was an important factor as well as the fact that medieval physicians possessed a limited understanding of plague and could do nothing to cure it.
Between 1350 and 1700, over 100 epidemics of plague swept over the world, especially over Asia, Europe, and Russia. Historians estimate that about 75 million people died, one third of them in Europe.
The plague came in three varieties, bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. The most visible symptom of Bubonic Plague is painful, swollen lymph glands in the armpits, groin, or neck, called buboes,which give Bubonic Plague its name. Bubonic Plague can progress into two other forms called pneumonic and septicemic. Modern scientists have discovered that bacterium Yersinia pestis causes bubonic plague.
The Plague Makes Numerous Visits to Venice
Venice had experienced 22 outbreaks of plague between 1361 and 1528. The plague of 1576-1577 killed 50,000 in Venice, almost a third of the population. The 1680 version of the plague was just as deadly. In just seventeen months, 80,000 people in Venice died of the plague. On November 9, 1680 alone, 595 people died.
The Doge Makes a Vow
Nicolo Contarini, the Doge or chief magistrate of the Republic of Venice, made a vow in the name of the Senate. He solemnly pledged to build a church dedicated to the Madonna of Good Health if the Virgin Mary would free Venice from the plague. He also promised that every year on November 21st, the day of Mary’s Presentation in the Temple, he would follow a procession to the church.
Doge Nicolo Contarini died of the plague, but his successor Doge Francesco Erizzo kept the vow, illustrating how deeply Venice dreaded the disease it could not understand and control. By the time the plague ran its course, it had forever altered Venetian politics.
The Venetian military tried to protect all of the Republic’s shipping routes, but the reduction in the ranks left the shipping routes open to attack. With decimated numbers of people left to fight and defend its territories, the Ottoman Turks were able to capture the island of Crete in 1669. In 1716, Morea also fell to the Ottoman Turks. In 1797, Venice surrendered sovereignty to Napoleon’s invading French Army, an act that ended 1,070 years of republican government.
Carnival and the Black Death
Celebrating Carnival each year, Venetians still remember their historic past. They dress up in masks and costumes that represent the Bubonic Plague, the discovery of a quarantine island, a female vampire in Venice, and its impact on their history.
References
Aberth, John, The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture, Bedford St. Martins, 2005.
Cantor, Norman F. In the Wake of the Plague: the Black Death and the World It Made, Harper Perennial, 2002.
Gottfried, Robert S., The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe, Free Press, 1985.
Herlihy, David, and Cohn, Samuel K.,Jr., The Black Death and the Transformation of the West (European History Series) Harvard University Press, 1997.
Huppert, George. After the Black Death, Second Edition: A Social History of Early Modern Europe (Interdisciplinary Studies in History) Indiana University Press, 1998.
Kelly, John. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time, Harper Perennial, 2006.
McNeill, William H. Plagues and Peoples, Anchor, 1977.
Nohl, Johannes, The Black Death: A Chronicle of the Plague, Westholme Publishing, 2006.
