- Giovanni Dandolo
Giovanni Dandolo was the 48th
Doge of Venice , elected in 1280, died in 1289. During his reign the first Venetian goldducat was introduced into circulation.Family
Dandolo came from a prominent Venetian family that provided three other doges to Venice: Giovanni's great-grandfather
Enrico Dandolo ,Francesco Dandolo andAndrea Dandolo . Two women from the Dandalo family married doges: Giovanna Dandolo withPasqual Malipiero and Zilia Dandolo withLorenzo Priuli .Life
Before his election as doge, Dandolo occupied various public positions including
Podestà ofBologna andPadua , and commander of the Venetian naval units. The news of his election to doge reached him while he was fighting in a military action againstIstria andTrieste , which expanded into an open war in the following year, also involving Venice's perennial enemy, thePatriarchate ofGrado and thePapal States . More armed clashes followed, and continued for the duration of Dandolo's reign as doge.After Dandolo signed the peace Treaty of Ravenna with
Ancona , a new military theater opened through the revolt in Crete led by the GreekAlexios Kalergis and backed by the Byzantine emperorMichael VIII , Venice's rival for the domination of the eastern Mediterranean. These conflicts forced the Republic of Venice to negotiate peace agreements withCharles of Anjou andPhilip of France , concluding an alliance with the former in theTreaty of Orvieto .During Dandolo's reign as doge, relations with the Vatican were tense. Venice had refused to join the Papal States in a punitive action against Sicily, provoking Pope
Martin IV to excommunicate Venice, which was later repealed in 1285 by Martin's successor, PopeHonorius IV . In 1287 unrest flared up again inIstria , this time provoked by the OttomansFact|date=March 2008, and spread toFriuli . The war widened after the intervention of the German Emperor Rudolf I, who was allied with thePatriarchate ofGrado , and Venice had to sue for peace.In 1284, the first Venetian gold
ducat , later called the "Zecchino", was introduced into circulation. The ducat would be used until the end of the Venetian Republic, poured with the same weight (3.56 grams, 24-carat, 0.997 grams of lead). The coin was valid in all states with which Venice traded. The name ducat comes from the inscription on the coin's back: "Sit tibi Christe datus quem tu regis iste ducatus", which frames a picture of Christ. The front of each coin showed the ruling doges on their knees in front of the city's patron saint,Mark the Evangelist .Dandolo was buried in San Zanipolo. The tomb was not preserved, only a stone slab with an inscription commemorates the doge.
References
*Helmut Dumler: "Venedig und die Dogen." Düsseldorf 2001.
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