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City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas
The rise and fall of the Venetian empire stands unrivaled for drama, intrigue, and sheer opulent majesty. In City of Fortune, Roger Crowley, acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author of Empires of the Sea, applies his narrative skill to chronicling the astounding five-hundred-year voyage of Venice to the pinnacle of power.
Tracing the full arc of the Venetian imperial saga for the first time, City of Fortune is framed around two of the great collisions of world history: the ill-fated Fourth Crusade, which culminated in the sacking of Constantinople and the carve-up of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, and the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1499–1503, which saw the Ottoman Turks supplant the Venetians as the preeminent naval power in the Mediterranean. In between were three centuries of Venetian maritime dominance—years of plunder and plague, conquest and piracy—during which a tiny city of “lagoon dwellers” grew into the richest place on earth.
Drawing on firsthand accounts of pitched sea battles, skillful negotiations, and diplomatic maneuvers, Crowley paints a vivid picture of this avaricious, enterprising people and the bountiful lands that came under their dominion. Defiant of emperors, indifferent to popes, the Venetians saw themselves as reluctant freebooters, compelled to take to the open seas “because we cannot live otherwise and know not how except by trade.” From the opening of the spice routes to the clash between Christianity and Islam, Venice played a leading role in the defining conflicts of its time—the reverberations of which are still being felt today. Only an author with Roger Crowley’s deep knowledge of post-Crusade history could put these iconic events into their proper context.
Epic in scope, magisterial in its understanding of the period, City of Fortune is narrative history at its most engrossing.
Tracing the full arc of the Venetian imperial saga for the first time, City of Fortune is framed around two of the great collisions of world history: the ill-fated Fourth Crusade, which culminated in the sacking of Constantinople and the carve-up of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, and the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1499–1503, which saw the Ottoman Turks supplant the Venetians as the preeminent naval power in the Mediterranean. In between were three centuries of Venetian maritime dominance—years of plunder and plague, conquest and piracy—during which a tiny city of “lagoon dwellers” grew into the richest place on earth.
Drawing on firsthand accounts of pitched sea battles, skillful negotiations, and diplomatic maneuvers, Crowley paints a vivid picture of this avaricious, enterprising people and the bountiful lands that came under their dominion. Defiant of emperors, indifferent to popes, the Venetians saw themselves as reluctant freebooters, compelled to take to the open seas “because we cannot live otherwise and know not how except by trade.” From the opening of the spice routes to the clash between Christianity and Islam, Venice played a leading role in the defining conflicts of its time—the reverberations of which are still being felt today. Only an author with Roger Crowley’s deep knowledge of post-Crusade history could put these iconic events into their proper context.
Epic in scope, magisterial in its understanding of the period, City of Fortune is narrative history at its most engrossing.
418 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2011
772 people are currently reading
6860 people want to read
About the author
Roger Crowley
16 books821 followersRoger Crowley was born in 1951 and spent part of his childhood in Malta. He read English at Cambridge University and taught English in Istanbul, where he developed a strong interest in the history of Turkey. He has traveled widely throughout the Mediterranean basin over many years and has a wide-ranging knowledge of its history and culture. He lives in Gloucestershire, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 417 reviews
July 21, 2016
Venice was the Blockbuster Video of medieval empires.
Like Blockbuster, Venice’s nigh-maniacal embrace of cultural homogeneity and prioritization of brand and bottom line at the expense of individual recognition and initiative led to it achieving categorical economic dominance on what, at the time, constituted a global scale. Also like Blockbuster, whose ubiquity and be-kind-rewind hegemony were obliterated in an instant by a single innovation (namely, streaming video over high-speed internet connections), Venice’s mighty trade empire went the way of VHS tapes when the enterprising Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope and found a better way to bring spices and other goods from the East to insatiable Western markets (okay, to be fair, Venetian dominance was already on the wane due to marauding Ottomans, but, still—talk about having the wind taken from your sails (that’s an apt nautical joke, people—commence guffawing).
Crowley’s account of the improbable rise of a lagoon-based collection of maritime entrepreneurs is a compelling one, even if it occasionally bogs down in the details of various sea battles. As a fairly well read student of medieval and renaissance history, I was frankly shocked at just how innovative and dominant an entity the Republic of Venice was at its height.
I confess that my growing frustration with reading about the sheer stupidity involved in starting wars ostensibly for religious reasons (never a good idea) but, in actuality, for reasons of profit and plunder made me grind my teeth a bit at various points during the narrative, but that’s not Crowley’s fault—the man’s writing history, not making it.
If you’re looking for a really interesting primer on medieval Venice, maritime trade, and the rise of merchant empires, this is a pretty delightful starting point.
If you’re looking for a list of videos I frequently rented from Blockbuster, you’ll need to look elsewhere (and no, I don’t mean the rooms that video stores tried to close off from the under-18 crowd by hanging a couple of slatted swinging doors to prevent easy access).
(I always loved walking into Blockbuster after a hot new movie came out on video; there was nothing quite like seeing a wall of 718 copies of Independence Day hanging out, lonely and eager to be rented.)
Like Blockbuster, Venice’s nigh-maniacal embrace of cultural homogeneity and prioritization of brand and bottom line at the expense of individual recognition and initiative led to it achieving categorical economic dominance on what, at the time, constituted a global scale. Also like Blockbuster, whose ubiquity and be-kind-rewind hegemony were obliterated in an instant by a single innovation (namely, streaming video over high-speed internet connections), Venice’s mighty trade empire went the way of VHS tapes when the enterprising Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope and found a better way to bring spices and other goods from the East to insatiable Western markets (okay, to be fair, Venetian dominance was already on the wane due to marauding Ottomans, but, still—talk about having the wind taken from your sails (that’s an apt nautical joke, people—commence guffawing).
Crowley’s account of the improbable rise of a lagoon-based collection of maritime entrepreneurs is a compelling one, even if it occasionally bogs down in the details of various sea battles. As a fairly well read student of medieval and renaissance history, I was frankly shocked at just how innovative and dominant an entity the Republic of Venice was at its height.
I confess that my growing frustration with reading about the sheer stupidity involved in starting wars ostensibly for religious reasons (never a good idea) but, in actuality, for reasons of profit and plunder made me grind my teeth a bit at various points during the narrative, but that’s not Crowley’s fault—the man’s writing history, not making it.
If you’re looking for a really interesting primer on medieval Venice, maritime trade, and the rise of merchant empires, this is a pretty delightful starting point.
If you’re looking for a list of videos I frequently rented from Blockbuster, you’ll need to look elsewhere (and no, I don’t mean the rooms that video stores tried to close off from the under-18 crowd by hanging a couple of slatted swinging doors to prevent easy access).
(I always loved walking into Blockbuster after a hot new movie came out on video; there was nothing quite like seeing a wall of 718 copies of Independence Day hanging out, lonely and eager to be rented.)
May 23, 2017
"City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas" by Roger Crowley is a fascinating account of the Venetian empire between the years 1200 and 1500. This book is not a dry recitation of dates, names, and battles. I found it to be an engaging narrative about a remarkable city and its exploits throughout the Mediterranean.
Constantinople was the key to Mediterranean commerce during this time period. Whoever controlled Constantinople controlled Mediterranean commerce. The Venetians were the dominant power in the Mediterranean from the year 1204 (when they sacked Constantinople) until the year 1453 (when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople). Before 1204 the Venetian empire had grown steadily for several centuries. After 1453 – because of the rise of the Ottomans and the dawn of the Portuguese and Spanish trade routes to India and the Americas - the Venetian naval empire experienced a long, slow decline.
Crowley covers in detail how the Venetian naval empire grew and operated. He discusses the strategic importance of their many trading posts and ports - especially Crete. He also describes many aspects of Venetian commerce and public life, the Venetian role in the Fourth Crusade, the ongoing rivalry with Genoa, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in world history, naval history, the Mediterranean, or the history of commerce.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Notes:
Alternate title: City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire
Audiobook:
City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas
Written by: Roger Crowley
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
Length: 14 hours and 10 minutes
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date: 2013-04-26
Publisher: Recorded Books
Constantinople was the key to Mediterranean commerce during this time period. Whoever controlled Constantinople controlled Mediterranean commerce. The Venetians were the dominant power in the Mediterranean from the year 1204 (when they sacked Constantinople) until the year 1453 (when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople). Before 1204 the Venetian empire had grown steadily for several centuries. After 1453 – because of the rise of the Ottomans and the dawn of the Portuguese and Spanish trade routes to India and the Americas - the Venetian naval empire experienced a long, slow decline.
Crowley covers in detail how the Venetian naval empire grew and operated. He discusses the strategic importance of their many trading posts and ports - especially Crete. He also describes many aspects of Venetian commerce and public life, the Venetian role in the Fourth Crusade, the ongoing rivalry with Genoa, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in world history, naval history, the Mediterranean, or the history of commerce.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Notes:
Alternate title: City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire
Audiobook:
City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas
Written by: Roger Crowley
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
Length: 14 hours and 10 minutes
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date: 2013-04-26
Publisher: Recorded Books
March 2, 2025
The Ironies of History
City of Fortune was the first book by Roger Crowley I ever read, but it will not be the last because even before I finished it, Crowley hooked me for his book on the fall of Constantinople as well as his book on the rise of Portugal as a sea power since both events also played a role in the volume discussed here. Although I studied history in Germany, I have always had a predilection for English-speaking historiography as historians like Kershaw, Clarke, Blanning or Richard J. Evans have a knack for writing which is quite rare with their German counterparts, who tend towards fact-hoarding and statistics-bathing. Crowley is outstanding in making history come to life before a reader’s eyes, especially when he deals with the Fourth Crusade or the Siege of Chiogga by the Genoese, and yet he seems to stick to the data, not indulging in a novelist’s flights of fancy. The result is a fast-paced narrative history starting with Pietro II. Orseolo, who secured Venetian dominance over the Adriatic coast by wiping out the pirates near the Narenta River, and covering the development of Venice as a naval power until its end in the early 16th century. Three major themes Crowley deals with are the sack of Constantinople by Venetian and Frank crusaders, the embittered fight for hegemony between Venice and Genoa in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and the fickle relationship between Christian, especially Italian traders and the Muslim world. If there is something I missed in Crowley’s history – apart from footnotes and careful references –, it is these two points: Firstly, as the title of the book promises, the book is focused on the naval expansion of Venice, but still I would have liked there to be more information on how the Terra Firma empire of Venice in Northern Italy was established and on how relations of its inhabitants to Venice differed from the relations of people in Crete, or other parts of the naval empire, towards their overlords. With regard to the latter, we learn that Venetians ruled with an iron hand, exercised a rigid control over their administrative personnel that should discourage them from fraternizing with the native population, and tried to wield their power there solely for the purpose of Venetian trade and economy. Now, what was it like with regard to the Terra Firma territories? Another thing that Crowley neglects is to give us a structured picture of the Venetian political system. We can glean some information every now and then but nowhere is there a neat discussion of this topic, like, for instance in Adrian Goldsworthy’s history of the Punic Wars, which starts with a structured description of Roman and Carthaginian government and military.
Crowley’s power, though, lies in narrative history, and here he is top-notch at giving you insight into the ironies that underlay the rise and fall of Venetian naval power. The one looming largest is probably that the key to Venetian grandeur also unlocked the door of its eventual downfall: When the Venetians, under their blind doge Enrico Dandolo, financed and accompanied the Fourth Crusade, Dandolo first of all used the newly-gathered force to secure Venetian control over Zara, which was not what the Pope had in mind when he proclaimed this crusade. Still, things got even more out of hand in that it was on the Adriatic coast that the crusaders let themselves be talked into beleaguering Constantinople, helping the son of an imprisoned Emperor back on the throne. The Byzantines did not take this attempt in good grace, and the end was a battle of Christians against Christians around the walls of Constantinople, in the course of which the city was burned, looted and sacked. For the time being, this greatly enhanced Venetian power, amongst other things by giving them access to the Black Sea, ousting their Genoese rivals and endowing them with power over several islands and coasts of the Aegean Sea. Nevertheless, it also considerably weakened Constantinople, which made it easier, centuries later, for Mehmet II., to capture the city in 1453, dealing a hard blow to Venetian trade, which was only the first one in a series of hard blows.
There are also other ironies Crowley explores, for example the tension between religions that Venice always had to navigate. Itself a Catholic city, it was regarded with suspicion by the Pope because of its being situated near the lands of Orthodox Christianity, but also because it had a keen interest in trading with Muslim powers. Venice, like Genoa, entertained so-called fondachi in Alexandria, i.e. trading posts that also served as living quarters for merchants. In order to entertain these, and their trading rights in general, Christians had to be extremely careful with the whims of Muslim rulers, and whereas Genoese traders often resorted to sheer force and piracy, Venice was more often ready to tread the path of diplomacy and soft-spokenness. All this made Venice seem an untrustworthy partner in the eyes of the Pope, and yet it was Venice that, when the Ottomans under Mehmet tried to expand their power, kept warning the Christians and that spent loads of money in order to establish a shield against Muslim encroachments on Europe, whereas in earlier centuries the city had only supported Christian crusades when there was some profit in these enterprises for Venetian economy.
As you can see, Crowley is aware of the underlying subtleties of Venetian history and brilliantly turns them into a highly readable book.
City of Fortune was the first book by Roger Crowley I ever read, but it will not be the last because even before I finished it, Crowley hooked me for his book on the fall of Constantinople as well as his book on the rise of Portugal as a sea power since both events also played a role in the volume discussed here. Although I studied history in Germany, I have always had a predilection for English-speaking historiography as historians like Kershaw, Clarke, Blanning or Richard J. Evans have a knack for writing which is quite rare with their German counterparts, who tend towards fact-hoarding and statistics-bathing. Crowley is outstanding in making history come to life before a reader’s eyes, especially when he deals with the Fourth Crusade or the Siege of Chiogga by the Genoese, and yet he seems to stick to the data, not indulging in a novelist’s flights of fancy. The result is a fast-paced narrative history starting with Pietro II. Orseolo, who secured Venetian dominance over the Adriatic coast by wiping out the pirates near the Narenta River, and covering the development of Venice as a naval power until its end in the early 16th century. Three major themes Crowley deals with are the sack of Constantinople by Venetian and Frank crusaders, the embittered fight for hegemony between Venice and Genoa in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and the fickle relationship between Christian, especially Italian traders and the Muslim world. If there is something I missed in Crowley’s history – apart from footnotes and careful references –, it is these two points: Firstly, as the title of the book promises, the book is focused on the naval expansion of Venice, but still I would have liked there to be more information on how the Terra Firma empire of Venice in Northern Italy was established and on how relations of its inhabitants to Venice differed from the relations of people in Crete, or other parts of the naval empire, towards their overlords. With regard to the latter, we learn that Venetians ruled with an iron hand, exercised a rigid control over their administrative personnel that should discourage them from fraternizing with the native population, and tried to wield their power there solely for the purpose of Venetian trade and economy. Now, what was it like with regard to the Terra Firma territories? Another thing that Crowley neglects is to give us a structured picture of the Venetian political system. We can glean some information every now and then but nowhere is there a neat discussion of this topic, like, for instance in Adrian Goldsworthy’s history of the Punic Wars, which starts with a structured description of Roman and Carthaginian government and military.
Crowley’s power, though, lies in narrative history, and here he is top-notch at giving you insight into the ironies that underlay the rise and fall of Venetian naval power. The one looming largest is probably that the key to Venetian grandeur also unlocked the door of its eventual downfall: When the Venetians, under their blind doge Enrico Dandolo, financed and accompanied the Fourth Crusade, Dandolo first of all used the newly-gathered force to secure Venetian control over Zara, which was not what the Pope had in mind when he proclaimed this crusade. Still, things got even more out of hand in that it was on the Adriatic coast that the crusaders let themselves be talked into beleaguering Constantinople, helping the son of an imprisoned Emperor back on the throne. The Byzantines did not take this attempt in good grace, and the end was a battle of Christians against Christians around the walls of Constantinople, in the course of which the city was burned, looted and sacked. For the time being, this greatly enhanced Venetian power, amongst other things by giving them access to the Black Sea, ousting their Genoese rivals and endowing them with power over several islands and coasts of the Aegean Sea. Nevertheless, it also considerably weakened Constantinople, which made it easier, centuries later, for Mehmet II., to capture the city in 1453, dealing a hard blow to Venetian trade, which was only the first one in a series of hard blows.
There are also other ironies Crowley explores, for example the tension between religions that Venice always had to navigate. Itself a Catholic city, it was regarded with suspicion by the Pope because of its being situated near the lands of Orthodox Christianity, but also because it had a keen interest in trading with Muslim powers. Venice, like Genoa, entertained so-called fondachi in Alexandria, i.e. trading posts that also served as living quarters for merchants. In order to entertain these, and their trading rights in general, Christians had to be extremely careful with the whims of Muslim rulers, and whereas Genoese traders often resorted to sheer force and piracy, Venice was more often ready to tread the path of diplomacy and soft-spokenness. All this made Venice seem an untrustworthy partner in the eyes of the Pope, and yet it was Venice that, when the Ottomans under Mehmet tried to expand their power, kept warning the Christians and that spent loads of money in order to establish a shield against Muslim encroachments on Europe, whereas in earlier centuries the city had only supported Christian crusades when there was some profit in these enterprises for Venetian economy.
As you can see, Crowley is aware of the underlying subtleties of Venetian history and brilliantly turns them into a highly readable book.
December 3, 2017
Most of the places where we live are obstinately, resolutely earth bound: think of maundering suburbs, the plate-glass high rises of financial centres, the re-gentrified areas of inner cities. None of these suggest anything other than themselves: places where people live, sealed off from heaven above and oblivious of hell below. But there are a few places where the places of this world are suggestive of and open to the worlds above and below. Most of these are natural places, thin places where the boundaries are ill defined, but there are a few that are man made, and none more so than the city that is the subject of this wonderful history: Venice.
Even now, living off its beauty, with most Venetians reduced to living on the mainland in Venezia Mestre, Venice is not like anywhere else on earth. It has always been so, as Crowley ably tells in this book. People, outsiders, have always looked at Venice and wondered, how could it exist? A city without land, without anything in the way of natural resources, and yet for centuries it was the node of the Mediterranean, the eye at the centre of a virtual empire that tied together with the invisible thread of trade and money a state that stretched over the shifting miles of sea and penetrated deep into the trade routes that linked Christendom, the Islamic world and beyond. Venice, built on water, lived on money and sold itself as a dream.
Today, the dream lingers, and the wanderer, turning a corner into a quiet piazza or a still canal, can never entirely escape the feeling that the next turn might take him over an invisible boundary and into another Venice, one that still draws to itself all the trades of the unseen worlds, and sends them out again into all the different realms. Ghosts walk quietly alongside the water, heard in the slap of wavelet on quay and the drift of wind over the lagoon. Walk here and you walk among multitudes unseen.
One day, I will go back. I'm not sure if I will return.
Even now, living off its beauty, with most Venetians reduced to living on the mainland in Venezia Mestre, Venice is not like anywhere else on earth. It has always been so, as Crowley ably tells in this book. People, outsiders, have always looked at Venice and wondered, how could it exist? A city without land, without anything in the way of natural resources, and yet for centuries it was the node of the Mediterranean, the eye at the centre of a virtual empire that tied together with the invisible thread of trade and money a state that stretched over the shifting miles of sea and penetrated deep into the trade routes that linked Christendom, the Islamic world and beyond. Venice, built on water, lived on money and sold itself as a dream.
Today, the dream lingers, and the wanderer, turning a corner into a quiet piazza or a still canal, can never entirely escape the feeling that the next turn might take him over an invisible boundary and into another Venice, one that still draws to itself all the trades of the unseen worlds, and sends them out again into all the different realms. Ghosts walk quietly alongside the water, heard in the slap of wavelet on quay and the drift of wind over the lagoon. Walk here and you walk among multitudes unseen.
One day, I will go back. I'm not sure if I will return.
March 22, 2023
Not as much of a page-turning blockbuster history as Crowley's previous work Empires of the Sea that covers a much tighter timespan and also concentrates mainly on military affairs. Still a very interesting survey of the Venetian way of life, Empire and business during turbulent times. One takeaway is how successfully and deviously the Most Serene Republic was able to economically leverage diplomacy and the strategic application of force to achieve its aims at a time when most kingdoms and states were, at least publicly, "All or Nothing" affairs committed to crusading ideals or territorial conquest, though it was notably the most All of Nothing potentate of them all, Ottoman Sultan and conqueror of Constantinople Mehmet II, was the one who finally burst their bubble of seeming invincibility via his intractable hostility in all directions.
The Venetian lagoon in its Heyday
I refuse to have too much sympathy for the Venetians, however, as the book also spares no detail in how ruthless a tyrant state it was abroad pretty much from its inception, treating its Greek Orthodox subjects as little more than serfs and never missing an opportunity to trick or cajole others into fighting their battles for them, as with the case of the farcical 4th Crusade to take back the Holy Land that ended in a sack of Constantinople centuries before the Turks ever entered the neighbourhood.
The Venetian lagoon in its Heyday
I refuse to have too much sympathy for the Venetians, however, as the book also spares no detail in how ruthless a tyrant state it was abroad pretty much from its inception, treating its Greek Orthodox subjects as little more than serfs and never missing an opportunity to trick or cajole others into fighting their battles for them, as with the case of the farcical 4th Crusade to take back the Holy Land that ended in a sack of Constantinople centuries before the Turks ever entered the neighbourhood.
May 22, 2024
The wealth of fascinating detail makes this a compelling read. That and the fact it's excellently written.
August 23, 2018
Crowley's book on Venice is about the Stato da Mar, and as such, is exactly one of the things I've been on the lookout for.
The first section starts with Venice's mercantile rise, and then goes into the story of the Fourth Crusade. He's fairly neutral on everyone's participation later on, but it's interesting to see a version that's sympathetic to Venice for the beginning of it all. He doesn't quite out-and-out blame Villehardouin for it either, but his over-inflated request for transport to the Middle East is the beginning of it all. Crowley points out that Venice effectively stopped all trade for a year to gather and build sufficient transport for the promised crusading army, which put them in a profit-or-perish position when the bill came due.
The second part talks about the small empire Venice picked up from this... and the long series of wars with Genoa, including a fairly lengthy description of the War of Chioggia. This is even more the centerpiece of the book than the Fourth Crusade's taking of Constantinople, and almost felt like it got a little drawn out, though I'm sure that's nothing compared to how the Venetians felt. At any rate, the entire subject is one I wish I could find more on in English.
The last part of the book is on Venice's thankless war against the Ottomans, and is every bit as interesting as the rest of the book. As ever, there are interesting missed opportunities, but here the entire conflict is one I don't know much of. Certainly, the loss of Negroponte and the Battle of Zonchio aren't anything I recall hearing of before. At any rate, Crowley concentrates on this part, and finishes in 1503, before things like the loss of Crete, and finishes with some prescient quotes from a couple of Venetians on what the Portuguese discovery of a route to India was going to do to trade.
As ever, this is a very engaging narrative history, and is full of anecdotes and quotes to help it all come alive. This time his subject is one that gets less attention in English, which makes it even better.
The first section starts with Venice's mercantile rise, and then goes into the story of the Fourth Crusade. He's fairly neutral on everyone's participation later on, but it's interesting to see a version that's sympathetic to Venice for the beginning of it all. He doesn't quite out-and-out blame Villehardouin for it either, but his over-inflated request for transport to the Middle East is the beginning of it all. Crowley points out that Venice effectively stopped all trade for a year to gather and build sufficient transport for the promised crusading army, which put them in a profit-or-perish position when the bill came due.
The second part talks about the small empire Venice picked up from this... and the long series of wars with Genoa, including a fairly lengthy description of the War of Chioggia. This is even more the centerpiece of the book than the Fourth Crusade's taking of Constantinople, and almost felt like it got a little drawn out, though I'm sure that's nothing compared to how the Venetians felt. At any rate, the entire subject is one I wish I could find more on in English.
The last part of the book is on Venice's thankless war against the Ottomans, and is every bit as interesting as the rest of the book. As ever, there are interesting missed opportunities, but here the entire conflict is one I don't know much of. Certainly, the loss of Negroponte and the Battle of Zonchio aren't anything I recall hearing of before. At any rate, Crowley concentrates on this part, and finishes in 1503, before things like the loss of Crete, and finishes with some prescient quotes from a couple of Venetians on what the Portuguese discovery of a route to India was going to do to trade.
As ever, this is a very engaging narrative history, and is full of anecdotes and quotes to help it all come alive. This time his subject is one that gets less attention in English, which makes it even better.
September 4, 2022
'City of Fortune' is a fun book of popular history telling the story of the rise and fall of the Venetian seafaring empire. It covers the period roughly from 1200 to 1500. It is part of a 3 book series with the other two covering the Fall of Constantinople and the Ottoman-Christian sea battles of the XVI century.
The book is very easy to read as the author is a very talented storyteller. It feels more like reading a story rather than a history book.
It is important to note that this is not a history of Venice but rather of the Venetian sea empire. As such the book focuses on a few major events in the colonial history of Venice and then glosses over the rest. About a quarter of the book deals with the Fourth Crusade, the siege of Zara and the siege and fall of Constantinople in 1204. While this is indeed a momentous event that launched Venice's empire, it seems to take up way too much space. The other conflicts that are detailed are the Genoese-Venetian wars, especially the War of Choggia and the Venetian-Ottoman wars. The post 1500 period is very briefly mentioned with events such as the fall of Crete and the fall of Cyprus. However, there is no mention of the major Venetian-Ottoman Morean war (1684-1699) when Venice recaptured the Morea and some Aegean islands as well the Second Morean war of 1714-1718 when the Venetian sea empire in the Aegean effectively ended.
When it comes to more serious historical details the book is quite lacking. For example, the author uses the moniker of 'Wolf of Rimini' when referring to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. However, there is no evidence to show that he was actually called that, it is actually a modern invention from the XXth century from a historical fiction book written by Edward Hutton.
Overall this book can be read as an introduction to to the history of Venice. But it is by no means complete or exhaustive.
The book is very easy to read as the author is a very talented storyteller. It feels more like reading a story rather than a history book.
It is important to note that this is not a history of Venice but rather of the Venetian sea empire. As such the book focuses on a few major events in the colonial history of Venice and then glosses over the rest. About a quarter of the book deals with the Fourth Crusade, the siege of Zara and the siege and fall of Constantinople in 1204. While this is indeed a momentous event that launched Venice's empire, it seems to take up way too much space. The other conflicts that are detailed are the Genoese-Venetian wars, especially the War of Choggia and the Venetian-Ottoman wars. The post 1500 period is very briefly mentioned with events such as the fall of Crete and the fall of Cyprus. However, there is no mention of the major Venetian-Ottoman Morean war (1684-1699) when Venice recaptured the Morea and some Aegean islands as well the Second Morean war of 1714-1718 when the Venetian sea empire in the Aegean effectively ended.
When it comes to more serious historical details the book is quite lacking. For example, the author uses the moniker of 'Wolf of Rimini' when referring to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. However, there is no evidence to show that he was actually called that, it is actually a modern invention from the XXth century from a historical fiction book written by Edward Hutton.
Overall this book can be read as an introduction to to the history of Venice. But it is by no means complete or exhaustive.
January 4, 2020
Crowley az ismeretterjesztő könyvek szerzői közül abba a szűk csoportba tartozik, akiknek az újabb munkáit lelkesülten lehet várni, hogy aztán összemérve az elsővel, a csúcsok csúcsával, azt mondja az ember: hát, egy pöttyet kevésbé jó. De ettől még várjuk tovább lelkesülten az újabb munkáit.
A Kalmárköztársaság Velence históriája – de ne számítsunk lineáris aprómunkára, ami ától cettig végigveszi egy városállam történetét. Crowley három gócpontot emel ki: 1.) a negyedik keresztes háborút, amelyben Velence álnok módon elintézte, hogy a keresztesek a Szentföld helyett Zárában, aztán pedig Konstantinápolyban kössenek ki, és ha már ott vannak, a két szép szemükért (meg az aranydukátokért) Velence nagyobb dicsőségére prédálják is fel őket, ezzel megteremtve azt a hatalmi űrt, amibe aztán a kalmárköztársaság beslisszolhatott 2.) a velenceiek Genovával vívott váltakozó, de mindig kíméletlen csatározásait, amelyek végtére is lehetővé tették, hogy a városállam önmagát tekinthesse a Földközi-tenger urának 3.) az oszmánok megizmosodását, amely birodalom végül is bevitte a mélyütést szegény kereskedőknek, elindítva őket a lejtőn. A szerző szokásos stratégiája ebből jól kirajzolódik: Crowley ugyanis egy drámai gépezet felépítésében érdekelt, amiben a főszereplő (jelesül: Velence) sajátos tulajdonságokkal rendelkezik (demokratikus, pénzéhes, a globális kereskedelem fontosabb neki, mint az ideák, gondolkodásmódja világosan elkülönül tehát a korabeli európai zömtől*) – szinte már személynek, nem is városnak tekintjük őt. A drámai gépezet pedig úgy működik, hogy okot okozat követ**, és az események íve fontosabb, mint hogy minden adatot megjelenítsünk. És ebben lehet megragadni a kötet effektíve gyenge pontját: a szerző ugyanis felemelkedés és hanyatlás eposzi léptékű krónikáját alkotja meg az én legnagyobb örömömre, de ezen cél érdekében lefarag mindent, ami ezt az ívet elcsúfítaná. Ő Velence porba hullásának zárómomentumaként az 1500-as évek elejét jelöli meg, mert így kerek a sztori – hogy hetven évvel később volt egy Lepantó, ahol a velenceiek masszív résztvevői voltak a török flotta tönkrezúzásának, ebbe a freskóba már nem fér bele. Mint ahogy nem fér bele a könyvbe az sem, ami a szárazföldön történt – Crowley-t a mediterráneum érdekli, a tengeri csaták szerelmese, a talpasok csatározásai úgy fest, nem izgatják fel***. (Az már csak az én heppem, hogy érzésem szerint Crowley indokolatlanul használja a „nacionalizmus” szót a térség Velence-ellenes mozgalmaival kapcsolatban – de ebbe ne is menjünk bele.)
De elvenni nem akarom senkinek kedvét a könyvtől, mert még ezekkel a hibákkal is káprázatos olvasmány volt: lendületes történet a kapzsiság bűneiről, melyek végül elnyerik zsoldjukat. Csak a mérce magas. De addig jó, amíg nem kell lentebb rakni.
* Itt valóban tetten érhető némi párhuzam a Brit Birodalommal.
** Jellemző, hogy Konstantinápoly felprédálását is mintha úgy interpretálná Crowley, mint kozmikus bűnt, ami nem csak Velence felemelkedését tette lehetővé, de az oszmánokét is – akik aztán, jó háromszáz évvel később, el is hozták az ítéletet a múltbéli bűnökért.
*** Mondjuk erre a hiányosságra gyógyír, hogy a Park Kiadó (jó szokása szerint) ismét egy alapos tanulmányt illesztett a szöveg végére, nem kisebb történész, mint B. Szabó János tollából, aki szépen kiegészíti a kötetet a maga esszéjével a magyar-velencei konfliktusról.
A Kalmárköztársaság Velence históriája – de ne számítsunk lineáris aprómunkára, ami ától cettig végigveszi egy városállam történetét. Crowley három gócpontot emel ki: 1.) a negyedik keresztes háborút, amelyben Velence álnok módon elintézte, hogy a keresztesek a Szentföld helyett Zárában, aztán pedig Konstantinápolyban kössenek ki, és ha már ott vannak, a két szép szemükért (meg az aranydukátokért) Velence nagyobb dicsőségére prédálják is fel őket, ezzel megteremtve azt a hatalmi űrt, amibe aztán a kalmárköztársaság beslisszolhatott 2.) a velenceiek Genovával vívott váltakozó, de mindig kíméletlen csatározásait, amelyek végtére is lehetővé tették, hogy a városállam önmagát tekinthesse a Földközi-tenger urának 3.) az oszmánok megizmosodását, amely birodalom végül is bevitte a mélyütést szegény kereskedőknek, elindítva őket a lejtőn. A szerző szokásos stratégiája ebből jól kirajzolódik: Crowley ugyanis egy drámai gépezet felépítésében érdekelt, amiben a főszereplő (jelesül: Velence) sajátos tulajdonságokkal rendelkezik (demokratikus, pénzéhes, a globális kereskedelem fontosabb neki, mint az ideák, gondolkodásmódja világosan elkülönül tehát a korabeli európai zömtől*) – szinte már személynek, nem is városnak tekintjük őt. A drámai gépezet pedig úgy működik, hogy okot okozat követ**, és az események íve fontosabb, mint hogy minden adatot megjelenítsünk. És ebben lehet megragadni a kötet effektíve gyenge pontját: a szerző ugyanis felemelkedés és hanyatlás eposzi léptékű krónikáját alkotja meg az én legnagyobb örömömre, de ezen cél érdekében lefarag mindent, ami ezt az ívet elcsúfítaná. Ő Velence porba hullásának zárómomentumaként az 1500-as évek elejét jelöli meg, mert így kerek a sztori – hogy hetven évvel később volt egy Lepantó, ahol a velenceiek masszív résztvevői voltak a török flotta tönkrezúzásának, ebbe a freskóba már nem fér bele. Mint ahogy nem fér bele a könyvbe az sem, ami a szárazföldön történt – Crowley-t a mediterráneum érdekli, a tengeri csaták szerelmese, a talpasok csatározásai úgy fest, nem izgatják fel***. (Az már csak az én heppem, hogy érzésem szerint Crowley indokolatlanul használja a „nacionalizmus” szót a térség Velence-ellenes mozgalmaival kapcsolatban – de ebbe ne is menjünk bele.)
De elvenni nem akarom senkinek kedvét a könyvtől, mert még ezekkel a hibákkal is káprázatos olvasmány volt: lendületes történet a kapzsiság bűneiről, melyek végül elnyerik zsoldjukat. Csak a mérce magas. De addig jó, amíg nem kell lentebb rakni.
* Itt valóban tetten érhető némi párhuzam a Brit Birodalommal.
** Jellemző, hogy Konstantinápoly felprédálását is mintha úgy interpretálná Crowley, mint kozmikus bűnt, ami nem csak Velence felemelkedését tette lehetővé, de az oszmánokét is – akik aztán, jó háromszáz évvel később, el is hozták az ítéletet a múltbéli bűnökért.
*** Mondjuk erre a hiányosságra gyógyír, hogy a Park Kiadó (jó szokása szerint) ismét egy alapos tanulmányt illesztett a szöveg végére, nem kisebb történész, mint B. Szabó János tollából, aki szépen kiegészíti a kötetet a maga esszéjével a magyar-velencei konfliktusról.
September 4, 2018
Excellent tale of Venice – concentrating on its maritime empire. The book starts with the Fourth Crusade and how Venice first of all diverted the crusade to clearing the Dalmatian coast and so gaining mastery of the Adriatic and then profited greatly from the division of the spoils from the sack of Constantinople where it used its existing maritime and commercial knowledge to ensure it took control of key ports and waterways (while eschewing the land based pseudo-kingdoms that its rivals established) and started the construction of a maritime based empire. The book then goes through the change in focus of the empire to the Black Sea caused by the Pope cutting down on trade that was aiding Muslim advances (and leading tot eh sack of the Crusader states) and a Byzantine Empire weakened and no longer reserving this trade for itself. The book then covers the fight near to the death with Genoa (which lengthy war effectively killed off any chance of a Crusader and enabled the Ottoman threat to grow). After that period Venice entered something of a golden period and Crowley devotes some chapters to the organisation of the empire, of trade and of maritime affairs and to showing how Venice was uniquely focused on commerce and profit with no division of aristocratic, political, legal and trading classes. The finishing chapters cover the Ottoman threat and eventual series of defeats leaving Venice’s naval power largely gone – Crowley clearly subscribes to a view that a greater focus of Venice and its aristocracy on wealth and land holdings were ultimate causes of its defeat. However the books end is when the Portuguese discover a sea route to the Indies so destroying much of the case for Mediterranean sea power and trading access to the Levant and Egypt. The very last pages of the book divert into speculation that as well as setting up trade routes Venice gradually began to import raw materials to the West changing the balance of payments and contributing the rise of the West over the East.
November 17, 2011
I loved the subject matter of the book. I am glad to have read it. But it was not an enjoyable read. Something about the order bothered me. It seems that he was going chronologically, ( he was) but all of a sudden he would go back and forth. I have read many history books in my life, and studied history, but something about his back and forth lost me. It felt disjointed.
It was however a book based on original sources and I appreciated the effort and the information, it was just not fun, and usually history is fun for me.
It was however a book based on original sources and I appreciated the effort and the information, it was just not fun, and usually history is fun for me.
March 14, 2012
Roger Crowley's Empire of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World was one of my top ten reads in 2011. His latest book, City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire provides the prelude to the events described so well in Empire of the Sea. In telling the story of Venice's rise from backwards lagoon to the dominant commercial martime empire in the 1400s he tells the story of the Mediterranean and all of the powers which contested for dominance.
Crowley's relation of the Fourth Crusade, which in 1201 was intended to proceed to the liberation of Jerusalem, is astonishing. The Crusaders essentially travelled on ships rented from the Venetians as they were the only power capable of providing the quality and quantity of shipping necessary for the journey. Although the Venetians constructed enough ships to carry a crusader army of more than 30,000 men, only 12,000 men showed up in Venice, the others travelling from other ports. As the Venetians had halted much of their commercial trade to build and crew the fleet they were now short of money. The Venetians demanded that the crusaders who had shown up in Venice pay the entire amounf owing. Some knights reduced themselves to poverty in an effort to pay. The Venetians then had an idea. Why not do some looting on the way to Jerusalem? Despite admonitions from the pope to not make war on Christian nations, the Venetians diverted the fleet to lay siege to Zara, a city in nearby Dalmatia, that was now allied with Hungary. After reducing Zara and being excommunicated by thr Pope (a fact the Venetian command neglected to pass on to their passengers) they putatively set sail for the Holy Land, There was just one more stop to make. Before anyone quite understood how the fleet was now besieging Constantinople. On April 13, 1204 the Crusaders succeeded in breeching the walls and sacking Constantinople. None of the Crusaders ever made it to the Holy Land but the stage was set for the final schism between the eastern and western wings of Christianity.
Despite this lamentable behavior, the story of the sack of the city was indescribably brutal, the tale of the Venetians and their commercial republic is fascinating. Unlike any other city in Europe there was no feudalism, no king, and because it was a lagoon there were no big landed estates. Crowley shows us how Venice dominated trade in the Mediterranean for more than 250 years. The enterprise only collapsed when the Portuguese and other west Europeans began sailing around the horn of Africa and eliminating the need for the Venetian middlemen. City of Fortune and Empire of the Sea are both great histories. Crowley's style is energetic and much of the book has a velocity more common to a fictional thriller. I'd recommend reading City of Fortune first and following that with Empire of the Sea. Through both books is the thread of the simmering and then open conflict with Islam that was to dominate the western world for so many centuries.
Crowley's relation of the Fourth Crusade, which in 1201 was intended to proceed to the liberation of Jerusalem, is astonishing. The Crusaders essentially travelled on ships rented from the Venetians as they were the only power capable of providing the quality and quantity of shipping necessary for the journey. Although the Venetians constructed enough ships to carry a crusader army of more than 30,000 men, only 12,000 men showed up in Venice, the others travelling from other ports. As the Venetians had halted much of their commercial trade to build and crew the fleet they were now short of money. The Venetians demanded that the crusaders who had shown up in Venice pay the entire amounf owing. Some knights reduced themselves to poverty in an effort to pay. The Venetians then had an idea. Why not do some looting on the way to Jerusalem? Despite admonitions from the pope to not make war on Christian nations, the Venetians diverted the fleet to lay siege to Zara, a city in nearby Dalmatia, that was now allied with Hungary. After reducing Zara and being excommunicated by thr Pope (a fact the Venetian command neglected to pass on to their passengers) they putatively set sail for the Holy Land, There was just one more stop to make. Before anyone quite understood how the fleet was now besieging Constantinople. On April 13, 1204 the Crusaders succeeded in breeching the walls and sacking Constantinople. None of the Crusaders ever made it to the Holy Land but the stage was set for the final schism between the eastern and western wings of Christianity.
Despite this lamentable behavior, the story of the sack of the city was indescribably brutal, the tale of the Venetians and their commercial republic is fascinating. Unlike any other city in Europe there was no feudalism, no king, and because it was a lagoon there were no big landed estates. Crowley shows us how Venice dominated trade in the Mediterranean for more than 250 years. The enterprise only collapsed when the Portuguese and other west Europeans began sailing around the horn of Africa and eliminating the need for the Venetian middlemen. City of Fortune and Empire of the Sea are both great histories. Crowley's style is energetic and much of the book has a velocity more common to a fictional thriller. I'd recommend reading City of Fortune first and following that with Empire of the Sea. Through both books is the thread of the simmering and then open conflict with Islam that was to dominate the western world for so many centuries.
January 14, 2022
Well.
I visited Venice a number of years ago, and was entranced by it. I often wondered how it stayed so "classical" - how did it retain so many of the medieval buildings so many centuries later...
Because it became obsolete and a backwater no one wanted to invest in...
This is the story of how this impossible city - with no land, no agriculture, and no way of supporting its population - became the richest and most important city in europe... and then fell to nothing.
This is a city and culture that was unapologetically capitalist. The entire state was run like a huge financial enterprise, it's government was composed of the richest merchants, and everything was run to optimise their profit. They trader with everyone (even when threatened by excommunication for trading with muslims), they "hijacked" a crusade to raid their commercial competitors and supported foreign rulers who gave them trade agreements.
It almost feels like a cautionary tale - although who in today's world should take the most notice I am not sure (everyone?)
Not quite as enjoyable as Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire as this book covers a longer time period, and there are more diverse personalities the author tries to follow. But still very engrossing.
I visited Venice a number of years ago, and was entranced by it. I often wondered how it stayed so "classical" - how did it retain so many of the medieval buildings so many centuries later...
Because it became obsolete and a backwater no one wanted to invest in...
This is the story of how this impossible city - with no land, no agriculture, and no way of supporting its population - became the richest and most important city in europe... and then fell to nothing.
This is a city and culture that was unapologetically capitalist. The entire state was run like a huge financial enterprise, it's government was composed of the richest merchants, and everything was run to optimise their profit. They trader with everyone (even when threatened by excommunication for trading with muslims), they "hijacked" a crusade to raid their commercial competitors and supported foreign rulers who gave them trade agreements.
It almost feels like a cautionary tale - although who in today's world should take the most notice I am not sure (everyone?)
Not quite as enjoyable as Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire as this book covers a longer time period, and there are more diverse personalities the author tries to follow. But still very engrossing.
September 9, 2013
If you are thinking of reading this, be forewarned: this is strictly a military history of Venice. If you like battles described in play-by-play detail with all of the gory details (and there was a lot of gore), then this book is for you. Otherwise, there is relatively little time spent on art, architecture and social evolution. More ink is spilled describing battles at Constantinople then on Venice itself. Venice is mostly mentioned as the source of orders for military leaders at the distant battle sites.
I was most disappointed with the 'decline' section of the book. The author details the incompetence of Venetian leaders at this time without really discussing why this occurred. What was going on, socially, back in Venice that produced this lot of indecisive leaders? What had changed?
I was most disappointed with the 'decline' section of the book. The author details the incompetence of Venetian leaders at this time without really discussing why this occurred. What was going on, socially, back in Venice that produced this lot of indecisive leaders? What had changed?
October 1, 2014
You have to give Roger Crowley his due: he is a great writer of narrative history. City of Fortune details Venice's golden age from 1200-1500, when the city-state ruled the seas in the the eastern Mediterranean and was powerful enough to conquer the Byzantines. With multiple European nations' armies participating in the Fourth Crusade, and with Venice providing the transport and the navy, the Crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204. With the loot, the territories and the trading rights that the crushing of the Byzantines brought to Venice, the Venetian empire was on its way. Venice was essentially a commercial empire, which acquired ports and islands all over the the Adriatic, the Aegean, the Black Sea and stretching all the way to Cyprus and the Mediterranean coast of the Middle East. But they were not interested in acquiring a land empire. They never cared to rule the hinterland of Greece or Croatia or Albania or Syria -- they just wanted the coastal ports where they could trade and provision their ships. They were a great naval power, the most powerful one of their age in the entire Mediterranean, but for them military spending on fortresses and warships was just a cost of doing business. As an imperial power, their model was more like that of the Dutch (we just want to make money as global traders) and less like that of the British (we want to claim as much of the planet as we can in order to be self-sufficient in our empire on which the sun never sets).
Crowley focuses by far the greater part of his narrative on goings-on outside of Venice itself. He talks about events throughout their far-flung outposts and the seas over which they sailed, but the institutions and politics of the city itself are for the most part just backdrop. The reader gets a lot of commercial history -- trade routes, commercial practices, goods traded, commercial rivalries with other trading nations -- and even more military history -- lots and lots of naval battles and sieges of coastal fortresses -- but not so much about the political institutions that made Venice such an almost unique republic in its age.
As to why Venice eventually waned as a great power, that is as interesting as why the city rose in the first place. Two primary factors led to Venice's decline. First, the Ottoman Empire conquered the remnants of the Byzantine Empire (primarily Constantinople itself) in 1453 and then proceeded to conquer most of the lands surrounding the eastern Mediterranean, from the Middle East to almost the gates of Venice itself, and in the process took away the city's trading ports and its access to markets. Second, the Portuguese (and in short order the Dutch and British as well) pioneered new sea routes to the Orient and took over the trade in luxury goods, particularly spices, that had filled Venice's coffers for centuries. By the beginning of the 1500's, Venice's sun was setting, even though it endured as an independent state until 1797, when Napoleon's armies put an end to it.
I enjoyed the book very much and finished it within a day. Although not the primary focus of the book, it was fascinating to learn why it was that Venice was a republic with strong rule of law and a set of quasi-democratic (for the hereditary elite if not for the common people) institutions. Sometimes, it's a good thing to be an island state with very little land but lots of trading acumen and a very large fleet, for both war and trade. It spares you all the drawbacks of a landed aristocracy with standing armies always at hand to put down unruly peasants and merchants alike. Instead, you get something that begins to look like the modern world: strong political institutions, well-defined rules, and a focus on making money through trade instead of accumulating land to make money through grinding down the peasants. It's a great read.
Crowley focuses by far the greater part of his narrative on goings-on outside of Venice itself. He talks about events throughout their far-flung outposts and the seas over which they sailed, but the institutions and politics of the city itself are for the most part just backdrop. The reader gets a lot of commercial history -- trade routes, commercial practices, goods traded, commercial rivalries with other trading nations -- and even more military history -- lots and lots of naval battles and sieges of coastal fortresses -- but not so much about the political institutions that made Venice such an almost unique republic in its age.
As to why Venice eventually waned as a great power, that is as interesting as why the city rose in the first place. Two primary factors led to Venice's decline. First, the Ottoman Empire conquered the remnants of the Byzantine Empire (primarily Constantinople itself) in 1453 and then proceeded to conquer most of the lands surrounding the eastern Mediterranean, from the Middle East to almost the gates of Venice itself, and in the process took away the city's trading ports and its access to markets. Second, the Portuguese (and in short order the Dutch and British as well) pioneered new sea routes to the Orient and took over the trade in luxury goods, particularly spices, that had filled Venice's coffers for centuries. By the beginning of the 1500's, Venice's sun was setting, even though it endured as an independent state until 1797, when Napoleon's armies put an end to it.
I enjoyed the book very much and finished it within a day. Although not the primary focus of the book, it was fascinating to learn why it was that Venice was a republic with strong rule of law and a set of quasi-democratic (for the hereditary elite if not for the common people) institutions. Sometimes, it's a good thing to be an island state with very little land but lots of trading acumen and a very large fleet, for both war and trade. It spares you all the drawbacks of a landed aristocracy with standing armies always at hand to put down unruly peasants and merchants alike. Instead, you get something that begins to look like the modern world: strong political institutions, well-defined rules, and a focus on making money through trade instead of accumulating land to make money through grinding down the peasants. It's a great read.
September 20, 2017
A difficult book to rate. While the subject matter is fascinating, if you're not inclined towards detailed histories the 425 page blow-by-blow details can become tedious or worth skimming over.
The subject matter is one I was previously ignorant of:
Venice in it's heyday (1200 CE to mid 1400's CE) was the preeminent trading power of Europe, the preeminent maritime power of the Mediterranean, and the preeminent colonizer of the Mediterranean.
Venice built a merchant empire based on the spice trade. Spices went overland from India and China to the Middle East from where the Venetians sailed them back to Venice. In Venice the city traded and bartered them in international trade "fairs" to buyers from across Europe.
As a maritime power, Venice built troop transports and ferried troops for the rest of Europe to the crusades. Or, if it suited Venice, it diverted those crusaders for its own military goals, e.g. Venice rerouted crusaders to sack Constantinople (at that time still the seat of the Eastern Orthodox church) during the fourth crusade.
To support its trading empire, Venice colonized and ruled over many Greek and Mediterranean harbours and islands, including a long harsh rule over Crete.
Spoiler alert: For me one of the most interesting aspects of the story was how Venice lost its power. The current business jargon is to speak of "business disrupters", particularly in the jargon of today's hi-tech industry, as though this was a new concept. Venice's decline is just one of a string of examples of how old the concept of business disruption really is. In Venice's case, the disrupters came from two sources. The Ottaman empire broke their naval power and took away many of their land bases. And, Portugal opened up the direct sea route to India, making the expensive overland spice route obsolete.
So, a great subject, if you have the patience. If long histories and patience are not your strong suit, this book may not be for you.
The subject matter is one I was previously ignorant of:
Venice in it's heyday (1200 CE to mid 1400's CE) was the preeminent trading power of Europe, the preeminent maritime power of the Mediterranean, and the preeminent colonizer of the Mediterranean.
Venice built a merchant empire based on the spice trade. Spices went overland from India and China to the Middle East from where the Venetians sailed them back to Venice. In Venice the city traded and bartered them in international trade "fairs" to buyers from across Europe.
As a maritime power, Venice built troop transports and ferried troops for the rest of Europe to the crusades. Or, if it suited Venice, it diverted those crusaders for its own military goals, e.g. Venice rerouted crusaders to sack Constantinople (at that time still the seat of the Eastern Orthodox church) during the fourth crusade.
To support its trading empire, Venice colonized and ruled over many Greek and Mediterranean harbours and islands, including a long harsh rule over Crete.
Spoiler alert: For me one of the most interesting aspects of the story was how Venice lost its power. The current business jargon is to speak of "business disrupters", particularly in the jargon of today's hi-tech industry, as though this was a new concept. Venice's decline is just one of a string of examples of how old the concept of business disruption really is. In Venice's case, the disrupters came from two sources. The Ottaman empire broke their naval power and took away many of their land bases. And, Portugal opened up the direct sea route to India, making the expensive overland spice route obsolete.
So, a great subject, if you have the patience. If long histories and patience are not your strong suit, this book may not be for you.
June 22, 2024
Not as good as his book on Constantinople. For one thing it does not really start at the beginning. Only later in passing we learn that the city was found in 482. But how did she emerge? Because Venice is already a powerful republic in 1200 when the action starts with the preliminaries to the Fourth Crusade. So Venice had the ships and the crusaders did not have the promised money. So Venice made them attack a christian rival city at the Dalmatian coast. And then they decide to take the City of Constantinople. Instead of going to Cairo as the original plan was.
It may have seemed like a good idea. A former Emperor of Byzantine wanted his empire back with the help of the crusaders and he made a lot of promises. To bring his people to the catholic faith amongst others. The story is rather complicated but in the end the city was sacked by Fellow christians. And the doge of Venice Dondolo at age 95 or so took an active part in it. A remarkable man. In the long run it was a bad move. It left a vacuum that would first end Constantinople 250 years later and would leave the Ottomans the first power in the Mediterranean, although it would still take a few centuries before Venice lost Crete and Cyprus (both gained in the conquest of C.).
We do not learn much about the society except that they had reasonable laws and that they were very greedy. And like pigs (whereas Genoese were like donkeys meaning the Venetians were less individualistic). Republic first. Stato da Mar. The Colonies.
And the story ends in 1500 when they had lost a battle at Lepanto. (Because of an incapable general da Canal who was not even executed afterwards).
Of course there was also Portugal and the route around Africa that had something to do with the downfall.
It may have seemed like a good idea. A former Emperor of Byzantine wanted his empire back with the help of the crusaders and he made a lot of promises. To bring his people to the catholic faith amongst others. The story is rather complicated but in the end the city was sacked by Fellow christians. And the doge of Venice Dondolo at age 95 or so took an active part in it. A remarkable man. In the long run it was a bad move. It left a vacuum that would first end Constantinople 250 years later and would leave the Ottomans the first power in the Mediterranean, although it would still take a few centuries before Venice lost Crete and Cyprus (both gained in the conquest of C.).
We do not learn much about the society except that they had reasonable laws and that they were very greedy. And like pigs (whereas Genoese were like donkeys meaning the Venetians were less individualistic). Republic first. Stato da Mar. The Colonies.
And the story ends in 1500 when they had lost a battle at Lepanto. (Because of an incapable general da Canal who was not even executed afterwards).
Of course there was also Portugal and the route around Africa that had something to do with the downfall.
January 11, 2016
entertaining account of crucial moments from Venice's past and its heyday as a sea power until history (in the guise of the Ottoman Empire dominance of the seacoast and later subjugation of Egypt which under the Mameluke regime was the main commercial partner of Venice after Byzantium lost its Eastern trade and Portuguese voyages to India and the east which opened the Oceanic route for the Atlantic powers) turned against it in the 1500's and it slowly descended into a minor also-ran state by the 1600's, though still flourishing as a playground for the new powerful masters of Europe like the English, French or Austrian nobility
not a comprehensive account but more of a vignette based story featuring colorful characters, naval battles, internal turmoil, diplomacy and spying
part of a "tetralogy" - so far - that also covers the Fall of Constantinople (very good book), the rise of the Portuguese Empire (good though i expected better) and the battle of Lepanto (which surprisingly turned out to be less important than thought at the time - for that see the Noel Malcolm book Agents of Empire as I have not yet read the author's take on it)
popular history as "non-fiction" - fiction that keeps one turning the pages; definitely recommended with the caveat not to expect a "serious, in depth" history
not a comprehensive account but more of a vignette based story featuring colorful characters, naval battles, internal turmoil, diplomacy and spying
part of a "tetralogy" - so far - that also covers the Fall of Constantinople (very good book), the rise of the Portuguese Empire (good though i expected better) and the battle of Lepanto (which surprisingly turned out to be less important than thought at the time - for that see the Noel Malcolm book Agents of Empire as I have not yet read the author's take on it)
popular history as "non-fiction" - fiction that keeps one turning the pages; definitely recommended with the caveat not to expect a "serious, in depth" history
March 6, 2022
I decided to read this book after really enjoying Crowley’s “Conquerors”, a history of the forging of the Portuguese mercantile empire. While interesting this book was definitely more than a bit verbose. Crowley tracks the growth of the Venetian maritime empire between their part in the Latin conquest of Constantinople in the early 13th century and the Venetian losses to the Ottoman empire by the end of the 15th century. While his desire to instill suspense by detailed descriptions of the many battles fought by Venetian forces is understandable, the sum of this style over several hundred pages is more than a bit tiring. He tacitly acknowledges the messy history of Venetian gains and losses by choosing to describe some battles while simply listing the ports gained/lost at other points. I couldn’t help but feel that the book could have been equally useful and a better reading experience if he had avoided detailing any of the battles and simple kept the focus on the discussions of the larger push/pull factors that enabled this small Italian city to carve one of the first mercantile maritime empires.
June 9, 2013
The history of Venice is fascinating, but Crowley seems intent on missing the point. he acknowledges that Venice's real power was in its trade, but rather than focusing on how that developed and grew, growing Venice's power in other areas, he focuses on Venice's great wars—the Fourth Crusade against Constantinople, the rivalry with Genoa and the final, fatal inclusion by the Ottomans. Absolutely missing the point.
February 12, 2019
190212改為kobo繁體版
--
碰上鄂圖曼帝國
歐陸沒有一個國家有辦法
尤其是義大利的城邦共和國
威尼斯硬撐了快一世紀已經很不容易了
但最後還是輸給了土耳其人
這本也沒提多少威尼斯的政治制度
還是只能看海都物語QQ
--
碰上鄂圖曼帝國
歐陸沒有一個國家有辦法
尤其是義大利的城邦共和國
威尼斯硬撐了快一世紀已經很不容易了
但最後還是輸給了土耳其人
這本也沒提多少威尼斯的政治制度
還是只能看海都物語QQ
September 4, 2018
It's not kidding about being a naval history.
July 26, 2019
Roger Crowley and Venice, you can just hear my money flying away from me, but I don't care. I knew after finishing 1453 that I just had to read this man's collected work because I have yet to find a popular history writer who has the level of depth, narrative ability, balanced historical bias, and general concern for the puplic and professional face of History. Plus, I mean, like, it's Venice dude.
City of Fortune did have the same level of Dynamism that 1453 had, but this book is still an amazing introduction to the most serene republic of Venice and history. Taking a wealth of scholarly work and producing a history that feels relevant and dynamic and interesting but Crowley has an ability with words as much as he does with facts and information. This book tells a story about the Republic of Venice and contextualizes it with its time and tries to understand why the leaders and average peoples managed to create a mythos of themselves that last for centuries. Venice is, according to Crowley, the first modern city and he argues it quite effectively
My only real beef with this book is that Crowley's endnotes only apply for his direct quotes and I would have liked to have seen more concern for tracing certain details back to their sources, and his ending feels a bit abrupt.
Still, I loved this book and it's only inspired me to learn more about the Serene Republic. I would offer this book to anyone beginning the history of Venice because it's not only a satisfying and effective introduction, it's an incredible book, and Crowley remains, indefinitely, my man.
City of Fortune did have the same level of Dynamism that 1453 had, but this book is still an amazing introduction to the most serene republic of Venice and history. Taking a wealth of scholarly work and producing a history that feels relevant and dynamic and interesting but Crowley has an ability with words as much as he does with facts and information. This book tells a story about the Republic of Venice and contextualizes it with its time and tries to understand why the leaders and average peoples managed to create a mythos of themselves that last for centuries. Venice is, according to Crowley, the first modern city and he argues it quite effectively
My only real beef with this book is that Crowley's endnotes only apply for his direct quotes and I would have liked to have seen more concern for tracing certain details back to their sources, and his ending feels a bit abrupt.
Still, I loved this book and it's only inspired me to learn more about the Serene Republic. I would offer this book to anyone beginning the history of Venice because it's not only a satisfying and effective introduction, it's an incredible book, and Crowley remains, indefinitely, my man.
April 8, 2022
3.5 stars
Who knew Venice was such a player for much of the last millennium.
Some very brief notes:
flying bridges and shipboard catapults
In 1204 Constantinople and the Byzantine emperor were divided amongst the crusaders and the Venetians made out the most handsomely. Many of the artifacts that they carefully pillaged ended up back home in Saint Mark's Basilica.
For the next several centuries they were the princes of the sea. The Venetians were given most of the Eastern Mediterranean to govern including western Greece and 3/8 of Constantinople. Over the next two centuries the people of Crete would foment no less than 27 revolutions and uprisings against the controlling Venetians.
The Bosporus is the seventeen mile strait that connects the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and Constantinople only existed because of the great fisheries and the strategic value of connecting these two great waterways. In the 13th century the Genoese and Venetians fought over the Bosporus.
In the 14th the Black Death had greatly decimated the civilized world. In 1350 and the 3rd Genoese-Venetian War, the Venetians only had thirty-five ships in Constantinople as opposed to hundreds just a few decades prior.
But for the next several centuries it was the Venetian boat building prowess and mercantilism that kept them at the top of Italy's regions.
Who knew Venice was such a player for much of the last millennium.
Some very brief notes:
flying bridges and shipboard catapults
In 1204 Constantinople and the Byzantine emperor were divided amongst the crusaders and the Venetians made out the most handsomely. Many of the artifacts that they carefully pillaged ended up back home in Saint Mark's Basilica.
For the next several centuries they were the princes of the sea. The Venetians were given most of the Eastern Mediterranean to govern including western Greece and 3/8 of Constantinople. Over the next two centuries the people of Crete would foment no less than 27 revolutions and uprisings against the controlling Venetians.
The Bosporus is the seventeen mile strait that connects the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and Constantinople only existed because of the great fisheries and the strategic value of connecting these two great waterways. In the 13th century the Genoese and Venetians fought over the Bosporus.
In the 14th the Black Death had greatly decimated the civilized world. In 1350 and the 3rd Genoese-Venetian War, the Venetians only had thirty-five ships in Constantinople as opposed to hundreds just a few decades prior.
But for the next several centuries it was the Venetian boat building prowess and mercantilism that kept them at the top of Italy's regions.
March 10, 2025
A confession: I follow Venkatesh Rao's various newsletters and projects. If you're not already familiar with the man, you'll likely find his style of of writing insufferable. I generally do. In fact, if I were to write a re-imagining of Middlemarch set in present-day San Francisco, I would model my modern Causabon's ramblings on Rao's.
But here's the thing: unlike Causabon, I think there's something to Rao's work. I think he's hitting on something important, it's just obscured by his nearly impenetrable neologisms and obscure references. For instance, here's how he describes his Contraptions newsletter, "As the name of the newsletter and the samples suggest, the general idea is to explore our world as a contraption-of-contraptions, with contraptioney mental models, and a contraptioneer sensibility. The sensibility is that of half-assed engineering, but the scope is universal. I talk about contraptions of all sorts, not just technological ones. So you’ll find discussions of political, economic, and philosophical contraptions."
Get it?
Right... so maybe it's worth clicking on a link titled "Contraption Theory" to understand what he means by contraption? There you'll get sentences like, "But perhaps it is more useful to say that contraptions are helicopter-like technologies. Things that from a distance look like helicopters if you squint. At any rate, helicopters are going to be my running example for developing contraption theory. They are the E. coli of contraptions. The theory itself is of course a contraption, like all my theories."
What?
To even begin to understand what he's gesturing at, you'll have to wade through the entire rather long essay. Bleh. Why do I torture myself so? Well, in the face of AI's accelerating development, there's a contemporary return to mid-century cybernetic theory. I have a hunch that cybernetics will be a central guiding philosophy for this new era, and that it's worth understanding in order to prepare for our near-term future. When Rao is talking about contraptions, he is talking about cybernetics, and let's just say hardly anyone is talking about cybernetics in a non-insufferable way (Dan Davies' The Unaccountability Machine may be the exception).
So what does any of this have to do with medieval Venice?
Rao has launched a Contraptions Book Club, exploring "a set of history books selected to explore the thesis that the story of civilization (at least since about 1200 AD) is best understood as a succession of civilization-scale machines," and his first selection was City of Fortune.
Cue comparisons of medieval Venice's maritime empire to the paperclip maximizer. Bla bla bla.
I'm following along, and I'm not sure I gleaned much from this book that's relevant to AI or cybernetics but I did learn a whole hell of a lot about the development of the Mediterranean. For instance, I had no idea that the Balkan port cities were essentially Venetian outposts for centuries, or that Venice more or less controlled Constantinople for a good stretch.
In sum, an odd pathway to a great history text.
But here's the thing: unlike Causabon, I think there's something to Rao's work. I think he's hitting on something important, it's just obscured by his nearly impenetrable neologisms and obscure references. For instance, here's how he describes his Contraptions newsletter, "As the name of the newsletter and the samples suggest, the general idea is to explore our world as a contraption-of-contraptions, with contraptioney mental models, and a contraptioneer sensibility. The sensibility is that of half-assed engineering, but the scope is universal. I talk about contraptions of all sorts, not just technological ones. So you’ll find discussions of political, economic, and philosophical contraptions."
Get it?
Right... so maybe it's worth clicking on a link titled "Contraption Theory" to understand what he means by contraption? There you'll get sentences like, "But perhaps it is more useful to say that contraptions are helicopter-like technologies. Things that from a distance look like helicopters if you squint. At any rate, helicopters are going to be my running example for developing contraption theory. They are the E. coli of contraptions. The theory itself is of course a contraption, like all my theories."
What?
To even begin to understand what he's gesturing at, you'll have to wade through the entire rather long essay. Bleh. Why do I torture myself so? Well, in the face of AI's accelerating development, there's a contemporary return to mid-century cybernetic theory. I have a hunch that cybernetics will be a central guiding philosophy for this new era, and that it's worth understanding in order to prepare for our near-term future. When Rao is talking about contraptions, he is talking about cybernetics, and let's just say hardly anyone is talking about cybernetics in a non-insufferable way (Dan Davies' The Unaccountability Machine may be the exception).
So what does any of this have to do with medieval Venice?
Rao has launched a Contraptions Book Club, exploring "a set of history books selected to explore the thesis that the story of civilization (at least since about 1200 AD) is best understood as a succession of civilization-scale machines," and his first selection was City of Fortune.
Cue comparisons of medieval Venice's maritime empire to the paperclip maximizer. Bla bla bla.
I'm following along, and I'm not sure I gleaned much from this book that's relevant to AI or cybernetics but I did learn a whole hell of a lot about the development of the Mediterranean. For instance, I had no idea that the Balkan port cities were essentially Venetian outposts for centuries, or that Venice more or less controlled Constantinople for a good stretch.
In sum, an odd pathway to a great history text.
March 6, 2020
I think this is by far the best history book that I've read thus far (which probably tells you that I haven't read many). It may be because I found the subject interesting with plenty of battles, colorful characters and a major clash between two great empires - one dying and one just born. I think that Mr. Crowley did a wonderful job at painting a very interesting picture of the Stato da Mar in its period of glory and its decay; he offered military, economical and geopolitical details with explanations as to how they influenced the outcomes and backed them with plenty quotes from historical sources.
.....
I Should make a mention that the book is written mainly from the view-point of the Venetians, so the analysis does not cover much of the historical background of those suppressed by the Venetians or their rival powers, so if you want to find out more about say what had weakened the Byzantine empire and allowed the Latins to conquer so many of its territories, or about how the Ottomans came to raise their empire then you're going to have to cross reference another book.
.....
I Should make a mention that the book is written mainly from the view-point of the Venetians, so the analysis does not cover much of the historical background of those suppressed by the Venetians or their rival powers, so if you want to find out more about say what had weakened the Byzantine empire and allowed the Latins to conquer so many of its territories, or about how the Ottomans came to raise their empire then you're going to have to cross reference another book.
June 6, 2021
I've always been interested in Venetian settings, mostly because I enjoy twisty politics, and Italian city-states, and Venice in particular, are great for that sort of thing. But I'm pretty sure I added this one to my TBR after getting a glimpse of the oddities of Venice in Virgins of Venice: Broken Vows and Cloistered Lives in the Renaissance Convent and wanting to see more beyond the cloister wall (somewhat in keeping with the theme of that book). I'm so glad I did, because I hadn't realised just how odd Venice was in a feudal/medieval-Europe sense. Not feudal at all, for starters, and far more a commune and a trading concern than a traditional imperial power (and yet, acting in similar ways). In any case, this was fascinating, and full of both broad views of sweeping systems, and individual bits of stirring and heartbreaking action.
It was also great fun to play "spot the inspiration points", for KJ Parker, and for Terry Pratchett (Ankh-Morpork is very Venetian, even though it's not actually at all what people would usually use the descriptor "Venetian" to denote), and I was so busy with those points that I turned a page and ran straight into an entire Guy Gavriel Kay plot, and then spent a long time laughing at myself.
It was also great fun to play "spot the inspiration points", for KJ Parker, and for Terry Pratchett (Ankh-Morpork is very Venetian, even though it's not actually at all what people would usually use the descriptor "Venetian" to denote), and I was so busy with those points that I turned a page and ran straight into an entire Guy Gavriel Kay plot, and then spent a long time laughing at myself.
June 25, 2025
A lot of historical books find themselves limited by the historian’s passion, their desire to recount every vivid detail they love that helps the time period come to life. A common weakness of historical writing is obsession with the mundane. This book is different.
Crowley’s “City of Fortune” paints the history of the Republic of Venice through a series of vignettes, with minutiae of what made Venetian life distinct/interesting and Venetian character imposing spread artfully through anecdotes and journal entries. It is tastefully recounted, well paced, and quite poetic. A really great read.
Crowley’s “City of Fortune” paints the history of the Republic of Venice through a series of vignettes, with minutiae of what made Venetian life distinct/interesting and Venetian character imposing spread artfully through anecdotes and journal entries. It is tastefully recounted, well paced, and quite poetic. A really great read.
April 19, 2020
I learned a lot about events I had been mainly unfamiliar with. Venice kept itself comparatively cut off from the politics of Italy and the rest of Europe, where my reading tends to focus. CITY OF FORTUNE opens the door to the Middle East. Venice's trade with the expanding nations of Islam made Venice a center of European wealth for centuries, until Portugal found the way around Africa and cut out the many middlemen of the luxury trade. After that Venice became a backwater of European trade, but survived in decline until its conquest by Napoleon. Crowley explores other factors in Venice's rise and fall, such as the evolving political attitudes of the city.
January 31, 2022
When I visited Venice, my first thought was, "Who the devil thought this would be a good place to build a city?" After reading this, my perception of Venice as the most unlikely of cities is reinforced.
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