Lesson 20 -- 2024-12-05

Late medieval enemies: the Genoese and the da Carrara signori of Padua. The war of Chioggia (1378-81) and the final defeat of the Genoese. Unrest on the Italian mainland: war among the signorìe to enlarge their boundaries; short-term alliances; ambitions to incorporate the Venetian territory by the Paduan, Veronese, Milanese, Holy Roman Empire, the patriarch of Aquileia (a major feudal lord of the Empire) and even the king of Hungary. Spontaneous deditions of minor communities, who by international treaty give their iurisdictio into the hands of the Venetians, in exchange for maintaining their institutions and legal systems and negotiated privileges under the supervision of a Venetian rector. Debate in the Major Council whether to keep the original metropolitan territory and concentrate on trade speculation, or acquire buffer dominions on the mainland to ensure control of land routes for trade. Expansion in Lombardy to the West to the river Adda (1405-1454) and to the North-East in Friuli (1420).