Pietro Ziani

Pietro Ziani ( * ca 1153/1155, † March 14, 1229 ), the son Sebastiano Zianis, was from 1205 to 1229 the 42nd Doge of Venice.

Family

Pietro Ziani was born into a Venetian family which presented two Doges in a short time, Pietro himself and his father Sebastiano. After a gradual social and economic rise since the second half of the 11th century, the family came to political importance only in the 12th and 13th centuries. She lived in the parish of S. Giustina and was of a very large, almost fabulous wealth. Last important representative was the late young Marco, the son of the Doge Pietro. After his death in 1254 there were only insignificant side lines of the family. The Venetian opera composers of the late 17th century, Pietro Andrea Ziani ( 1616-1684 ) and Marc Antonio Ziani ( 1653-1715 ) have nothing to do with the noble Dogenfamilie. Not to be confused with the family Ziani are the families Zeno or Geno and Zane, both also Venetian noble families.

Life

Pietro was probably the elder son of Sebastiano Ziani and his wife Froyza; his siblings were James and Mabiliota. Pietro led, together with his brother since 1173 his father's business. In 1177, they broke up their Economic Community, and every -serviced henceforth alone. Pietro Ziani married his first wife Mary (probably from the family Basilio / Baseggio ), who died about 1221 or shortly before. The marriage remained childless. His second wife was married around 1221 Constance, daughter of King Tancred of Sicily. From the marriage of the son Marco and the daughters marchioness come, nee Badoer, and Mary.

Pietro Ziani was considered the most Venetians of his time. He had inherited his fortune in large part by his father Sebastiano, who had acquired it, especially in the long-distance trade (see Economic History of Venice ). Also Pietro was in long-distance trade operates, decreed sideline, with hand over land in the city center of Venice ( tenements ), on the islands of the Venetian lagoon ( salt marshes, vineyards ) and the mainland ( farms, mills).

In September 1228 he made ​​his will in which he gave nearly a hundred Venetian churches, monasteries and hospitals, as well as numerous relatives and friends. Principal heir was his underage son Marco. In February 1229 the Doge to have abdicated. On March 14, 1229 he passed away. He was buried in the church of the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in the coffin of his father.

Political career

First political and diplomatic experience gained Pietro Ziani in advance of the Peace of Venice of 1177 between Pope Alexander III. and Emperor Frederick I ( Barbarossa ) was closed in Venice: He received together with his brother Giacomo the Pope in St. Nicholas Monastery on the Lido and escorted him into the city.

This was followed by a variety of political offices and diplomatic missions: in 1184 he was the ambassador to the Doge Orio Mastropiero in Constantinople Opel, 1184-1197 Vogt of the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. He was iudex, that senior officials of the city and a political adviser to the Doge, in different years 1186-1203, since 1190 Graf of Rab ( Italian Arbe ), under the Venetian domination island off the Dalmatian coast. In 1192 he was part of the electoral college, the Doge Enrico Dandolo chose to, 1201, he was podestà of the neighboring city of Padua and in 1205 a member of the Small Council.

On August 5, 1205 Pietro Ziani was elected Doge, replacing Enrico Dandolos, under whose significant involvement Crusader cities Zara and Constantinople Opel conquered during the Fourth Crusade. Pietro Ziani made ​​supposedly the bold proposal to relocate Venice to Constantinople Opel, since its location was strategically much more favorable than that of the country and equally threatened by sea lagoon city. The Grand Council of Venice rejected the proposal allegedly from with just one vote.

During his tenure, he managed largely successfully the problems that brought the victorious Venice outcome of the Fourth Crusade with itself: the creation and expansion of the Venetian colonial empire in the Levant, fighting against the rival Genoa and Pisa, as well as against the Byzantine Empire of Nicaea to the control of trade in the Aegean and the Black Sea.

1224, the first Venetian Water Authority was established under Ziani, which passed into the Collegio delle solenne acque after 1500. Their task was to indemnify the channels of mud and providing for their navigability. 1226 he took the Franciscan to Venice, and he was the founder of the Hospice San Lazaro for the lepers.