Giovanni Soranzo

Giovanni Soranzo (* 1240, † December 31, 1328 ) was the 51st Doge of Venice. His reign from 1312 to 1328 was for the Republic a time of peace and economic recovery.

Family

The Soranzo family that originally came from Burano, one of the oldest aristocratic families of Venice. Although Soranzo was the only Doge. From the family, however, a number of procurators were born.

Life

Before his Dogenamt was Soranzo admiral and general in the War of Ferrara against the Genoese and the Paduan, and he defeated the Genoese at the Battle of Caffa on the Black Sea. He supported the Doge Pietro Gradenigo in suppressing unrest in Venice in the wake of the closing of the Great Council ( serrata ) of 1296th

Soranzo was married to Francesca Molin. The couple had three sons and three daughters.

The Dogenamt

Soranzo was elected Doge at the age of 72 years on 13 July 1312. During his reign finally came to a lifting of the interdict of 1308 by the Pope, to which his predecessors had been tried in vain. The uprising in Zara in Dalmatia came to a standstill and even the island of Crete recognized the Venetian supremacy, as well as a number of towns on the Adriatic, which the example Zara joined more or less voluntarily. There followed a period of peace for Venice with the possibility of expansion of trade and the establishment of new trade routes in the Mediterranean, which was disturbed only by the usual skirmishes with the eternal rivals Genoa.

Even Venice's economy and crafts boomed, to which contributed significantly immigrated from Lucca silk weavers. In August 1321, shortly before his death, Dante visited as an ambassador of Guido Novello da Polenta, the city and was honorably received.

In contrast to his administration, there were more problems in his private life. The dogaressa sat constantly on the promissio, the strict laws to which a doge had to commit when he took office to time. His daughter had married Niccolò Querini, surnamed zoppo ( the Hinkfuß ), who had been one of the conspirators in the coup attempt of Baiamonte Tiepolo of 1310. She had been condemned by the Council of Ten, Querini follow into exile, but returned anyway back to Venice. She was then held with only one maid in solitary confinement at the Hospice of Santa Maria delle Vergini. She stayed until the end of her state prisoners if they also allowed in his last months of life occasionally visit the ailing Doge.

Soranzo died on 31 December 1328. He was buried in the Baptistery of San Marco.