Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Refugees on the Lagoon: The Origins of Venice 9
2 St. Mark's Rest: The Birth of the City of Venice, 697-836 28
3 Coming of Age: Independence, Expansion, and Power, 836-1094 47
4 A Merchant Republic in a Feudal Age: Ecclesiastical and Political Reform, 1095-1172 68
5 Between Empires: The Peace of Venice, 1172-1200 94
6 Birth of a Maritime Empire: Venice and the Fourth Crusade 114
7 Marco Polo's Venice: Prosperity, Power, and Piety in the Thirteenth Century 151
8 The Discovery of the West: War, Wealth, and Reform in the Early Fourteenth Century 173
9 Plague and Treason in the Fourteenth Century 194
10 From Victory to Victory: The War of Chioggia and the Birth of the Mainland Empire 212
11 Death of a Parent: The Fall of Constantinople and the Rise of the Ottoman Turks 237
12 Sowing and Reaping: Medieval Venice and the Birth of Modern Finance 259
13 The Perils of Success: The Apogee of the Venetian Empire 280
14 Most Splendid and Serene: Venice and the Renaissance 302
15 For God and St. Mark: The Wars Against the Turks 323
16 Marks, Opera, and Love: Venice the Tourist Destination 340
17 A Medieval Republic in the Modern World: The United States, France, and the Fall of Venice 354
18 A Crisis of Identity: Venice in the Nineteenth Century 372
19 War, Water, and Tourists: Venice in the Twentieth Century and Beyond 398
Further Reading 429
Index 435
