Men of Empire: Power and Negotiation in Venice's Maritime State

The city—state of Venice, with a population of less than 100,000, dominated a fragmented and fragile empire at the boundary between East and West, between Latin Christian, Greek Orthodox, and Muslim worlds. In this institutional and administrative history, Monique O’Connell explains the structures, processes, practices, and laws by which Venice maintained its vast overseas holdings.

The legal, linguistic, religious, and cultural diversity within Venice’s empire made it difficult to impose an...