Commercial Supremacy, Power, and the Machinery of Control

The Bajamonte Conspiracy · The Council of the Ten · The Prisons

“O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea,
which art a merchant of the people for many isles…
thou hast said: I am of perfect beauty.”
— Ezekiel

The Dawn of the Oligarchy

The fourteenth century marks the true beginning of Venice’s oligarchic age.
By then, the Republic had secured peace with the only maritime rival capable of challenging her supremacy. She had not yet entangled herself in the costly ambitions of continental conquest, and the distant advance of the Turks had not begun to echo through the lagoons.

Venice stood at the centre of the known world’s commerce.

The wealth of the Indies and the Far East flowed uninterrupted through her markets. Her merchants laid distant continents under contribution, transforming the city into the great commercial artery of medieval civilization.

The Empire of Trade

Through the ports of Syria and Alexandria arrived the riches of the East:

• Cloves, nutmeg, mace, and ebony from the Moluccas
• Sandalwood from Timor
• Camphor from Borneo
• Benzoin from Sumatra and Java
• Aloes-wood from Cochin China
• Silks, spices, perfumes, and curiosities from China, Japan, and Siam
• Rubies from Pegu
• Fine fabrics from Coromandel
• Rich textiles from Bengal
• Spikenard from Nepal and Bhutan
• Diamonds from Golconda
• Damascus steel from Nirmul
• Pearls, sapphires, topazes, and cinnamon from Ceylon
• Pepper and ginger from Malabar
• Brocades, agates, and jewelry from Cambay
• Shawls, carved vessels, and arms from Kashmir
• Musk from Tibet
• Galbanum from Khorasan
• Assafoetida from Afghanistan
• Ambergris, civet, and ivory from Zanzibar
• Myrrh, balsam, and frankincense from the Horn of Africa

The mere recital of this catalogue reads like poetry, filling the imagination with visions of Oriental splendour.

The State as Merchant

Each year, six great trading fleets — averaging nearly five hundred vessels each — sailed from Venice:

• To the Black Sea
• To Greece and Constantinople
• To the ports of Syria and Egypt
• To Barbary and North Africa
• To Flanders and England

These ships were state property.

A public crier announced when the galleasses were ready, and they were leased to the highest bidders — merchants required to prove both their capital and competence. In return, each vessel was obliged to carry eight young nobles, trained in naval science and commerce, ensuring that power and trade remained firmly in patrician hands.

The ships were built on standardized models, easily convertible into warships. Every man aboard — sailor or passenger — bore arms and was required to fight if attacked.

Even comfort was regulated:
food supplies were carefully planned, load limits strictly enforced, and each ship carried a band of music.

Discipline, Control, and the Naval State

A single Syrian or Egyptian galleass could carry cargo worth two hundred thousand ducats. By the fifteenth century, Venice commanded:

• Over 3,300 ships
• 36,000 seamen
• 16,000 shipwrights

Venetian consuls abroad inspected weights, measures, and merchandise quality. Corruption was punished brutally — a venal consul was branded on the forehead.

At home, the same discipline prevailed. In 1550, English woollen goods were publicly displayed in St Mark’s Palace, branded by the Senate as proof of English fraud and declining commercial integrity.

When Turkish piracy increased, armed escort vessels were created. Thus emerged a state navy, manned largely by slaves and convicts forced to the oars.

Human Cost of Maritime Power

In 1556, a group of Lutherans convicted of heresy were marched toward the Venetian galleys. Sixty of them were rescued by the people of Maastricht; their guards were stoned.

Earlier, Slavic labourers had been used for the same brutal service. Those who rowed the Flanders and England routes were granted a burial vault in North Stoneham Church, near Southampton — a silent testament to lives consumed by empire.

War, Service, and Obedience

In times of war, every able-bodied man was liable for naval service. The population was divided into groups of twelve, and lots were drawn. Those unfit paid fines or provided substitutes.

Seamen received bread rations and wages from both the State and their fellow citizens. Discipline was absolute.

Gambling and swearing were punished by flogging.
Seamen were said to obey their commanders “as sheep obey their shepherd.”

The Spectacle of Power

When departure day arrived, the scene was unforgettable.

Trumpeters announced the arrival of the Commander. Silence fell as he inspected every oar, every weapon, every man. At the signal, oars struck the water in perfect unison — or sails were raised with astonishing speed if the wind allowed.

The city celebrated:

• Ships painted white and vermilion
• Striped sails
• Gilded poops
• Sculpted figureheads
• Senators in scarlet robes
• Venetian ladies adorned in splendour
• Gondolas filling the lagoon

Only one sight surpassed this: the return of a victorious fleet, enemy banners trailing behind it through the waters of Venice.

The Turn Toward Territorial Power

Under Doge Gradenigo, Venice showed the first signs of mainland ambition.

Earlier conflicts had been limited — with Padua over river control, with Ferrara over trade rights. But in 1308, Venice intervened in a succession dispute in Ferrara and came into direct conflict with the Pope.

The papal response was devastating.

Venice was excommunicated.
Trade was forbidden.
Treaties were annulled.
Clergy were ordered to leave.

Banks, factories, and ships were attacked across Europe and even in Asia. Religious and civic life faltered.

Yet the Republic did not yield.

On the very day the interdict arrived, Venice ordered its governor in Ferrara to fortify his position and defend the honour of the State.

Submission Without Surrender

Eventually, disease weakened the Venetian garrison. The fleet was destroyed. Internal unrest forced negotiation.

Venice conceded Ferrara as a papal fief and paid an indemnity to restore its commercial privileges.

The lesson was clear:

Venice could bend —
but she would never break.

The oligarchy had learned how to survive.