For a few years, all went well. Through a shrewd exploitation of dynastic conflict, the Venetian Signory succeeded in acquiring the long-coveted island of Cyprus.

Upon the death of King John II, Carlotta—his rightful heiress and wife of Louis of Savoy—banished her father’s illegitimate son, James, and took the throne. Yet her reign was short-lived. With the support of the Sultan of Egypt, James raised a revolt within a year, expelled the Queen and her husband, and seized the crown.

Seeking Venetian favor, James proposed an alliance by marriage. He asked the Signory to grant him a bride from a noble Venetian house. Caterina Cornaro, daughter of Marco Cornaro—whose family, alongside two other patrician houses, held much of Cyprus in mortgage—was chosen. She was given a dowry valued at 100,000 ducats.

The betrothal was celebrated with great magnificence. The Doge himself presented a consecrated ring to James’s proxy, the Cypriot ambassador, who placed it upon Caterina’s finger in the name of the King of Cyprus. Caterina was only fourteen years old. After the ceremony, she returned to her family home, while James consolidated his authority on the island.

Venice Tightens Its Grip

In 1468, the Venetian Senate learned that Ferdinand of Naples was attempting to draw James into an alliance with his own dynasty. Venice reacted sharply. By October 1469, the Republic declared that it had taken both the King and the island of Cyprus under its protection.

In the summer of 1472, Caterina finally sailed for Cyprus, escorted by four galleys, to make her royal entry. Her joy was brief. Within months, James died, leaving her pregnant.

Aware that Carlotta was seeking support among Italian powers and the Sultan, the Senate dispatched Pietro Mocenigo, Captain-General of Venice, to protect Caterina and secure the island. Before his arrival, Carlotta’s partisans stormed the palace, murdered Caterina’s physician before her eyes, and brutally killed her uncle Andrea Cornaro and her cousin Bembo as they rushed to her aid.

Mocenigo suppressed the revolt and executed its leaders. Two Venetian councillors and a civil commissioner were installed to oversee affairs. Caterina gave birth to a son, but the child died within a few months.

To prevent any dynastic restoration, James’s mother, sister, and illegitimate sons were deported to Venice. Marco Cornaro was sent to Cyprus with orders to comfort his daughter, preserve Cypriot loyalty, and enforce the Republic’s will that no change should occur in governance.

The Queen Forced to Abdicate

An agent of Ferdinand of Naples, Rizzo di Mario, was captured plotting in Alexandria. Sent to Venice, he was condemned to death by the Council of Ten. When the Sultan protested, Venice quietly had Rizzo strangled in prison and claimed he had poisoned himself.

The Signory now resolved to force Caterina’s abdication. Gradually, the Venetian officials stripped her of authority, making her position unbearable. She wrote desperate letters to the Doge describing insults, harassment, and even physical altercations within the palace.

In October 1488, her brother Giorgio Cornaro was sent to persuade her to renounce the crown. Meanwhile, Captain-General Diedo was ordered to bring her back to Venice “by wise, cautious, and secure means.”

At last, Caterina yielded.

The banner of St. Mark rose over Cyprus. Venice assured the Sultan of Egypt that this change was the result of the “full and free determination of our most serene and beloved daughter, Caterina Cornaro.”

Exile, Legacy, and Decline

Caterina was received in Venice with great ceremony. She formally renounced her crown in St. Mark’s Basilica and donated Cyprus to the Republic. In return, she was granted the small lordship of Asolo, where she lived in modest splendor.

There, as patron of a literary circle, she devoted her life to charity. When the League of Cambrai plunged Italy into turmoil, she returned to Venice, where she died in 1509, universally mourned.

Until her last breath, she signed herself:

Queen of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia, and Lady of Asolo.

Venice and the Shifting World

By the late fifteenth century, Venice’s mercantile supremacy—already threatened by Ottoman expansion—was undermined by two monumental discoveries:
the voyages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama.

While Columbus’s discoveries stirred curiosity, da Gama’s sea route to India struck at the heart of Venetian power. Spices that once multiplied in price through overland trade could now be shipped cheaply by sea. The implications were devastating.

Venice attempted espionage, diplomacy, and even sabotage, but history had turned against her. The center of global commerce shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

War, Illusion, and Reckoning

Venice sought compensation on the Italian mainland and entangled herself in the ambitions of France. When Charles VIII invaded Italy, Venice alternated between alliance and betrayal, eventually striking the French at Fornovo (1495).

The victory was celebrated with wild enthusiasm in Venice. Shops closed, crowds filled the streets, and cries of “Marco! Marco!” echoed across the Piazza.

Yet triumph proved fleeting. Venice’s duplicity invited retaliation. Louis XII, Ludovico Sforza, and ultimately the Ottoman Turks would exact a terrible price.

In 1499, Venetian fleets suffered catastrophic defeat at Sapienza. Lands were lost, prestige shattered, and fear paralyzed the Republic. Even seasoned commanders failed to act.

Venice sued for peace. The Sultan’s warning was chilling:

“Tell your Doge that until now he has wedded the sea. In future, it will be our turn.”

The End of an Era

Despite alliances and desperate resistance, Venice lost Lepanto, Modone, Corone, and Navarino. The Republic stood largely alone, as it so often had.

In 1501, Leonardo Loredano became Doge—a figure remembered today through Giovanni Bellini’s portrait. Wise, austere, and tireless, he presided over a Venice no longer ascendant, but still proud.

The world had changed. Venice endured—but the age of dominance had passed.

History does not fall in a single moment. It erodes—through ambition, betrayal, and the quiet turning of the world itself.