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here. Hello

1:10

everyone and welcome to the history

1:12

of Byzantium! Episode.

1:15

Two Hundred and Ninety Two. Venice.

1:18

And the rest of the Empire with

1:20

John deep fried. Over

1:23

the last few episodes we the

1:25

aftermath of the Cirque from a

1:28

variety of vantage points. And

1:30

yet, we haven't actually touched every

1:32

corner of the Roman world. With

1:35

the Byzantine government extinguished, the empire

1:38

had been divided up between around

1:40

thirteen different states, so we need

1:42

to survey the wreckage to give

1:45

ourselves a full picture. Will

1:48

get some help with this from

1:50

Doctor John keep freed from the

1:53

University of Vienna, who's been invaluable

1:55

in putting together these next few

1:57

episodes. I'm going to

1:59

introduce John. more detail next week,

2:01

but he teaches history and digital

2:03

humanities in Vienna, and his

2:06

academic work focuses on the Crusades, the

2:08

Crusader States, and European interactions

2:10

with the Mongols. We

2:13

recorded an entire episode about

2:15

Latin Constantinople and the Venetians,

2:18

but I've decided to split that in two. Next

2:21

week we'll talk about New Rome. Today

2:23

he will be telling us more about

2:26

the biggest vulture in the aviary, the

2:29

Venetians. The

2:31

city has fallen. The city

2:33

has fallen. The first place to

2:35

mention is Atalia, the

2:37

city on the southern coast of Anatolia,

2:40

roughly halfway along its length. This

2:42

has long been the key port

2:44

which connected the Aegean to Cilicia

2:46

and Cyprus beyond. With

2:49

Constantinople in chaos, the city

2:51

was isolated and the Seljuks

2:53

seized it in 1207. The

2:56

Christians inside launched a counter-attack though,

2:59

with help from the Latins of Cyprus, but

3:02

by the next decade Atalia was

3:04

safely in Turkish hands. This

3:08

eliminated Roman pretensions to the

3:10

southern coast of Anatolia, meaning

3:13

that the Armenian rulers of Cilicia

3:15

were now operating entirely on their

3:17

own. The

3:20

northern coast of Anatolia did not go

3:22

the same way. Trebizond,

3:25

the great trading port in the

3:27

northeast corner of the peninsula, became

3:29

the home of a Byzantine successor

3:31

state which outlived all of

3:34

its rivals. Trebizond,

3:36

as you may recall, is shielded

3:38

from the plateau by the

3:40

Pontic Alps, giving it

3:43

as good a chance as Nicaea

3:45

to survive Turkic attacks. The

3:48

city had repeatedly shrugged off

3:51

Constantinople's control during the Komnenian

3:53

era and would now go it

3:55

alone. The

3:57

Men who seized control of the region

4:00

were the grandsons. Have none other than

4:02

filthy old Andronicus com you know us.

4:05

The Emperor amount of wheels disreputable.

4:08

cousin had several children. As you

4:10

may recall, His

4:12

eldest legitimate boy was named

4:14

man a Wheel. Manner.

4:17

We'll had two sons, Alexis and David,

4:19

who fled to Georgia at some point

4:22

during the reins of the Anger Lawyer.

4:25

They would have been relatively young

4:27

when Andronicus and their father was

4:29

killed, so they may have stayed

4:31

at Constantinople for a while before

4:34

fleeing when the political winds turned

4:36

even further against them. They

4:39

seem to have had a family connection

4:41

to the ruler of Georgia Queen tomorrow.

4:44

It was she who sponsored the young men

4:46

both in their early twenties to march on

4:49

Travis out. They seized

4:51

the city around the same time that

4:53

Constantinople fill to the Fourth Crusade. When

4:57

this shocking news reached a. It

5:00

seemed as good a time as any to

5:02

have him self declared that he laughs. I

5:06

like Cs and David took the troops

5:08

they now commanded and rapidly establish their

5:11

control over the coast of northern Anatolia.

5:14

This included both the territory immediately surrounding

5:16

Trump is on and pushing west in

5:18

to pass the Gonia. This

5:21

was the homeland of the call me noise

5:23

and the placed Andronicus had lived just before

5:25

he became emperor to. There was plenty of

5:27

support for the brothers from the local people.

5:31

But dreams of writing this momentum all

5:33

the way to Constantinople if that was

5:35

ever a realistic goal were quickly snuffed

5:38

out. Alexi has

5:40

had to defend troubles on itself

5:42

from Soldier Cuttack, while David was

5:44

repeatedly defeated by Theodore less scarce

5:47

when he attempted to caption i

5:49

See and Territory. in

5:52

twelve fourteen the sell drugs seized

5:54

the port of sign up roughly

5:56

halfway along the peninsula meaning that

5:58

trump is ons in Paphlagonia

6:00

were now physically separated from those

6:03

further east and they

6:05

ceased to be any threat to Nicaea.

6:09

Alexios himself was captured during

6:11

the conflict and forced to

6:14

pay a tribute to Iconium.

6:18

From that time onwards Trebizond

6:20

and Constantinople largely went their

6:22

separate ways politically. Trebizond

6:25

would become a Roman state in

6:28

a largely Caucasian and Turkish

6:30

world. Its relatively small

6:33

population would survive and thrive

6:35

through judicious diplomacy and

6:38

its advantageous position as a trading

6:40

center. The

6:42

majority of its people would continue

6:45

to see themselves as Romans and

6:47

their leaders would style themselves as

6:49

Megas Cominos, great

6:51

or grand Cominoi, implying

6:54

that their descent from Andronicus made

6:56

them superior to all other Romans

6:58

claiming similar titles. There's

7:02

a lot of interest from listeners of

7:04

this podcast in the story of Trebizond

7:06

but their history isn't especially relevant to

7:08

our narrative anymore so let's

7:10

catch up with them at a later date.

7:16

The other outposts of the Roman

7:18

world were largely seized by the

7:21

Venetians. The men

7:23

of Venice were given portions of the

7:25

Empire in the partition carried out at

7:27

Constantinople in the days after the sack.

7:30

But they largely ignored these decisions and

7:32

traded the places they wanted for the

7:34

places they didn't. We

7:37

saw this in our last episode where

7:39

the Italians were happy to let Michael

7:41

Dukas run the interior of Epirus as

7:44

long as they could have Corfu and Darachium.

7:47

It was exactly this, islands

7:50

and port cities, which the Venetians

7:52

had their eyes on. Understandably

7:55

the great mercantile Republic was really only

7:57

interested in places which would follow the

8:00

further its trading goals, and

8:02

the collapse of Roman power allowed them

8:05

to annex all the key stopping points

8:07

on their journeys east. A

8:10

new Venetian Empire was created,

8:12

the route to Syria and

8:15

Egypt now firmly in Italian

8:17

hands. This

8:19

would allow them to dominate trade with

8:21

the east, to gather its wares and

8:23

export them back to Western Europe. In

8:28

the immediate aftermath of the sack, the

8:31

Venetians were more worried about Genoese piracy

8:33

which had plagued the Aegean for many

8:35

years, so their earliest acquisitions

8:37

were aimed at pacifying this region. The

8:42

Venetian fleet was used to capture most of

8:44

the islands of the Aegean, the

8:46

exceptions being those which lay too

8:48

close to Anatolia to be safely

8:50

held. They

8:53

established a major base on Euboea,

8:55

the large island off the coast of

8:58

Attica, and would later develop the Greek

9:00

port towns of Methony and Korony, neither

9:04

of which had been major trading centres before

9:06

1204, but now served

9:08

as ideal stopping points on the

9:10

route between Constantinople and Venice. The

9:15

Italians didn't need to colonise everything.

9:18

A number of Aegean islands around

9:20

Naxos were taken by the Crusaders

9:22

instead, and were officially loyal

9:24

to the Emperor of Constantinople rather than

9:26

Venice. They

9:28

are conventionally known as the Duchy

9:31

of the Archipelago, but

9:33

their survival depended on their Italian allies

9:35

and their ports were open to the

9:37

Venetians. Over

9:40

in the Adriatic, Caffolonia, Zakinthos,

9:42

Corfu and Dyrrhachium were

9:44

all seized. The

9:46

latter two were then lost to the Epiurates, but

9:49

battle for control of them will continue. The

9:54

island the Venetians wanted above all others

9:56

was Crete, Which would prove the

9:58

hardest to take. Creates

10:01

large size and strategic position

10:03

made it a key target

10:05

for all the Italian trading

10:07

states. The. Janna

10:09

we seized during the Fourth Crusade,

10:11

and the Venetian now attempted to

10:13

dislodge them. It

10:15

took three tries and thirteen years to

10:17

finally pushed their rivals out, but they

10:20

did it. The

10:22

Venetian then began to establish themselves

10:24

firmly in the capital Candia. But

10:27

by excluding the local Romans from power,

10:29

they set of wave after wave of

10:32

rebellion against their rule. These

10:34

violent conflicts would last for decades

10:36

and require fresh waves of Venetian

10:39

settlers in order to maintain control.

10:44

The one major island which the

10:46

Venetian didn't take was roads. It

10:49

was held by an independent Roman governor

10:51

for several years. Before the jenna we've

10:53

attempted to capture it. Subsequently,

10:56

It was taken by forces from Nice.

11:02

There was obviously significant territory in the

11:04

Balkans, which had now been seized by

11:06

the Bulgarians and Serbians, but much of

11:08

this had already been taken before the

11:11

Fourth Crusade arrived, and from of it

11:13

was still been disputed by the rival

11:15

powers we've covered in the last few

11:17

episodes. I've put up

11:19

a couple of maps on the website

11:21

and social media which attempt to make

11:23

sense of this chaos. Back.

11:27

At Constantinople the Venetian. This when

11:29

our junior partners in government. To

11:32

take up the story, we turn to John Deep

11:34

Fried. We begin by

11:36

talking about the perspective of Enrico

11:38

Dandala, who negotiated the deal that

11:41

would see the Venetian take control

11:43

of the Patriarchal church and three

11:45

eighths of the empire. This

11:47

created tension with the government of

11:50

the Venetian Republic itself, who were

11:52

keen not to allow the newly

11:54

empowered colony at Constantinople to forge

11:57

an independent path. You have

11:59

and we could. Indo. That basically.

12:01

He negotiates that three eighths of

12:03

the former Byzantine empire are going

12:06

to fall directly under Venetian rule

12:08

that includes creates the Aegean Islands,

12:10

the Peloponnese, basically all the Adriatic

12:12

coast. Ah, some chunks of the

12:14

race going. Update: Renewable p Negotiate:

12:16

It is the aware of the

12:18

Emperor is going to become a

12:21

frank and. A. Venetian would

12:23

never go to emperor anyways and the

12:25

Venetian had no interest in becoming the

12:27

Emperor's They're going to at least get

12:30

the Patriarchy as their consolation prize. Ah

12:32

that a a nice and will be

12:34

the new Patriarch of Constantinople. See also

12:37

continues active military support sending troops into

12:39

the field. There are are Venetian nights

12:41

by the in the battle of Adrian

12:44

Opal along with the know the traditional

12:46

Venetian naval role that goes along with

12:48

it and he is very much on

12:51

the camp of yes we. Are definitely

12:53

taking our rightful place and we're going

12:55

to get his big chunk of the

12:57

Byzantine Empire. and we're going to keep

12:59

it for ourselves. But. Then

13:02

he does, He's dead. He's buried

13:04

in Constantinople. The Venetian elect one

13:06

of their own. ah, a man,

13:08

the marine Athena and Zino really

13:11

wants to carry on that mission.

13:13

key. Players. To be

13:15

a local ah who was in

13:17

these are the Venetian colony in

13:19

Constantinople beforehand and he is in

13:21

shock. and he sort of is

13:23

the one negotiating that coronation oath

13:25

with Henry Said. He is playing

13:28

an active role, asserting himself as

13:30

if he is like the leader

13:32

of the Phoenicians in the empire

13:34

Know. Just. Because he

13:36

is asserting rule in Constantinople, fear

13:38

is still best and we forget

13:41

that as soon as and Rico

13:43

download eyes and the news gets

13:45

back to them. The Venetian and

13:47

the Venetian Republic goes and a

13:50

lax their own doge and it's

13:52

important to notice that it's the

13:54

people who stayed behind who gets

13:56

picked the next person. Ah as

13:59

a people. A behind were.

14:01

Probably. The people not

14:03

very enthusiastic about this sort of

14:06

overseas colonial empire and the man

14:08

they pick is a guy name

14:10

he after the honey and the

14:13

audience policy is basically to. Consolidate

14:16

what he can, but he is

14:18

realize that Enrico down below has

14:20

bit off a bit more than

14:22

Venice consume that three eighths of

14:24

the former Roman empire like cannot

14:26

be ruled by one tiny city,

14:28

even with it's large sort of

14:30

merchant fleet. And. So he scales

14:33

back Venetian ambition and he says we're

14:35

going to directly rule Crete. We are

14:37

going to directly will course who were

14:39

going to keep direct T M We're

14:42

going to set of sell hand off

14:44

our claim on the Peloponnese to Ah

14:46

Jeffrey real hard with not the historian

14:48

his nephew. We all will also left

14:50

a guy named Marcos a new doubt

14:53

she'll take over all the Aegean islands.

14:55

He will not be, it'll be his

14:57

personal five. He will be Venetian, but

14:59

it will not be said of the

15:01

Venetian. State ruling. it's like they're

15:03

directly will increase in Corfu. He

15:06

also wants to make sure. That.

15:09

He has control over the

15:11

local community in Constantinople. He

15:13

does not want the empire

15:15

to be run from Constantinople

15:17

and he doesn't want Constantinople

15:19

tasting it's own independent positions

15:22

from sort of the motherland

15:24

back in Venice. their a

15:26

Later legends passed around the

15:28

Ziani considered moving the capital

15:30

of Venice to Constantinople. that

15:32

that's to later historical fiction.

15:35

Really what he wants to

15:37

do instead is. Assert control

15:39

over that colony and what he does

15:41

is he recalls the after a

15:43

couple years the put a stop and

15:45

puts in his old man as

15:47

the new head of the call. as

15:50

soon as the Venetian community in Constantinople

15:52

and basically every two or three years

15:54

wherever the Dodgers is going to

15:56

send someone new to Constantinople with new

15:59

sort of. Controls from above and

16:01

really wants to have like. Direct

16:04

executive authority over the

16:06

community in Constantinople. And.

16:09

So. This. Sir

16:12

Podesta has a kind of. Independent

16:14

authority, but. Is. Always. She's

16:19

always ultimately. Reporting

16:21

back home and is not forging

16:23

a completely independent power. Yeah.

16:26

And I think the first guy in

16:28

the job the know wants to do

16:31

with that weights and the army's the

16:33

doge of Venice wants to have more

16:35

control because he is not as ambitious.

16:37

He sees what resources Venice has left

16:40

and those that they can't push thing

16:42

so much. So. The

16:44

Venetian that Constantinople we're now represented

16:46

by a new leader. The.

16:48

Put a stop or podesta who

16:51

would manage their affairs, negotiate with

16:53

the Latin Emperors and administer some

16:55

of their new colonies. Not

16:58

whole. He would

17:00

be responsible for those places close

17:02

to Constantinople. Paul Venice itself would

17:05

administer the Newport's along the Adriatic,

17:07

the Greek coast, and Crete. The

17:12

Venetian colony at Constantinople would

17:14

expand significantly after the sack,

17:16

but there was a dispute

17:18

over authority. The

17:20

put a star was a secular

17:22

figure, while the new Patriarch of

17:24

the Byzantine Church was also a

17:26

Venetian. So who would have

17:29

authority over whom? The. Secular or

17:31

the religious leader. And

17:33

would Venetian church is now be under

17:35

the jurisdiction of the A? He is

17:37

or remain loyal to their home church.

17:40

John. Takes up a story. So

17:43

the Venetian Quarter along the Golden

17:45

Horde basically doubles in size and

17:47

extend sort of further into the

17:49

city. Now, the area they're taking

17:52

has been badly damaged by fire,

17:54

and so there's a lot of

17:56

reclamation work. The center of Venetian

17:58

control in Com. And you

18:00

know both becomes the Panda

18:02

Crowder Monastery and they will

18:04

fortify it. And this is

18:06

sort of the civil authority

18:09

which is distinct and often

18:11

very much at odds with

18:13

the Patriarch of Constantinople further

18:15

down the peninsula off with

18:17

his own independent authorities. And

18:19

part of this has to

18:21

do with Venetian politics that

18:23

the Venetian Church back in

18:25

Venice. Claims. Sovereignty over

18:27

all the Nice and Churches. Everywhere

18:30

that there are beneath his

18:32

ah, and so ah. Even.

18:35

During. The period of

18:37

Byzantine rule. The. Venetian

18:39

community and com says noble

18:41

and the ah wider Byzantine

18:43

world didn't m answer to

18:45

the patriarch in Constantinople because.

18:48

They. Were there was a Greek patriarch

18:50

so they answer to their home church

18:52

back in Venice arm and women's the

18:54

Or was a new Latin Patriarch The

18:57

Latin Patriarchs as bait. Now that we're

18:59

Latins you answer to me and they

19:01

they know our church says the rules

19:04

are we answer to the our We

19:06

answer to the authorities back in best

19:08

and that the Patriarch of Bravo which

19:11

is the fancy complicated title Ah that

19:13

the be the head of the Catholic

19:15

Church in Venice had during this period.

19:18

The Patriarch of Grotto is the

19:20

superior of all the Venetian churches

19:22

within the Byzantine Empire. Ah, and

19:24

because they didn't want to have

19:26

to answer to the Patriarch in

19:28

Constantinople, this is what they continued

19:31

to assert ah throughout this period

19:33

which led to a weird situation

19:35

where you had the Venetian not

19:37

answering to the ah Venetian patriarchs,

19:39

but the Franks having to answer

19:41

to the Venetian patriarchs. It also

19:43

doesn't help that the person who

19:45

was picked to be Venetian patriarch.

19:48

Is probably. the

19:51

single worst figure on the latin side

19:53

for the entire mike lowell four to

19:55

twelve experience his name is thomas more

19:57

see me and he is a

20:00

walking disaster for everyone and everything

20:02

that goes along in the period

20:04

that so they couldn't

20:06

just pick the head of the church in

20:08

Venice to become the new patriarch because he

20:11

was very much out of favor and had

20:13

a whole bunch of corruption allegations pending against

20:15

him. So they wanted to pick someone who

20:17

the pope would be okay

20:19

with. And what they did is they

20:21

picked one of the Venetians directly serving

20:24

as an underling to the pope in

20:26

Rome. And this Thomas Morissini,

20:29

he wasn't an archbishop, he wasn't a

20:31

bishop, he wasn't even a priest, he

20:33

wasn't even a deacon, he was a

20:36

subdeacon, he hadn't even received like full

20:38

ordination as a deacon. The only reason

20:40

he got the job is because he

20:43

was already directly working for the pope

20:45

and maybe, you know, the pope

20:47

would say yes to that more than picking a

20:49

more experienced Venetian. The problem

20:52

is he was quarrelsome

20:55

and greedy and would never

20:57

listen to anyone. He is

20:59

going to fight

21:01

without end against the Latin emperor Henry and

21:03

basically says no, no French clerics ever, even

21:06

in French churches where they're all going to

21:08

be Venetians. And there's a whole debate on

21:10

that. He is holding debates with the Greeks

21:12

and trying to make a compromise with the

21:14

Greeks and he's like, no, you all have

21:17

to pray for me as patriarch. I'm going

21:19

to insist you do it in Latin too,

21:21

not in Greek. And we are going to

21:23

stomp over all your rights and make no

21:25

compromise at all, ever. And

21:28

does not want like

21:30

the Emperor Henry desperately,

21:32

desperately is trying to make this work,

21:35

is trying to get the Greeks on his

21:37

side. And every time he gets close to

21:39

it, Morissini is there like, no, everyone listen

21:41

to me, do it my way. Give me

21:44

all the money, all the power, all the

21:46

authority. Everybody has to listen to me. And

21:48

that is true even in his dealings with

21:50

other Venetians. And the most famous case of

21:52

this, and one of my two or three

21:54

favorite stories from the whole history of the

21:57

Latin period has to do with

21:59

a icon. of the

22:01

Virgin Mary, known as the

22:03

Haudenosaunee. This is a very

22:05

ancient icon that is, according

22:07

to tradition, painted by Saint

22:09

Luke himself, that has been

22:11

used to defend the city

22:13

dating back 800 years by

22:16

this point. And you have

22:18

this icon, which is in

22:20

imperial protection. It appears that

22:22

Emperor Henry promises it to the Venetians

22:24

in exchange for his coronation. Now who

22:27

does he mean by the Venetians? Does

22:29

he mean the Venetian patriarchate or does

22:31

he mean the Venetian podester? Our

22:33

problem is we know about

22:35

this incident because the Venetian patriarch writes a letter

22:37

to the Pope, so we have it from his

22:40

side. We don't have it from the other side,

22:42

so we have to sort of piece it out.

22:44

So the patriarch, Morissini, he says,

22:46

yeah, the icon is mine. I am

22:48

taking it to the Hagia Sophia. The

22:50

Pudesta Zeno says, no, it's mine. I

22:52

want it back. And in, again,

22:55

this is the telling of Morissini, he says, you can

22:57

have it if you can find it. He

23:00

doesn't expect it because it is inside

23:02

the Hagia Sophia, inside the sacristy, under

23:04

triple locks. The gates of the cathedral

23:06

are locked and barred, and he has

23:09

guards both inside and outside. But the

23:11

Zeno is like, nope, I'm getting it.

23:13

It's mine. And so when

23:15

he can't break through the

23:18

doors, he literally sends Venetians

23:20

down the chimneys of the Hagia

23:22

Sophia to sneak into the building

23:24

to open up one of the

23:27

doors so that the Pudesta sort

23:29

of armed group can break in.

23:31

Morissini is there at the time,

23:33

basically saying, you're all excommunicated. We're

23:35

putting you under interdict. He literally goes

23:37

through sort of the medieval process of

23:39

excommunication, where he is like burning candles

23:41

and lighting them out and yelling while

23:43

they are breaking into this. But they

23:46

don't know where in the church it

23:48

is. And it's only when

23:50

one of the Greeks who is there

23:52

and who hates Morissini, like everyone hates

23:55

Morissini, tells them where it's hiding that

23:57

they get it out, they take it

23:59

back. to the Pontic Ratre monastery, which is

24:01

where the Podesta is set up, and it

24:04

remains in the Pontic Ratre, nicely under Venetian

24:06

guard until the Greeks return in 1261. Morissini

24:10

writes all these letters to the Pope,

24:12

but by this point the Pope is

24:14

really tired of Morissini and says, all

24:16

right, your ex-communications can stand, but I'm

24:18

not doing anything about it. Like, there's

24:21

not much I can do over this dispute. As

24:24

far as we know, well, we know it remains

24:26

there, so he loses out. It

24:28

gives you a sense that the Venetians

24:31

were not united, that you

24:33

have a patriarchal government that

24:36

expects to be as rich as the

24:38

Patriarch of Constantinople has always been, but

24:41

not having the resources in

24:43

order to do it. And you

24:45

have a whole bunch of civil officials

24:47

not wanting the Patriarch to be their

24:50

boss and to be in the way.

24:52

You have this general sort

24:55

of inter-Venetian struggle that is

24:57

worst under Morissini, who's going

25:00

to be around for the first decade of Latin rule, but

25:03

continues. Eventually, it kind

25:05

of dies down when the Venetian clerics

25:07

stop appointing Venetian Patriarchs, but the

25:10

Pope starts appointing people, but the

25:12

Pope always appoints Venetians anyways, but

25:14

Venetians who are less likely to

25:16

cause trouble. But

25:19

there is this very much fractured,

25:21

divided Venetian community, which is in

25:23

itself cut off from the main

25:25

Venetian community, which is already pushing

25:27

them aside. So you

25:30

really have fractured foundations all around.

25:34

The Patriarchate was meant to be a

25:36

prize because it was a rich institution,

25:39

but much of its wealth had now ebbed away.

25:43

Many of the lands it owned were

25:45

now occupied by other people. We

25:48

saw Theodore Lascaris, for example, reassigning

25:50

these lands to aristocrats he wanted

25:52

to favour. Even

25:54

the workshops and rental properties, which the

25:57

Ahia Sophia owned in the capital, had

25:59

lost its place. some of their value

26:01

with the destruction of so much of the city.

26:05

Many Latins, like the patriarch

26:07

Thomas Morassini, came to Byzantium

26:09

expecting to get rich and

26:12

were disappointed. Not

26:14

only did he fail to work well with

26:17

the secular authorities, but he utterly

26:19

failed as a spiritual leader. The

26:22

Latins were not pleased to have Venetian clergy

26:24

forced upon them. The local

26:26

Venetians, as we just heard, weren't interested in

26:28

changing loyalty to this new figure. And of

26:31

course, the Byzantines were so frustrated by

26:33

Morassini that most acknowledged

26:35

the patriarch established at Nicaea as

26:38

their true archbishop. The

26:41

failure of the patriarchate to provide any

26:43

spiritual unity or leadership is not one

26:45

of the main reasons that the Latin

26:47

Empire failed, but it didn't

26:50

help. The

26:53

PODESTAR and the Venetian colony in the city were not

26:55

especially helpful to Latin rule either. They

26:58

were vital for its defense, but

27:00

by maintaining their separateness, they could not lend

27:02

the Latin emperors the

27:04

kind of support which they needed. Had they

27:07

been his subjects, then he might have been able

27:09

to utilize their manpower to hang on to more

27:11

of Thrace and Anatolia. But by withdrawing from

27:15

such matters after Dandelos' death,

27:17

the Venetians essentially stood by

27:19

and watched the Latin positional

27:21

crumble in the face of

27:23

the Epirote Bulgarian and Nicaean

27:25

advance. It's

27:28

also worth saying that although the new Venetian

27:30

Empire would prove very profitable in the long

27:33

run, in the short term,

27:35

it was not. The

27:37

reason the Venetians invested so heavily in

27:40

Constantinople was that the Byzantine

27:42

elite were their best customers. Every

27:44

Easter when the emperor handed out the

27:47

wheelbarrows full of cash to his senators,

27:50

they would go down to the market and stock up on

27:52

goods. The Venetians brought wares

27:54

from east and west to the Bosphorus,

27:56

where rich members of the Komnenian court

27:58

would snap the mark. Now,

28:01

there was no wealthy court to sell to.

28:04

The Latin emperors were always short of

28:06

money and were not as interested in

28:08

ostentatious display. Profits

28:11

plummeted and it took decades before the

28:13

Venetians of New Rome returned

28:15

to the level of prosperity they

28:17

had enjoyed under Manuil Comni Nos. So

28:21

the Roman world has been divvied

28:23

up and the main players established.

28:26

We're nearly ready to end our

28:29

vantage point gimmick and move forward with

28:31

the narrative. But there is

28:33

one place left that we haven't really talked about

28:35

in detail. Constantinople itself.

28:39

Next time, we'll take a look around

28:41

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28:43

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