Massacre of the Latins

Flag of the Republic of Venice

It is now about the anniversary of an horrific atrocity that most of the world has forgotten, a brutal killing spree known as the Massacre of the Latins. This occurred in April of 1182 in Constantinople, the first city of the Byzantine Empire. At the time, the Italian city-states were powerful forces in the Mediterranean and Italian cities such as Venice, Genoa and Pisa had their own territorial concessions in Constantinople to serve their networks of commerce. Italian states dominated the trade and shipping of the region during that time and, particularly for cities like Venice and Genoa, often served as navies-for-hire in the employ of the Byzantine Emperors. However, there was a great deal of jealousy and mistrust of the "Latins" (as all Roman Catholics were called in the east but in this case they were almost entirely Italian) on the part of the Byzantines and it was not uncommon for the various Byzantine emperors to play the Italian city-states off against each other. There was also always plenty of plots and intrigues within the Byzantine court as men fought for the throne and each faction would usually have the support of one Italian state that would be employed against the others on promises of preferential treatment when that particular contestant for the throne became emperor.

Empress Maria of Antioch

By 1180 the Emperor Manuel I died. He had opposed Venice and so favored Genoa and Pisa but after his death his widow Maria of Antioch (a princess from a French family in the Catholic crusader states) ruled as regent for his infant son Alexios II and she had a pro-Italian, pro-Catholic policy. That was not tolerated for long and in April of 1182 she was overthrown by Andronikos I who came to power on a wave of anti-Italian xenophobia. Byzantine mobs charged into the Italian concessions and began massacring everyone in sight. The new Emperor did nothing at all to stop them or to restore order and the result was butchery on an unimaginable scale. Some of the Italians, sensing the danger, managed to escape before the attack but the vast majority of the 60,000 were trapped and helpless in the face of the Byzantine rampage. Men, women and children were killed in horrific fashion. Homes were destroyed, Catholic churches desecrated, even charitable houses were looted. Priests were tortured and murdered, women and girls were raped and the papal legate was decapitated and had his head tied to a dog and chased through the streets. Sick and dying people were stabbed to death in their hospital beds. It was savagery on an unbelievable scale. Those who were not killed in the bloodbath were sold into slavery to the Muslim Turks. They may well have envied the dead. The boys might have been forced into any number of forms of servitude, the men as well, perhaps serving as galley slaves, the women and girls had it worst of all, many forced into sexual slavery in the harems of the powerful.

The death of Andronikos I

It is little comfort that, eventually, Andronikos I is deposed and delivered up to mob justice and killed by his own people, including a few Latins who had, by that time, returned. There can be little sympathy for someone with the blood of tens of thousands of helpless men, women and children on his hands. He also, after overthrowing Maria of Antioch, forced her own son to sign the order for her execution. It is important to remember such an atrocity in order to understand the depth of division that has existed between the Catholic west and the Orthodox east, particularly as it is so often glossed over. Whereas the undoubted outrages of the Fourth Crusade are well known to history, the Massacre of the Latins that came first is seldom mentioned at all. It is also worth noting that, whereas Pope St John Paul II apologized, on behalf of the Catholic west, for the sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, the Ecumenical Patriarch, nor any other Orthodox leader, has ever acknowledged or issued a similar apology for the Massacre of the Latins. Little wonder then that efforts at reunification and Christian solidarity have yet to find success.

Venice Needs Italy as Italy Needs Venice

Because of a mass rally and a few new polls, there has been a lot of talk about the city of Venice seceding from Italy and becoming an independent city-state again (or actually not just a city-state as they plan to claim Veneto, Lombardy, Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia). The Republic of Venice II. However, one thing that should be established clearly at the outset is that if these modern-day separatists have their way, the new independent Venice will not be anything like the old Republic of Venice, nor will it really be independent. One of the first thing the pro-independence group did was to take their case to the President of the European Commission which should make clear to everyone that even they themselves do not believe in independence but would rather be ruled from Brussels instead of Rome. Newspaper polls have found 70-80% of the local population in favor of this so-called independence, yet at the same time stressing that part of the reason for the large numbers is the economic crisis. Italy would certainly be harmed economically by the loss of Venice but Venice would neither be better off in the long-term with her economic policies still being dictated by EU bureaucrats in Brussels.

The Republic of Venice (and I mean the original, legitimate, genuine article of centuries past) was a great and admirable country and a significant Mediterranean regional power in its own right. In fact, I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the old Republic of Venice. Title aside, if anyone from our own time could go back and see the Republic of Venice as it was then; they would take it for a monarchy. The Doge certainly looked and acted more like a monarch than a president and, even at the time, despite his republican form of government, was considered something of a prince by the other crowned heads of Europe. Obviously, this is not what is being proposed today nor would it be something the ruling elites of the EU would ever tolerate. Venice was a city that celebrated its accomplishments, today people are expected to apologize for them. The most famous public spectacle of the old Republic of Venice was the ceremony, presided over by the Doge, which “married” Venice to the sea. This ceremony, however, originated as a celebration of the Venetian acquisition of the Dalmatian coast. Would the powers-that-be in Brussels ever allow something like that to be celebrated today? Of course not. Because they scorn pride, ambition and achievement.

Today, Venice is one of the more prosperous parts of Italy, like the north in general is still more prosperous than the south, and this is a large part of what drives the separatist campaigns in these areas; people resent having to work to support less successful parts of the country. However, so long as a potential Republic of Venice remained in the EU, this would still be the case only in a different way. This is a complaint though that many people can sympathize with. It is part of what is driving similar movements in various European countries, from Catalan to Flanders. However, separation within the EU will not solve the problem. The only thing that will solve the problem is to lift up the poorer areas so that they are no longer dependent on the more prosperous regions and this is part of why Italy needs Venice and the north in general. All Italians should take a look back at what made Venice great during her glory days. Everyone should try to learn the lesson of how this watery village of refugees rose to become one of the major regional powers of the eastern Mediterranean. The simple, basic reason is the profit motive.

The Republic of Venice was able to exercise a level of power and influence far beyond her own strength because of her economic success, driven by trade and commerce all of which was driven by the profit motive and the maintenance of a pro-business, pro-entrepreneur, adventurous spirit. That atmosphere drove Venetians to build up an extensive commercial empire throughout the eastern Mediterranean and even some areas beyond. I marvel at what Venice was able to accomplish yet, I also think of how much more could have been possible or how such a vast network could have been maintained if the rest of Italy was alongside in support rather than tearing each other apart in squabbles between the Italian states. What if men of vision and talent like Christopher Columbus or John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) had been sailing for the Italian nation rather than Spain or England? What if there had been a united Italy to prevent the conquest of Venice by the French revolutionaries in the first place and so also prevent the years of Austrian rule? If Venice wishes greater control over their own local affairs, I would have no problem with that. I would applaud a Venice that becomes even more successful by their own decisions and I would deplore Venice being robbed of their success to reward the less successful. Rather, I would encourage less successful areas to follow their example in making themselves just as prosperous as Venice.

Again, however, we come back to the current state of the Italian republic which has an EU-imposed government, which discourages national pride, encourages people to be ashamed of success and there is the very existence of the republican government in Italy which has taught the Italians to be complacent and content with the status of a third-rate power. They condemn the Kingdom of Italy, amazingly, for encouraging Italians to think “big”, to strive for something greater, to see themselves as a great people and work to reach their maximum potential. No, the answer to the ills of Venice is not independence and another republican micro-state dependent on the EU. The answer is, and always has been, the restoration of the Kingdom of Italy, the restoration of the lire, freedom from crushing bureaucratic red tape, confiscatory taxation and burdensome regulation. The answer is free and open competition that will, by the talents and ambition of individual Italians, raise up the country to a level of prosperity that states like Venice once had when they lived by these same principles but which will be so much the greater with all Italians pulling in the same direction rather than feeding off of one another in a state of collective slavery to the political class.

Viva Venezia! Viva Italia! Evviva il Re!

Nurbanu Sultan, Italian Empress of Turkey

The girl who would become one of the most prominent women in the Ottoman Empire was born Cecelia Venier-Baffo, probably sometime in 1525, on the island of Paros, today a part of Greece but at the time a client state of the Republic of Venice. Some sources refer to her as Olivia, others as Rachel but it seems she was the natural daughter of a local noble named Nicolo Venier and a woman named Violante Baffo. As such she was the niece of His Serenity Sebastiano Venier, Doge of Venice. It was he who, prior to his election, commanded the Venetian fleet at the historic battle of Lepanto. Little is known about the earliest years of Cecelia Venier-Baffo but when she was only twelve years old events took place which changed her life forever. In 1537 the island of Paros was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Cecelia, along with many others, was captured along with other Christians for the slave markets. But she was a pretty little girl and must have caught the eye of someone important as she ended up being taken to the palace and placed in the harem of Prince Selim II in Constantinople. She was converted to Islam and given the name “Afife Nur-Banu”. Other stories exist about her origins but this is probably the most common.

Prince Selim II was greatly taken with the young girl and soon decided that she would be the one to bear his children, a fact which would give her greater status than all the other concubines. In time she bore him four children; three daughters and one son and heir; Prince Murad. Nurbanu became the “first lady” of the princely harem and was promoted to leadership of the imperial harem when the Prince ascended the throne as Selim II, “Grand Sultan, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe” in 1566. This made his son, Prince Murad III, heir to the throne and as such added to the prestige of Nurbanu Sultan as mother of a future sultan. Of course, Selim II took numerous other concubines but Nurbanu Sultan always remained his favorite for both her beauty and her brains. Although it was far from normal at the time, Selim II would often ask Nurbanu for her advice on various subjects because of his respect for her good judgment. She was a devoted wife and a very loyal mother as later events would prove. The Ottoman Empire was far from being very stable at the top and clashes over the imperial throne were common. It was also not uncommon for the loser to have his entire family massacred along with him to prevent any future challenge. Nurbanu Sultan was determined, however, that when the time came for her son to succeed his father, nothing would interfere with that.

Prince Murad had been sent to serve as Governor of Manisa on the Aegean coast and was there when Sultan Selim II passed away in 1574. This would have been the prefect opportunity for someone to seize power with the Sultan dead and his son away from the capital. Nurbanu realized this as much, if not more, than anyone and took quick action. Security and privacy in the harem were the most strict anywhere and no one knew when Selim II had actually died. Nurbanu told no one and hid the dead body of her husband in an icebox and sent to Manisa for her son to come to Constantinople immediately. All the while no one was the wiser that Sultan Selim II had actually departed this life. It was not made known publicly until twelve days later when Murad arrived and Nurbanu delivered up the body of her late husband. Her son became Sultan Murad III and Nurbanu became Valide Sultan (effectively “Queen Mother”), the highest position a woman could hold in the Ottoman Empire. She became a formidable figure with far-reaching influence during this time, so much so that it is regarded by some historians as the beginning of the so-called “Sultanate of Women”. According to some sources (Italian mostly, from Venetian accounts) Nurbanu Sultan effectively ran the government alongside the Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmet Pasha. Because women of the imperial household, no matter how lofty, were quite restricted in their movements, she depended on her long-time friend Esther Handali, a jeweler, to bring messages back and forth for her. The two became so close rumors began to surface about the nature of their relationship.

Venetian accounts are the most prolific in describing Nurbanu Sultan as a woman who never forgot her Venetian origins. For the nine years she served as regent of the Ottoman Empire, her foreign policies were reputedly so partial toward the Republic of Venice that their primary competitor, the Republic of Genoa, came to view Nurbanu Sultan as an enemy of their state. She corresponded with Catherine de’ Medici, Queen of France, and was always on the lookout for potential allies against the Hapsburg empire centered on Austria and Hungary that was the primary threat to the Ottoman Turks and the primary block to further European expansion. Nurbanu Sultan was also known for her charitable giving and her patronage of building projects, especially the construction of a magnificent building complex that included a mosque, madrassah and bath among other things. She was a beloved and respected figure when she died in her palace in Constantinople on December 7, 1583, presumably of natural causes though some (probably Venetian accounts) speculate that she was poisoned by a Genoese assassin.

Unfortunately, the Ottoman Empire did not fare so well after her loss as the reign of Sultan Murad III was generally one of decline, though certainly not resoundingly disastrous. Considering his mother’s correspondence with the Queen of France, one of the things Sultan Murad III is remembered for was his own correspondence with Queen Elizabeth I of England, arguing that the Protestants and Muslims had much in common and should unite against the Catholic powers, something the Queen very seriously considered during the war with Hapsburg Spain. In any event, both sides benefited from the sale of English tin and lead to the Ottoman Turks to update and expand their military arsenal.

Prince Emanuele Filiberto Has Surgery

Some troubling news to report from Italy, it seems that the threat of cancer is back again for HRH Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Venice and Piedmont. On Tuesday the eldest son of the last Crown Prince of Italy informed his internet followers that the “Evil has returned. I am in Geneva because tomorrow morning I am working again…This too will pass…” and added, “Thanks for all your messages…give me strength…” The Prince had a tumor removed from his nasal septum last November and thought he was cancer-free but it seems to have returned. Another surgery was scheduled for Thursday. Prince Emanuele Filiberto was the 2009 winner of the Italian version of “Dancing with the Stars” and currently has his own reality show, which (while derided by some) has made him the more well known of the two Italian claimants to the royal legacy of the House of Savoy. Although he has not campaigned for the restoration of the monarchy (being obliged to stay out of Italian politics) he has stated publicly that he considers monarchy a better system than republicanism because of the unity and impartiality that only monarchs can provide. We wish the Prince and the Italian Royal Family all the best and that he has a safe and speedy recovery.

Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia: operazione in corso a Ginevra, l'annuncio via Twitter
"Ecco è arrivato il momento... buonagiornata a tutti, spero potervi dare notizie al più presto... " con questo messaggio di circa un ora fa il pincipe tramite twitter informa i suoi followers dell'operazione al naso in corso in questi istanti in ospedale a Ginevra. "Emanuele è stato operato quattro mesi fa per un tumore al setto nasale ma il male è riapparso in più focolai", spiega all'ANSA il manager del principe, Ricky Palazzolo.
Poi - conclude - aspetteremo fiduciosi la nuova biopsia".

Happy Birthday

It was today in 1969 that HRH Princess Clotilde of Savoy, Princess of Piedmont and Venice, wife of Prince Emanuele Filiberto was born in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

The Italian "Discoverer" of Canada

North American school children, especially in Canada, will be familiar with the name of John Cabot, the intrepid explorer for England who was the first European since the early Viking voyages to "discover" North America, particularly what is now the east coast of Canada. However, what is often overlooked is that this "English explorer", while certainly sailing for England, was not English but Italian; Giovanni Caboto. In fact, many of the early explorers in the employ of the English, French, Portuguese and especially Spanish navies were Italians. It is disputed where exactly Giovanni Caboto was originally born (some say northern Italy, others the south etc) but it is certain that he became, later in life, a citizen of the Republic of Venice and even after going abroad wrote in and referred to himself using the unique Venetian dialect of the time.

Debts forced him to leave Venice and move to Spain where he tried to find backing for a trans-Atlantic expedition both there and in Portugal. Finding no takers he finally moved to England where he would have more success. In 1496 he was given letters patent from King Henry VII (founder of the Tudor dynasty) to explore the coasts and islands of America unclaimed by any Christian power. He left that summer on his first voyage though few records remain of the trip. The following year he made another voyage and, according to the official histories of Great Britain and Canada, landed on New Foundland on St John the Baptist Day. In 1997 HM Queen Elizabeth II with representatives of the Canadian and Italian governments gathered at the most accepted place of his landing to greet a replica ship making the same voyage across the Atlantic.

No contact was made with any natives though they did see evidence of habitation. The English flag was raised, claiming the land for King Henry VII and, interestingly, the Venetian and Papal flags were also raised as well. The Papal flag is not so unusual since, at that time, England was still a very Catholic country but the Venetian flag seems a bit strange but was likely a salute to the homeland of the leader of the expedition and perhaps to some of the Italian bankers who helped finance the voyage. Upon his return, Giovanni Caboto was hailed as the "Great Admiral" and cheered by all the English people. However, the King was distracted by other matters and a third expedition was not organized until 1498 with a fleet of five ships that were intended to establish trade with the New World. However, Caboto never returned from that voyage and it is believed that the ships were all lost at sea in some storm or other disaster.

Still, that was the begining of the English-speaking world reaching Canada, the first seeds for what would grow to be the northern nation of today. And it was all thanks to an Italian Roman Catholic from Venice named Giovanni Caboto.