History of Venice Podcast

Today we want to try to understand what kind of place Venice was as the 13th century dawned; how much it had changed in the hundred years since we last took a close look at it, back in Episode 31; and how the arrival of fresh artworks and spoils of war from the east would fuel both its own ongoing beautification and the historical narratives and myths that the city’s public appearance was aiming to promote.

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Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org

Sebastiano Ziani and Enrico Dandolo battle it out for our vote as the Top Doge of the 12th Century. Find out who we pick and tell us whether you agree.

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Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org

We're away on holiday this week, so there's no time to research and write a normal episode. So we've quickly rounded up what eventually happened to most of the characters we've been following on the Crusade story, and then had a final broad chat about what on earth just happened.

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Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org

The Crusade was over. The Crusaders had won. They had pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall, and now they were the kings of all the broken pieces. If this had been their plan all along, then whoever was responsible for working out what came next had been asleep at the wheel. Once the celebrations of Easter Week 1204 brought an end to the initial rush of looting and vandalism, all semblance of this being a united force with a common goal vanished into the springtime air like dandelion seeds in the breeze.

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Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org

We're joined by two very special guests this week to discuss what the Fourth Crusade looks like from the perspective of Constantinople. Marco Cappelli from Storia d'Italia podcast and Robin Pierson from the History of Byzantium podcast share their fascinating and well researched perspectives.

You can find Marco's show at: https://italiastoria.com/

You can find Robin's show at: https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/

Both are highly recommended by much more discerning sources than us, and are well worth your time and support.

You know where to find us, of course. 

Email us at [email protected], or find us on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram.

Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org