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FREE : A NEW HISTORY PDF

Professor Thomas F Madden | 464 pages | 29 Oct 2013 | Penguin Putnam Inc | 9780147509802 | English | United States Venice: A New History

In Thomas F. Thomas F. With these credentials it comes as no surprise how dense and informative his history of Venice is. However, the readability and flowing prose that Madden fills the book with Venice: A New History it to remain equally entertaining and easy to follow without sacrificing detail or intellectual depth. He does this similarly when he talks about some of the economic innovations the Venetians brought to the , such as double-entry bookkeeping and the Colleganza. I was able to easily follow the importance and impact of these innovations despite Venice: A New History admittedly rudimentary or perhaps nonexistence understandings of Venice: A New History accounting. As many Venice began from humble origins, starting off in the first few centuries C. The proper was founded around by people from further inland fleeing the Gothic invasion of , realizing the poor soil and mosquito infested waters were enough to dissuade a large invading army from bothering to pursue them. Similar invasions like that of the Hun in and relative instability caused by the fall of the Roman would create successive waves of refugees from areas such as , who saw the islands as a relatively peaceful alternative to mainland chaos. As Madden explains it, when Venice: A New History germanic tribes into Rome and took the title of inwhat many consider to be the event marking the fall of the western , it came as no surprise Venice: A New History the citizens of Venice, a city founded on successive waves of Roman citizens who had been violently forced to flee their homes by invading forces, were Venice: A New History cool about this change in regime. In fact when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian launched his campaign to retake in the s, the Venetians would be enthusiastic Venice: A New History active supporters of this effort, eventually becoming Venice: A New History of a Byzantine province ruled from . As Madden explains it, the early Venetians saw themselves as Roman citizens who fled an increasingly non- in order to preserve their Roman and Catholic roots. This is what led them to create such strong ties with the Byzantines, and it is those ties with that would help them so well as they grew to become a commercial empire and a major player in the Mediterranean. Of course it is yet to be explained why and how Venice became such an economic powerhouse and the only european in the early . One primary factor in this was geographic. In the period of time spanning from the fall of the Roman Empire to the wealth was primarily measured in the amount of land one had. Rich kings and nobles created an aristocracy across Europe whose status and wealth were based on the feudal lands they owned and their ability to tax those who worked on their lands. It created the familiar roles of nobles and serfs, the poor worked the land as farmers, artisans and hunters, giving tribute in money or produce from the land back to the noble lord who offered protection in return. In the case of the Venetian there was not near enough land to enact such a system, so an aristocracy was formed not on land but on entrepreneurial skill. Merchants traveled to the East to bring back expensive commodities like and silks back to Venice, and used the city as a focal point for traveling along the and Italian rivers to sell these goods to mainland Europe at a very high profit margin. The system was based on liquid wealth, and made the Venetians some of the first capitalists in Europe. This vastly different economic structure compared to the rest of Europe also led to vastly different ideals being enshrined in Venetian society. Successful Venetians were self made men and women, and as a result they rejected anything resembling the inherited privileges or concentrated powers of nobles in mainland Europe, rather insisting on equality and fierce individualism, the same values that made them rich in the first place. These values translated into their form of government, as Venice Venice: A New History itself as a Republic in with the election of its first Venice: A New History venetian word coming from the duxmeaning leadercreating a system of limited democratic engagement that would last years. This system at its inception was far from a direct democracy, with prominent noble families serving as a sort of self appointed electorate and advisory council to the Doge. However, membership in it was decided by invite rather than election, so it still had an aristocratic feel to it. Despite this, invitations to the Great Council were wisely extended, and as the Venetian society grew more members who had close ties to laborers and guildsmen were invited, making the Council much more representative of Venetian society in its totality. This sense of equality and fierce individualism in Venetian society also led to a very strict set of checks and balances in the government, set up so no one Venice: A New History or faction could successfully rule over the rest of the city. One of the practices Venice: A New History best demonstrated this sense of equality and fear of Venice: A New History was the process by which the Doge was elected. In the beginning of the republic the process was little more than the citizens of the city meeting in an open area of the city and shouting names till consensus was reached. This developed into an election committee of 41 Venice: A New History established inhowever fears that one powerful family would be able to stack the committee led to a new, much more intricate system in the s. This new process began with the Great Council being assembled. Once assembled a boy was randomly plucked from the streets to pull wax balls out of an urn at random for each Great Council member. These 30 electors were then reduced to nine by another round of picking wax balls out of an urn. These nine electors then elected a separate group of 40, reduced by wax balls to 12 again. Those 12 cast ballots for another 25, who were again reduced by wax balls to 9. These nine elected a council of 45, reduced to 11 and then these men elected, not the Doge, Venice: A New History the final electoral committee of These 41 electors then met in complete isolation, with each nominating a person for Doge by secret ballot. The electors would discuss the merits and faults of each nominee, summon them one by one to give a speech and refute criticisms, and then vote. If the first nominee received 25 out of 41 votes by secret ballot of course he would become Doge, but if not the process was repeated again with another nominee. As Madden explains, the process was designed to be cumbersome mission accomplishedso cumbersome in fact, that only God could influence it. This clearly demonstrates how careful Venetians were to ensure a fair electoral system that allowed no one faction or family to manipulate the rules in their own favor. However, despite these checks and balances there were still occasional excesses of power, and certain practices by the Venetian government led its opponents and impartial observers to see it as a republic in name only, despotically ruled by an aristocratic elite. One of these practices was the event known as the Serrata, when membership in the Great Council was closed again. Another was the council known as The Ten, which was a group of ten individuals elected from the Great Council and given a wide berth to conduct intelligence gathering and investigate and prosecute treason. This led to the Venetians growing an overseas empire that including at varying times the Dalmatian coast, the islands of , and and the mainlands of present day . They would also have a prosperous trading relationship with the after the , and this economic stake in the , combined with genuine religious fervor, would make Venice one of the most fervent and active powers to take up the Crusade throughout the Middle Ages. Constantinople would occasionally resent the power and trading privileges of the Venetian sailors, which would lead to the seizure of property and kidnapping of all Venetians living in the city inbut the Venetians in truth almost always had the upper hand in the relationship until the Ottomans began to assert their power in the Mediterranean. The stans would provide money upfront to fund the voyage, and the tractans had the responsibility to maximize profits on the trip to the best of his Venice: A New History. This innovation was an important element of sea trading Venice: A New History key to Venetian prosperity because it allowed the risk of sea voyages to be spread out amongst multiple parties, which ensured both merchants and investors would not be financially ruined from one failed voyage. As the practice grew there became multiple stans in Venice: A New History voyage, Venice: A New History allowed people to buy shares in a voyage like investing in a corporation on the stock market. The benefit of this system was to expand capital for voyages while minimizing individual risk. If a person invested small in multiple voyages profits on a successful one mitigated the losses on a failed one. Similarly, there were also some insurance products that were innovated in Venice to provide added security to the loss of funds from a failed voyage. With all the complicated accounting involved in calculating the profits or losses for each investor of a large colleganza, it should come as no surprise that double-entry bookkeeping was an important innovation created by Venetian bankers and merchants to keep record of their accounts. The ability to balance credit and debit on a daily basis helped Venetian merchants calculate profit and loss much easier and also helped to detect and limit cases of fraud. While Fra Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan mathematician, is credited with its invention in the s he claimed he was just describing a customary practice of Venetian bankers, so people generally assume Venice: A New History in general created the practice. Madden suggests that double-entry bookkeeping was key in the , and that modern corporations would not have developed as Venice: A New History see them today without this invention, pointing to its importance not only for Venetians but for the western world. By the Venetian Empire was at the height of its power both geographically and politically. Along with these losses the Venetians also progressively lost most of their mediterranean holdings to the expansion of the Ottomans throughout the s and s, and were increasingly left dominating the small Venetian lake that was the Adriatic. In the last decade of the s Venice would fall victim to the ire of , being conquered by his forces in This ended the thousand year reign of Venice: A New History independent Republic Venice: A New History abolished one of the last greatest Venice: A New History to antiquity and the old . Venice would change hands between Venice: A New History and the Austrians a few times before becoming part of the unified country of Italy Venice: A New History From the s on Venice was known mostly as a tourist destination, and almost like a living museum, increasingly a relic of its great past. One example of this blend of cultures is the famous Horses of Saint Mark, a set of four bronze horses stolen from Constantinople Venice: A New History and brought to the city to be displayed in St. The greatest and most famous example of this style is the Ducal Palace, the residence of the Doge, which stands in that same style to this day. With a vast amount of money coming into the city via and banking, Venice also benefited from a great amount of patronage of the arts during the , as wealthy merchants and guilds hired famous painters such as Venice: A New History or to adorn their private chapels and public meeting places with scenes of ancient and modern significance. This was an offshoot of the Venetian fear of despotic rulers, and as a result Venetians were reluctant to extol the virtues of one man too much. With this wealth of unique pictorial and architectural styles, in the 19th century Venice was a required stop on the Grand Tour, a cultural tour of Europe that young English gentleman would take as a capstone experience to their education to expand their horizons, perfect their foreign languages and learn more Venice: A New History the cultures of Europe. While the preservation efforts have been generally successful, changes in the climate have led to problems with flooding and erosion within the city, also making it more of a risk to continue living there. The end result of this preservational work is a modern Venice that has become closer to a living museum than an actual city. Venice has become overrun with, but also economically dependent on tourists, and its citizens have developed a love-hate relationship with them as a result, because their presence makes it harder and harder for citizens to live in the city. These difficulties are evident in the drop in the population of the city, which stood atin and shrank to 55, by Madden Venice: A New History that who still live in the city sometimes describe it more as living in an amusement park like Disney World than an actual city, and this comparison, as he explains, might be more on the nose than one might initially think. Madden points out that foreign visitors and chasing of their money is part of what Venice has always been. It is a city established by refugees from an ancient world, who made their money through trading across the world for rare luxury goods, and in return brought pieces of that world back to their homes. Also much like Disney, Venetians, as merchants have always focused on profits, and while the industries have changed from trade to tourism, much like Disney, whatever can turn a profit can work for the city. Please Note: The photos in this review are my own from when I visited Venice in undergrad during my time studying abroad. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Skip to content Books and Re views. He took that as an omen and destroyed the city that day. The most valuable commodity for Venice in its beginning was the they harvested from the sea, which would be a commodity of enduring importance for the city. When Venetian merchants smuggled St. When Muslim inspectors came on the boat to look for the body they immediately fled at the sight of the raw pork. Doge Pietro I Orseolo is the Venice: A New History Doge to be canonized. He abdicated the dogeship after two years in office inleaving in the night for the monastery of St. Michael of Cuxa in the Pyrenees. Portions of that monastery are now in The Cloisters museum in New York. During the First Crusade on the way to Jerusalem Venetian crusaders stopped to steal the bones of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors not grave robbers in Myra, for whom they had already built a church to house them in. The Venetians found out the citizens of had already stolen St. They found another group of bones there which they believed to be St. Nicholas, and modern analysis would show surprisingly that these bones were from the same man whose bones the people of Bari took. This was in recognition of a series of events in which the Patriarch of Aquileia led an attack on Venice, and in retaliation the Doge led a counter attack, capturing the Patriarch and 12 of his canons. Venice: A New History – Books and (Re)views

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Venice by Thomas F. Madden Goodreads Author. He sets these in the context of the rise and fall of the , the endless waves of to the Holy Land, and the awesome power of Turkish sultans. Get A Copy. Venice: A New Historypages. More Details Venice Italy. Other Editions 6. Friend Reviews. To see Venice: A New History your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Veniceplease Venice: A New History up. Venice a New History covers 5th century to today--can anyone suggest a title that recreates Venice today as vividly? See 1 question about Venice…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Venice: A New History. I never understood Venice before. Everything I read always said "Venice is different" or "except for Venice", and when I was there I was struck by how much it wasn't Western Venice: A New History, and I have read a bunch of stuff about it before, but it took reading this to make me understand. Venice isn't actually part of European civilization. It's a sibling civilization, also a descendant of our common Roman parent, but a completely different evolution. The Venetians fled from civilization to the Venice: A New History I never understood Venice before. They looked to Byzantium and then took over Byzantium and nobody understood them Venice: A New History not the only one and there they were for a thousand years, a Republic with the , right next to Italy and the Empire and also the Adriatic and looking East. Fascinating city, fascinating book, highly recommended. View 1 comment. Jul 20, hoffnarr rated it it was ok Shelves: history. It does the job. There are lots of great anecdotes, the major periods are covered, and it is an easy, fun read that is written well. There is a habit, throughout, however, of Venice: A New History Venice as an organic, living body, with a relatively undifferentiated populace despite the recurring theme of shifts in power relations between doge, elites, etc. Adjectives are attributed to the whole, and its history told in the style of a Venice: A New History history of the rise and fall of some great monumental creature It does the job. Adjectives are Venice: A New History to the whole, and its history told in the style of a national history Venice: A New History the rise and fall of some great monumental creature. While Madden occasionally points out where one should be skeptical of popular tales, in other places, he doesn't see any trouble in describing events, speeches, and individual acts with a confident voice that we cannot possibly know with any certainty. The aspect I found most frustrating however, is the book's habit of constantly acting as an apologist for Venice. We Venice: A New History constantly told how everyone has misunderstood poor Venice. Its surveillance institutions like the bucche were not oppressive, its justice system fair, its political institutions were really republican, its benevolent elites acted on behalf of the people, its plucky capitalists so progressive in comparison to those tired old landed elites in the rest of Italy, and so on. Madden writes with little Venice: A New History or comparison with other republican experiments in the world indeed sometimes you are left with the impression there were none. It is a story which would make the historical elites of Venice proud. The period Venice: A New History the coming of Napoleon, naturally, is really a sad afternote. Now that the great has fallen, the rest of the book seems to merely go through the motions. Jun 21, Louise rated it it was amazing Shelves: italyvenice. As the story of Venice unfolds with each chapter you can see that this author knows and loves his subject. Without the Roman army to protect them, residents of the were vulnerable. When the invaded the lands at the north end of the Adriatic Sea, the residents fled to the islands of the lagoon. Thomas Madden shows how due to the unique geography these refugees started an unusual nation. With no land for farming Venetians escaped and developed a complex democracy, mu As the story of Venice unfolds with each chapter you can see that this author Venice: A New History and loves his subject. With no land for farming Venetians escaped feudalism and developed a complex democracy, much more inclusive than the other on the Italian peninsula. To survive they needed food and hence became masters of trade. Venice: A New History were early capitalists, in a world of controlled economies became extraordinarily wealthy. Venice as an independent republic lasted over years, ending with Napoleon as Emperor who was determined to make Venice a republic which it already was and free political prisoners and there were none. The history is rich and lively. Venice survived the , lead and contributed to Crusades and created great works in the Renaissance. Today its population is declining while the streets are filled with tourists who fuel the economy. It's aging infrastructure, built at sea level faces major challenges. I'd like to see more books like this that provide history in a readable way. It takes knowledge and talent to distill Venice: A New History of years of people and events and create a readable narrative. Madden Venice: A New History succeeds. View 2 comments. Dec 21, Bettie rated it liked it Shelves: publishednonfictionwinterhistoryitalyunderratingsfraudioflowery-languagearchtbr-busting This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. View all 11 comments. Aug 12, Bob H rated it it was amazing Shelves: historymaritime-naval-historysocial-history. A succinct, vividly-written, and sweeping on the lagoon, and, moreover, of the of Venice that dominated Mediterranean trade for centuries. It's a new history, more compact than the magisterial history of Venice by , but goes further by telling the history of Venice from the fall of the Republic in to Bonaparte, and brings it up to the present day. This book also tells us of the city's contributions to art, literature, cinema and th A succinct, vividly-written, and sweeping history of the city on the lagoon, and, moreover, Venice: A New History the Most Serene Republic of Venice that dominated Mediterranean trade for centuries. This book also tells us of the city's contributions to art, literature, cinema and the Grand Tour -- indeed, its long relationship to world tourism from on. It's Venice: A New History in its story, not just of a beautiful city, but of the Most Serene Republic that built it over a milennium, and its unique and separate identity: in a medieval Italy fraught with intramural and dynastic strife, the Republic was remarkably stable and worldly. Highest recommendation. Listened to on Audible. A comprehensive history of Venice from its founding to the modern day. The book does a good job, I believe, separating the myth from the fact. Particularly good discussion of its early years beforeespecially regarding the and Venice's relations with Constantinople. The history correctly traces its decline to the rise of the age of exploration. The author could be criticized for an uncritical view of Venice and its institutions. I felt the author's d Listened to on Audible. I felt the author's defense of contemporary attacks on Venice's piety were persuasive Venice was a leading Crusader but got tired of being left holding the bag and when other European powers failed to uphold their end of the bargainbut found his response to Enlightenment-era attacks that the government was Venice: A New History and "the 10" a terrifying secret police unpersuasive. With those caveats, this book is worth reading or listening to. Jun 20, Susan rated it really liked it. Picked this up on a whim and was initially bored: too many dates, not enough people. But Venice: A New History really got into it. The author argues that Venice was not the oligarchy most have assumed because there were no hereditary rulers but an elected Doge whose sons could not inherit his position. Elections were carried Venice: A New History by an elaborate series of committees working one after another, organized in such a way that no one person could either dominate or or form a clique to so. Furthermore there were multiple w Picked this up on a whim and was initially bored: too many dates, not enough people. Furthermore there were multiple ways in which common people could work themselves into the governing bodies so Venice was not just a rich man's empire. Thomas F. Madden - Wikipedia

Uh-oh, Venice: A New History looks like your Internet Explorer Venice: A New History out of Venice: A New History. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. NOOK Book. He breathes life into Venetian history in all its subtle complexity, rescuing the Venetians from the common stereotype of one-dimensional merchants. This book is a fantastic read. Home 1 Books 2. Add to Wishlist. Sign in to Purchase Instantly. Members save with free shipping everyday! See details. Its breathtaking architecture, art, and opera ensure that Venice remains a perennially popular destination for tourists and armchair travelers alike. Yet most of the available books about this magical city are either facile travel guides or fusty academic tomes. In Venice Venice: A New History, renowned historian Thomas F. About the Author Thomas F. He has written and lectured extensively on the ancient and medieval Mediterranean as well as the and Islam. Show More. Related Searches. Abraham Lincoln. The ideal concise biography of an American - now available in paperback for the bicentennial The ideal concise biography of an American icon- now available in paperback for the bicentennial of his birth The self -mad e man from a log cabin, the great orator, the Emancipator, the Savior of the Union, the martyr-Lincoln's story View Product. I basically wanted to further enlighten the collective consciousness of the people with the Kemtic I basically wanted to further enlighten the collective consciousness of the people with the Kemtic Venice: A New History of the mind, body,spirit and soul which is already locked up in our genetic makeup called DNA. This collection of notes, documents, artifacts,and Aunt Dimity and the Widow's Curse. Nancy Atherton's twenty-second cozy mystery in the beloved, nationally bestselling Aunt Dimity series. It's early It's early April in the small English village of Finch. Lori Shepherd's husband and sons are spending Easter break camping, and Lori is perfectly happy to be Bleeding Edge. A New York Times besteller! It is in , in the lull between It is in New York City, in the lull between the collapse of the dot-com boom Venice: A New History the terrible events of September 11th. Silicon Alley is a ghost town, Web 1. Here Today, Gone Tamale. In this all-new culinary cozy mystery series, reporter turned Tex-Mex waitress Josie Callahan is about Lust for Life. Rewriting Monday. Reporter Pepper Malone moved to Bailey, Texas, after a news story nearly got her killed. Now she wants Penguin Publishing Group.