MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL Published periodically by the MERCURY STAMP COMPANY 10 East 40th Street, New York 16, N.Y. Edited by Edwin Mueller No. 52 Copyright, 1959, by Edwin Mueller DECEMBER. 1959 EUROPEAN CLASSICS xxv. LOMBARDY·VENETIA *) Romans started to expand to the Po yalley, The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia cYcntualty crossing the river and driving LOIJ~bar<lo-Veneto ill the Italian Language back thc Celts who fought valiantly for of its population-was a creatiOIL of the theil' homes. In 222 B.C., the Romans Vienna COllgress of 1815. During its stamp stormed the Celt capital, MediolanuUl (now issuing period, it was an integral part of Milano) and subjugated the whole territory. tJ1C Austrian Monarchy, but under separate It became pn.rt of the Roman Republic as admiIustration. Taking up the northeastern Gallia 'l'r:mspadena, and its inhabitants part of the Italian peninsula, the alps gaincd full Roman citizenship in 49 B.C. formed it-s natural northern border, the Lmler Caesar) the western part wn.s joined 'I'icino river was the western and the Po to PiemOllt as the lIth regioll, wlule the river the southern border, while the Aclriatic eastern part, consisting of Venetia and Sea was the easterll limit. On land, it Istria, formed the 12th region. During the hordered to the west Oll Sardinia, to the fourth century, :d:ediolanum was the resi­ south 011 Pa.rma, Modena and Romagll:t., dence of the Western Emperors. After the the latter until 1859 belonging to the downfall of the Roman Empire, the territory Rom:lIl States, to the north on the Swiss w.as frequently im'aded from the north; in cantons of Tieillo and GraubUnden, as well 539, :1(cdiolallum was completely destro)'cd as on the Austrian provinces of Tyrol, by the Goths. The frequent im'asions e"cn­ Carinthia ,alld thc Coastal Proviucc. Lom­ tuall~' lcl to thc founding of thc city of bardy ancl Venetia wcrc of almost equal Yenicc in the middle of the fifth century size, each comprisillg about 9400 squarc by refugees from the mainland. It was miles. Lombardy was more dCllSC]Y popu­ recognized as a community in 584. A re­ lated, it had 3,900,000 inhabitants in 1854 publicllll go,-ernment was established and against Venctia's 2,494,000. In 1859, Aus­ tile first doge, as the chief magistrate was tria lost Lombardy to Sardinia except for c<tlled, elected in 697. At first, all the a small portion cast of the river Miucio, islan(~s along the Adriatic coast were settled, the so-called Malltovtluo. In 18G6, Venetia. but later the population concentrated Oil the and the M:.t1ltovano wcre ceded to the newlJ present site of the city. In the eighth century, formed Kingdom of Italy, ending the stamp the seat of the governmcnt was definitely L'lsuillg period of the tcrritory.-'l'he capibl cstablished 011 the islands of the so-called of Lombardy was Milano (ifilan), which Rialto. The importance of Venice, which in had ubout 160,000 inhn.bit..'\nts in 1859, that 810 had become part of the Eastern Empire, of Veuetia was VeneZia (Veniee), with a grew, but it took almost 200 years to COIl­ population of about 125,000 in 1866. solidate the republic. Slowly it also extended The History of the territory which later became Lombardy-Venetia. goes back to the The Mercury Stdmp Journdl is sent regularly pl'ehistoric period, but as a defined region, to friends end customers of the MERCURY its history starts during the Roman Emphe. STAMP COMPANY free of charge. Others At tlwt time, the territory wn.s inhabited by may obtain four consecutive numbers upon Celtic tribes. In the third century B. C., the payment of $1_00. Bound Volumes III and IV *) See also III. AUSTRIA, in Volwme II, (Nos. 25 to 36 and 37 to 48, ellch with index) $5.00 each. bock numbers (llvoilable pages 77 et seq., to wMcl~ we refer freqmmtly. Nos. 12,30-39.41-51) 25c each. MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL 13 its influence to the other side of the Adriatic two republics broke out in 1426, lasting to and in 1000 captured Dalmatia. The import­ 1429. Milan was defeated and lost part of its Ullce of Venice as a seafaring power tel'l'itory to the Uepublic of Venice. The increased steadily when major trade I'outes extonsion of the latter cnded is 1484, when to the Levant and to the Middle Eust were it had a.nnexed a considerable part of the created. It now was the undisputed "Queen territorj' of Milan to the river Adda. This of the Adriatic". An aristocrac)' developed W<lS the farthest extension of the Republic and C3.ll1e to power in the republicJ which of Venlce on the mainltlud, but it held on broke with the Eastern Empire in 1171. A to it until the eJl(l of the republic. Venice "Great Council", the "Serenissima Signoria", continue<l to conceutrate all expansion and was crooted to govern the republic; it also in 1488 acquired the island of Cyprus_ It elected the doge. More and more, the power was now in command of the main trade was concentrated in the hands of a few routes to the Orient and at the height of families, and the regime became definitely its power. But tbe deeline started soon after. oligarchic in 1296. The might of the repUblic The newl)' discovered route around the Cape grew, it became rich and its trade flourished. of Good Hope diverted much trade, and Its fleets ruled the eastern part of the Yellice's influence suffered badly. In 1508, ::\fediterrallean Sea, while the western part the European powers dceided to divide the was the domain of the equally powerful possessions of the ailing republic, and they Republic of Genoya. In 1204, the Venetian were l'ictorious in 1510, ocenpying the entire fleet captured Constantinople and established Venetian territory except the islands and the Latin Empire there. Consequently, the lagoons. Nevertheless, Venetian rule was republic gained possession of a number of e\'elltually restored everywhere, in exchange islands in the Aegean Sea and of the coasts for help against the Turks who were starting of Thcssaly and Epirus, as well as of the to menace Central Europe. Venice led four Iouitlll Islands. It also bought the island of greflt wtlrs, which ended in 1716, against the Crete. 'fhese successes made Geno\·a jealous, 'l'urks, with varying success, but evelltuall;y and it came to a long series of wars between lost nlmost all its overseas possessions, first the two repUblics which started in 1258 and Cyprus, then Crete and the other islands ended only in 1380. Venice became the de­ and coasts. Only the Ionian Islands, Dal­ finite victor and kept all its possessions. A matia and part of Istria remained. In the Patrician cnste had been formed which ruled meantime, in Milan, the Sforza family had the republic [Lg a dictatorship, suppressing come to power in 1450, but was ousted in all opposition with cruel methods. Until that 1535, and the territory became a dependency time, the £ol'l'itory of the republic in Italy of Spain until 1714, when it was handed over propel' had been l'estl'icted to the islands and to Austria under whose rule it remained lagoons 011 which Venice was built. In 1339, until 1796, as the Duchy of Milano. The the first expansion to the mainland started territor)" of Manto\Ta remained independent and, of course, soon led to conflicts with about two hundred years longer. In 1432, the powers established there. it had become a duchy under the rule of The territory of ::\filan had again become the Gonzaga family which remained in power important in the twelfth century, although for almost three hundred years. Eventually, it did not extend to all of Lombardy, the in 1708, the duchy was also annexed by territory of M:;a.ntoytl having its own govern­ Austria and from 1714 on governed together ment. lUJall was go\'erned by a council, the with the Duchy of Milano as one adminis­ llead of which was C<'llied "podesta", under trative unit. strong influence of the church. Here too, a Wben Xapoleon invaded Italy, it was rather number of noble families came to power and easJ for him to capture the territory of both ruled the cit)" and its territory. .An expan­ Duchies as well as the Venetian possessions sionist policy led to many wars. Under the 011 the mainland. On May 12,1797, Napoleon rule of the Visconti family it came to captured the city of Venice, forcing the last frequent wars between Milan and the equally doge to abdieate on October 17, 1797. The expanding RepUblic of Venice. In 1420, Duchies of Milano and Mantova, together Venice extended its borders to those of the with the Venetian possessions west of the territory of :lfi]an, and when the Venetians Ailige river, bccanle the Transpadane Repub­ iu\".aded the lntter, the first war between the lic, which shortly afterwards changed its MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL name to Ci&1lpine Republic, ·with Milano as eighteenth century, when the Duchy of capitnl. 'rhe Venetian territory east of the Milano together "''lith the Duchy of Mantova Adige river, together with Dalmatia and the came under Austrian sovereignty. The Venetian part of Istria, was ha.uded to Aus­ "Reichspost" of the Tassis family was put tria in the 1797 peace treaty of Campo in charge. The Tassis had in previous years FOl'mio.