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The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage Kindle Edition

by Jan Morris (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 85 ratings
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For six centuries the Republic of Venice was a maritime empire, its sovereign power extending throughout much of the eastern Mediterranean – an empire of coasts, islands and isolated fortresses by which, as Wordsworth wrote, the mercantile Venetians 'held the gorgeous east in fee'.

Jan Morris reconstructs the whole of this glittering dominion in the form of a sea-voyage, travelling along the historic Venetian trade routes from Venice itself to Greece, Crete and Cyprus. It is a traveller's book, geographically arranged but wandering at will from the past to the present, evoking not only contemporary landscapes and sensations but also the characters, the emotions and the tumultuous events of the past. The first such work ever written about the Venetian ‘Stato da Mar’, it is an invaluable historical companion for visitors to Venice itself and for travellers through the lands the Doges once ruled.

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  1. Print length
    212 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Penguin
  5. Publication date
    January 4, 1990
  6. File size
    2135 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002RI922U
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin; New Ed edition (January 4, 1990)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 4, 1990
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2135 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 212 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 85 ratings

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
85 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Stan
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2018
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I loved this book. I recently purchased several books on the Ventian Empire. I liked this one best of all. It examines the history of Venice -political, religious, military, geographical -through the prism of a sea voyage to venice's many ports of call. I kept going back and rereading stuff it is jammed with superb info interestingly written. Great little book and I mean it totally.!
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Alexander Suraev
4.0 out of 5 stars In a more restrained manner.
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2012
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The readers who found this text pompous should take on or revisit the author's "Venice". The "The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage" was written 20 years after Morris' most famous work and seemingly benefited from his drift towards a more restrained style. Yes, he slips into "virtuosity" now and then, but one is not likely to find here the feverish uber-eloquence that in 1960 made the author feel that some divine substance is trailing his pen.

This book gave me a very useful angle to look at the Venetian imperialist policy. The indignation at the Venice-led attack of Constantinople has become a trope in most of the texts describing the conquest, "Christians slaying Christians". The fact that the invaders and invaded belonged to the different creeds, Latin and Orthodox, just lingers somewhere on the margin. Morris brings it into the spotlight, and the overall picture looks a bit different now. A candidate to the Byzantine throne has promised the crusaders to lead the populace back to the Western Church. In a way the task of bringing the strayed flock into the hand of Rome could've been considered a mission no less worthy than fighting Muslims.

Also the description of the Venice's religious policies in her colonies was very revealing - the republic is considered to be a haven of tolerance, but evidently at the conquered maritime territories the people of different faith were not enjoying such a bliss. The pressure was less heavy on Jews and Gypsies here and there but only because these communities somehow made themselves almost immune to repression by contributing heavily to a colony's prosperity.

Well, as much as one is tempted to pass a moral judgement, to do so is infantile. Yes...the Venetians were not nice, and in a picture perfect world such a quaint and pretty city should have been breeding a better men, not these opportunistic adherents of Realpolitik. And if you have an interest in Venice that exceeds a plan of a 2-day visit to skim the sights, the books presenting a more accurate portrait of the republic and it's nation have a great value, "The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage" is definitely one of these.

P.S. I can't be sure about the book's accuracy in details, I have to take the author's word for it in all the instances except one: Morris writes that Peter the Great sent sea cadets to Dolmatia to become experienced sailors in 1626 - and the monarch was born in 1672. OK, it's almost nothing, it's not like putting some crucial event a century earlier or later, just lets hope there is not a lot of such lapses in the book.
5 people found this helpful
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History Buff
5.0 out of 5 stars The Venetian Empire:A sea Voyage
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2010
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This relatively short book is beautifully written, conveying the feeling of being a subject of the Serenissima. It explains exactly how Venice created its Empire, what it was like to live in many of the various elements of the Empire, the history of the area and the feeling of sailing throughout the Empire. The gradual loss of the Empire to the Turks, bit by bit, forms a large part of the story of course, but the dominant theme of the book is the strength and pride that being a part of the Empire provided. The author does not shy away from making value judgments about such varied characters as Enrico Dandolo and the martyr of Cyprus, Marco Antonio Bragadino.
We are leaving on a sea voyage of the Empire and it was therefore perfect for us, having already digested the wonderful history of Venice by John Julius Norwich, which, although providing extensive detail about Venice, doesn't provide as much information about the disparate parts of the Empire.
6 people found this helpful
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Christopher Nazzaro
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written book. A sheer joy
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2019
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I enjoy reading this sea voyage chapter by chapter. Maybe one day it will be come an amazing vacation!
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Tim McCormick
3.0 out of 5 stars Not an easy read, but accurate
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2014
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Very comprehensive and factual, however, not an easy read. Might have been more useful if focused on the bigger picture
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ruth kowal
4.0 out of 5 stars If you like history in detail than this is for you
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2015
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If you like history in detail than this is for you. I found the book informative and gave me an insight into historical events that I never knew about. The Italy that we know today was once ruled by powerful "City States". Venice was one of these. It's location and seafaring trade routes and connections to other parts of the world made it a player throughout history. It's collection of art works, some brought to Venice as booty, help you to understand how this region of present day Italy became the Venice we know today and how it affected the other countries around it.
One person found this helpful
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Nancy W. Walsworth
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2019
I read this book as preparation for a trip that includes a cruise from Athens to Venice. I am not very well informed on European history (at least before the 20th century), so was fascinated to learn how long Venice dominated that region of the Mediterranean world. Very well written.
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John the Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars Oh Dear - it must be me
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2011
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For the first time in over 25 previous enjoyable readings of this author's many books; I just did not like this book. I have been mentally stretched by some of her other works - notably I found Trieste And The Meaning Of Nowhere a bit of a melancholy struggle, and got as lost in the historically `learned' details as I did with Patrick Leigh Fermor's work Mani, but I eventually enjoyed reading both books. Venetian Empire however, failed to engage. I am puzzled as to why this should be so, and I suspect the problem lies with me as much as with the rather dislikable Venetians, robbing, plundering, consorting with Islam while betraying and deserting their Greek populations.

As I positively devoured her other works, particularly the Pax Britannica series and her travel narratives, I was looking forward to this book and feel an almost disloyal in having to recommend that any new Morris reader start with any of the other titles before delving into this heavy tome - and even the title deceived me, this is not a travel narrative, not a journey, and certainly not a voyage.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Greg Mayston
5.0 out of 5 stars Venice's Imperial Story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2017
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It's a beautiful read that brings Venice's history to life. Great for the repeat visitor who wants more depth than, say, the Rough Guide has space for. Very strong on La Serenissima's impact on its neighbours - presents the Agean islands and Constantinople in a new light and would be of interest to those travelling there also. Probably too personal and selective for the scholarly historian. Enjoyable, however, and if you haven't been to Venice, it'll make you want to go.
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Antonio
4.0 out of 5 stars Original and worth reading
Reviewed in Italy on December 23, 2013
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Excellent little book of Venitian History. The author imagines a voyage on the Venitian territories of the Mediterranean Sea.
Well writtiten it gives a fairly comprehensive idea of the "Stato da Mar" of the "Serenissima"
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GWEN
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Australia on August 3, 2014
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as usual a masterly history .up with her trilogy on British Empire
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Pierre Gauthier
4.0 out of 5 stars To Better Understand Venice
Reviewed in Canada on August 24, 2020
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With her trademark rich and vivid prose, Jan Morris describes a journey through what were at some point in time Venetian possessions in the Mediterranean. These are mainly small islands that were used to secure maritime trade with the Near East. Venice’s boast that it constituted “one quarter and one half of one quarter” of the Roman Empire may be judged a bit exaggerated by some!

The author interestingly links descriptions of the present sites with events that occurred there. She sheds interesting light on events such as the First Crusade and the Battle of Lepanto that are possibly obscure to many readers. Most interestingly, she points out how certain buildings and mementoes in Venice itself refer to her imperial past.

Though the book was written in 1980 and may appear a bit dated with references say to Yugoslavia, it proves to be enlightening to anyone interested in Venice. One could only wish that it presented more maps and illustrations … in colour.
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Nicholas Casley
4.0 out of 5 stars "Once did She hold the gorgeous East in fee..."
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2009
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The title of this review comes from Wordsworth's sonnet `On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic' that is quoted in Jan Morris's splendid introduction. Subtitled "A Sea Voyage", Jan Morris's book will undoubtedly and inescapably be compared with the more recent book (and TV series) by Francesco da Mosto. (Francesco's book on Venice itself in my opinion won hands down over Jan Morris's own.) But the two books also compliment each other too, not least in the fact that each covers areas that the other leaves out.

Originally published in an illustrated edition in 1980, this is a review of the Penguin edition of 1990, that has no illustrations whatsoever beyond the engravings (courtesy of Venice's Naval History Museum) of the towns and forts that the Venetians ruled and built. Alas, their reproductions are too small to be useful. There also is a map of the journey that Morris takes, but that of Venice itself is hopeless and requires a magnifying glass to view properly. This is all a great shame, because if this edition had had the same sumptuous plates that adorn Francesco da Mosto's book, then it would merit the full five stars. This is because it is so well written; one feels that one should breathe in deeply at each comma, to take time and savour the wonderful descriptions and the vivid tales. She has a marvellous way with words, such as Venice's own Saint Mark's Square, "Napoleon's finest drawing-room in Europe", being "really a lobby for the eastern Mediterranean."

At the start of the introduction, Morris writes that hers "is a traveller's book, geographically arranged, but space and time are jumbled in it and I have wondered at will from the landscapes and sensations of out day into events, suggestions and substances of the past." Morris points out that the Venetian empire was built purely on trade, "and was accordingly pragmatic to a fault ... The Venetians were exporting no ideology ... They had no missionary zeal."

The first chapter sets the scene with Venice poised for empire in 1202. Chapter two takes us straight to Constantinople and the Venetian attack of the succeeding two years. Today, "all life has gone though from old Byzantium: too many layers of history have been piled on top." The third chapter considers the Aegean islands with interesting tales to tell of conquest and neglect.

The arrival in, occupation of, and final expulsion from Crete is the subject of the fourth chapter; the same outline of history is told about Cyprus in the fifth. Cyprus is called the `bitter-sweet island', and Morris writes that the Venetians "were seldom happy" there. The Pelopennese of chapter six leads into the island of Corfu of chapter seven, "by general consent ... the most desirable station of the Venetian colonial service". It served as Venice's own Gibraltar, "this Hellenic island in the less of Islam".

The Dalmatian coast is the final destination, where Morris meditates on the profound cultural interconnectedness between Venice and its closest of maritime neighbours. A final chapter brings Morris back to Venice from her travels, bringing also the Venetian story up-to-date: "Much in this city falls more easily into place once you have travelled the imperial routes".

There are some errors that could have been corrected for the new edition; thus, for example, we have the French king Henry III arriving in Venice in "1374", two hundred years too early. And when she writes of the prospect over the Piazzetta from the Doge's Palace being "eastward", should it not be "westward"? But these are minor niggling points.

At the end, Morris has included a handy gazetteer since "so many of the Venetian possessions have changed their names", some more than once. A brief chronology is also provided as well as a short bibliography, but her "original research for this book consisted in the main of a protracted and indolent potter through the Venetian seas". Rarely has mere pottering produced such a fruitful bounty as this book.
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