Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages

by Dan Jones

The city nicknamed La Serenissima had not even existed during Roman times, but during the sixth century a settlement developed around the lagoon and its islands. Initially it was ruled from Constantinople (via the Exarchate of Ravenna), but by the ninth century the doges of Venice had shaken off Byzantine oversight and started to build up their independent power along the shores of the Adriatic. In their early days the Venetians manufactured salt and glass, but as the Middle Ages wore on, they found there was better business to be done as professional middlemen, who took advantage of their blessings of geography and the necessity of making a living without any farmlands to fall back on, to link together the markets of Arab north Africa, Greek Byzantium, and the Latin west, importing and exporting commodities and luxury goods.