to the north of the Hadriatic threatened to interrupt the peaceful development of Venice and to rob the Empire of a valuable possession. The bishops of Istria were subject to the Patriarch of Grado. When Charles conquered Istria (A.D. 787-788), he transferred them to the. See of Aquileia ; he had already promised the Pope to submit to his spiritual dominion both Istria and Venetia (A.1). 774). At Grado he will in adherent in the Patriarch himself, who, however, pain the penalty for his treason to the Empire. The young Duke Maurice sailed tu Grado and hurled the Patriarch from the pinnacle of a tower (c. A.1). 802). This act of violence did A.D.

, not help the government; it gave a pretext to the disattected. Fortunatus, a friend of Charles the Great, was elected Patriarch (A.1). 803), iltid with some Venetians, who were opposed to the yovernment, he seceded to Treviso, and then went by himself to Charles, with whom he discussed plans for overthrowing the Imperial Dukes. The disloyal party at Treviso elected a certain Obelierius to the Dukedom; the loyal Dukes fled; ind Obelierius with his adopted brother took unhindered possession of the government in Malamocco.

This revolution (A.D. 804) was a rebellion against Constantinople, and the new Dukes signalized their hostility to the Empire by a maritime attack on the Imperial province of Dalmatin. At first they seem to have contemplated the design of making their Stute independent both of the Frank und of the Greek, for they refused to allow Fortunatus, the confidential friend of Charles, to return to Cradlo.'

But they soon abandoneil this idea as impracticable; they submitted unreservedly to the Western potentute and visited him at his Court (Christins, A.D. 805). lle conforred upon them the Duchy of Venetia as a fief, and when he divided the Empire prospectively among his sons (Feb. A.). 806) he assigned Venetia, Istria, and Dalmatia to Pippin.?

It is not improbable that in making this submission Venice hoped to induce Charles to remove the embargo which he had placed upon her trade in A.1). 787, but if she counted on this, she was disappointed. It may be that Charles himself did not calculate on the permanent retention of Venetia, and it belonged to his Empire for little more than a year. In

Seu Kretschmayr, 55-50. ? Simson, kirl, 317. 3 Lentz, i. 32.

the spring of A.D. 807 the Emperor Nicephorus dispatched a fleet to re all the rebellious dependency to its allegiance. The patrician Nicetas, who was in command, encountered no resistance; the Dukes submitted ; Obelierius was confirined in his office and created a spathar; his brother' was carried as a hostage to Constantinople along with the bishop of Olivolo. Fortunatus, who had been reinstated at Grado, fled to Charles. Thus Venice was recovered without bloodshed. Pippin,

, who, with the title of King, was ruling Italy, was unable to interfere because he wis powerless at sea, and he concluded u truce with the Byzantine admiral till August 808. But the trial of' strength between the Western and the Eastern power's was only postponeid. Another Greek fleet arrivedl, under the priatrician Paulus, stratégos of Kephallenia, wintered in Venice, and in spring (809) attacked Comacchio, the chief market of the lo traile, The attack wils repelled, and l'aulus treated with Pippin, but the negotiations were frustrated by the intrigues of the Dukes, who perhaps silw in the continuanco of hostilities it means for establishing their own independence between the two rival powers. Paulus departed, and in the intuiu l'ippin descended upon Venetia in force. lle attacked it from the north and from the south, both by land and loy

Ilis operations lasted through the winter. In the north he took Heracliana, in the south the fort of Broncolo on the Brentil; then Chioggia, Palestrina, and Albiola ;s finally Malunocco. The Dukes seem to have fallen into his hands, and it yearly tribute was imposed" (A.). 810). Paulus again appeared on the scene, but all he could do was to save Dalmatia fruin an attack of Pippin's flect.

The news quickly reached Constantinople, and Nicephorus selit Arsaphios, iin ollicer of spathar rank, to negotiate with Pippin. When he arrived, the King was dend (July 810), and he proceeded to Aachen (October)."

Charles was now in it better position to bargain for his recognition as Imperator than seven years before. He had

at valuable consideration to offer to the monarch of i Beatus; he returned to Venice, with the title of hypatos, in 808 ; and Constantine, ib., describes the he and Obulierius adopted their brother siege of Malamocco, which lie Huys l'alentine as a third co-regent Duko. lasted six months, : Lentz., i. 37.

'Außudas (Constantine, De ruim. • Cp. Ann. r. . p. 133.

NOW

imp. 124).

5 lb.

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Constantinople, and he proved, by what he was ready to pay, how deeply he desired the recognition of his title. He agreed to restore to Nicephorus Venetia, Istria, Liburnia, and the cities of Dalmatia which were in his possession. He entrusted to Arsaphios a letter to the Emperor, and handed over to him the Duke Obelierius to be dealt with by his rightful lord." Arsaphios, who was evidently empowered to make a provisional settlement at Venice, returned thither, deposed the Dukes, and caused the Venetians to elect Agnellus Parteciacus, who had proved his devotion and loyalty to the Empire (Spring 811).

In consequence of the death of Nicephorus in the same year, the conclusion of pence devolved upon Michael I. He

lle agreed to the projrositls, his ambassadors saluted Charles as Emperoradisileus--at Aachen (812), and Charles, who had at last attained the desire of his heart, signed the treaty. The other copy Wils signed by the successor of Michnel and received by the successor of Charles (814)." This transaction rendered valid retrospectively the Imperial election of A.1). 800 at Rome, and, interpreted strictly and logically, it involved the formal union of the two sovran realms. For the recognition of Charles als Basileus meant that he was the colleague of the Emperor at Constantinople; they were both Roman Emperors, but there could be, in theory, only one Roman Empire. In other words, the Act of A.D. 812 revived, in theory, the position of the fifth century. Michael I. and Charles, Leo V. and Lewis the Pious, stood to one another as Arcadius to Honorius, ils Valentinian III. to Theodosius II. ; the imperium Romanum stretched from the borilers of Armenia to the shores of the Atlantic. The union, of course, was nominal, iind glaringly unreal, and this lias disguised its theoretical significance. The bilses of the civilizations in cist and west were now so different, the interests of the monarchs were so diveryont, that there could be no question of even a formal co-operation ---of issuing laws, for instance, in their joint names. And even if closer

intimacy had been possible, there was no goodwill on the purt of Constantinople in conceding the Imperial dignity, for which a substantial price had been paid. Nor did the Eastern Emperors consider that the concession was permanent. It became hereafter i principle of their policy to decline to accord the title of Basileus to the Western Emperor, unless they required his assistance or had some particular object to gain. Thus in diplomatic negotiations they haul the advantage

. of possessing a consideration cheap to themselves, but valıunblo to the other party.

To return to Venice, the treaty between the two sovran powers contained provisions which were of high importance for the subject state. The limits of its territory were probably defined; the embaryo on its trade in the empire of Charles was at last removed ; and its continental possessions, in the borders of Frankish Italy, were restored to it, on the condition of paying a yearly tribute of about £1550 to the Italian king.' Commercially, this treaty marks the beginning of a new period for Venices; it laid the foundations of her mercantile prosperity.

Not so politically ;? the state of things which had existed before the Frankish intervention was restored. The Venetians gladly acquiesced in tlie rule of Constantinople. They had felt the conquest of Pippin as it profound humiliation; their historians afterwards cast a veil over it. Their long and obstinate defence of Malamocco showed their repugnance to the Franks. A Greek writer tells us that, when Pippin called upon them to yiell, they replied, “We will be the subjects of the Emperor of the Romans, not of thee.” This, at all events,

, expresses their feeling at the time. There are signs that during the following years the Imperial government manifested a closer and more constant interest in Venetian affairs and perhaps drew the reins tighter. Two yearly tribunes were appointed to control the Duke On the accessions of Leo V. and Michael II., Agnellus sent his son and his grandson to

1 Constantinople to offer homage. The Venetians were also called upon to rendor active aid to the Imperial fleets against the pirates of Dulinatiu who infested the Hadriatic and against the Saracens in Sicilian waters.

The Frankish occupation was followed by a change which crented modern Venice, The Duke Agnellus moved the seat of government from Malamocco to the Rivus Altus (A.1). 811), and in these islands a city rapidly grew which was to take the place of Torcello us a centre of commerce, and to overshadow Grado in riches and art.? The official house of Agnellus stood on the site of the Palace of the Doges, and hard by, occupying part of the left side of the later Church of St. Mark, arose the Chapel of St. Theodore, built by a wealthy Creek. The Emperor Leo V. himself took an interest in the growth of the Rialto; he founded at his own expense, and sent Cirock masons to build, the nunnery of S. Zaccarin, which stands further to the east. Soon afterwards St. Mark, perhaps replacing St. Theodore, became the patron saint of Venice. leo V. hud issued an edict forbidding the merchants of his empire to approuch the ports of the infidels in Syrin and Keypt. This command was enforced by the Dukes; but notwithstanding, about A.1). 828, some Venetian traders put in at Alexandria, and stole what they supposed to be the corpse of Mark the Evangelist. When the precious remains, which Aquilein vainly claimed to possess, reached the Rialto, they were hidden in it secret place in the Duke's house until a fitting shrine should be prepared to receive them. The Duke Justinian bequeathed money for the building, and before seven year's had passed, the first Church of St. Mark had been reared between the Chapel of St. Theodlore and the ducal palace, by Greek workmen, a purely Byzantine edifice. The Cathedral of

" S. Piero in the south-eastern extremity of Castello was erected in these years, which also witnessed the building of S. Ilario,