International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Chiara Frison
Mira, Italy; 
[e-mail]
The Account of Byzantium and Its Fall in the 
Cronicha
of Giorgio Dolfin
In the 
Cronicha
dela nobil cità de Venetia et dela sua provintia et destreto 
(origins-1458), 
Giorgio Dolfin often describes the relationships between Byzantium and Venice, “altera Byzantium”, 
and mentions events concerning Byzantine history. Worthy of note, it is his account of the Ottoman 
conquest of Constantinople which was a severe blow for both the Christendom and the Venetian 
economic interests in the Levant. For example, he narrates how Emperor Manuel I Comnenus 
(1143-1180) often read the book of Daniel, which predicted the future of the empire of Romania 
and also prophesied its end. His description of Constantinople is full of pathos and is one of the few 
cases where author mentions his sources.
The goal of this paper is to examine how Giorgio Dolfin recounted this episode and how 
scholars have used the information this chronicler provided in his work.
Katerina B. Korrè
Athens, Greece; 
[e-mail]
Stradioti 
Mercenaries of Venice and the 
Virtual Library of Venetian Chronicles
: 
A Case-Study
Writing history has always been a matter of great importance for Venice. The state tried either 
directly, by implicating the constitutional bodies, or through developing specific administrative 
organs, to manipulate the construction of the public image as well as the public’s memory. Through 
the existing formal historiographical 
opere
, emerges the image of the 
Serenissima
triumphant over the 
historical time, -a function which results in a perpetual legalization of the chosen political system, as 
a result of a “natural” process. Next to this sort of “official history” which deals with the big picture, an 
“non-official” historiography flourished as well: 
diarii, memorie, lettere storiche, commentarii
, etc. These 
historical works have the advantage of allowing forms of micro-history to invade between the lines of 
narration, usually concerning mainly scenes from the martial fronts. It is in these forms of narration 
that we find valuable pieces of information concerning the 
stradioti
, a light-armed mercenary cavalry 
of Venice which played a distinguished role during the 15
th
-16
th
century.
The Venetian term 
stradioti
is a 
terminus technicus
; originating from the late byzantine times 
(στρατιώται) these Greek, Greek-albanian horsemen were recruited during the late 14
th
and 15
th
century in the Despotate of Morea to meet the demographic and defensive needs of the region. After 
the Ottoman takeover of 1460, a large number of them resorted to the Venetian colonies of Morea. 
Later, they were used as frontline troops in the Venetian colonies of Albania, Dalmatia, the north 

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Venetian front (Friuli, Istria) and mainly at the wars of the 15
th
century which enlarged the Venetian 
mainland (1494-1530). During the 16
th
century and after the conflicts in the Italian mainland, a 
large number of these cavalrymen remained in Venice while others were vanished integrated by the 
local communities they were ordered to serve; in the Dalmatian possessions, Cyprus and Crete, the 
Ionian Islands.
The two centuries’ presence of the 
stradioti
is discussed, often with admirable clarity, by the 
“official” and mainly by the “non-official” Venetian historiography. Taking advantage of a discussion 
concerning a 
Virtual Library of Venetian Chronicles
, I build up the image of the 
stradioti
as it 
emerges from my own research data derived from the relevant Venetian chronicles. This case-study 
takes advantage of the hidden
 
structure of the Venetian chronicles especially among the “formal” 
historiographical texts and the “informal” - type of 
diari, memorie 
(e.g. G. Priuli’s, 
Diarii
; Da Porto’s, 
Lettere
; D. Malipiero’s, 
Annali Veneti
or M.Sanudo’s, 
Le Vite dei Dogi
).
Lastly, towards the consolidation of the use of the texts in their digital form, we propose the 
extension of the base by developing a link referring to relevant byzantine originated chronicles 
existing in the Italian libraries, which provide information for the Venetian history; a reverse-
function of the existing base which could be used independently as well.