

The Origins of the Early Medieval State - pepys
http://www.historytoday.com/paul-fouracre/origins-early-medieval-state

======
arca_vorago
I don't think you can discuss the Early Middle Ages, otherwise known as the
_Dark Ages_ without talking about what we now call Venice, the oligarchy of
which transplanted itself later into London, where it still resides to this
day.

"The islands of the lagoons provided an invulnerable refuge, comparable to
Switzerland during World War II, for Roman aristocrats and others fleeing the
paths of Goth, Hun, and Langobard armies. Already between 300 and 400 A.D.
there are traces of families whose names will later become infamous: Candiano,
Faliero, Dandolo. Legend has it that the big influx of refugees came during
the raids of Attila the Hun in 452 A.D. Various areas of the lagoons were
colonized, including the present site of Torcello, before the seat of
administration was fixed at a group of islands known as Rivus Altus (“the
highest bank”), later the Rialto, the present location of the city of Venice.
The official Ab Urbe Condita is March 25, 721 A.D. Paoluccio Anafesto, the
first ruler of the lagoon communities, called the doge (the Venetian
equivalent of Latin dux or Florentine duca/duce, meaning leader or duke), is
said to have been elected in the year 697.

The most significant fact of this entire period is that the whelp of what was
later to become Venice survived and grew thanks to its close alliance with the
evil Emperor Justinian in Constantinople, an alliance that was underlined in
later years by intermarriage of doge and other leading Venetian oligarchs with
the nobility of Byzantium, where a faction embodying the sinister traditions
of the Roman Senate lived on for a thousand years after the fall of Rome in
476.

Venetian families are divided into two categories. First come the oldest
families, or Longhi, who can claim to prove their nobility substantially
before the year 1000. The Longhi include many names that are sadly familiar to
the student of European history: Dandolo, Michiel, Morosini, Contarini,
Giustinian (perhaps related to the just- mentioned Byzantine emperor), Zeno,
Corner (or Cornaro), Gradenigo, Tiepolo, and Falier. These old families held a
monopoly of the dogeship until 1382, at which time they were forced to admit
the parvenu newcomers, or Curti, to the highest honor of the state. After this
time new families like Mocenigo, Foscari, Malipiero, Vendramin, Loredano,
Gritti, Dona, and Trevisan came into the ascendancy."

"between 180 and 280 AD, the empire collapsed. It was reorganized by Aurelian,
Diocletian, and Constantine with a series of measures that centered on banning
any change in the technology of the means of production, and very heavy
taxation. The Diocletian program led to the depopulation of the cities,
serfdom for farmers, and the collapse of civilization into a prolonged Dark
Age.

The Roman Empire in the West finally collapsed in 476 AD. But the Roman Empire
in the East, sometimes called the Byzantine Empire, continued for almost a
thousand years, until 1453. And if the Ottoman Empire is considered as the
Ottoman dynasty of an ongoing Byzantine Empire, then the Byzantine Empire kept
going until shortly after World War I. With certain exceptions, the ruling
dynasties of Byzantium continued the oligarchical policy of Diocletian and
Constantine.

Venice, the city built on islands in the lagoons and marshes of the northern
Adriatic Sea, is supposed to have been founded by refugees from the Italian
mainland who were fleeing from Attila the Hun in 452 AD. Early on, Venice
became the location of a Benedictine monastery on the island of St. George
Major. St. George is not a Christian saint, but rather a disguise for Apollo,
Perseus, and Marduk, idols of the oligarchy. Around 700 AD, the Venetians
claim to have elected their first doge, or duke. This post was not hereditary,
but was controlled by an election in which only the nobility could take part.
For this reason, Venice erroneously called itself a republic.

In the years around 800 AD, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, using the ideas
of St. Augustine, attempted to revive civilization from the Dark Ages. Venice
was the enemy of Charlemagne. Charlemagne’s son, King Pepin of Italy, tried
unsuccessfully to conquer the Venetian lagoon. Charlemagne was forced to
recognize Venice as a part of the eastern or Byzantine Empire, under the
protection of the Emperor Nicephorus. Venice was never a part of western
civilization.

Over the next four centuries, Venice developed as a second capital of the
Byzantine Empire through marriage alliances with certain Byzantine dynasties
and conflicts with the Holy Roman Empire based in Germany. The Venetian
economy grew through usury and slavery. By 1082, the Venetians had tax-free
trading rights in the entire Byzantine Empire. The Venetians were one of the
main factors behind the Crusades against the Muslim power in the eastern
Mediterranean."

~~~
pandesmos
What is that quote from? That was amazingly interesting and I want to read
more!

~~~
mafm
[http://www.abjpress.com/tarpv1.html](http://www.abjpress.com/tarpv1.html)

~~~
patfla
Ah - Webster Tarpley. Kind of nutty, lots of conspiracies, but some good
information nevertheless.

That said, the (very long) history of the Venetian Republic is both
fascinating and important. The city of Venice (in the lagoon) is built
entirely on wooden piles - astonishing both for the engineering and effort
involved. Both words bank and ghetto are from Venice. Etc. Bank was originally
a banca or bench on which proto-bankers or money lenders or whatever would
sit.

------
vondur
I believe most of the issues in Western Europe were due to the reorganization
of the Roman Empire by the Emperor Diocletian after the time period known as
the crisis of the third century. The reforms he implemented basically helped
turn the west to Feudalism. He tied people to the land, and forced people to
work in the same trade as their parents. He also tried to reform the economy
by fixing prices which of course didn't work out well. Since the coinage was
reduced to near nothing, people had to resort to barter, which I'm going to
guess stifles trade.

~~~
mmanfrin
He also saved the Empire from total disillusion and established a system that
might have led to stability had Constantine not broken up the Tetrarchy.

Also he did not 'tie people to the land', landowners did that as a means of
escaping paying taxes.

~~~
throwaway456489

      ...as a means of escaping paying taxes.
    

Taxes levied and enforced by an emperor.

