Venice and Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages

Pre-requisites: -

Course objectives: Furthering knowledge about the specific role played in the region of Southeastern Europe by Venice, as a characteristic political, military, economic, and cultural factor whose activities are particularly well-covered by first-rate source materials.

Course description: Lectures provide students with detailed knowledge about the history of Venice as a specific political and economic phenomenon in medieval Europe, and about the expansion of its role and influence in Southeastern Europe. Special attention is devoted to its interaction with indigenous factors, especially the Byzantine Empire and Serbia, its rivalry with Genoa, and the way it dealt with the Turkish threat. In practical classes, key events and processes presented during lectures are more closely examined based on sources, through maximum use of the opportunities for in-depth analysis offered by the large quantity of preserved source material in the form of official Venetian government records.

Learning Outcomes: Developing a consciousness about the specific importance of the presence of Venice in Southeastern Europe, as well as detailed knowledge about its activities in the region, interaction with indigenous factors, and the long-term consequences of those processes.

Literature/Reading:

• F. Thiriet, La Romanie vénitienne au Moyen Age : le développement et l’exploitation du domaine colonial vénitien (XIIe-XVe siècles), Paris 1959.
• F. Thiriet, Régestes des délibérations du Sénat de Venise concernant la Romanie. T. 1–3, Paris 1959–1965.
• K. Bek, Istorija Venecije, Beograd 1998.
• R. Ćuk, Srbija i Venecija u 13. i 14. veku, Beograd 1986.
• G. M. Thomas, Diplomatarium Veneto-Levantinum : sive Acta et Diplomata res Venetas Graecas atque Levantis illustrantia. 1-2, New York s.a.
• G. Benvenuti, Le repubbliche marinare, Roma 1989.
• D. Nicol, Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations, Cambridge 1992.