This article presents a detailed timeline of the history of the Republic of Venice from its legendary foundation to its collapse under the efforts of Napoleon.
4th century
395 - The Roman Empire is divided. The Western Roman Empire is encompassing the Praetorian prefecture of Italy, that includes the province of Venetia et Histria, centered in Aquileia.
5th century 421 - According to much later traditions, the city of Venice is founded on Friday, 25 March, by three consuls from Padua, with the establishment of a trading-post on the islands of the Rialto and the church of San Giacomo di Rialto. The account is found in some medieval chronicles, but not accepted by scholars, since settlements on Rialto were fully urbanized much later and transformed into Venice proper only since the first half of the 9th century. 452 – Attila the Hun, from central Asia, invades Italy and sacks Aquileia 466 – Representatives of the island communities meet in Grado to work out a rudimentary system of self-government through 12 tribunes elected annually. 476 – Fall of the Western Roman Empire, after the deposition of Romulus Augustulus by Odoacer, a military leader in Italy of east German descent. 493 – Odoacer is overthrown by Theodoric the Great, an Arian Christian who had received his education in Constantinople.
6th century 535 – Byzantine Emperor Justinian I launches the campaign which will become the Gothic War for the re-conquest of Italy 554 – The Gothic War ends with Byzantine victory: entire Italy is again under imperial rule, and governed as the Praetorian prefecture of Italy, that includes the province of Venetia et Histria, centered in Aquileia. 568 – Lombards, a Germanic tribe, invades Italy under King Alboin, and conquered Aquileia. Byzantine province of Venetia is reduced to coastal regions, and its administrative center is moved to Oderzo, while ecclesiastical center is moved from Aquileia to Grado. Bishop Paul of Altino hears “a voice from heaven” commanding him to climb to the top of a nearby tower and look to the stars for the path to where he must take his flock. They lead him to an island in the centre of the lagoon, later named Torcello “little tower” in memory of the one the bishop had climbed. The people of Concordia Sagittaria flee to Caorle The people of Padua choose Malamocco 584 – The remaining Byzantine territories of the Praetorian prefecture of Italy are reorganized into the Exarchate of Ravenna, that also includes the remanents of Byzantine Venetia.
7th century 639 – Byzantine Venetia is governed by magister militum Mauricius. Lombards capture Oderzo whose inhabitants flee to Cittanova which is renamed Heraclea in honor of the Byzantine Emperor.
697 According to later chronicles, a general assembly of all the peoples of the lagoons is called to Heraclea by the Patriarch of Grado and elects a single ruler in place of the twelve tribunes – Paolo Lucio Anafesto, but those accounts are not accepted by modern scholars. The newly erected Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello is consecrated.
8th century 712 – Lombard king Liutprand (712-744) ascends the throne. During his reign, Ravenna is briefly occupied by the Lombards for the first time, but soon recaptured to the Byzantines. The Terminatio Liutprandina regulates borders between Lombard and Byzantine possessions at Cittanova. Byzantine Venetia is governed by magister militum Marcellus. 726 – Byzantine emperor Leo III orders the destruction of icons. The lagoon communities rise up in rebellion. 726 or 727 – Paul, imperial Exarch of Ravenna, is assassinated; according to later chronicles, so is the second traditional doge Marcello Tegalliano. Orso from Eraclea is elected chief of the 12 tribunes. He is given the title of “dux” (which becomes "doge" in the local dialect). Orso is the first historically attested Doge of Venice (the third according to the legendary list which began in 697), having received the title “Ipato” or Consul by the Byzantine Emperor 737 – Assassination of Doge Orso Ipato and beginning of the five year “Interregnum” 742 – Teodato Ipato, Doge Orso Ipato’s son, is elected to be the next Doge. He transfers his seat of government from Heraclea to Malamocco on the Lido which is thought to be more easily defended. He rules as a sovereign. 751 Fall of Ravenna by the Lombards under King Aistulf ends the Exarchate of Ravenna The Exarch himself is killed. The last Frankish Merovingian monarch, Childeric III, is deposed and the Carolingian Pepin the Short is elected King 753 – Pepin the Short, son of Charles Martel (and the father of Charlemagne) invades Italy at the invitation of Pope Stephen II 755 – Doge Teodato Ipato is deposed and blinded by his successor, Doge Galla Gaulo 756 Doge Galla Gaulo is deposed and blinded by Doge Domenico Monegario The Francs, having driven out the Lombards, donate the territory of Ravenna to the Pope who claims the Exarch for himself. 764 In order to maintain necessary good relations with both the Byzantine Empire and the Franks, two tribunes are elected annually to limit ducal power. Doge Domenico Monegario, who becomes resentful of the two tribunes, is deposed, blinded, and exiled Doge Maurizio Galbaio, a well-born Heraclean who claims to descend from the Emperor Galba, is elected Doge 778 – Doge Maurizio Galbaio associates his son Giovanni with him in the Dogeship, thus allowing him to succeed his father without popular sanction or approval of his subjects c.780 – The Rialto Islands gradually become permanently settled, and on the island of Olivolo (modern-day Isola di San Pietro di Castello) the chapel of Saints Bacchus and Sergius is rebuilt and reconsecrated as the cathedral of St. Peter. It remained the cathedral of Venice for a thousand years, until the City was occupied by Napoleon at the end of the eighteenth century. c.788-790 – Byzantine Istria is annexed by the Franks Doge Maurizio Galbaio appoints his sixteen-year-old nephew Christopher bishop of Olivolo, but when the Patriarch of Grado refuses to consecrate him a flotilla of ships is sent to attack Grado, and there the elderly Patriarch of Grado is thrown to his death from a tower. The new Patriarch of Grado, Fortunatus, flees in exile to the court of Charlemagne at Aachen
9th century 803 – Opposition to the Galbaii family forces Doge Giovanni Galbaio, with his son Christopher to flee to Mantua 804 Obelerio degli Antenori is elected Doge and immediately associates his brother Beato to the Dogeship The exiled Patriarch of Grado, Fortunatus, returns to Venice from the court of Charlemagne at Aachen and proposes that, in return for his being re-instated at Grado, and the Doge's acceptance of the authority of Charlemagne (who was crowned Emperor of the West by the Pope on Christmas Day AD 800) the Venetians could count on the protection of the Franks when needed. Doge Obelerio degli Antenori accepts. 805 25 December (Christmas Day) – Doge Obelerio degli Antenori and his brother Beato do homage to Charlemagne in Aachen Doge Obelerio degli Antenori chooses a Frankish bride; Carola, the first Dogaressa 809 Venetian recognition of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West is seen as treachery by the Eastern Emperor in Constantinople and a Byzantine fleet sails up the Adriatic and attacks a Frankish flotilla at the port of Comacchio situated to the south of the Venetian Lagoon. It is defeated. Doge Obelerio and his brother Beato raise yet another brother, Valentino, to the Dogeship alongside them. It is one step too much for the Venetian people who rise up in opposition against them. Obelerio calls upon Charlemagne's son King Pepin of Italy installed at Ravenna to intervene on their behalf, as had been promised by the agreement of 804. 810 King Pepin of Italy with his army and cavalry sets out from his capital Ravenna to invade the Venetian capital Malamocco, situated on the Lido. But the inhabitants of the lagoon put up fierce resistance under the leadership of Agnello Participazio from Rialto. The siege lasts six months and Pepin's army is ravaged by the diseases of the local swamps and forced to withdraw. A few months later Pepin dies Doge Obelerio is deposed, and Agnello Participazio, who has defended Venice from the beginning, is chosen to replace him. Former Doge Obelerio degli Antenori spends the next two decades in exile in Constantinople 811 – Agnello Participazio is the eighth Venetian to hold the title of Doge. His Rialtine house on the present Campiello del Cason becomes the first Doge's Palace within the Venice we know today, soon to be rebuilt in stone next to the chapel of Saint Theodore which stood on the site now occupied by the Basilica of Saint Mark. 827 – Giustiniano Participazio is elected Doge 828 – Relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist arrive in Venice having been stolen from Alexandria in Egypt by the merchants Bono da Malamocco and Rustico da Torcello 829 – Giovanni I Participazio arrested, and tonsured (head shaved like monk) 832 – Former Doge Obelerio degli Antenori returns from two decades of exile in Constantinople with a band of faithful men to reclaim the Dogeship. He lands at Vigilia, near Malamocco, but the legitimate Doge, Giovanni Participazio, razes the two cities and kills Obelerio degli Antenori displaying his head in the market 837 – Pietro Gradonico assassinated, although in this case his successor arrests and executes the assassins 839 – The Venetian Navy conducts military operations against Croats, led by Mislav of Croatia, who sign a peace treaty with doge Pietro Tradonico 840 – Pietro's military assault on the Narentines fails Pactum Lotharii demonstrates Venice's independence from the Byzantine Empire by signing its own treaties Title of the Doge drops mention as province of the Byzantine Empire ( becomes 841 – The Republic of Venice sends a fleet of 60 galleys (each carrying 200 men) to assist the Byzantines in driving the Arabs from Crotone, but fail 846 – The Narentines breach Venice itself, and raid the neighbouring lagoon city of Caorle 864 – Orso I Participazio is elected Doge 881 – Giovanni II Participazio resigns due to poor health 887 – Narentines defeated Venetians near the town of Makarska, killing the Venetian doge Pietro I Candiano in open battle. Venetians start paying Croatian prince Branimir (879–892), an annual tribute for the right to travel and trade in the Adriatic Sea 888 – Pietro Tribuno is elected Doge
10th century 912 – Orso II Participazio is elected Doge 932 – Pietro II Candiano is elected Doge 939 – Pietro Participazio is elected Doge 942 – Pietro III Candiano is elected Doge 948 – With the weakening of Byzantium, Venice began to see Ragusa as a rival who needed to be brought under her control, but the attempt to conquer the city failed 959 – Pietro IV Candiano is locked in his palace with his son while it burned. 976 – Pietro I Orseolo resigned to become a Camaldolese hermit in Abbey of Sant Miguel de Cuxa in the Pyrenees 978 – Vitale Candiano is elected Doge 979 – Tribuno Memmo is elected Doge 991 – Pietro II Orseolo gave the majority of his wealth to the poor and the Church, and retired to a monastery 996 – Venetian Doge Pietro II Orseolo stop to pay tribute to the Narentine Pirates, after several incursion in the Venetian cities.
11th century 1000 – A powerful fleet move to Istria and Dalmatia commanded by Doge Pietro II Orseolo to secure the Venetian fight Narentine pirates, who were suppressed permanently. The bloodiest armed conflict during the expedition was the battle of Lastovo 1009 – Otto Orseolo arrested, beard shaved, and banished to Constantinople for nepotism. He was the father of King Peter Urseolo of Hungary. 1026 – Pietro Barbolano abdicated under heavy pressure to reinstate Otto Orseolo 1032 – Domenico Flabanico is elected Doge 1043 – Domenico Contarini is elected Doge 1071 – Domenico Selvo is elected Doge