Treaty of Constantinople (1479)

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Treaty of Constantinople
TypeTreaty of peace between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice
Signed25 January 1479
LocationConstantinople
NegotiatorsGiovanni Dario (for Venice)
Signatories

The Treaty of Constantinople was signed on 25 January 1479, which officially ended the sixteen-year-long war between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Based on the terms of the treaty, the Venetians were allowed to keep Ulcinj, Antivan, and Durrës. However, they ceded Shkodra (which had been besieged by the Ottomans for many months), as well as other territories on the Dalmatian coastline, and relinquished control of the Greek islands of Negroponte (Euboea) and Lemnos. Moreover, the Venetians were forced to pay 100,000 ducat indemnity[1] and agreed to a tribute of around 10,000 ducats per year in order to acquire trading privileges in the Black Sea. As a result of this treaty, Venice acquired a weakened position in the Levant.[2]

Background[edit]

The Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire engaged in a long war since 1463, which had cost Venice dearly in treasure and blood. By 1478, Venice was desperate to end the war, as the Ottomans raided not only the Venetian possessions in the Aegean Sea but even into Friuli, threatening Venice itself.[3] The Venetians were gradually being deprived of any reliable allies as well: the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, who had previously attacked the Ottomans in the Balkans, was embroiled in quarrels with the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III.[4] At the same time, the peace in Italy itself—where Venice, Milan and Florence stood opposed to the Papacy and the Kingdom of Naples—was more fragile than ever after the assassination of the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, in December 1476, precluding any assistance from the other Italian states.[5][6] In late 1477 or early 1478, Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and Naples, concluded peace with the Ottomans and even allowed use of Neapolitan harbours by Ottoman warships. As Matthias Corvinus was Ferdinand's son-in-law, the Venetians feared that he might also conclude a similar peace with them.[7] Finally, the death of Uzun Hasan, the Aq Qoyunlu ruler of Persia, in January 1478, removed Venice's hopes for an eastern challenge to the Ottomans.[8]

In this context, a peace offer initiated by the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II in late 1477 was seized upon by the Signoria of Venice, which instructed the fleet commander (provveditore d'armata) Tommaso Malipiero to offer the return of all Ottoman lands captured by Venice, as well as significant concessions: the island of Lemnos, the Mani Peninsula in the southern Morea, the fortress of Croia (Krujë) and its territory in northern Albania, as well as 100,000 ducats still owed as tax arrears by the Venetians Bartolommeo Zorzi and Girolamo Michiel, who had held the license for the production of alum before the outbreak of the war.[9][10] These terms, however, made clear to Mehmed the Venetians' eagerness to end the conflict, and he increased his demands to include an annual payment of 10,000 ducats and the return to the status quo ante bellum. While Malipiero, whose limited authority did not allow him to exceed his original instructions, left for Venice for consultations on 15 April 1478, the Sultan began preparing another campaign into Albania. After fierce debate, the Venetian Senate accepted the terms on 5 May, and sent Malipiero to convey its decision to Mehmed. The Venetian envoy, carrying rich gifts for the Sultan and his principal viziers, reached the Sultan while the latter was already on the march, but still within the agreed-upon truce; Mehmed nevertheless again refused the terms offered, insisting that Croia was now virtually his, and on the additional surrender of Scutari (Shkodër), Drivasto (Drisht), and Alessio (Lezhë). Malipiero was forced to abandon his mission and return to Venice empty-handed.[11] Croia, already blockaded and hungered out for over a year, surrendered to the Sultan on 15 June; Drivast and Alessio were stormed soon thereafter, but Scutari managed to resist the Ottoman assaults, and was placed under blockade.[3][12]

Despite the resistance of Scutari, Albania was practically in Ottoman hands, and lack of funds meant that a counterattack by the small forces Venice could muster was unlikely to succeed.[8] Ottoman raiders once again penetrated deep into Friuli, Styria, and Carinthia in the summer of 1478,[8] while an outbreak of the plague in Venice decimated is population.[13] Faced with a hopeless situation, the Venetian government resolved to seek peace at all costs: Giovanni Dario, the secretary of the Senate, was sent to Constantinople with the unprecedented brief to accept all demands made by the Sultan, in exchange for reopening the Levantine trade on which Venice's prosperity depended.[14]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: Alexander Mikaberidze, page 917, 2011
  2. ^ The Encyclopedia of World History (2001) – Venice Archived 2007-07-05 at the Wayback Machine The great war against the Turks (See 1463–79). Negroponte was lost (1470). The Turks throughout maintained the upper hand and at times raided to the very outskirts of Venice. In the Treaty of Constantinople (1479), the Venetians gave up Scutari and other Albanian stations, as well as Negroponte and Lemnos. Thenceforth the Venetians paid an annual tribute for permission to trade in the Black Sea.
  3. ^ a b Setton 1978, p. 327.
  4. ^ Setton 1978, pp. 326–327.
  5. ^ Setton 1978, p. 326.
  6. ^ Babinger 1992, pp. 365–366.
  7. ^ Babinger 1992, p. 359.
  8. ^ a b c Babinger 1992, p. 366.
  9. ^ Babinger 1992, pp. 359–360.
  10. ^ Setton 1978, p. 328.
  11. ^ Babinger 1992, pp. 360–361.
  12. ^ Babinger 1992, pp. 362–365.
  13. ^ Babinger 1992, p. 365.
  14. ^ Babinger 1992, p. 368.

Further reading[edit]

Sources[edit]

  • Babinger, Franz (1992) [1978]. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Bollingen Series 96. Translated from the German by Ralph Manheim. Edited, with a preface, by William C. Hickman. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09900-6. OCLC 716361786.
  • Setton, Kenneth M. (1978). The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume II: The Fifteenth Century. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-127-2.
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