Vitale II Michiel (, , - 28 May 1172) was a Venetian patrician, landowner and statesman who reigned as the 38th Doge of Venice from February 1155 until his assassination in 1172. Michiel was the last doge to be elevated by acclamation of the popular assembly (Concio), the traditional method of election, which was subsequently abandoned as the Venetian political system became increasingly dominated by the city's aristocracy. His reign therefore occupies an important position in the political transformation of the Republic of Venice, shortly before the formal establishment of a more restricted electoral system following his death.
During Michiel's seventeen-year reign, Venice strengthened its position along the eastern Adriatic and intervened more actively in the political affairs of northern Italy. Venetian forces recovered Zadar from Hungarian control and extended Venetian authority over several Dalmatian islands, while Michiel supported the papal party during the conflict between Alexander III and Frederick Barbarossa. Venice subsequently became involved in the formation of the Veronese League and maintained important commercial privileges in the Crusader states.
His relations with the Byzantine Empire, however, deteriorated steadily. Tensions arising from Byzantine commercial policy, Venice's rivalry with Genoa and Ancona, and Michiel's refusal to provide military assistance to Emperor Manuel I Komnenos culminated in the Byzantine arrest of Venetian merchants and the confiscation of their property in March 1171. Michiel responded by leading a large naval expedition against the Byzantine Empire. Although the Venetian fleet captured several positions in the Aegean, the expedition was devastated by disease and failed to obtain the restoration of Venetian property or a satisfactory settlement. Michiel eventually ordered the fleet to withdraw to Venice. The failure of the expedition provoked widespread dissatisfaction which culminated in his assassination on 28 May 1172.
Biography
Early life and family He was presumably born in Venice in the early 12th century; modern genealogists consider him to have been the son of Doge Domenico Michiel (), but there is no evidence proving this relationship. The fact that Vitale's descendants lived in the parish of San Giuliano suggests that he was more probably connected to the branch of the family that had settled in that area beginning with the judge Andrea Michiel "the Elder", who died around 1125. On the basis of these considerations, it is not possible to identify with certainty the branch of the Michiel family to which Vitale belonged, nor to reconstruct his life from documentation preceding his election as doge. In this earlier documentation, only one Vitale appears: he signed a commercial document in Constantinople in 1147.His and his heirs' property affairs after that date are better documented. From 1157 onward, Michiel is recorded as granting loans to private individuals in exchange for guarantees consisting of land and salt pans, mostly in the area of Chioggia. In some cases the loans were not repaid, and Michiel acquired possession of the properties concerned, expanding his holdings in the southern part of the Duchy of Venice (Dogado). His wealth consisted of cultivated land and entire foundations of salt pans. These possessions, together with properties that he already privately or publicly owned and had regularly purchased, passed intact after Michiel's death into the hands of his male heirs.
Dogeship Michiel succeeded Domenico Morosini, who died in February 1155. He was elected by acclamation of the popular assembly (Concio), the traditional body representing the Venetian citizenry. Michiel's first known act of government was the renewal, in 1155, of a concession granted by his predecessor to a consortium of private individuals concerning the exploitation of property owned by the Commune of Venice in Constantinople, in exchange for a monetary rent, which was regularly paid in 1156. In the same year, however, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos granted important commercial privileges to the Republic of Genoa, attempting to counterbalance the excessive weight that the Venetians had acquired in the economic activities of the Byzantine Empire. Venice then approached Genoa's main rival, the Republic of Pisa, for the first time, seeking cooperation against Genoa, although this did not produce results for the time being.
Conflict in Dalmatia Michiel had inherited from Morosini a series of unresolved issues. The first concerned Dalmatia, which since the 1130s had been divided into a northern area controlled by Venice, a central area subject to Hungarian rule, and a southern area centred on Ragusa (Dubrovnik), still at least nominally subject to the Byzantine Empire. Added to this was the conflict between the episcopal sees of Zadar and Split, subject to different political sovereignties, both of which aspired to become the metropolitan see of all Dalmatia. As early as 1154, Pope Anastasius IV had raised Zadar to the rank of archbishopric and incorporated the dioceses of Rab and Osor into the Patriarchate of Grado. In 1155, his successor Pope Adrian IV placed the see of Zadar under the metropolitan jurisdiction of Grado and granted Patriarch Enrico Dandolo the title of primate of Dalmatia, with the right to consecrate the archbishop, while reserving the granting of the pallium to the pope. The measure effectively gave the Venetian Church ecclesiastical control over Dalmatia, with the sole exception of Ragusa.The Kingdom of Hungary did not accept the new situation and fomented a revolt in Zadar that led its supporters to seize the city and expel the Venetian governor, Domenico Morosini, who ruled it with the title of count. Michiel reacted immediately, intervening in 1156. The stages of the campaign are poorly known, but it appears that the Venetian forces were repelled by the Hungarian contingent sent to garrison Zadar and forced to abandon their objective. Michiel nevertheless sent Patriarch Dandolo to Rome to request papal support, and in 1157 Adrian IV wrote directly to Michiel, confirming the supremacy of the Church of Grado over the see of Zadar. At the same time, however, the pope recommended that the patriarch be received honourably upon his return to his homeland, bringing to an end the disputes that had continued for almost a decade between the patriarchate and the Commune for internal reasons. Venetian ecclesiastical control over Dalmatia nevertheless remained nominal, while civil control was still only an aspiration.
Michiel therefore planned a new expedition against Zadar. In preparation for it, in November 1158 he ordered Venetians present in the Byzantine Empire to return to their homeland by Easter (12 April) 1159, and those in the Crusader states to do the same by September of the same year. The order was disobeyed by those too deeply involved in their commercial activities to comply. Consequently, these men, among them the famous merchant Romano Mairano were condemned to a monetary penalty. In the autumn of 1159, however, the Venetians returned to Dalmatia in force. Zadar was stormed and the Hungarian garrison was forced to withdraw. The inhabitants had to renew their oath of allegiance to Venice and accept that the government of the city be entrusted to a Venetian, namely Count Domenico Morosini. Probably at the same time or shortly afterwards, Michiel appointed his son Leonardo to govern the islands of Cres and Lošinj and his son Nicolò to govern Rab, both with the title of count. Venice thus imposed direct control, while formally respecting local prerogatives, over the strategic centres along the Dalmatian coast and the islands in the Kvarner Gulf. This process was completed in 1163, when Michiel granted the county of Krk to Bartholomew and Guy, sons of the deceased Count Dujam, so that they might govern it as vassals of Venice.
Relations with the Papacy and the Empire On the Italian front, Michiel's determined support for Pope Alexander III, elected in 1159, and for the Latin Church in its struggle against Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa is particularly noteworthy. His support for the papal cause, which also took the form of providing refuge in Venice to ecclesiastics loyal to the new pope, earned the hostility of the Holy Roman Empire. As retaliation, Frederick first imposed a commercial blockade, leaving only the maritime routes open, and then ordered a military action by the inland cities connected to the Empire, with the aim of subduing Venice.
At the beginning of 1162, the allied forces of Padua, Verona, and Ferrara forced the surrender of the Venetian garrison of the castle of Cavarzere. A Venetian naval squadron then sailed up the River Po, put the attackers to flight, reoccupied the castle, and seized and sacked Adria and Ariano. Probably during the same year, Ulrich II of Treffen, Patriarch of Aquileia, laid siege to Grado. Michiel's reaction was immediate: all available ships were sent towards the city and, after landing, their crews defeated the invaders, taking numerous prisoners, including the patriarch and several nobles accompanying him. On their return, the fleet repelled an attack on Caorle carried out by the people of Treviso. The patriarch remained a prisoner in Venice for some time and was later released in exchange for the payment of an annual tribute.
Having failed in the military option, Barbarossa sought the support of Pisa and Genoa, the latter of which he expressly allowed to harass Venetian commerce until Venice had regained the emperor's favour. Michiel responded through diplomatic action that detached several Venetian cities from the imperial party. In 1164, on Venetian initiative, the Veronese League was established. Verona, Padua, and Vicenza joined it, followed by Treviso and smaller communes of the Venetian hinterland. Venice sided with the rebellious communes and provided financial support. To secure this support, in June 1164 Michiel had to assign the revenues of the Rialto market for eleven years to several wealthy citizens, who had lent the Commune 1,150 marks of silver in the form of a voluntary loan.
In 1167, several of the major Lombard communes and the members of the Veronese League formed the Lombard League. In this way, the most critical moment for the Venetians in the West was overcome. In the following years there was never a direct military confrontation between Michiel and Barbarossa, and until 1177 Venice took no major initiatives in the struggle between the Empire, the communes, and the Papacy. In 1167, Bohemond III of Antioch also granted privileges to Venetian merchants operating in his territories. Venetian interests were thus secured in the principal maritime ports of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Principality of Antioch.
Relations with Byzantium The aggressive Italian policy of Manuel I Komnenos, Venice's failure to participate in the war launched by the emperor against Hungary, and Byzantine support for Ancona, Venice's principal commercial competitor in the Adriatic, inevitably worsened relations between Venice and Byzantium. At the end of 1167, Michiel rejected requests from several Byzantine ambassadors who had specifically come to Venice to seek military assistance in the event of a new conflict with the Normans of Sicily.