Marco Sanudo (c. 1153 EracleaJ.K. Fotheringham and L.R.F. Williams, Marco Sanudo, conqueror of the Archipelago, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1915. – between 1220 and 1230, most probably 1227) was the creator and first Duke of the Duchy of the Archipelago, in Italian: "Duca del Mare Egeo e Re di Candia", Barone delle Isole di Nasso, Pario, Milo, Marine ed Andri, duchy granted by the Republic of Venice to him and all his descendants. After the Fourth Crusade his lineage became named Sanudo de Candia.The Sanudo family, Dukes of the Greek Archipelago and Kings of Candia, Founders of Venice, Vol 1., History Institute of Rome, Italy

Maternal nephew of Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo, he was a participant in the Fourth Crusade (1204). He was part of the negotiations when the Republic of Venice bought the island of Crete from Boniface of Montferrat.

Between 1205 and 1207, or a little after 1213-1214, he gathered a fleet and captured the island of Naxos, laying the foundations of the Duchy of the Archipelago. He built a new capital city on the island, Kastro (now the main port). During his reign, he blended the Byzantine and Venetian organizations.

He became vassal of the Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders around 1210 or 1216. For his lord, he fought against the Empire of Nicaea. But for Venice, he took part in the Cretan expedition of 1211.

Sources All biographies of Marco Sanudo were written in the centuries after the facts they tell. Most of them are Venetian chronicles dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. In the first one, Istoria di Romania, Marino Sanudo Torsello, a member of the Sanudo family, writes about Marco Sanudo only this:

he conquered the islands.Guillaume Saint-Guillain, p. 130

Doge Andrea Dandolo wrote a history of Venice (called Chronica extensa) around 1350. This text is the first to relate the conquest of the Aegean islands and has been the foundation of all later accounts:Guillaume Saint-Guillain, op. cit., p. 140-142

Sailing separately, Marco Sanudo and those following him conquered the islands of Naxos, Paros, Milos and Santorini, and Marino Dandolo conquered Andros. Also, Andrea and Geremia Ghisi [took] Tinos, Mykonos, Skyros, Skopelos and Skiathos.

A chronicle in Venetian dated 1360-1362 and attributed to an Enrico Dandolo gives a short biography of Marco Sanudo, starting with his struggle in Crete against Enrico Pescatore. But the text is not reliable; most of it is either invented or contradicted by official documents. Also, it is the first text to state that Marco Sanudo and Doge Enrico Dandolo were related.Guillaume Saint-Guillain, op. cit., p. 149-152 In 1454, Flavio Biondo published his De Origine et gestis Venetorum, in which he copied Andrea Dandolo's account and introduced the idea of the Venetian Republic giving to its citizens the official right to conquer lands in the Orient, as long as they would never be transmitted to a non-Venetian. This rule, asserted in the 15th century, is thus extended to the start of the 13th century by Biondo.Guillaume Saint-Guillain, p. 160-164.

The most commonly used chronicle, because it gives a lot of geographical and chronological details, is the one written by Daniele Barbaro in the 16th century. He combined different older chronicles to create a coherent story based on the accounts of the two Dandolos. His version is the one used by all later writers and historians, such as J. K. Fotheringham in 1915. Guillaume Saint-Guillain, in a 2004 article, suggests another interpretation, based on his recent works on official documents.Guillaume Saint-Guillain, p. 127 et 178

The Histoire nouvelle des anciens Ducs de l'Archipel, another widely used account, was written in the second half of the 17th century by a French Jesuit from Naxos monastery, Father Saulger.

Biography

Family and youth

The Sanudo family may have originated in Eraclea where Marco Sanudo's ancestors held charges. The family came to the Venetian islands at the beginning of the 9th century after their city was destroyed. The family may have for a time been called Candiano and under that name given doges to the City: Pietro I Candiano (887), Pietro II Candiano (932–939), Pietro III Candiano Canuto (white hair) or Sanuto (wise) (942–959), Pietro IV Candiano (959–976) and Vitale Candiano (978–979). The last Candiani (11th century) may have tried to take power in the Republic and keep it hereditarily in their family. Thus discredited, the name disappeared, and afterwards, only the Sanudo family exists.J.K. Fotheringham, op. cit., p. 1-12. Note: Candiano derives from Candia, as Crete was called in Venetian, so, "Candiano" means "the Cretan", as "Napolitano" means "the Neapolitan".

Four generations after Pietro IV, a Marco Sanudo is recorded (second half of the 11th century) as a "councilor" and "captain". He might also have been ambassador to Constantinople where he might have negotiated the Byzantine Emperor's recognition of Venice's domination over Dalmatia and Croatia circa 1084-1085. He might then have built numerous friendships and relations in Greece and around the Aegean Sea. He was then nicknamed Costantinopolitani (the "Constantinopolitan"). He had a son, Pietro, of whom we only know that he married a sister of Enrico Dandolo. Pietro and Zabarella had at least three sons: Marco, Bernardo et Lunardo.Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza, Dictionnaire Historique et Généalogique des Grandes Familles de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople, Paris: Sturdza, 1983, p. 549J.K. Fotheringham, op. cit., pp. 12–13.

Bernardo Sanudo, as a young man, was among the electors of Doge Enrico Dandolo in 1192. Lunardo was one of the officers commanding the Venetian fleet attacking Abydos in 1196. Lunardo, or according to other Venetian chronicles, Bernardo, was Capitan delle Navi (Commander of a portion of the Venetian fleet) for Enrico Dandolo during the conquest of Constantinople in 1204.J.K. Fotheringham, op. cit., p. 13.

Marco Sanudo's date of birth is not known for certain. It is often calculated by deducing his probable age at his probable death. According to the Père Saulger, he would have been 67 in 1220.J.K. Fotheringham considers he died in 1229 and G. Saint-Guillain in 1227. He might therefore have been born around 1153. He is first mentioned in the medieval chronicles aboard Venetian galleys circa 1176-1177 when 30 galleys from Venice, under the command of Doge Sebastian Ziani clashed against 75 galleys commanded by Otto I, Count of Burgundy, son of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. But the historic existence of this battle is not certain.J.K. Fotheringham, op. cit., pp. 14–15.

Thus, the first certain fact known about Marco Sanudo is that he took part in the Fourth Crusade. He was noted for his courage during the captures of Zara and Constantinople, but with no other details. But, his name is not among those of the officers commanding galleys. It is probable he was aboard a galley commanded by one of his brothers (Bernardo or Lunardo) or by his uncle Enrico Dandolo.J.K. Fotheringham, op. cit., p. 15.

Conquest of the Cyclades

The Cyclades at the beginning of the 13th century After Heraclius, the Byzantine Empire was organized in themes. In the 10th century, a theme of the Aegean Sea (tò théma toû Aiyaíou Pelágous) ruled by an admiral (dhrungarios) was created. It included the Cyclades, Sporades, Chios, Lesbos and Lemnos. But quickly, the central government was no longer capable to control these small and scattered lands. At the beginning of the 13th century, it had given up the very idea altogether.P. Hetherington, op. cit., p. xiv et xvi et Charles A. Frazee, The Island Princes of Greece., p. 6-9. It appears the Cyclades might then have been ruled from Rhodes by a former Byzantine civil servant Leo Gabalas self-styled "Caesar" and "Lord of Rhodes and the Cyclades". But even he was not able to collect the taxes, mainly because of Genoese and Turkish pirates.Charles A. Frazee, The Island Princes of Greece., p. 15.

At that time, inhabitants left villages by the sea to create new ones in the mountains, such as the villages on the Traghea plateau on Naxos.Guide Bleu. Îles grecques., p. 298.

Competition between Venice and Genoa

After the 11th century, Italian merchant cities, mainly the Republic of Venice and Republic of Genoa, developed their trade with the Orient, mostly Constantinople and Egypt, the first stages of the silk road. Trade routes of both cities were almost identical. Venetian boats ran alongside the East coast of the Adriatic Sea with stops in Zara, Dyrrachium and Corfu, then around the Peloponnese with Koroni and up the Aegean and Cyclades with stops in Naxos, Euboea and Thessaloniki to Constantinople, or via Crete, Alexandria and Syria to Egypt. The Genoan ships ran alongside the West coast of Italy, crossed the Strait of Messina then the Strait of Otranto to Corfu, round the Peloponnese stopping at Monemvasia, up the Aegean and Cyclades with stops in Chios to Constantinople or via Milos, Naxos and Amorgos to Egypt and Syria.Anna Avramea, « Land and Sea Communications. 4th-15th centuries », in Economic History of Byzantium., p. 87. Thus, the cities were competing to control the stopping places.

The competition grew in the 12th century. Venice had secured privileges from Emperor Isaac II Angelos. His successor Alexios III Angelos resented Venetian control of the Byzantine trade. He tried to give more room to Genoa, as well as Pisa (to avoid giving Genoa all the power). Thus, the Genoan marine crushed the very pirates the Republic had created to cripple Venetian (and Byzantine) trade. The Genoan district in Constantinople became larger in 1201. The Pisan influence grew also in Thessaloniki. Venice could not let these go unaddressed. When Alexios Angelos asked the crusaders to help him become Emperor, they could not refuse. A new Emperor, owing his throne to the crusaders and Venice, was what the city needed to regain its commercial power in the Byzantine Empire.J.K. Fotheringham, op. cit., p. 17-20.

The Fourth Crusade

In July 1203, the Crusaders took Constantinople and put Alexios IV Angelos on the throne, as promised. But, the fire in August brought him down. Hostility between the Crusaders and the inhabitants of Constantinople was also growing. Fighting between the Crusaders and the troops of Alexios V Doukas broke out.J.K. Fotheringham, op. cit., p. 20-21.

Finally, on the 13th of April 1204, the Crusaders, or as they became called "Latins" or "Franks", again took Constantinople and divided the conquered Byzantine Empire. The treaty Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae was probably drafted during the autumn of 1204 by a commission of 24 people (12 Venetians, 12 non-Venetians). One fourth went to Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, elected Latin Emperor, three eights went to Venice, and the remaining three eights to the other Crusaders. The Cyclades were not mentioned as such, contrary to the Sporades or the Ionian Islands. Only Andros and Tinos were mentioned: the former was given to Venice and the latter to the Emperor. Historians have tried to identify the others Cycladic islands in the text but nothing is really convincing. Paul Hetherington suggest two simple explanations for the absence of the Cyclades, even the bigger ones such as Naxos, in the text. The treaty was drafted using the Byzantine taxes of 1203 and they were no longer collected on most of the islands. Venice might also have done it deliberately as the Republic was the only one with a real geographic knowledge of the Aegean. Thus, the Republic kept aside essential stopping points on its trade routes.P. Hetherington, op. cit., p. xvii-xviii.