The decline of Venice remains one of the classic episodes in the economic development of modern Europe. Its contrasts are familiar enough: the wealthiest commercial power in fifteenth-century Europe, the strongest western colonial power in the eastern Mediterranean, found its principal fame three centuries later in carnival and the arts. This metamorphosis from commercial hegemony to fashionable pleasure and landed wealth was, however, a complex process. It resulted not so much from the Portuguese voyages of discovery at the beginning of the sixteenth century as from increasing Dutch adn English competition at its end, and from industrial competition chiefly from beyond the Mediterranean. Several of the Articles Dr Pullan has chosen to illustrate these changes are made available in English for the first time, and two have been revised for this book. Four deal with the fortunes of entrepot trade and shipbuilding, which had furnished the basis of Venetian wealth adn influence in the Middle Ages; four others expamine the new fields of enterprise which Venice explored in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and which helped to compensate for the decline in traditional activities. This classic book was first published in 1968.

Looking at Catholic charity and social policy in past times, this book focuses on 'unrespectable' women and children in Italy, and their treatment at the hands of charities and the law. It looks at prostitutes and women engaged in sexual relationships outside formal marriage, and foundlings, many of whom were abandoned because they were born out of wedlock. A wide-ranging synoptic survey, this study considers the practical complications and consequences of communities' decisions to accommodate and regulate activities considered bad but irrepressible: of the belief that licensed prostitution and controlled abandonment could be used to avert greater evils, from sodomy and adultery to infanticide and abortion. Accessibly written, Tolerance, regulation and rescue discusses social problems which are still the subject of debate, and should appeal not only to academics and students, but also to general readers. -- .

Pirate welfare played a prominent part in Mediterranean life during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Its influence was significant both in the decline of Venice and in the shift of the economic hegemony of Europe. Professor Tenenti maintains that Venice is a fitting focus for study of this period, for the mediterranean became and increasingly a centre of European activity. On one side was Venice which, in spite of a huge navy and a still sizable merchant fleet, observed the strictest neutrality and sought only to protect her trade. On the other were potentially or openly hostile navies, which clashed with one another and frequently also with Venetian shipping. english and Dutch navies forced their way into the area by a combination of trade and piracy and established themselves in positions of great strength. Professor Tenenti analyzes the impact of northern piracy on the trade of the Venetian republic and her failure to resist this threat. During the early seventeenth century Venetian prosperity was irreparably damaged, not only by competition from the north, but also by a severe shipbuilding crisis. He suggests that Venice wa unable to adapt the organization, equipment and discipline of her navy to the changed conditions; for these were spheres in which her pride was particularly strong and tradition enduring. He describes the different types of pirates from the Barbary pirates, the Knights of Malta and the English corsairs to the Uscocchi, whom even sophisticated Venetians regarded as necromancers. The translation of this important work fo Venetian economic history makes a valuable addition to the books on the period available to English readers. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1961.

Pirate welfare played a prominent part in Mediterranean life during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Its influence was significant both in the decline of Venice and in the shift of the economic hegemony of Europe. Professor Tenenti maintains that Venice is a fitting focus for study of this period, for the mediterranean became and increasingly a centre of European activity. On one side was Venice which, in spite of a huge navy and a still sizable merchant fleet, observed the strictest neutrality and sought only to protect her trade. On the other were potentially or openly hostile navies, which clashed with one another and frequently also with Venetian shipping. english and Dutch navies forced their way into the area by a combination of trade and piracy and established themselves in positions of great strength. Professor Tenenti analyzes the impact of northern piracy on the trade of the Venetian republic and her failure to resist this threat. During the early seventeenth century Venetian prosperity was irreparably damaged, not only by competition from the north, but also by a severe shipbuilding crisis. He suggests that Venice wa unable to adapt the organization, equipment and discipline of her navy to the changed conditions; for these were spheres in which her pride was particularly strong and tradition enduring. He describes the different types of pirates from the Barbary pirates, the Knights of Malta and the English corsairs to the Uscocchi, whom even sophisticated Venetians regarded as necromancers. The translation of this important work fo Venetian economic history makes a valuable addition to the books on the period available to English readers. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1961.

During the Renaissance, there were two centres of art, culture and mercantile power in Italy: Florence, and Venice. This is a sourcebook of primary materials, almost none previously available in English, for the history of the city-state of Venice. The time period covers the apogee of Venetian power and reputation to the beginnings of its decline in the 1630s. Sources used include diaries, chronicles, Inquisitorial records, literature, legislation, and contemporary descriptions, and are organized in sections by theme and accompanied by brief introductions.Originally published by Basil Blackwell, 1992.