Mediaeval and modern history . yempire of the sea. Venice was at theheight of her power dur-ing the thirteenth, four-teenth, and fifteenthcenturies. Her suprem-acy on the Mediterra-nean Sea, which was ascomplete as is Englands on the ocean to-day, was celebrated eachyear by the unique ceremony of *Wedding the Adriatic by thedropping of a ring into the sea. The origin of this custom was as fol-lows. In the year 117 7 Pope Alexander III, out of gratitude to theVenetians for services rendered him in his quarrel with the EmperorFrederick Barbarossa, gave a ring to the Doge with these words:Take th
Mediaeval and modern history . yempire of the sea. Venice was at theheight of her power dur-ing the thirteenth, four-teenth, and fifteenthcenturies. Her suprem-acy on the Mediterra-nean Sea, which was ascomplete as is Englands on the ocean to-day, was celebrated eachyear by the unique ceremony of *Wedding the Adriatic by thedropping of a ring into the sea. The origin of this custom was as fol-lows. In the year 117 7 Pope Alexander III, out of gratitude to theVenetians for services rendered him in his quarrel with the EmperorFrederick Barbarossa, gave a ring to the Doge with these words:Take this as a token of dominion over the sea, and wed herevery year, you and your successors forever, in order that all mayknow that the sea belongs to Venice and is subject to her as a brideis subject to her husband. This annual celebration of the cere-mony was one of the most brilliant spectacles of the Middle maritime power and ascendancy of Venice was embodiedin her famous Arsenal. This consisted of a series of wharves,. Fig. 32. — State Barge of Venice usedIN THE Ceremony of Wedding theAdriatic. (From a model preserved inthe Venetian Arsenal; after Lacroix) VENICE AND GENOA l8l dockyards, and vast magazines filled with marine war-engines andinilitary stores of every kind. In the citys palmiest day sixteenthousand shipbuilders, workmen, and guards were employed Arsenal was one of the sights of Europe artd is still an objectof interest to the curious traveler. Dante introduced in hisInferno ^ a celebrated description of the place, doubtless frompersonal knowledge of it. The decline of Venice dates from the fifteenth century. Theconquests of theOttoman Turksduring this centurydeprived her ofmuch of the terri-tory she held eastof the Adriatic,and finally the dis-covery of the NewWorld by Colum-bus and of an un-broken water routeto India by Vascoda Gama gave adeathblow to herFrom
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubje, booksubjectmiddleages
